martin luther king once said that we are not makers of history we are made by history call marx concluded that history repeats itself first as tragedy second as far others including king and marx have been equally quizzical and dramatic in their comments history is bunk all of history is the history of the class struggle the end of history revisionist history the arc of the mall universe is long but it bends toward justice queer history those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it the story in social activists howard zinn put it this way history should be chronicled from the bottom up tom hayden a student activist leader of the sixties at a fiftieth anniversary remembered conference of the  two radical manifesto the port huron statement warned and stressed the importance of the conference call unquote so that our history would not be taken from us when the aging greeks thought of history it meant inquiry knowledge acquired by investigation it became the study of the past as described in written documents events occurring before written records were considered  prehistory can past events be objective be determined and non life to find patterns of cause and effect can the academic discipline of history be useful in providing a perspective on our present problems and some direction toward progressive change and reform a quote from the polian surprisingly might prove useful for him history is the version of past events that people decided to agree upon which people agree and how and why that happens is certainly a difficult yet crucial question for a story and his argument though raises a major point for our show today on the radical imagination when the podium stood is that history is narrative it's  in the sense it's storytelling often we're struggling to relate to past events as the memory collection organization presentation and interpretation of information about those events what does the steamed internationally recognized social activist and distinguished professor of history make of this tower of babble concerning her discipline we are thrilled to have on the radical imagination today a de political activist soulmate colleague a life force of intelligence scholarship beauty integrity and fun she's at the stink of perfessor of history and women study at john jay college in the graduate center of the city of new york and is the author of an epic three volume biography about eleanor roosevelt which has been described in a new york times review as a rich portrait of the monumental and inspirational life of the first lady of the world our guest many other works include the declassified eisenhower a divided legacy of peace and political warfare listed as a notable book in one thousand eight hundred one by the new york times she co founded the freedom of information access committee of the organization of american historians is a former vice president for research of the american historical association and was chair of the fund for open information and accountability and before we welcome blatche w series of anti poverty programs to fight the great depression the first lady is deeply involved this was a woman who understood what the nation needed in many ways was as important to the era as her husband was because she was out there with the people more than he was the reporter lorena hickok writes to her about a deprived coal mining area in west virginia called scot run eleanor goes to visit and is shocked by what she sees as part of the new deal twenty five million dollars is allocated toward new housing projects for the poor elenor champions the first of these communities for the people of scott's r it's called arthur d whittaker vividly remembers the first lady meeting her father he said oh mrs roosevelt i can't shake hands with you my hands are all dirty and she just grabbed his hand and she said you're the kind of a man i like to shake hands with she said you're a working american i like to shake hands with people like you despite her privileged background eleanor connects with the poor and dispossessed she visits off the dam many times captured here on film taking part in the  great welcome glance to the back images it's so great to have you here there's so much to talk about so you know yeah i just have to interrupt to say sure that great and arthur dale eleanor roosevelt spending money like a drunken sailor yes and eleanor roosevelt made sure that everybody had hot and cold running water i flush toilets you know showers when eighty four percent of rural america did not have that right and so eleanor result is amazing and when so he said how are we going to if your wife has her way how we going to tell the rich from the poor eleanor roosevelt said such simple dignity and decency we should not have to tell the rich from the poor and i just love it that you had that thank you thank you thank you i'm so glad to have you here and  present the message by the way what is what is f d r say to eleanor so well he really gave her for ain't she didn't do what she needed to do and on domestic issues he was all for what she did and one was doing that nobody said and then in one nine hundred thirty four right at the same time she gives an incredible speech because schools are segregated and eleanor roosevelt's speech april nineteen thirty four house stupid way are not to spend as much as we can on educating everybody and she says ultimately we will all we must stupid book pic and eleanor roosevelt saying these letters couldn't possibly mean what they seem to me because helen i was a saint and made and i wrote a review saying said i'm a military historian i do hard history just gives how did you get into that that is what i wanted to start with so you are mostly what was your interest there well at hopkins it was international relations and the war in vietnam happened and then i founded the peace history society with other people to protest the war in vietnam so my interest was war and peace and that and doing research that would today the day we're taping right to answer trump you know we need we need peace we have to invest not just in the military but in people which is eleanor roosevelt you're writing here and so again you become very involved in this pursuit of understanding where the result was all about and the impact on the country in the world and whether impact on the country in the world is so important because she really understood not only education for all she said i can give you one hundred percent literacy and for employment how one teacher five student and now when we're looking at all these public schools closing all over the country and public colleges closing all over the country you really see how just urgent her legacy and her vision is for us today i mean we need education for all and work for all and housing for all right r c dale you know everybody got not only hot and cold running water but a half an acre to plant crop and she lives hours in the government was subsidizing the money toward that yes so that as we understood it wasn't left to the right private market you know which thing about eleanor roosevelt was she really did love the people all the people and her love for the people is transcendent and she identifies with people in want in need in trouble and one needs to pause to point out that her father who she adored was an alcoholic who died at the age of thirty four her mother died when i have a mother a mother essential he turned her face to the wall and died when eleanor roosevelt was eight and then her father died when she was ten and you really i mean how much do you have to drink to die at the age of thirty four i mean those of us who remember parties at john j you know i mean we're still here and it really is so it's very dramatic and that really began her commitment to people and want and need in trouble people just like her own family  is and how do you and suffering so she and i still a poor example fight for what we now call single payer health care was supposed to be in the one nine hundred thirty five social security a the a m a lobbied it to death and eisenhower brings it up in one nine hundred fifty seven the health insurance act but we never got we still haven't achieved a single payer which has too late fought for to the day she died at age of one hundred nine hundred eighty two and eleanor roosevelt also had that vision everybody needed health care and security so it's that commitment that making you know some sort of fanciful stories about this she felt a deeply herself and then as the clip showed went to see the people themselves and absolutely and she went around the country and around the world and she had two things to say tell me what do you want what do you need she never said let me tell you what you want let me tell you one going to give you know what do you want what do you need and around the country around the world her book on india and the awakening east is so important her book tomorrow is now published after she died nine hundred sixty three i mean this because all of her family her aunts and uncles were alcoholics and drug abuse it and the good thing is some of her on studied in a french school with a wonderful woman  vast who now has a school in england and the good news is that her grandmother sends her off to this great three well allan's wood in england and that's the origins of her imagination and her writing mary sue vast was a very strict and creative person and she didn't want people to imitate her if you copied what she'd say tear up your you know she narrowly wrote her syndicated column my day from nine hundred thirty six to the end of her life but she wrote six hundred articles over time she wrote twenty nine books i mean really really comes what six days a week six days usually so she initially six days and she also had she had six children yes so she didn't get everything right she was amazing  wonderful partnership at some point there is the tragedy of her discovering luke immerses lessers when he comes back from europe and she and pack his bag he comes back to the great influenza epidemic of one nine hundred eighteen and and she sees the love letters and her heart is broken she offers him a divorce but that would end his political career and ultimately they have this incredible serious lifelong partnership and at one point when i was trying to figure out all the people in her life eleanor roosevelt is sort of a serial one mantic she's easily bored people don't last very long in the center of her heart and i just wondered at one point whether she was keeping  very limited something like twelve percent of the people voted and white people only until things began to change and lyndon baines johnson in one nine hundred sixty eight said going to lose the democratic party was right and he was right anyway it was really an interesting story an f d r felt he couldn't lose the democratic party which is dominated i mean it's really interesting who are the democrats the dixiecrats plus the vast majority of american immigrants or german american irish american and chinese american and so we don't want to get into the war  lady great heart to the civil rights leaders very close and we put in a brief little plug here too we're going to be involved in your i know you're going to be introducing reverend william barber who's going to be at john jay october thirtieth yes and we hope many in the audience will join us there to be thirty to nine and again john jay college and talking about the more transformation the more the need for more transformation criminal justice and the links to a poor people's campaign so here's this remarkable legacy in two thousand and eighteen and our school and fair to say that that tragedy is where resegregating all over america would defunding schools and then there's the question of the universal declaration of human rights is the seventieth anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights which eleanor roosevelt had so much to do in which she said we will have peace when there is education and jobs and security and creativity and opportunity for all the people of the world and that's the universal declaration of human rights the u s is still not even had a conversation about ratifying the economic and social confident and you know the civil and political covenant is now in this repeal because we've just this presidency is just were moved us from the human rights commission and the i c c and the international criminal court so we're really in a situation that is very frightening and regressing and we graphs of yes of course we jimmy carter was the last president began to speak out about a versus human rights and right one term was the limit there but so tell us a little more about their marriage and how you think the interaction and the experiences her grows in the feminist movement how this all began to take her and her own sense of self developed as well eleanor roosevelt had we'd become her mentors and best friends there were other people in her life who were very very important to her it's because of the rena haycock and there's now a little industry of hick elena books novels about four novels and she encourages eleanor she said why are you writing all these letters to me the whole world wants to know what you think and that's the origins of my day but it's  educated teachers professors again keep it running right when did right even get the vote in this case well nineteen twenty so we're so lucky only a few years after that are right so these women were and honor is you know she says it all the time we have to go door to door block by block community by community to get our wants and our needs met and organizing that notion of grassroots organizing is what the women in politics and her circle really did and that's a very big piece of the story of the story then and now and now how we're doing by the way just to skip that in terms of women now hopeful i'm i'm i'm hopeful that i'm hopeful and you know we have this creature in the right in the white house who talks about walking walking them up dianne feinstein lock her up excuse me i mean so we're really looking at a fascist putsch that we've had and what we need is a democratic rebellion and i think we're on our way to that commitment for democratic rebellion as you're writing this incredible with these three volumes did you hope to get people to be more active if you will or offer this  the scholarship enter into if you will the activism will and your passion well i'm as you know a peace activist right and you know my heart is with the united nations wendell willkie who ran against f d r nine hundred forty and they became great friends and then f d r sends him around the world where he has an opinion everything that happens everywhere effects everybody every everything that happens anywhere affects everybody everywhere we're all connected to one world and that becomes something that eleanor roosevelt quote over and over again the understanding that we are all connected and we've got to fight at one point she writes this incredible book in which she is called the moral basis of reject greed and she really is a chance of economic democracy political democracy requires economic democracy while greed debases democracy either we make our economic system work for all our people or we will lose everything there must be a minimum standard of security equality of opportunity for every child full employment we have been too devoted to the gods of mammon humanity must rise above purely selfish interest and take responsibility for one another democracy and volves the spirit of social cooperation and that's what i think united at the graduate center i tell my graduate students who are working on their theses dissertations what we want you to do is unpack your heart and i had great advice from a mentor who said one thing i want to tell you james i think that's what we have to do as we go forward shoulder to shoulder hearts open fists high and fight for the future and and as a role model i mean again eleanor was certainly well in terms of that rescue and lynching yeah that use of lynching right she was not able to now he never was able because he felt that he had to maintain that position for the dixiecrat for the dixiecrats so he writes the one thing he wanted to do however was he and wendell willkie had a fantasy of starting a new party they wanted to start just a progressive party the two of them together the republican the nominal republican wilkie and  he had these progressive lives and yet he was the center of power and yet he he couldn't a wasn't able to or wasn't willing to take his party push it to the point where we could've done a lot more well eleanor roosevelt speaks for and she writes for it i mean and her columns her articles who say we have to have we have to stop segregation we have to have powerful schools for all children but it doesn't happen until the one nine hundred fifty s and now you write also of eisenhower during your time tell us a little bit  world war two be the last civil war to tear humanity apart his words world war two has to be the last civil war to tear humanity apart and when i first started my book i thought he was divided legacy of peace and political warfare and those were great tragedies and of course the overthrow of the of mohammed dr mohammed mossad is still one of the great traged iraq and afghanistan on and on and again we've been at war and was fully in the most ninety percent of our history credibly great tragedy great so feminist the men at this point right well look the women are doing it i mean you know the good senator from massachusetts maybe a hope for the future there are some really great women out there that they're they're young women who are just organizing to make change and we need as eleanor said we need to go block by block door to door community by community and make our wants and our needs  dominant role that it now plays is creeping in i don't think we've ever been in this bad situation because of the supreme court cases and united with you know pole and the voter banks but the fear and i think these are legitimate fears of all the computer disruptions that are going to go on we need to return to paper lot but yes yes that's why but there are more of us and there are of them rise so many people that i'm feeling hopeful absolutely and that's why we are so grateful for biographies like this because our younger generation hasn't had the opportunity here are eleanor roosevelt stories they haven't really come to grips and challenged by the new thing trying to incorporate the similar passions and universal ideals that they'll always talk about we're still challenged by that and so is as a biographer the story of this your your life work on this is that it's that it's been it's been challenging certainly but it's been satisfied oh yes how so well it's been satisfying because eleanor roosevelt never stops growing and changing she keeps going and she's not silenced and she's not held back and she plows through and t there in spirit then how she organized different groups how she worked with different groups how she built all lions is across all kinds of divides and didn't recognize divide like that's a kind of unfortunate question jan because she said terrible mother if she really she doesn't enjoy mother she doesn't enjoy her children people say you know that i didn't really write about the children and i didn't because that's just it's not her best moment and then there's the whole question of sarah downer as the mother and law oh yeah who says to the children i am your real mother your mother only bore you but i am your real mother and the children really go to go amanda for support for advice and then television shows with her son and her daughter to support them and she continues to support them such a passionate woman who was able to express that in so many ways but the birth personal level which she ever really achieved love at a very deep profound level the chief spirit i think she's a great deal of love from very close people hick one and earl miller the one thing claire and i disagree about is earl miller did they or didn't say he was her great champion from one nine hundred twenty eight until the end of her life stage travel together he got her her horse dot they rode together they shot to stores together they had fun together and they're together a lot there's always room in all of her homes rahm miller so he so she had lappin you git right and then there are some surprising things that i haven't figured out and there's more to do as joe lash said eleanor roosevelt who really yes to he loves to dance with a party bernie law and yet he's he's six foot four and she's six feet and so they had fun together they went to the c s or together and so soon after he passed america's entrance into the world court and the league of nations and then in one nine hundred twenty four they speak at a congressional hearing to get the us into the world court and j edgar hoover is and the f b i and hoover john edgar hoover everything about race is in her f b i file because he equates racial justice with communism  and that's really an interesting yeah well interesting take on who hoover is why they're there but the blind spot to what happened knew about it she knew about it told him and she the next ship that lands in virginia beach is called the s s kwanza and she says everybody on their ship is my guest they're allowed to land but then breckenridge long and hear from me is the great question why didn't f d r fire breckenridge long because he's the he's really the man who insist no jews allowed no jews will enter and when the kwanzaa people are allowed in it's breckenridge long who goes to his friend they were friends and harvey right goes to f d r and says who's in charge here me or your wife and f d r says you are and that's the last time she has real opportunity to say people there is a varying fire rescue operation which she makes you know she does what needs to be done to make happen and a probably enough then we also finish with bob dylan the masters of war and the consequences of the military industrial complex running amok thank you again so much blessed and thank you all for seeing us country we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportion three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense  the total influence economic political even spiritual respect in every city every statehouse every office of the federal government we recognize the imperative need for this develop yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications of government we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence whether sought or unsought by the military industrial complex the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced persist you have to realize this is one of the great presidents great military leaders on his way out the door at the end of his second term he says by the way watch out for the military industrial complex people know that he invented the phrase military industrial complex but very rarely you see the whole thing and realize how utterly strident his warning was i think it's one of most profound statements ever made by an american president just like george washington gave his