The Roosevelts and the Kennedys

The ties between the Roosevelt and Kennedy families go back to World War I when Franklin D. Roosevelt was Assistant Secretary of the Navy.  In November 1917, Joseph P. Kennedy was the Assistant General Manager of the Fore River Shipbuilding Corporation in Quincy, Massachusetts, when a labor strike threatened the company’s contribution to the Navy’s … Continue reading The Roosevelts and the Kennedys

Found in the Archives

Eleanor Roosevelt and Gore Vidal The recent death of celebrated author Gore Vidal (1925-2012) led us to explore his relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt. The following "My Day" column drafts and letters from Gore Vidal are found the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers here at the Roosevelt Library. From the beginning of Vidal's literary career, ER read and … Continue reading Found in the Archives

Found in the Archives

The RMS Titanic at 100 One hundred years ago, the British passenger liner RMS Titanic sank on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic.Considered a marvel of sumptuous luxury and Progressive Era industrial engineering, the ship charged confidently through icy waters at high speeds, struck an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland, then went down in under … Continue reading Found in the Archives

Found in the Archives

2012: The Girl Scouts of America turns 100 March 12, 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the first organized meeting of the Girl Scouts, hosted in Georgia by founder Juliette Gordon Low.  Several years later, as First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt served as Honorary President of that organization throughout her tenure in the White House. In … Continue reading Found in the Archives

Found in the Archives

We thought this would be a great photo to share in celebration of International Women's Day: The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948 in the midst of an especially bitter phase of the Cold War. Many people contributed to this remarkable achievement, but most observers believe … Continue reading Found in the Archives

Found in the Archives

"This Is No Ordinary Time" Tensions ran high as Eleanor Roosevelt approached the podium to address the delegates of the 1940 Democratic National Convention. The prior evening's raucous proceedings, which led  to FDR's nomination for an unprecedented third term candidacy, had been long and trying. Now FDR's subsequent insistence on Henry Wallace as Vice Presidential … Continue reading Found in the Archives