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Home , Abigail Adams

r A Conference Report I

'She deserves the help and loyalty of every wornan in the U.S.,for lzje

will never be easy for the First Lady of this hnd."

he centennial of 's birth is soon to be Other speakers in the morning session, devoted to "The Of- Tcelebrated; Professor Barbara Welter of Hunter's His- fice of First Lady as Defined by Eleanor Roosevelt," were the tory Department is a specialist on 19th-centuryFirst Ladies; Rev. Pauli Murray, lawyer, Episcopal priest, alumna of Hun- Joseph Lash, who is Mrs. Rooswelt's biographer and a mem- ter's Class of 1933, and a personal friend of Mrs. Roosevelt; ber of the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, sat next to President Joseph Lash, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Mrs. Roo- Shalala one evening at dinner. This happy juxtaposition re- sevelt; and ElizabethJaneway, the author and feminist. sulted in an all-day conference on the First Lady, which at- At the luncheon panel chaired by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., tracted some 800 people to Hunter's Brookdale Health Sci- a group of distinguished women-Letitia Baldrige, social ence Center on December 4,1982. secretary to Mrs. Kennedy; Nancy Dickerson, the first Organized by Professor Welter and Joseph Lash, the First women TV correspondent; Ann Cottrell Free, an original Lady Conference-the first of its kind-brought together member of "the Girls," the women who covered Mrs. three Pulitzer Prize winners, members of the Roosevelt fam- Roosevelt when she was in the ; Isabelle ily, and representatives from government, academia, and Shelton, who covered the White House from Truman the arts, to examine the office of First Lady ("a through Ford; and Sheila Weidenfield, press secretary to quasi-monarchical usage" that Arthur Schlesinger said of- Mrs. Ford-reminisced about First Ladies they had known. fended him) In the afternoon, examining the office as defined by history, The Con Serence w'as openec1 by a surprise guest, the Presi- were historians Beatrice Hofstadter, Barbara Welter of the dent of the New York Cit] Council, Carol Bellamy. She Hunter and Graduate Center faculties, Blanche W. Cook, an brought greeungs rromP tne_1 City. of New York and delighted alumna of the Class of 1963 and a professor at John Jay Col- the audience by looking forward to a future when Hunter lege, Thomas 0. Kelly 11, from Siena College, who, with his would hold a similar gathering on "The First Mate." colleague statistician Douglas Lonnstrom, presented the re- sults of a survey on First Ladies, and James MacGregor Judge Justine Wise Polier brought greetings as chairman of Burns, woodrow Wilson Professor at Williams College, who the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute which, through its generous won a Pulitzer Prize for his work on Franklin D. Roosevelt. support, made the day possible. She explained that one of the many values of the Conference was to bring to those too Professor Burns welcomed the attention being given to First young to have known the living presence of the Roosevelts an Ladies, not least because it was a healthy departure from awareness of "the energy, the determination, and the joy" "the class system in history." He was, however, saddened that with which President and Mrs. Roosevelt met "the terrible First Ladies have now become an institutionalized part of problems of the Thirties" and an understanding of "the light "the most difficult selection system in the world. . .the of hope which two human beings who cared were able to degrading, demeaning, destroying, presidential primary." bring to America." At the end of the afternoon's program, chaired by Michael The morning session, chaired by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Riccards, Provost of the College, Elizabeth Janeway, in a de- Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Schweitzer Professor at lightful second appearance, looked into the future to tell a the City University, began with a keynote address by Abigail rapt audience about the first woman president. Q. McCarthy, author and, as former wife of Eugene McCar- thy, herself once a candidate for the position of First Lady. Highlights of the conference follow. First Ladies before Mrs. Roosevelt

One White House staff member time, as they were expected to do, and, in- remembered the pain on Eliza Johnson's sofar as our own idiom is at variance with face as she waited, quietly sewing, for the it, we have trouble making positive judg- news about her husband's impeachment. ments about their role. The force of the RachelJackson, when she finally heard the office in replacing individualism with con- stories that had circulated about her for so formity, is clearly seen in the career of Lou long, cried out in a letter, "The enemys of Hoover. The woman in the White House the General have dipt their arrows in sitting in splendid isolation with her hus- wormwood and gall and sped them at band at formal meals for two, is a far cry me. . . Listening to them it seemed as if a from the tomboy Lou Henry who majored veil had been lifted, and I saw myself, in geology at Stanford, an extraordinary whom you have all guarded from outside thing for a woman to do; who translated criticism and surrounded with flattering De Re Metallica from the Latin, bicycled delusions, as others see me, a poor old through the Chinese Revolution amidst woman. . .I will not go to Washington." It spraying bullets, and singlehandedly or- by Barbara Welter is one thing for the son of Theodore ganized a committee to- return 10,000 I ile history of early presidential wives Roosevelt to offer to fight any boy who Americans from overseas. Her husband 6 1 T tends to be a collection of random spoke against his father; it is another to wrote of her, "Except when she felt it im- I anecdotes or attributes. One knows of bear in the silence and dignity that the of- perative, she never volunteered her judg- I Martha, her teeth as unseen as the more fice and the role demanded, the harsh ments. However I could tell them from her I famous dentures of George, smiling under language about someone you loved. . . . expression." I i her mobcap; Abigail , coping with Although generally the influence of This replacement of the individual t. her farm and family, and endlessly writing wives of presidents, like all women, was woman with the faceless head mounted on I 1I letters to her "Dear Friend" in which, seen as beneficial, there were times when the Inaugural gown, the appropriate syrn- I i among other things, she asked him to "Re- women in general and First Ladies in par- bol in the Hall of the First Ladies for much member the Ladies"; sav- ticular, were blamed for national ills. This of their history, ended with Mrs. Hoover. 1 ing the Portrait of Washington and pre- was particularly true during the Grant From the time of Eleanor Roosevelt, the I sumably at a later date sitting down to an Administration when the extravagance of expectations of the American people have ice cream dessert; then there is a long dress of the Grant "court" was held ac- been changed-to know that more can be I ' pause while memory gropes among the countable for the scandals surrounding his done by a First Lady, and to judge succes- ; 1 names of the Presidents themselves, much time in office. . . .The rampant feeling sive First Ladies by a different set of stan- 1 ' less their wives. A dedicated student against the "Southern" connections of dards, is her legacy to those Presidential remembers Rachel Jackson, surrounded made it necessary for wives who preceded her. 1 by faint sniffs of scandal and the lingering her husband to issue a press release deny- smoke of her corncob pipe; there is-~aG ing that any member-of his household Todd Lincoln, more than slightly mad; gave aid and support to the enemy. someone called Lemonade Lucy, for some The criticism of First Ladies was more incomprehensible reason connected with likely to center on style than on substance. White House social customs-another The most trenchant criticism of the long wait for the mists to recede; a vague 19th century came in the anonymous novel feeling that Teddy and his children prob- Democracy, which alienated a number of ably had someone in the background people both before and after its author cheering their wrestling matches; and was discovered to be the well-connected then, a triumphant conclusion: Mrs. Wil- . In the novel the President son who either was, or was not, running and his lady-"Old Granny" and his the country during her husband's illness. hatchet-faced wife - are ridiculed for the From that motley collage one must try ridiculous way in which they mimic the long and hard to fill in the blanks with forms of Europe, whose culture they know facts and figures, as well as faces. Even the so little of. "old Granny" was an amalgam origin of the term First Lady is disputed: of Grant and Hayes, and his wife ap- usually said to have originated in 1877 in parently was based on who, in an article describing the Rutherford B. his own name, Adams once described as Hayes Inauguration. . . . reminding him irresistibly of an isosceles . . .Wives, with the exceptions of Mary triangle. Todd Lincoln and possibly Julia Grant, in . . .The history of these First Ladies is a general escaped criticism. . . .But they little like the history of popular culture; were susceptible to criticism by others. they reflect very clearly the idiom of their

1 10 THE HUNTER MAGAZINE here are persons so great in their ef- T fect on others that it is impossible to think of their era without them. Eleanor Roosevelt was certainly one of those per- sons. And her life was so multi-faceted that it will provide insights and indicators for other women living different lives in different times long into the future. My own first impressions of Mrs. Roose- velt were not of a First Lady in any way un- usual. I was in school when Franklin Dela- no Roosevelt was elected president, and Mrs. Roosevelt was the first wife of a presi- dent of whom I was fully aware. (I had, it is true, a vaguely positive feeling about Mrs. Hoover because she had headed the Girl Scouts when I became one. Other than that I do not think I had given much thought to First Ladies. They were not much thought about or talked about.) My father was a state committeeman of the Democratic Party. The women in our family were heirs to the first wave of femi- nism. Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife of the long-awaited first Democratic presi- dent since Woodrow Wilson -our presi- dent who was bringing hope once again to flective with the years, I began to under- vention-bound, seemed very high to me. It our depression-ridden state where stand that Mrs. Roosevelt was the center of was borne in on me at that early stage that farmers, workers, and miners had storms because she broke ground; she ven- any woman-no matter how highly plac- despaired and united. Her interests, her tured where other women had not ventur- ed-any woman who varied from the activities seemed the fitting activities for ed before her. norm, from the accested conven- the wife of such a man in those times and Honesty compels me to say that the cost tions-any woman who rose head and fitting, too, for a prominent woman of the in ridicule, in the enmity of the petty and shoulders above the crowd did so at a great 20th century. the vindictive, and the censure of the con- price.. . . "Ahzgarl Q.MrCarlhj 1982

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., said of his how it is ruled" but that she also "influ- Despite having held the anti-Semitic at- mother, "She never took a public position enced policy from positions of power." titudes typical of her class and culture, she contrary to that of the Administration," Notably she reached out even to foreign became a passionate Zionist. She signed but privately, "memorandums used to fly. policy. "A measure of the remarkable the SANE nuclear test-ban petition, ad- She was always asking, 'What is the policy partnership between the Roosevelts was vocated arms control, and was the leading of your government?' She chose to ignore that Eleanor Roosevelt chartered her own advocate of human rights both at home the fact that quite often my father didn't course on foreign policy before, during, and internationally. "Committed to im- want to hold a position." and after her twelve years as 'first wife.'" proving the quality of life, she made the She helped to found the American noblest values seem globally achievable." Justine Wise Polia said that Mrs. Roose- Federation to Promote U.S. entry into the velt was a woman with a mischievous sense The prgs panel described her as a fantas- of humor and "an inner core that was un- World Court, opposed isolationism, and supported the Spanish Republicans at a tic mixture of pragmatism and idealism. touchable, indestructible. . . .Her life be- time when it simply was not done in polite Her relations with the press were syrnbiot- came part of history." circles. She addressed the Council on For- ic. They needed each other. Because she Blanche W. Cook ('62) put Mrs. eign Relations almost 30 years before it restricted her press conferences to women Roosevelt into a feminist context, admitted women to membership; she and dispensed hard news, newspapers and demonstrating that Mrs. R. was not only debated the Middle East crisis of 1956 with syndicates had to add women to their "concerned directly with the world and Senator on TV. staffs.

MARCH 1983 11 First Ladies TNho Followed MTS.R.

(left to right) Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., The following remarks by members of the hostess. She remembered everyone's name Letitia Baldrige, Isabelle Shelton, Nancy luncheon panel were gathered from what and found more things to say about how I Dickerson, Sheila Weidenfield, and Ann Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., called a "free- lovely a woman's hat was than anyone Cottrell Free. wheeling discussion." would have thought possible. On A breath of fresh air. On Bem Truman When she came to the She did women a great service, not only White House, she scheduled a press con- because of her support of ERA but be- ference, cancelled it, and never scheduled cause of her willingness to discuss her oper- one again. Asked what qualities were nec- ation for breast cancer. essary for a First Lady, she said, "Good ! health and a sense of humor." Important behind the scenes. Like Mrs. Roosevelt and Lady Bird OnJackie Kennedy Both a movie star Johnson before her, she acted as an om- and a very, very private person. One won- budsman. To bring things to the presi- ders now how she got away with so much. dent's attention people wrote to the First On Her beautifica- Lady, who would pass letters on. tion program had real substance; she can Maybe she's been forced justly be thought of as one of the origina- into a public role she didn't rant to per- tors of the environmental movement. form. She has been unjustly criticized for On She was not comfortable what she has always done: setting a beauti- in a public role. She was best at being a ful table and dressing well. Survey on First Ladies

In 1982, Professors Lonnstrom and Kelly statistically significant "positive" re- Reagan, Ida McKinley, Florence War- ' asked historians to rate First Ladies on ten sponses: Abigail Adams - at 84%, ahead ding, and - at 52 % -Mary Lincoln. (If a items: background, value to country, in- by a considerable margin of Lady Bird First Lady is unlisted here she was tegrity, leadership, intelligence, "own Johnson (77 %), ,.followed by Dolley clustered among the statistically average.) - woman," accomplishments, courage, Madison, Rosalyn Carter, Betty Ford, According to the surveyors, the ratings public image, and value to the president. , Jackie Kennedy, Martha seem to be biased toward "presentism," Washington, , Lou Democrats, and activist women. (James At the top of the poll came Eleanor Hoover, Lucy Cleveland, and Louisa MacGregor Burns, in commenting on the Roosevelt, with a rating of 93 out of 100 Adams (at an above-average63%). survey, added "the ignorance factor," say- possible points (she was judged weak only ing that the survey told less about the qual- in "value to the president"). Low women on the totem pole were Pat ity of First Ladies than about contempo- Thirteen other First Ladies garnered Nixon (58%), , Nancy rary perceptions.)

12 THE HUNTER MAGAZINE The First VJoom~n,President by Elizabeth Janeway nominated by a still male-dominated par- caving asidc thr horrid possibility that ty convention. A conservative woman- Ltllc* sky may fall on our heads prior to not a reactionary: Phyllis Schlafley would tl~rinaup~ration of a woman president, it call out a negative vote that would make scwns it11 but inrvitablr that we shall have the reaction to Teddy Kennedy seem ;I fv~nalr1ic.ad of govn-nmc~ntat some timr pale -represents the lesser range of unex- ciuring thc nrst genrration. Who and pectedness. Here we can turn to the exam- \vli;~twill she. bc.? ple of Sandra O'Connor as well as that of Here are some guesses. They do not rep- Margaret Thatcher. The ideology and resent my best hopes, but rather what I, as policies of such a woman promise con- an old observer of the political process, tinuity with the way things are. She does think is the probable provenance of a not threaten innovation except by her Number One Woman. presence. . . . First, let me point out that I spoke of her The first woman president will almost i?~clugurationas president, not her elec- certainly be married. It's possible that she t2i)rz. That's because nominating a woman might be a widow, but unlikely. The con- for vice-president will be much easier for a vention would like to see a happy, healthy, stereotypes about pliability and the desire party convention to consider than would non-henpecked husband beaming at the to please, and will have done so; as That- be naming a woman to the top of the tick- side of his wife. . . .Her husband will have cher reminded Parliament, "The lady's et. Anomalous vice-presidents have been to be portable; that is, he must be ready to not for turning.". . . nominated before. If Franklin Roosevelt move to Washington and to do so without Will I, a liberal-to-radical feminist, had died during his first two terms, we arousing sympathy over giving up a presti- welcome the advent of a conservative would have had a President from Texas gious executive position. On the other non-feminist woman as president? Yes. I long before Lyndon Johnson succeeded to hand, he must certainly be successful won't vote for her, but I will welcome her the Oval Office. Putting a woman in the enough in his profession so that he's not presence, in perfect counter-balance to second slot gives Fate a hand in any possi- seen as having suffered from his wife's am- the convention which will not welcome her ble elevation to Chief Executive, and Fate, bitious activities. Let him be neither a presence but will vote for her. A woman in Western mythology, has always been fe- wimp nor a hanger-on. I think it probable in an office that no woman has held before male. . . . that he will be a lawyer; they are always breaks down barriers and makes the im- Politically, I think it's highly likely that portable to Washington. . . . possible possible, if not likely. Her appear- the first woman president will be a Repub- The first woman president will have ance will be a step toward normalizing lican rather than a Democrat, and that's been active in politics for a good long women presidents. Those who come after not simply because the British example of time. She will know the ropes. She will could be nominated more easily even if Margaret Thatcher points this way. Any have heen tested by doubtful male peers their attitudes and circumstances varied time that people are asked to vote for and will have stood up to the testing. She more widely from normal male attributes. someone or something unexpected, they will have stamina, she will have demon- The presence of Margaret Thatcher at 10 will want to vote for as little unexpected- strated that she can be persistent in her Downing Street makes the possibility of ness as possible- for a figure who departs views to the point of stubbornness: witness Shirley Williams as a future resident more from the norm by a minimal degree. A Margaret Thatcher once more. She will, likely. And so it will be here. woman candidate will have to- be that is, have had to break female

MARCH 1983 13 he 1970s-trendy shops, a new The 1930's- the creaky, noisy main religion was Roman Catholic. T restaurant row, young, with-it Third Avenue El, a trolley line to The various ethnic groups came to- strollers, new high-rises, light, and Washington Heights, four- and five- gether in the public schools of which openness. . . . story tenements, working-class Euro- P.S. 82 on 70th and First was an out- peans and their American children. standing example. Its principal was a A Phi Beta Kappa graduate ujf Hunter native of Yorkville, a former student and its high school, Fotine Nicholas ('42) . . .This was the Yorkville whose geo- went on to study American literature at and teacher at 82. Abraham Cohen the graduate division of Columbia Col- graphical boundaries were 59th and was small, compact, handsome, im- lege. The recipient of a Fulbright grant to 96th Streets from the East River to maculate, and a smart dresser. Greece, sh,2 taught E hglish there at a boys' Fifth Avenue but whose true ambience gymnasion from 195.2 to 1954 and lectured lay east of Third from the middle six- We students loved 82-if :s dress ,n-,-nm v,,, .I ",,, on the Am,,,,,,, ,Jman under the aegis ties to the German eighties. It ended at code, its formality, the schocJ1 Jullg, of the Amen'can Embassy in Athens. A the river where barges moored to rick- the orchestra, the teams, and most of high school English teacher who speaks six our teachers. Mr. Cohen beli eved in languages, Ms. Nicholas retired 1981 ety piers and the Franklin D. Roose- in --I1 -- and has since resumed wnting. Her work velt Drive had not yet been built. motivation. The weekly honor LULI IC- has appeared in Athene, Common warded students for improvement in Ground, Greek Accent, Hamptons Ex- In those days most Yorkvillites were conduct as well as good scholarship. change, and the Sunday News Magazine. of Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Irish, The best students had the dubious (by Her translations of modern Greek German, and Italian origin. There today's stand nor of using the literature have appeared in The was a small Greek colony on 70th teachers' en1trance and dusting the Charioteer. Ms. Nicholas is married and -r--- - the mother of a son and a daughter. Street and an occasional synagogue principal's ofr~ceevery morning. Our was housed in a brownstone. The patriotic uniform, white middies, red

14 THE HUNTER MAGAZINE