  |  Eleanor Roosevelt, 1960 Democratic National Convention |
America's longest serving First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, was one of the most admired women of the 20th Century, topping Gallup's famous poll on the subject over a dozen times. In retrospect, she appears to have been universally beloved. Alas, history glosses over nuance.
Among Mrs. Roosevelt's detractors was right-wing propagandist Elizabeth Dilling, who vilified Roosevelt in her vitriolic, race-baiting book, The Red Network, A 'Who's Who' and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots (1935). She labeled the First Lady a "Socialist sympathizer and associate" and presented a trumped up list of "Red" organizations with which the First Lady was allegedly associated.
In hindsight, inclusion in Elizabeth Dilling's scurrilous volume is practically an honorific. Consider the high esteem with which we hold others she targeted. Mahatma Gandhi was disparaged because he planned to "Sovietize" India. The book also mocked the "best press-agented man in the world" Albert Einstein and his fraudulent science (the Theory of Relativity). Others demonized included Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, Sigmund Freud, and Upton Sinclair.
Among Mrs. Roosevelt's detractors was right-wing propagandist Elizabeth Dilling, who vilified Roosevelt in her vitriolic, race-baiting book, The Red Network, A 'Who's Who' and Handbook of Radicalism for Patriots (1935). She labeled the First Lady a "Socialist sympathizer and associate" and presented a trumped up list of "Red" organizations with which the First Lady was allegedly associated.
In hindsight, inclusion in Elizabeth Dilling's scurrilous volume is practically an honorific. Consider the high esteem with which we hold others she targeted. Mahatma Gandhi was disparaged because he planned to "Sovietize" India. The book also mocked the "best press-agented man in the world" Albert Einstein and his fraudulent science (the Theory of Relativity). Others demonized included Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, Sigmund Freud, and Upton Sinclair.
Image Credit: Snapshots in History's Glare
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