Vol.5 No.2 The newsletter of Honoring Eleanor Roosevelt A Project to Preserve Her Val-Kill Home Summer 2011

F R O M VA L - K I L L C O T TA G EF R O M VA L - K I L L C O T TA G EViewViewT H ET H E

Boston benefit honorsFollowing in Her Footsteps

Awardees

From left: Honoring Eleanor Roosevelt Executive Committee Member Betsy Shure Gross, honorees Wheelock

College President Jackie Jenkins-Scott, Civic leader and Philanthropist Chobee Hoy, Award-Winning Actress

Jane Alexander and Honoring Eleanor Roosevelt Chairman Carol Hillman. Story and pictures on pages 4-5.

HonoringE leanor Roosevelt

A Project to Preserve Her Val-Kill Home

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Founding Chair,

Save America’s Treasures

Claudine Bacher, Founding Chair, Honoring ER

Carol Hillman, Chair, Honoring ER

National Park Service

Sarah Olson, Superintendent, Roosevelt- Vanderbilt National Historic Sites

Executive Committee

Claudine Bacher

Mary Champenois, Emerita

Georgie Gatch

Betsy Shure Gross

Carol Hillman

Barbara A. Levy

Bobbie Greene McCarthy

National Council Members

Jane Alexander

Allida M. Black, PhD

Blanche Wiesen Cook, PhD

Susan Curnan

Priscilla H. Douglas EdD

Deborah Duran

Susan Eisenhower

Hamilton Fish III

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

Blanche K. Goldstein, Esq.

Senator & Mrs. Bob Graham

Pamela Hayes, Esq.

Cheryl Bell Homer

Risa A. Levine, Esq.

Representative Nita Lowey

Harriet Millrose

Sally Minard

Richard Moe

Sharon Patrick

James & Ann Roosevelt

Eleanor Seagraves

Silda Wall Spitzer, Esq.

Cathy Douglas Stone, Esq.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend

The Honorable

Christine Todd Whitman

Staff

Judith Ross Morris, Editor & Designer,The View from Val-Kill Cottage

We welcome your comments. Please contact judithross_morris@yahoo.com.

Visit our website:www.honoringeleanorroosevelt.org

Carol and Hildie

NOTES FROM THE CHAIR

CAROL HILLMAN

Search “Honoring Eleanor Roosevelt”

Join us on

Dear Friends of Val-Kill:

These past few months have been bittersweet. After our sweet and wildlysuccessful Following in Her Footsteps award event at the Coolidge CornerTheatre in Brookline, MA (see cover and pages 4-5), we learned that theCongress and the President had refused to fund our parent, Save America’sTreasures, and that the SAT program would close on June 30th of this year.For the past 13 years Bobbie Greene McCarthy has been our guide, mentorand friend. She and her colleague, Fiona Lawless, have given us support,advice and encouragement that have kept our project moving forward. Wewill miss them and Save America’s Treasures terribly. Happily, Bobbie hasagreed to remain on our Executive Committee; so we will continue to bene-fit from her wise counsel.

I am pleased to tell you that while we were in Washington at a party honor-ing Bobbie and Fiona, Claudine Bacher and I met with executives from theNational Trust to discuss the future of Honoring Eleanor Roosevelt. We arethrilled to report that we will continue to be a project at the National Trustfor the foreseeable future and will receive the benefit of the Trust’s adviceand support through a relationship with the Northeast Regional Office of theTrust. Saying farewell to our dear friends was bitter, but we look forward toa close, rewarding and supportive relationship with the National Trust.

There are lots of other good things happening. We are working on a mem-bership plan which will offer our supporters many benefits in return for theirmembership donation. While our events are great fun and successful as well,they do take a great deal of effort and time. We hope the membershipapproach, plus small house parties and mini-events, will prove popular.

We are also planning a bus trip to Val-Kill on November 5, 2011 from bothBoston and New York City which we hope many of you will join. There willbe a visit to the Cottage and grounds, remarks by Silda Spitzer, and a boxlunch picnic provided by an excellent local caterer. E-mail invitations will becoming in September, but in the meantime if you are interested, please let meknow. If we don’t have your e-mail address, do send that along as well. Wehope to see many of our friends in November.

Warm regards,

Carol

PRIVATE TOUR OF VAL-KILLJoin us and our special guest, Silda Wall Spitzer, Former NY

First Lady, on November 5th for a scenic bus trip and private

tour of Val-Kill. Boxed lunch included.

Buses depart from Manhattan and Boston.

Reservations and information: Melanie McEvoy or Kristine

Bruch 212-228-7446 x12

ElEanor’s

stampstamp

actactDuring her lifetime, Eleanor Roosevelt was hon-ored by many nations--including our own--in theform of postage stamps. No other First Ladyhas ever been so lauded.

For those of you unfamiliar with these beautifulimages, we proudly present a look at the visualaffirmation of this woman’s remarkable contribu-tion to world peace and human rights.

Note: A stamp from Iran can be see on the back page.

Three very special women were honored with ourFollowing in Her Footsteps award at a benefit honoringEleanor Roosevelt. Held at the historic Coolidge CornerTheatre in Brookline, MA, our awardees were noted actressJane Alexander; civic leader and philanthropist Chobee Hoy,and Wheelock College president Jackie Jenkins-Scott. Theevent also featured film clips from the American Experiencefilm, No Ordinary Time, which enthralled donors who cametogether to support the preservation of Mrs. Roosevelt’sVal-Kill home. The film brought the audience to cheers andtears.

no ordinary Time no ordinary Time

There were many wonderful pictures taken at this event. We invite you to view them all atwww.flickr.com/photos/dimonikastudio/sets/72157626622533415/.To order prints, please email:dbray@dimonikastudio.com. Please include the number appearing at the bottom of the photoand include your mailing address. 5x7 print = $10, 8x10 print = $15, 13x19 print = $35

Program participants included Congressman Barney Frank,Mrs. Roosevelt’s grandchildren Laura and Jim Rooseveltand Jim’s wife Ann, Claudine Bacher and previous awardwinner Cathy Douglas Stone. Kathryn Dietz, co-producerof No Ordinary Time, produced the film portions of theprogram which were introduced by event co-chair BetsyShure Gross, National Council member Priscilla Douglas,local dignitary Nancy Korman, and Kathryn. All in all, awonderful evening for ER, Val-Kill and all in attendance.

no ordinary Eventno ordinary Event

Eleanor Roosevelt’s role in a little-known chapter in civil rights historyis reflected in a fascinating objectthat was recently added to the FDRPresidential Library & Museum.The item is an African Americandoll known as Saralee, designed andsold during the early 1950s.

Crafted to reflect the beauty ofAfrican American children, it wascreated by a white woman fromBelle Glade, Florida named Sara Lee

Creech. Creech had seenblack children playing withwhite dolls and was struckby the realization thatthere were no dolls oftheir own race for thesechildren. She decided toprovide a black doll thatpromoted a positive imageof African Americans forall children.

The Saralee Doll wasdeveloped in consultation with edu-cators and religious leaders of bothraces and manufactured by theIdeal Toy Company. It came on themarket at a time when toy compa-nies demonstrated little interest inmaking black dolls. Those that weremade generally reflected cruderacial stereotypes.

Mrs. Roosevelt learned about the Saralee Doll while it was under

development. Hoping to helpincrease the project’s visibility, sheinvited Ms. Creech to Val-KillCottage to discuss the doll andlater wrote her a note of encour-agement. At Creech’s urging, sheprovided input on the doll’s design.Mrs. Roosevelt convened a group ofnotable figures—including RalphBunche, A. Philip Randolph,Winthrop Rockefeller, Zora NealeHurston, Bernard Baruch, Mr. andMrs. Jackie Robinson and MaryMcCloud Bethune—to discuss thedoll’s appearance.

The doll was donated by CharlotteKlein, who was instrumental in per-suading the Ideal Doll Company tocreate and manufacture the doll.She was a long-time leader in thepublic relations field, starting hercareer when there were fewwomen in PR. She is also a long-time HER contributor.

saralee Doll New to FDR library & Museum Collection

In the News...

Geraldine Ferraro, a staunch supporter of Honoring Eleanor Roosevelt and a leading feminist, passed away on March 26,2011. She was loyal and kept her promises. When she came to Boston to accept our Eleanor Roosevelt Following inHer Footsteps award, she spoke so eloquently about the things that she and Mrs. Roosevelt believed in that ourdonors gave her a standing ovation. She couldn't have been more gracious to every person who came up to speakwith her -- and she was suffering that weekend, I know, from her cancer. We at Honoring Eleanor Roosevelt will missher great heart and fierce support of women everywhere.

Carol Hillman, ChairHonoring Eleanor Roosevelt

In Memorium Geraldine Ferraro

Ann Roosevelt, Angela Menino, Geraldine Ferraro, Carol Hillman

Seventy years ago, when Eleanor Roosevelt agreed to headHadassah’s National Youth Aliyah Advisory Committee, shebegan an association that would remain deeply important toher for the rest of her life.

Led by the dynamic Henrietta Szold, Youth Aliyah began res-cuing children from Nazi persecution in Germany in theearly 1930s and later from other countries. The organizationbrought the children to Palestine where they received train-ing in agriculture and various trades and became the buildersof new communities and eventually a new nation.

ER first mentioned Youth Aliyah in her “My Day” column ofJune 2, 1938, in which she praised the organization for offer-ing “real hope for future security to children many of whomhave come from areas where life has been extremely precar-ious.” As life for European Jews became more precarious, ERsought ways to assist refugees to find safe havens.

In February 1939, hoping to overcome American oppositionto immigration at a time of economic depression, she sup-ported a bill sponsored by Senator Robert Wagner andRepresentative Edith Rogers that would have admitted tothe United States 20,000 German children above the immi-gration quotas over a two-year period. Despite the efforts ofER and her friends, however, the bill became so watereddown in committee that Wagner withdrew it. The backerslacked the necessary support for even this small step.

ER’s association with Youth Aliyah began against this back-ground of failure on the part of the United States torespond adequately to the crisis of European Jewry and inresponse to the urgent need to find places of refuge, particu-larly for Jewish children. Hadassah, Youth Aliyah’s sponsor inthe United States, hoped that the name of Eleanor Roosevelton its letterhead would help them obtain the permits need-ed from the British colonial secretary to gain the admittanceof additional children to Palestine. They hoped publicity for their efforts in ER’s “My Day” column would help secure

funds to carry on their work. At a meeting with Hadassahrepresentatives at the White House in January 1940, ERagreed to head a National Youth Aliyah Advisory Committee.Although she found only a limited amount of time to devoteto Youth Aliyah, Hadassah valued her public support andfundraising efforts. In 1949 they awarded ER the firstHenrietta Szold Citation for humanitarian service “...in therescue and rehabilitation of 40,000 Jewish children...”

Her deepest involvement began in 1952 when Moshe Kol, Executive Director of Youth Aliyah, asked her to become itsWorld Patron. She agreed, on condition that she visit thetraining centers and youth villages in Israel first. ER’s 1952trip to Israel demonstrated that she would not take her rolelightly. Accustomed to asking penetrating questions andpolitely insisting on looking behind the scenes, she knew howto evaluate whether a facility functioned effectively or not.She wanted to know whether people ate well, received med-ical care, felt satisfied by the education they received.

ER returned to Israel again in 1955, 1959 and 1962. On eachtrip, Kol recalled, she asked to return to the places she hadbeen before so that she could “evaluate the development which had taken place since.” The information ER gatheredon these trips provided material for her fundraising speecheson behalf of Youth Aliyah in the United States and abroad.ER recalled in a speech to Hadassah in 1959, “[I thought] itwould be impossible to bring these children back to normal,happy people, and yet in Israel I saw what had been done.”The reason for Youth Aliyah’s success, she believed, was itsability to make them feel part of a momentous event.“Yougive them the feeling that they are needed; not that they area burden, not that they are receiving charity, but they areneeded! They are the people who are going to build Israel.”

Eleanor Roosevelt and

YOUTH ALIYAHBy John F. Sears

Mr. Sears served as Executive Director of the Franklin and EleanorRoosevelt Institute from 1986-1999 and Associate Editor of the EleanorRoosevelt Papers from 2000-2007. This article was originally published as“Eleanor’s Kids” in The Jewish Advocate. Reprinted with permission. He iscurrently researching a book on ER, Jewish refugees, and the birth of Israeland seeks transcripts, news clippings or recordings of speeches by ER toHadassah or other Jewish groups from 1933 -1962. Please contact him atjsears7@gmail.com or at 413-446-8992.

ER and Jewish refugees, 1955

First Youth Aliyah group walking to Kibbutz Ein Harod, 1934

Youth Aliyah today

Honoring Eleanor RooseveltA Project to Preserve Her Val-Kill Home

Honoring Eleanor Roosevelt, an original project of Save America's Treasures, is now a partner of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

All donations made payable to “National Trust” with “Val-Kill Cottage” on the memo line are 100% tax deductible.

All correspondence:Carol HillmanHonoring Eleanor Roosevelt287 Kent StreetBrookline, MA 02446

By Eleanor Roosevelt

MyMy DayDay

NOTE: This is an excerpt. To view the full col-

umn as well as other My Day columns, please

visit www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday. World

Copyright, 1953, United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

August 21, 1953

Iran is certainly an exciting spot

to be in at the moment!

One day you hear that the Prime

Minister is successful and that the

Shah has left Iran and the next

day the papers tell you that the

rebels have thrown out the Prime

Minister and that the Shah is

returning immediately.

The Middle East is full of unrest,

but I don't think the actual ruler

is as important as what can be

done in the way of reforms that

will really change the life of the

people. Until the people in this

area of the world really see that

efforts are being made to

improve their standard of

living I cannot see how there can

be any change toward stability.

People who are hungry, people

who have very little hope of

improved living standards for

themselves and their children are

not going to settle down to lead-

ing peaceful and productive lives.

It's impossible.

So let us hope that whatever

happens in Iran that reforms

toward a better life for the peo-

ple actually will be accomplished.

Please

helP us continue

our work at

val-kill.

donate today!

WAS ELEANOR ROOSEVELT PRESCIENT?

This Article Would Suggest Yes.