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Dear Malia and Sasha...
Anything else you want to set the record straight about?
My second book will be about my grandfather’s paralysis. People to this day don’t realize that he was completely paralyzed from the waist down. They make a big deal of his being in a wheelchair, but that is rubbish. He was in a chair as a vehicle, but he never sat there. He didn’t have any flesh on his buttocks, sitting on a wooden seat was uncomfortable, though he did make sure to have a swing out ashtray so he could smoke in the chair.
I have found most Americans do not realize extent to which he is disabled—I will write in greater detail what it was like to be crippled to that degree, how dependent he was every moment of the day on someone else to pick up his pencil if he dropped it. He couldn’t get out of bed himself. He required assistance, always.
Have you seen a renewed interest in FDR with Obama’s election?
You can’t look at columns like Paul Krugman’s in The Times yesterday about “Franklin Delano Obama” and not see the new interest! Everyone is asking why doesn’t Obama simply emulate FDR? Why don’t we pick up and start a New Deal? Straight down the line, they have been comparing this recession with the Great Depression. The thing is, there is a substantial difference between now and then. Even Wall Street types were perfectly willing to give FDR dictatorial powers if he would cope with the financial crisis. Nobody’s mentioned that with Obama, and you won’t see it.
You cannot imagine how people were affected. People walked to work; the subway was a dime—John D. Rockefeller Sr. going out to the streets on 5th Avenue and handing out dimes to people. It was ludicrous. To put it in simple terms, parents would go to sleep at night hearing their children crying from hunger in their beds. And what could you do? You have not eaten yourself. That’s what I mean about the Great Depression. We are in a deep depression, but not like that.
But there are some similarities between the two.
I think there are plenty, and that’s why I got out and campaigned. I did a fundraiser in the South of France for Obama! I think there is a genuineness and lack of calculation with them both. Especially if you compare Obama with the campaigns of McCain, and even with Hillary Clinton. You can practically see the clicking of her brain. I don’t sense that with Obama, not that he isn’t a smart politician—he is, but so was FDR. They both had a sense of balance and intuition rather than any particular ideology.
Do you feel vindicated by airing out all the family secrets?
It is nice to have some recognition, yes. But I feel I have imparted enough serious information and not just told you about the fun life of a kid in the White House. It was a marvelous way to grow up. You can’t imagine the education. By the time I was six years old I had met every major leader and everyone on the scene. But I paid the price. It took me until my early 60s to move out of it and become myself out from under my family’s shadow. But I know that without my telling it, a lot of history that was off the record will never be heard. Only I can give these insights, and I intend to.
Too Close to the Sun: Growing Up in the Shadow of my Grandparents, Franklin and Eleanor is published by PublicAffairs.
Rachel Syme is Culture Editor of The Daily Beast.
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.
Thank you.
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