I was born in 1941, so i didn't remember FP at the time and i don't remember when i first heard about her, but i did know that she was the first woman cabinet member probably in my teens when i knew what THE "cabinet" was.
Of course, my parents were huge FDR fans, so it may have come from their discussions.
Harold - you talked about the Supreme Crt packing issue. I had always tho't that that was a huge issue and that the Court that been a huge obstacle to FDR, but Downey's story seemed to me to say that it was a minor hindrance, at first, and then he got to appoint his people.
Question to Kristin Downey - do you know if FP got the same salary as a Cabinet member as the men? I don't know how she survived financially paying for hospitalization for both her husband and her dgt. Altho, i guess the costs were not as horrendous as they would be today. My parents never had any health insurance, but going to the doc didn't cost them a day's pay. They were able to take advantage of Medicare at the end of their lives when they had the most severe illnesses.
I agree w/ Harold about the wisdom of the campaigns of Clinton and Obama. I also agree that Clinton got some bad press as a woman. The contemporary women's movement started in the 70's and there has been quite alot written about the treatment of women in the press. I would have tho't that newswriters and editors (altho i'm not sure there are editors anymore when i read the grammatical mistakes that are in the papers and magazines) would be eduacated to stop talking about how attractive some woman is, or what she's wearing, or other "feminine" stereotypes. We do see women in positions of authority - and yes, they often have the responsibility, but not the authority - but it is true that some women have bought into the "appearance" stereotype, or bashing other women, etc. But no group is a monolith - e.g. Sarah Palin/Hillary Clinton - and we shouldn't expect them to be. It is distressing to see women not supporting women, or worse, being verbally against each other, but i could not support Sarah Palin for any national position. I was impressed w/ how respectfully she spoke about Hillary Clinton during the campaign, but other than that, i don't have anything that i could positively about her beyond that.
Your posts are all wonderful. I completely agree w/ Ella on the immigration issue. We're all descended from immigrants - many see to forget that, or have a lot of myths about how their ancestors assimilated quickly and became "American" immediately upon stepping onto the dock of the the U.S. That never happend. EAch nationality has had it's clubs, had churches in which their first language was spoken, had newspapers and magazines in their first language, etc. It's almost always the second generation who assimilate and learn the language and culture. But they still are proud of their culture of origin, as they should be.
Being legal is the issue, as Ella said.
It's interesting how acute FP was in her assessment of Nazi Germany and France and how she was ignored when she tried to relay her opinion to the powers that be. Downey doesn't relate whether any of them acknowledged to her "you were right."
She gets more and more impressive to me as i read more of the book
Bellamarie, what a terrible position your relative is in. I don't get why the justice system isn't interested in her crime.
We have Eleanor R to thank for FDR having some understanding of what was happening w/ the common person in society. FDR said she was his eyes and ears, since he could not so easily move around the country. I think she was also his conscience in many cases, pushing him to think about what was happening for Blacks and women and Jews, etc. ...........jean
