![]() ![]() Firmly, unscoldingly she was there each day to remind people that a powerful America was supposed to be above racism, had a responsibility to find ways to give basic decencies to the poor.” Through her column she could give her opinion on matters six days a week. Now free to speak her mind, she was uniquely influential because her audience was listening. ![]() “As an elected or appointed official,” biographer David Michaelis notes, “she would have felt that any office was a demotion or a constraint. When Roosevelt’s name was floated as a possible vice-presidential running mate for President Harry Truman in 1948, she demurred. She would become an almost daily presence in the lives of her audience in a manner that anticipated the social-media age. The sheer frequency of “My Day,” which ran with very few interruptions during its decades of publication, also extended ER’s influence immeasurably. “My Day” far outlasted Eleanor’s time in the White House, ending only with her death in 1962. ![]() Longworth’s column quickly fizzled, and ER would go on to write her column, “My Day,” six days a week for nearly 30 years. Then a rival company, United Feature Syndicate, recruited First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to compete with her cousin. In short order, her new feature, “What Alice Thinks,” was in 75 newspapers, a seemingly auspicious beginning. He thought he’d found a replacement with Alice Roosevelt Longworth, the sharp-tongued daughter of the late President Theodore Roosevelt. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |