Maybe It Was Eleanor

Ever wonder where big ideas come from? Memories of FDR from newsreel clips - a lion-headed striking man with rakish grin, jaw jutting proudly, signature cigarette holder clenched in his teeth tilted ever upward... soaring to the heavens as he cruises by waving to admirers in his convertible coupe. Short List FDR Credits: New Deal, WPA, Social Security, Minimum Wage, FDIC, Bank Act, United Nations, WW II Win Arguably Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the most influential person of the 20th Century. He changed America. Changed the world order. But who changed him? This rich boy from New York aristocracy. Schooling unremarkable. Domineering mother. Teddy's distant cousin. Ages ago, Plato mentored Socrates. Martin Luther King had Gandhi. Even Shakespeare had his Boswell. FDR had Louis Howe until his death in 1936 into the first of FDR's four terms. Howe mentored Eleanor too igniting her advocacy - memories of her first mentor Marie Souvestre of Allenswood Academy teaching free and independent thinking standing up for oneself. Novel notion in the women's suffrage era. Then there was Lorena "Hick" Hickok a noted journalist who during 1932 to 38 was Eleanor's romantic partner and who remained a life-long confidant. Hick influenced Eleanor to use her prominent position to push big ideas. Where did FDR's egalitarian concepts come from? Somewhat a mystery to biographers, historians and pundits - Franklin never explained. The privileged helping the ordinary. Eleanor, champion for the downtrodden. History is a record of being of the right mind-set, in the right place, at the right moment. Eleanor took over for Louis Howe after 1936 never seeking personal notoriety. She became Franklin's private collaborator. In 1918, when her marriage collapsed after having given birth to six of his children, she built a separate life for herself seeking refuge in feminism and social action. She'd never forsake her fractured affection for Franklin forming a bond with him to make life better for all people, everywhere. Although they lived separately on certain big ideas they were inseparable. Belief in the possibility of big ideas relieves the amorphous anxiety that we're lost as a society. Eleanor became a vital part of FDR's presidencies until his death in 1945. People saw it, third term critics railed, "We don't want Franklin again (or Eleanor either)". But history prevailed. Memories of ER photos of her as a New York socialite surprise us - demure, even statuesque, shy and vulnerable, young Eleanor. Not the plain, unadorned later life ER depicted in news reports. Her progressive agenda consumed her, leaving little room for lost affections - yet her feelings toward advocacy were evocative. Short List ER Credits: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), United Nations Representative, UN Human Rights Commission, NAACP, Anti-Lynching Movement 1930s, Women's Trade Union League (WTUL), Spanish Civil War, Labor Law Reform, National Youth Association (NYA) Her time in the limelight was focused on worthy world causes until her death in 1962. Maybe Franklin knew all along deep in his heart that she was the right choice after all. So where did the big ideas come from? Maybe it was Eleanor. Maybe it was Eleanor. Maybe it was Eleanor. Shy, plain, selfless Eleanor. This, her secret, uncovered. Maybe.