I am ashamed of myself. When I was a young history student in college, I took one look at Eleanor Roosevelt and wondered how the heck could someone this homely be anything of importance ... yes, I'm ashamed of myself for thinking that way and I'll cop to the fact that as a late teenager/early twentsomething, I was a true idiot. Mind you, the name, Eleanor Roosevelt wasn't even mentioned during my high school career, maybe my idiot evolution would have reared it's ugly head sooner otherwise.
Ok, confession over. Mea Culpa.
American Experience ran this most excellent biography of this great lady ...GREAT LADY!!! Born rich, tragic little girl ... lost both parents young. Was the favorite niece of my favorite president, Theodore Roosevelt, whom terrified her (he gave her away at her wedding to FDR ... who was a cousin). Insecure personally, but what a dynamo professionally. I wanted to jump through my tv when they discussed J Edgar Hoover's disgust for Eleanor ... I guess her FBI file was over 3K pages long. He hated her because she ... perish the thought ... was a very early proponent for civil rights ... oh the horror!!! She was in charge of drafting the UN Declaration of Human Rights and she didn't budge much during the negotiations. She had to fight her way into the hearts of people (me included) and she managed to do it, each and every time, well, save that little cross dressing freak J. Edgar Hoover ... what a twerp. Her failings as a parent, it's really a shame, but her husband has to bear some of the brunt of that too. But she took it personally to her grave ... I doubt FDR did. Her own daughter betrayed her by arranging to have FDR's lover with him when he died, rather than Eleanor ... how awful.
God I love her. I wish they could give posthumus Nobel Peace Prizes because this woman, of all women, deserves one.
It took me 4 days to get through this 2.5 hour documentary. I kept falling asleep! I have a ton to catch up on ... still trying to get through Jude. It takes me awhile to get my ears used to listening to very heavy British accents. Also have 2 Polanski movies to get through.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment