No Ordinary Time

165 “ . . . everyone is excited . . .”: Henry Davis to ER, Sept. 9, 1940, forwarded by Tommy to Sec. Stimson on Sept. 19, OF 93, FDRL.

  166 Negro high-school teacher; “There is no place . . .”: SEP, Dec. 14, 1940, p. 61.

  166 “Hell, if you said . . .”: PC, July 13, 1940, p. 3.

  166 strictly mess men: Byers, “Negro in Military Service,” p. 213.

  166 mess men’s duties: PC, Dec. 28, 1940, pp. 1, 4.

  166 drawn into the navy: PC, Oct. 5, 1940, p. 1.

  166 “Our main reason . . .”: ibid, p. 4.

  166 “I am still 100 percent . . .”: PC, Dec. 28, 1940, p. 4.

  167 “Since other mess attendants . . .”: PC, Dec. 7, 1940, p. 4.

  167 “I understand the plight . . .”: PC, Nov. 9, 1940, p. 4.

  167 new conscription law: Ulysses G. Lee, The Employment of Negro Troops (1966), pp. 69–75.

  167 “In the selection . . .”: ibid, p. 74.

  167 “no man shall be inducted . . .”: ibid.

  167 “faith, cooperation and energy”: New York Age, Sept. 21, 1940, p. 1.

  167 “There is a growing feeling . . .”: ER to FDR, n.d., PSF 177, FDRL.

  168 “She has already spoken . . .”: Early to Watson, Sept. 19, 1940, OF 2538, FDRL.

  168 FDR’s meeting with leaders: entire conversation is from BG, Jan. 24, 1982, p. A15; American Heritage, Feb.-March 1982, p. 24. These articles reveal the contents of tape-recorded conversations at the White House in 1940.

  169 “for critical experiments . . .”: George Catlett Marshall, The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vol. II (1981), p. 376.

  169 “ . . . to satisfy the Negro . . .”: Stimson Diary, Sept. 27, 1940, Yale University.

  169 “In the process of evolution . . .”: report, “Employment of Negro Man Power in War,” Nov. 1925, FDRL.

  170 “Soldiers who were asked . . .”: Polenberg, War and Society, p. 123.

  170 “We did not want to violate . . .”: WW to ER, Oct. 4, 1940, ER Microfilm Collection, FDRL.

  170 “The policy of . . .”: Lee, Negro Troops, p. 76.

  171 Early gave false impression: press release, Oct. 9, 1940, OF 93, FDRL.

  171 “a stab in the back . . .”: NAACP release, Oct. 11, 1940, OF 93, FDRL.

  171 “none is more shameful . . .”: Crisis, Dec. 1940, p. 375.

  171 “I am sorry . . .”: WW to ER, Oct. 12, 1940, ER Microfilm Collection, FDRL.

  171 “no fixed policy . . .”: FDR statement, OF 93, FDRL.

  171 “Rest assured . . .”: FDR to WW, Oct. 25, 1940, OF 93, FDRL.

  171 “We are inexpressibly shocked . . .”: Crisis, Nov. 1940, p. 356.

  171 “The Negro situation . . .”: Jim Rowe to FDR, Oct. 31, 1940, OF 93, FDRL.

  171 “Never before . . .”: PC, Oct. 19, 1940, p. 1.

  171 “It looks as though . . .”: Will Alexander, OH, FDRL.

  172 Davis and Hastie: Lee, Negro Troops, pp. 79–81.

  172 “the Negroes are taking advantage . . .”: Stimson Diary, Oct. 22, 1940, Yale University.

  172 “ . . . a colored Admiral”: Stimson Diary, Oct. 25, 1940, Yale University.

  172 “Are you crazy . . .”: A. P. Allen to FDR, Oct. 25, 1940, OF 93, FDRL.

  172 “It is incomprehensible . . .”: Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Kirk, Oct. 25, 1940, OF 93, FDRL.

  172 “in the fight for equitable . . .”: PC, Nov. 2, 1940, p. 1.

  172 “ . . . to insure a square deal . . .”: WW to FDR, Nov. 4, 1940, OF 93, FDRL.

  172 “the basic fact of segregation . . .”: Lash, Eleanor and Franklin, p. 532.

  173 PAC had submitted 567 names: David S. Wyman, Paper Walls (1985), p. 143.

  173 only fifteen visas issued: Henry L. Feingold, The Politics of Rescue (1970), p. 141.

  173 “a singleness of purpose . . .”: ibid., p. 136.

  173 “We can delay . . .”: ibid., p. 173.

  173 “Mr. McDonald is so wrought up . . .”: ER to FDR, Sept. 28, 1940, OF 3186, FDRL.

  173 “Please tell me . . .”: FDR to Welles, Oct. 2, 1940, OF 3186, FDRL.

  173 “I found that he was . . .”: Breckinridge Long, The War Diaries of Breckinridge Long (1966), pp. 134–35.

  174 “pull any sob stuff”: Wyman, Paper Walls, p. 147.

  174 “Something does seem wrong . . .”: ER to FDR, Oct. 10; reply, Oct. 16, 1940; both in OF 3186, FDRL.

  174 S.S. Quanza: NYT, Aug. 21, 1940, p. 5.

  174 “Impossible . . .”: Stella K. Hersham, A Woman of Quality (1970), p. 40.

  174 “Complete despair . . .”: quoted in ibid., p. 40.

  174 “I remonstrated violently . . .”: quoted in Feingold, Politics of Rescue, p. 144.

  174 “When he told me . . .”: Marlin to George Warren, Sept. 27, 1940, OF 3186, FDRL.

  174 “Mrs. Roosevelt . . .”: Hersham, A Woman of Quality, p. 41.

  175 “The department does not refuse . . .”: Nation, Dec. 28, 1940, p. 649.

  175 “It looks again . . .”: Joseph Buttinger to ER, Nov. 15, 1940, OF 3186, FDRL.

  175 “all Jews . . .”: this letter attached to ibid.

  175 “FDR, Can’t something be done?”: ER to FDR, Nov. 27, 1940, OF 3186, FDRL.

  175 “The President’s overriding concern . . .”: Justine Polier, OH, FDRL.

  175 “Franklin, you know . . .”: ibid.

  176 “True, the Nazis . . .”: Wyman, Paper Walls, p. 35.

  176 “her deepest regret . . .”: interview with James Roosevelt.

  176 Willkie campaign in thirty states: Time, Nov. 4, 1940, p. 12.

  176 FDR telescoped three “inspections”: NYT, Oct. 1, 1940, p. 1.

  176 unprecedented quantities of land: R. Elberton Smith, The Army and Economic Mobilization (1959), p. 441.

  177 “said to be . . .”: NYT, Oct. 1, 1940, p. 14.

  177 Glenn Martin plant: Fortune, Dec. 1939, pp. 73–76.

  177 unemployment rolls: Kenneth S. Davis, FDR: Into the Storm, 1937–1940 (1991), p. 613.

  177 “The main point . . .”: FDR to John Boettiger, Oct. 1, 1940, box 7, Halsted Papers, FDRL.

  177 the president journeyed to Midwest: NYT, Oct. 11, 1940, p. 1; Oct. 13, 1940, p. 1.

  177 “one knifing through the air . . .”: NYT, Oct. 13, 1940, p. 22.

  177 Schools dismissed: Time, Oct. 21, 1940, p. 15.

  177 “I have come here today . . .”: NYT, Oct. 11, 1940, p. 11.

  177 Jimmy: NYT, April 23, 1939, p. 3; Ted Morgan, FDR: A Biography (1985), pp. 462–66.

  178 FDR, Jr.: NYT, April 23, 1939, p. 3.

  178 “golden boy”: interview with Trude Lash.

  178 Elliott: Morgan, FDR, pp. 458–61.

  178 “Elliott was the most like . . .”: Minnewa Ball, OH, FDRL.

  178 John: Morgan, FDR, pp. 455–57.

  178 worked under a pseudonym: John Gunther, Roosevelt in Retrospect (1950), p. 198.

  178 “None of them really lived . . .”: Abram Sacher, OH, FDRL.

  178 “She didn’t know . . .”: interview with Curtis Roosevelt.

  178 “I don’t seem to be able . . .”: Joseph P. Lash, Love, Eleanor (1982), p. 159.

  179 “She felt that the guilt . . .”: Elliott Roosevelt and James Brough, A Rendezvous with Destiny (1975), p. 67.

  179 “she was so unsure . . .”: Lash Diary, Aug. 1, 1940, Lash Papers, FDRL.

  179 “I was not allowed . . .”: John R. Boettiger, Jr., A Love in Shadow (1978), p. 45.

  179 “At a visceral level . . .”: interview with Curtis Roosevelt.

  179 “she determined . . .”: Lash, Love, Eleanor, p. 56.

  179 “your mother only bore you . . .”: interview with James Roosevelt.

  179 “It did not come naturally . . .”: Lash, Love, Eleanor, p. 57.

  179 “Franklin loved . . .”: ER interview, Graff Papers, FDRL.

  179 “I was the disciplinarian . . .”: ibid.

  180 “very unpredictable . . .”: James Halsted in Bernard Asbell, Mother and Daughter (1988), p. 9.


  180 “the most unexpected spots . . .”: AH, “What Does It Feel Like to Be the Offspring of Famous Parents?,” manuscript, n.d., box 84, Halsted Papers, FDRL.

  180 “traumatic”: AB interview, Graff Papers, FDRL.

  180 “did not realize that Anna . . .”: Eleanor Roosevelt and Helen Ferris, Your Teens and Mine (1961), p.71.

  180 “It never occurred to me . . .”: TIMS, p. 338.

  180 “This outburst of mine . . .”: Eleanor Roosevelt and Ferris, Your Teens and Mine, p. 70.

  181 “I felt very strongly . . .”: AH, OH, Columbia University.

  181 “I was mad . . .”: Asbell, Mother and Daughter, p. 40.

  181 “Emotionally . . .”: AH, OH, Columbia University.

  181 “Eleanor saw in John . . .”: interview with Curtis Roosevelt.

  181 “I love Anna so dearly . . .”: Asbell, Mother and Daughter, p. 68.

  181 “The Northwest welcomed . . .”: SEP, July 8, 1939, p. 25.

  181 “jovial manner . . .”: ibid.

  182 “as slim and boyish . . .”: NYT, April 23, 1939, p. 21.

  182 “Perhaps I needed . . .”: Lash, Love, Eleanor, p. 232.

  182 “I begin to feel . . .”: MD, Oct. 18, 1940.

  182 “I supposed that is why . . .”: Lash, Love, Eleanor, p. 200.

  182 “you can count on . . .”: NYT, Oct. 25, 1940, p. 1.

  182 “wide crack in a dam . . .”: Davis, FDR: Into the Storm, p. 614.

  182 “Dearest Franklin . . .”: ER to FDR, Oct. 11, 1940, box 16, Roosevelt Family Papers Donated by the Children, FDRL.

  183 “I painted her a pretty dark . . .”: Harold L. Ickes, The Secret Diaries of Harold L. Ickes, vol. III, The Lowering Clouds, 1939–1941 (1954), p. 351.

  183 “I will not pretend . . .”: Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins (1948), p. 186.

  183 Lewis speech: WP, Oct. 26, 1940, p. 5.

  184 “sad and low . . .”: Matthew and Hannah Josephson, Sidney Hillman: Statesman of American Labor (1952), p. 488.

  184 “John never can forget . . .”: notes attached to letter, Charles Michelson to Steve Early, Sept. 29, 1940, PSF 194, FDRL.

  184 MLH served as hostess: Bernard Asbell, The FDR Memoirs (1973), p. 245.

  184 “We take the liberty . . .”: Amalgamated to FDR, Oct. 26, 1940, OF 2546, FDRL.

  184 “Paducah labor is for you . . .”: Oct. 26, 1940, OF 2546, FDRL.

  184 “Don’t let Lewis’ speech . . .”: Local #6082 to FDR, Oct. 26, 1940, OF 2546, FDRL.

  184 “John L. Lewis has kicked . . .”: Alex Tunis to FDR, Oct. 25, 1940, OF 2546, FDRL.

  184 “You are the only President . . .”: Mrs. Grim to FDR, n.d., OF 2546, FDRL.

  185 “Old age pensions . . .”: Mrs. L. M. Feirer to FDR, Oct. 26, 1940, OF 2546, FDRL.

  185 “I am an old campaigner . . .”: Samuel I. Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt (1952), p. 238.

  185 “Great Britain would never . . .”: NYT, Oct. 29, 1940, pp. 1, 12.

  185 “The way of the man . . .”: BG, Oct. 31, 1940, p. 1.

  185 “I have just come . . .”: David E. Lilienthal, The Journal of David E. Lilienthal, vol. 1, (1964), p. 223.

  185 Early kicking Sloan: Time, Nov. 11, 1940, pp. 17–18.

  186 “Negroes . . .”: Weiss, Farewell, pp. 280–81.

  186 “I am a Democrat . . .”: NYT, Nov. 1, 1940, p. 20.

  186 “any old-time politician . . .”: Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt, p. 241.

  186 “ . . . a very bitter campaign . . .”: Stimson Diary, Oct. 29, 1940, Yale University.

  186 “The first number . . .”: NYT, Oct. 30, 1940, p. 1.

  186 Mrs. Mildred Bell gasped: WP, Oct. 30, 1940, pp. 1, 2.

  187 Michael Thomson: Cleveland Press, Oct. 30, 1940, p. 1.

  187 Jack Clardy: Charlotte Observer, Oct. 30, 1940, p. 1.

  187 James Cody; “This is the first . . .”: NYT, Oct. 30, 1940, p. 1.

  187 “As I listened . . .”: ER to JL, Oct. 30, 1940, Lash Papers, FDRL.

  187 “Very simply and honestly . . .”: NYT, Oct. 31, 1940, p. 14.

  187 “It’s not necessary . . .”: Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt, p. 242.

  188 “Today . . .”: MD, Nov. 2, 1940.

  188 “extraordinarily jovial”: NYT, Nov. 6, 1940, p. 2.

  188 “What name please? . . .”: WP, Nov. 6, 1940, p. 2.

  188 “would do all the things . . .”: Lash Diary, Nov. 5, 1940, Lash Papers, FDRL.

  188 buffet supper: NYT, Nov. 6, 1940, pp. 1, 2.

  188 FDR on election night: Grace Tully, F.D.R., My Boss (1949), p. 240; Lash Diary, Nov. 5, 1940, Lash Papers, FDRL; NYT, Nov. 6, 1940, pp. 1, 2.

  188 “Mike, I don’t want . . .”: Michael F. Reilly, Reilly of the White House (1947), p. 66.

  189 “It looks all right . . .”: James MacGregor Burns, Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom (1970), p. 4.

  189 “a little jig . . .”: NYT, Nov. 6, 1940, p. 2.

  189 “We want Eleanor . . .”: ibid.

  CHAPTER EIGHT: “Arsenal of Democracy”

  190 “Just how does the President think? . . .”: Eric Larrabee, Commander in Chief (1987), p. 644.

  191 “a question here . . .”: Perkins, OH, Columbia University.

  191 “All of you use . . .”: John Morton Blum, From the Morgenthau Diaries, vol. II, Years of Urgency, 1938–1941 (1965), p. 202.

  191 “The more I sleep . . .”: U.S. News, Nov. 29, 1940, p. 20.

  191 “Hope you have . . .”: ER to FDR, Dec. 2, 1940, box 16, Roosevelt Family Papers Donated by the Children, FDRL.

  191 “made of scraps . . .”: MD, Dec. 3, 1940, box 16, Roosevelt Family Papers Donated by the Children, FDRL.

  191 “give impetus to . . .”: NYT, Dec. 17, 1940, p. 20.

  191 “In every place . . .”: Tommy to AB, Nov. 18, 1940, box 75, Halsted Papers, FDRL.

  192 At Guantanamo Bay, etc.: Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins (1948), pp. 222–23.

  192 “I think of you . . .”: ER to FDR, Dec. 4, 1940, box 16, Roosevelt Family Papers Donated by the Children, FDRL.

  192 death of Lothian: Richard M. Ketchum, The Borrowed Years, 1938–1941 (1989), p. 572.

  192 “My dear Mr. President . . .”: Churchill & Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence (1984), vol. I, pp. 102–9.

  193 “I didn’t know . . .”: Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, p. 224.

  193 “Nobody that I know of . . .”: ibid.

  193 a “flash of almost clairvoyant . . .”: George Martin, Madame Secretary: Frances Perkins (1976), p. 435.

  193 “very much like chasing . . .”: Stimson Diary, Dec. 18, 1940, Yale University.

  194 “Well, let me . . .”: text of speech, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1940 (1941), pp. 604–15; also NYT, Dec. 18, 1940, pp. 1, 10; WP, Dec. 18, 1940, pp. 1, 2.

  194 “was really based . . .”: Perkins, OH, Columbia University.

  194 America First Committee: Wayne S. Cole, America First (1953), p. 14.

  195 “really enjoyed working . . .”: Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, p. 226.

  195 “No man can tame . . .”: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Public Papers and Addresses, 1940, p. 638.

  195 “unholy alliance . . .”: ibid., p. 639.

  195 “the great arsenal . . .”: ibid., p. 643.

  195 recent Gallup poll: George Gallup, The Gallup Polls: Public Opinion, 1935–1971, vol. 1, 1937–1948 (1972), p. 255.

  195 “I call for this . . .”: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Public Papers and Addresses, 1940, p. 644.

  195 large part of old city destroyed: London Times, Dec. 30, 1940, p. 2.

  196 “The havoc was comparable . . .”: NYT, Dec. 31, 1940, p. 1.

  196 “London has nothing . . .”: Joseph Goebbels, The Goebbels Diaries, 1939–1941 (1983), p. 222.

  196 “When I visited . . .”: WC to FDR, Dec. 31, 1940, Churchill & Roosevelt Correspondence, vol. I, p. 123.

  196 Walter Reuther: Business
Week, Jan. 17, 1942, p. 60.

  196 “slow and costly . . .”: Walter Reuther, “A Program for Utilization of the Auto Industry for Mass Production of Defense Plants,” attached to letter, Philip Murray to FDR, Dec. 20, 1940, OF 4234, FDRL.

  196 “Conventional methods . . .”: ibid.

  196 “We propose . . .”: ibid.

  196 “the most important . . .”: quoted in I. F. Stone, Business as Usual (1941), p. 238.

  196 “the first great . . .”: ibid.

  196 “It is well . . .”: FDR to William Knudsen, Dec. 31, 1940, OF 4234, FDRL.

  197 Cadillac plant: Time, Dec. 30, 1940, pp. 13–14.

  197 “Mr. Knudsen . . .”: John Barnard, Walter Reuther and the Rise of the Auto Workers (1983), p. 78.

  197 “The fear . . .”: Stone, Business as Usual, p. 235.

  197 “labor had grown . . .”: Bruce Catton, The War Lords of Washington (1969), pp. 91–92.

  197 “There is only . . .”: Morgenthau quoted in Barnard, Walter Reuther, p. 78.

  197 Christmas holidays at the White House: White House Usher Diaries, FDRL; MD, Dec. 20–27, 1940.

  198 ER shopping: NYT, Nov. 29, 1940, p. 18.

  198 “He was just bursting . . .”: Victoria Henrietta Nesbitt, White House Diary (1948), p. 257.

  198 On Mrs. Nesbitt: Elliott Roosevelt and James Brough, A Rendezvous with Destiny (1975), p. 47; William Seale, The President’s House, vol. II (1986), p. 929.

  198 “plain foods . . .”: Grace Tully, F.D.R., My Boss (1949), p. 115.

  199 “Fluffy”: Seale, President’s House, vol. II, p. 966.

  199 “always handsome . . .”: Elliott Roosevelt and James Brough, An Untold Story (1973), p. 297.

  199 “Fix it anyhow . . .”: Lillian Rogers Parks, The Roosevelts: A Family in Turmoil (1981), p. 170.

  199 “My God! . . .”: Tully, F.D.R., p. 116.

  199 “Do you remember . . .”: FDR to ER, April 29, 1942, box 75, Halsted Papers, FDRL.

  199 ultimatum: Nesbitt, White House Diary, p. 279.

  199 ER’s scrambling eggs: Elliott Roosevelt and Brough, Rendezvous with Destiny, p. 48.

  200 “to put it mildly . . .”: John Gunther, Roosevelt in Retrospect (1950), p. 92.

  200 ER did not consider: TIR, p. 118.

  200 Fala became FDR’s friend: Tully, F.D.R., p. 129.

  200 “Not even one crumb . . .”: interview with Margaret Suckley.

  200 “In years to come . . .”: William K. Klingaman, 1941 (1988), pp. 30–31.