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On the afternoon of December 7, 1941, as a stunned nation gathered around the radio to hear the latest about Pearl Harbor, Eleanor Roosevelt was preparing for her weekly Sunday evening national radio program. At 6:45pm, listeners to the NBC Blue network heard the First Lady’s calm, measured voice explain that the president was conferring with his top advisors to address the crisis. It was a remarkable broadcast. With America on the verge of war, the nation heard first not from their president, but from his wife.
Eleanor Roosevelt's groundbreaking career as a professional radio broadcaster is almost entirely forgotten. As First Lady, she hosted a series of prime time programs that revolutionized how Americans related to their chief executive and his family. Now, The First Lady of Radio rescues these broadcasts from the archives, presenting a carefully curated sampling of transcripts of Roosevelt's most famous and influential radio shows, edited and set into context by award-winning author and radio producer Stephen Drury Smith. With a foreword by Roosevelt's famed biographer, historian Blanche Wiesen Cook, The First Lady of Radio is both a historical treasure and a fascinating window onto the power and the influence of a pioneering First Lady.
This e-book includes thirteen rarely heard original recordings of Eleanor Roosevelt from her prime-time programs.
Eleanor Roosevelt's groundbreaking career as a professional radio broadcaster is almost entirely forgotten. As First Lady, she hosted a series of prime time programs that revolutionized how Americans related to their chief executive and his family. Now, The First Lady of Radio rescues these broadcasts from the archives, presenting a carefully curated sampling of transcripts of Roosevelt's most famous and influential radio shows, edited and set into context by award-winning author and radio producer Stephen Drury Smith. With a foreword by Roosevelt's famed biographer, historian Blanche Wiesen Cook, The First Lady of Radio is both a historical treasure and a fascinating window onto the power and the influence of a pioneering First Lady.
This e-book includes thirteen rarely heard original recordings of Eleanor Roosevelt from her prime-time programs.
Price: $17.99
Pages: 272
Publisher: The New Press
Imprint: The New Press
Publication Date:
14 October 2014
ISBN: 9781620970584
Format: eBook
Stephen Drury Smith is the executive editor and host of American RadioWorks (ARW). He is also the host of NPR's Bright Ideas. Smith and ARW have been awarded the duPont-Dolumbia University Fold and Silver Batons. Smith is the co-editor of three books—Say it Plain, Say it Loud, and After the Fall—all available from The New Press. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. Blanche Wiesen Cook is Distinguished Professor of History at John Jay College in the City University of New York and the author of Eleanor Roosevelt. She lives in New York City.
Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgments
A Note on the Transcripts
Foreword by Blanche Wiesen Cook
Introduction
“The Girl of Today”
“Woman’s Career vs. Woman’s Home”
“A Mother’s Responsibility as a Citizen”
“Concluding Broadcast”
“Negro Education”
“When Will a Woman Become President of the US?”
“Shall a Woman Be Herself?”
“A Day in the White House”
“Peace Through Education”
“World Court Broadcast”
“Making the Wheels Go ‘Round in the White House”
“Keeping House on a Budget in the White House”
“What It Means To Be the Wife Of The President”
“Education of a Daughter for the 20th Century”
“Problems of Working Women”
“Life in a Tenement”
“Eleanor Roosevelt Interviewed on the Causes and Cures of War”
“Domestic Workers and Government Housing”
“Questions About the White House”
“Democracy”
“Political Conventions and Campaign Trips”
“Planning for War and Post-War Periods”
“Peace, Democracy and Ideals”
“Address to the Democratic National Convention”
“Shall We Arm Merchant Ships?”
“Freedom of Speech”
“Propaganda”
“Isolationists”
“Pearl Harbor Attack”
“Civilian Defense”
“Preparedness for War”
“Enemy Aliens and Women in War Work”
“Answering Her Critics”
“Broadcast From Liverpool”
“Wartime Conditions in Great Britain”
“D-Day Message”
“V-E Day Radio Message”
“V-J Day Radio Message”
Endnotes