Page 180 - Anthology

President Roosevelt had the “great depression” overwhelming our country to try to overcome, and I
remember from history class that he started a program we referred to as WPA to aid in work for the
unemployed. Our history teacher asked one of my classmates, noted for being unprepared and really not
interested, what did the initials WPA stand for? He replied that his dad said, “we piddle around.” Red,
the name the student was called, stayed in at recess.

One piece of legislature that President Roosevelt achieved that continues today was the act of Social
Security. August 14, 1935 was the date this was made possible. He had numerous meetings with
Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, our allies in the war. Roosevelt was quoted as saying his greatest
achievement during the war was to keep Churchill and Stalin from killing each other.

The meeting I remember most in my reflections is the Yalta Conference at the Black Sea Port. President
Roosevelt’s daughter, Anna went with him to help with his personal care because his health was failing.
She assisted him on many occasions at the White House and knowing he was extremely superstitious
always made sure there was an even number of guests at the dinner table.

President Roosevelt died in office at Warm Springs, Georgia, of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was
succeeded by Harry Truman, who ended the war with Japan, by deciding to use the atomic bombs.
Japan surrendered August 16, 1945.

Is it possible that we who lived through this dangerous time have a greater appreciation of our country
and the standards we held dear at that time? I truly believe that may be true. We have fought wars
continually through the years, but none that actually we believed could be a threat to our shores. Our
country as a whole has never supported another war since World War II with the same dedication;
instead we seem to have been more divided with each war.

A great president needs a special dedicated wife to support him, so I feel that I should write a bit about
Eleanor Roosevelt, a fifth cousin of Franklin. She was the niece of President Theodore Roosevelt and
her mother thought her to be plain and boring. Franklin’s mother tried to discourage her son from seeing
Eleanor, but they were married for 40 years until his death in l945.

Eleanor believed that it was a wife’s duty to be interested in whatever interested her husband, whether it
was politics or a particular dish for dinner. One should always be on time, do as little talking as humanly
possible and lean back in the parade car so everyone can see the president.

One interesting story I remember was the time that Eleanor invited a woman from a poverty level home,
who had a wonderful voice, to a luncheon at the White House. The waiter brought finger bowls to the
luncheon table and the poor woman picked hers’ up and drank from the bowl. Courtesy at that time was
everyone waited for the First Lady to start and they would follow, so Eleanor saw what her guest did and
immediately picked up her finger bowl and drank from it and so did all her other guests.

Later in her life, Eleanor served as a member of the Human Rights Commission, helped write the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and this she considered her greatest achievement.

She was well educated, extremely bright and much respected by the citizens of our country. She died of
cancer, November 7, 1962, at age 78.

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I remember my dad’s reaction to my suggestion that he register for Social Security when he had his 65
birthday. He said, “I can take care of myself”. I tried to explain that even the wealthy men in our
community received Social Security. After several years he reluctantly went to Frankfort with my brother
driving him and applied. His check arrived with all the money he was due from age 65 (about 3 years)
and he was horrified at the amount and always drove to Lexington to cash his checks because he didn’t
want the Midway Bank personnel (his friends) to know he was receiving “charity”.