Washington Whispers

Eleanor Roosevelt Was No Hillary Clinton

By Paul Bedard

February 4, 2010 RSS Feed Print

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Hillary Clinton, arguably the most activist first lady in recent history, has regularly been compared to Eleanor Roosevelt, seen by White House watchers as the copresidency model. But now FDR's grandson Curtis Roosevelt, who lived with his grandparents in the White House, tells us that's wrong. Where Eleanor wanted to maintain her "amateur status" in politics, rejecting policymaking or a bid for office, he says that Hillary "cut her own way. She was a distinctive first lady." Roosevelt, who writes about his ex­peri­ences of some 70 years ago in a new book, Too Close to the Sun, says that Eleanor "didn't wish to be a professional. Hillary Clinton is a professional . . . and that is a basic difference."

Tags:
Hillary Clinton

Reader Comments Read all comments (5)

Add Your Thoughts
Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

Eleanor Roosevelt is a way better than Hillary Clinton. It's better not to compare anyone and say negative stuff about them.

noneofyourbizwax of CA 9:31PM March 26, 2011

Paul Bedard spoke on WTOP yesterday suggesting that since we honor Presients today, we should honor First Ladies too. He mentioned several but missed two important ones: Jacqueline Kennedy and Eleanor Roosevelt. the former served the nation nobly when her husband was asassinated by arranging an historic state funeral modeled after Lincoln's. Mrs. Roosevelt may have wanted to keep her "amateur" status; however, she advanced civil rights -- working behind the scenes to arrange that Marian Anderson sing at the Lincoln Memorial (when the DAR had refused Anderson permission to sing in their concert hall); she promoted the idea of African-Americans (then called "blacks") as members of the Armed Forces. This changed military policy. And she supported unionizing, which would improve working conditions for American workers. Mrs. Clinton unfortunately was not able to get Health Care Policy Reform accomplished. Her intelligence is now recognized as she serves as Secretary of State.

Candice Wessling of MD 11:18AM February 15, 2010

Fact: Hillary Clinton participated in the Whitewater scandal, which robbed homeowners of their property if they failed to make just (1) mortgage payment. Fact: Clinton stayed with Bubba even though he was a sexaul predator long before Monica to gain power. Fact: She migrated to New York, became a Senator, promised to stay the course, and left to become SecState. Oh yeah, almost forgot about the phoney suicide of Vince Foster. No, I don't think Elenor R. did any of those things, did she? Clinton is a great role model for young women today, isn't she?

christmastree of NY 10:42AM February 05, 2010

About this blog

About this blog

Washington Whispers has been featured in U.S. News & World Report since 1933, offering a fun, insider's view of Washington.

advertisement

Cartoons

Latest Video

advertisement