Eleanor Roosevelt

I have talked with Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a guest in my home. My husband and I planned a victory party for our good friend Jimmy Roosevelt, who had just won a seat in Congress. A couple of days before the date of the party, Jimmy phoned and asked, “Is it all right if I bring my mother?” I told him that would be great, but after I hung up the phone I began to feel a little uneasy. I was a young wife with two small sons and in all my life I had never met a king, a queen or a head of state. I need not have been concerned because from the moment she came into the house, she was as easy to talk to as my mother.

After dinner, we went into the living room. Mrs. Roosevelt sat in a big club chair and the other guests who could not find seats sat on the floor. She spoke of many things--families, children, Washington, politics, elections and the president. She told anecdotes about the royalty she had met, and prominent world figures like Churchill and Nehru. She answered questions.

When it was time for her to leave, she thanked me most graciously and she waved goodbye to the two little boys standing in the hall. The children were impressed that this very tall lady with the kind eyes and smile was the wife of the president of the United States.

Now, if Mrs. Clinton imagined she had talked with her, I believe she would think Mrs. Roosevelt would say, “My dear, simply grow another skin and accept the fact that personal attacks come with the territory.”

MERYL MEYERS

Los Angeles