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Dear Malia and Sasha...
And how will they do that?
Well, my sister and I were really very isolated—I’d tell the Obamas to avoid having that happen. When children came in to the White House as our guests, it was always so formal. My fifth birthday party, for example, was listed in The New York Times with a guest list. Nothing was spontaneous. I didn’t know anything about the kind of rough and tumble that children learn about in the play yard. The Lindbergh baby had been kidnapped and killed and that was very much in the mind of the Secret Service—we had this whole South Lawn to play on, but no one to play with. I became a loner.
Secret Service and protection then was a pittance compared to what it is today, and what the Obama children will face as a consequence, I don’t know. But I think it’s going to take some very stern oversight on Michelle’s part to see that a certain level of risk is taken to allow Malia and Sasha to have some freedom and just be, not constantly under the scrutiny of Secret Service agents while they are trying to grow up into young women.
Author’s Collection/FDRL
What are some of the greatest misconceptions about your grandparents?
One is, it isn’t a matter of correcting but emphasizing how much FDR’s sense of humor eased his way. He could make amusing anything that came up, and did. He liked poking fun at people, and sometimes Eleanor thought he could be a bit close to the bone. But he loved that repartee, and quite often people were the object of it. He was an attentive man—I remember being 5 years old and going to see a lot of navy ships, then returning to the White House to report back to him. There were people standing around ready to go to work with him, and this is a man who had been assistant secretary of the navy for five years, but he listened to me. And he encouraged those interests—he bought me model ships and books and maps. It was the kind of strong personal relationship that is difficult to describe.
My grandmother, on the other hand, was always reserved. She was instinctively a very judgmental person, not that she pronounced it, but you could see it on her face. She also had a hard time, and it sounds odd, giving of herself to those closest to her. But you see, the less close you were to Eleanor, the easier it was for her to relate to you, so the American public in general was terribly impressed with this woman who gave of herself, and completely. I can remember my uncles and mother sardonically joking about the fact that they didn’t get the same attention as the American public.
Her reputation is real, as someone who gave enormously and easily, but those who were close to her had a different experience. She always acted like it was something she ought to be doing—it didn’t move naturally out of her.
Did your grandparents have a loving relationship?
Looking back, you can see that obviously both of them were totally inexperienced in what to expect in married life. And intimacy, when two people are deeply disappointed in their choice of partner but go on in a marriage, is obviously affected. FDR was not the typical macho male by any means. He was a very thoughtful man—and she was expecting a lot from him, having been raised by an alcoholic addict herself.
When Eleanor found out about FDR’s passionate love for Lucy Mercer in 1918—I don’t think it was a sexual affair, if you knew Washington in those days…there was no place to go—she was deeply offended. And she brought it up and said she would give him a divorce if he wanted; obviously that was not a practical thing. But after that, the intimacy stopped completely.
Still, they were very much a couple until the end, and he wanted that. I even remember FDR saying, up until 1944: Babs, I do wish you’d spend more time here with me, and less time traveling. She did not change her schedule.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Amateur Hour at the White House
Leslie H. Gelb, a former New York Times columnist and senior government official, is author of Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy (HarperCollins 2009), a book that shows how to think about and use power in the 21st century. He is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Going Rogue: The Index
Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
The Week in Culture
Rachel Syme is culture editor of The Daily Beast.
The Trailer Park Gourmet
Rachel Syme is culture editor of The Daily Beast.
The Week in Culture
Rachel Syme is culture editor of The Daily Beast.
I wonder what he thinks of his relative who chaired the DNC rules committee that disenfranchised 2.3 million Democratic voters this year? By the effort of that Roosevelt progeny the DNC became the second greatest mass disenfranchiser in history, behind only Jim Crow, and for what? Because a political party committee has newly discovered its "power" to dictate to state legislatures when free citizens should vote; because the parties feel they must decide what primary voters will be most important.
More relevantly, thanks for the visit with this living link to an important time in our history. It's nice to remember that it was people back then who were acting on such important issues, not just marble statues.
Excellent advice for the Obama girls, CR. Your Great Depression/current economic crisis comparison (or should I say non-comparison) was spot on, as well. Looking forward to reading your book.
À la prochaine
A la prochaine
Curtis figured prominently in the David Grubin FDR documentary. Urbane and verbally precise in a manner that must be almost painful to him, he seems to be burdened with that aristocratic penchant for selecting le mot juste. May it be of some comfort that a few of us out there appreciate his estimable skills, imparted by the Guy himself. Can't wait to read.
While Curtis may have had a less than ideal experience growing up in the White House, I think some of the more recent examples -- Caroline Kennedy and Chelsea Clinton for example -- show that it is indeed possible to grow up in such an unusual environment and yet emerge perfectly well-adjusted.
Issywise,
What an inane comment.
Everybody has a right to vote for whomever they please.
This is not restricted in any way by the rules that parties set for how they choose their own nominees.
If you join a party, then abide by the rules.
Otherwise, find another party, form your own, or write in your choice in the voting booth.
Interesting article. What was never mentioned is why you lived there. Why couldn't you live in northern Va. or in Georgetown?
Sasha and Malia don't have that option, of course.
izzywise, but there was no disenfranchisement. The Democratic Party is a party, it has nothing to do with suffrage. How they choose to organize it is entirely up to them. If you don't like it, become a Republican, a Libertarian, or start your own party, or agitate to change the rules, but please stop it with the Clinton whining already. She lost. Get over it.
enders, sorry, I didn't hit refresh so missed your point.
Yes, thanks for your input. Back then people really put country first. I was watching Frontline last night. It was about Lee Atwater and how to me he hijacked what was good about america. Now the republican party is the party of idiots. Neither side does well when the best and the brightest on both sides can't come together. Since Bush I came into office they win the presidency on guns, gay, abortion issues that finally in this election people don't want to hear about. I wish you could write a book on how to not see the other party as your enemy. At the end of the day this is one country. You wouldn't know it by the way right wing talk shows are carrying on.
What a silly comparison, Curtis Roosevelt and the Obama girls.
Is this the only way this old man can get some publicity for his book? Have to agree with others, Caroline Kennedy and Chelsa Clinton came out pretty "normal". He lost me at "I'd always lived in big houses with servants". I doubt that Melia and Sasha will be ordering the servants around.
Au contraire, Bettie. Understanding history better helps us to understand the present. Obviously, CR's experience and that of the Obama girls are not exactly similar -- that's not his point. He only offers his perspective.
By the way, your disrespect ("this old man") only helps to expose your own shortcomings as a person.
The hook for this story is silly--comparing this gentleman's childhood in the White House to that of the Obama girls-- but the content is of some interest. I've difficulty thinking he's got enough interesting stories in him for two books, but perhaps so.
The Roosevelts were just batty. Eleanor's mother died when she was 8, her father was alcoholic. She was born a Roosevelt and married a Roosevelt. Though the article fails to mention it, Curtis was living with his grandparents because his mother had divorced his father. In addition to the dysfunction, childhood was just different back then. Aside from the setting and the exposure to some highly placed people, I can't imagine that Malia and Sasha's life in the White House could be much more different from this fellow's.
But he is no doubt right that he witnessed things that no one else has written about. Very well. He has written them down and business mandates that he give interviews to fulfill his obligation to make the publication profitable. Why is that worth whining about?
Edit:
Third paragraph - the hyphens are unneeded on "Now 78-years-old." ARG!!
Your knowledge of Roosevelt family history is impressive. Although, stating that "The Roosevelts were just batty," is not very insightful.
Lastly, I'm a little confused (not the first time). Are you suggesting that I or CR are whining? I didn't get the impression he was, and I do my best not to. Or maybe I'm just batty.
If it's taken you 60 years to come to grips with your childhood, you should have been in therapy along time ago. Good luck.
Interesting article.
Why were they living with their grandparents? Were their parents dead?
Great advice. I disagree that his advice is irrelevent. It will be a challenge for the Obama girls to develop identities of their own given that they will forever be known as the daughters of the first black president, though Michelle seems to be up to the task.
The challenge to be special all the time must be tremendous pressure for a child. He seems to have a particular insight into the damage of a forced personality. I can totally see what he is speaking of and hope that the girls have a chance to just be, instead of having to fulfill the expectations set forth by the media and the world.
"I did a fundraiser in the South of France for Obama!"
Aren't campaign contributions from foreigners illegal?
I thought this was a sensitive and insightful bit of advice for the Obama girls - and a look into a little known world.
imworkingonit -- candidates cannot take money from foreign nationls. But ex-pats are free to raise money and support candidates as they see fit.
American citizens may donate, campaign, and vote in our elections no matter where they happen to reside. Democrats Abroad is the active group for the Democratic Party and they have a few delegates to the Convention. I'm sure the Republicans have a similar set up. Making sure their absentee ballots are the correct ones for their home precinct and getting them sent off in time to be counted is the major hassle.
Enders
Aside for the fact that the votes are cast in publicly conducted elections that cost tens of millions of tax dollars;
Aside from the fact that the issue being voted on is selection of candidates for highest public official in the land;
Aside from the fact that voting is supposed to be a public virtue;
Aside from the fact that that voting is supposed to be a personal affirmation of belief that the individual matters and can make difference in a democracy;
Aside from the fact that the parties voided votes so that they dictate whose votes mattered most by selecting who must vote first;
Aside from the fact that our national creed is equality and the importance of the individual;
Aside from the fact that some of the voided voters had not mattered in a presidential primary for over a third a century and had their legislatures act so they could matter for a change;
Aside from all of that......your mean school librarian values that "rules are rules and must be followed," regardless of what values they serve, might make sense.
But because of all of those things listed above you are expressing the viewpoint of a sheep-like blind partisan who accept diminution of fellow citizens rights so long as it serves temporary political expedience.
Follow rules indeed! Isn't that what Bull Connor told said outside the courthouse as he turned voters away?
Good historical company you good Democrats are keeping.
As for me, I think the "Party of Civil Rights" should be ashamed of millions of voted votes and quickly act to impose one-person one-vote by law on all presidential primaries.
He was in Warm Springs Monday, where FDR died. Wouldn't converse with anyone, told them "Read the book," or "Buy the book." Didn't care to see the Springs, said "Water is water." When a ranger on site tried to ask him which town in France he lives, he said, "You wouldn't know about it anyway." He took his mother's maiden name just to pawn the book and be able to use the name to make a buck while complaining about FDR's legacy and his part in it. He's welcome to go back to France and take his book with him.
Thank you.
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