The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice (69 page)

27. “THE PROBLEM NOW IS HOW TO CARRY ON”

When the weather permitted
: ER, “My Day,” September 18, 1939.

“little red light”
: ER, “My Day,” April 21, 1945.

The next morning
: “Roosevelt Family Leaves the White House; 20 Army Trucks Carry Belongings Away,”
NYT
, April 21, 1945.

“Perhaps, in His wisdom”
: ER, “My Day,” April 17, 1945.

“on its own merits”
: ER, “My Day,” April 19, 1945.

“he refused to complete”
: “D.C. Citizens Recall How FDR Broke Precedents,”
Baltimore AA
.

“the delicate balance”
: Ibid.

The
Courier:
Editorial, “The Price We Pay,”
PC
, October 28, 1944, national edition.

In contrast to Eleanor Roosevelt
: “First Lady Silent on Press Parleys: President Says Conferences Will Be Decided on Later,”
NYT
, April 18, 1945, and Charles Nutter, “Her Quiet Stay in Missouri Sets Pattern for Mrs. Truman,”
WP
, August 12, 1945.

“Negroes, as with Labor”
: PM to ER, April 20, 1945, ERP.

“small group”
: Ibid.

“This bill would give”
: ER, “My Day,” April 30, 1945.

“Discrimination in”
: “Truman Backs Bill for Fair Job Policy: He Urges Rules Committee to Let House Vote on Making Hiring Practice Permanent,”
NYT
, June 6, 1945.

“I feel you are”
: PM to ER, June 6, 1945, ERP.

She rebuffed
: ER, “My Day,” April 19, 1945.

“Have you ever considered”
: PM to ER, June 6, 1945, ERP.

“I have never considered”
: ER to PM, June 18, 1945, PMP.

“You are sweet”
: Ibid.

28. “JUST KNOW HOW CHERISHED YOU ARE TO SO MANY”

“the field of public service”
: “Awards to Twelve Outstanding Women of 1946,”
Aframerican Woman’s Journal
(March 1946): 17. Also honored were Lieutenant Colonel Charity Edna Adams, Women’s Army Corps; Justice Jane Matilda Bolin, New York City Court of Domestic Relations; Helen Gahagan Douglas, U.S. representative from California; Virginia Foster Durr, civil rights activist; Florence Jaffray Harriman, diplomat; Lois Mailou Jones, artist; Catherine D. Lealtad, director of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration; Arenia Cornelia Mallory, educator; Agnes Ernst Meyer, writer; and Eslanda Goode Robeson, activist and writer.

“the first American Negro woman”
: “Women Labor Leaders Are Going to England to Good-Will Exchange with 4 from There: Guest at Luncheon Here,”
NYT
, January 10, 1945.

The publication of her thesis
: PM, “The Right to Equal Opportunity in Employment,”
California Law Review
33 (1945): 388–433.

“created an untenable situation”
: PM,
Song
, 268.

After discussing her situation
: PM to Frank Murphy, June 5, 1946, PMP.

But there were
: Frank Murphy to PM, June 10, 1946, PMP.

Having just read
: PM,
Song
, 264.

“felt a great responsibility”
: ER, “My Day,” December 22, 1945.

“that he was writing”
: James B. Reston, “UNO Delegates Confirmed but Policy Is Challenged: Fulbright Attacks ‘Political Awards,’ Asks Experts to Give Continuity to Foreign Plans—Bilbo Criticizes Mrs. Roosevelt,”
NYT
, December 21, 1945.

Notwithstanding the Senate’s
: Ibid.; and ER,
On My Own
(New York: Harper & Brothers, 1937), 39.

She worried
: ER,
On My Own
, 39–41.

“a sincere desire”
: ER, “My Day,” December 22, 1945.

ER spent most
: ER,
On My Own
, 40–42.

Reporters clamored
: “U.S. Division Denied by Mrs. Roosevelt: In Her First Press Conference in London She Doubts That Churchill Wants UNO Post,”
NYT
, January 14, 1946.

A crowd lined
: “Six Women Lead in UNO Assembly: Mrs. Roosevelt as Delegate Is One of Most Popular at London Sessions,”
NYT
, January 14, 1946.

“with other nations’ ”
: ER,
On My Own
, 47.

“a common problem”
: Ibid.

She presented
: Mary Hornaday, “Delegates to UNO Urge Women to Seek Roles in World Affairs: Role for Women Train Children,”
CSM
, February 9, 1946.

“The whole of Europe”
: ER, “Address at the Opening Campaign Rally Women’s Division of the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York” (New York, February 20, 1946), ERP.

“I had a most interesting”
: ER to PM, February 28, 1946, PMP.

“perpetual motion”
: PM to ER, April 9, 1946, ERP.

She pitched the idea
: PM to ER, April 21, 1946, ERP.

“straight in the eye”
: PM to ER, April 9, 1946, and Caroline F. Ware, interview by Peggy McIntosh, n.d., in Peggy McIntosh’s possession.

“Dear Mrs. Roosevelt”
: PM to ER, April 9, 1946.

29. “GLAD TO HEAR THE OPERATION WAS SUCCESSFUL”

Pauli Murray returned
: PM,
Song
, 270.

“an enlarged and enflamed”
: PM to ER, April 19, 1947, ERP.

“glad to hear”
: ER to PM, April 23, 1947, PMP.

She found herself
: PM,
Song
, 270–73.

“Being a woman”
: PM to Mother [Pauline Fitzgerald Dame], June 18, 1946, PMP.

“errand girl”
: PM,
Song
, 273.

One particularly demeaning
: Ibid., 274.

The goal of the
: See John D’Emilio,
Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin
(New York: Free Press, 2003), 131–32, for a discussion of the planning team and campaign; and
Morgan v. Virginia
, 328 U.S. 373 (1946).

“veterans”
: PM to ER, May 5, 1947, ERP.

Rustin and Murray had first
: PM, interview by Robert E. Martin, August 17 and 19, 1968, transcript, RJB 290, Ralph J. Bunche Oral History Collection, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, DC, and PM,
Song
, 201.

“thinking through each possibility”
: PM to ER, May 5, 1947.

“insane”
: Bayard Rustin, interview by unknown interviewer, February 13, 1970, audiocassette, RJB 534, Ralph J. Bunche Oral History Collection, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, DC.

“You will recognize”
: PM to ER, May 5, 1947.

“flower gardens”
: PM,
Song
, 277.

Sleep-deprived
: “Mrs. Roosevelt Hits Car as She Dozes at Wheel,”
WP
, August 15, 1946, and “Mrs. Roosevelt ‘Dozes Off,’ Is Hurt in Triple Car Crash: Mrs. Roosevelt’s Car and One of Machines It Hit,”
NYT
, August 15, 1946.

“about halfway up”
: “Mrs. Roosevelt Badly Bruised, She Reveals,”
WP
, August 17, 1946.

“I am a little sad”
: ER, “My Day,” January 16, 1947.

“protruding”
: “Mrs. Roosevelt Badly Bruised, She Reveals,”
WP
.

30. “I HOPE TO FOLLOW THE ROOSEVELT TRADITION”

“Good Government”
: PM,
Song
, 281.

“It would be an unspeakable”
: “Text of President’s Message: Text,”
WP
, March 13, 1947.

“My superficial understanding”
: PM to ER, March 14, 1947, ERP.

“for relief and rehabilitation”
: ER, “My Day,” March 15, 1947.

“repressive”
: ER, “My Day,” March 27, 1947.

“They need a mind”
: PM to ER, June 19, 1948, ERP.

“the birth of a new democracy”
: PM to Mother [Pauline Fitzgerald Dame], [1948?], PMP.

“Mrs. R. sat”
: Ibid.

“It was different”
: Ibid.

“history in the making”
: Ibid.

In the summer of 1948
: ER to PM, August 16, 1948, PMP.

“in mind”
: Ibid.

Franklin offered
: Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. to ER, n.d., ERP.

The Liberal Party was
: For a study that examines black women’s participation, including Murray’s, in New York City politics, see Julie A. Gallagher, “African American Women and Power Politics in New York City, 1944–1972,”
Journal of Women, Politics & Policy
(Fall 2007), 101–30. For a study of the Liberal Party during the period when Murray ran for office, see Gerald David Weintraub, “The Liberal Party of New York State, 1944–1956” (master’s thesis, Brown University, 1957).

In 1949, Murray agreed
: For Murray’s account of her campaign, see PM,
Song
, 279–82. See also Yevette Richards,
Maida Springer: Pan-Africanist and International Labor Leader
(Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000), 90–91.

Operating on a budget
: PM,
Song
, 281.

“little blue-and-white fliers”
: Ibid.

“called for more traffic lights”
: Ibid.

“I think it is more”
: Ted Poston, “Miss Murray Delays Study at Harvard,”
NYP
, October 26, 1949.

“I have drawn so much”
: PM to ER, November 17, 1949, ERP. Maida Springer underscored ER’s influence on Murray in a note acknowledging the donation, Maida Springer to ER, October 21, 1949, ERP.

“If successful”
: PM to ER, November 17, 1949.

“Please use your nicest”
: PM to ER, October 21, 1949, ERP.

During the campaign
: PM to Dean Erwin H. Griswold, October 10, 1949, PMP.

“crowds at her nightly”
: Poston, “Miss Murray Delays Study at Harvard,”
NYP
.

“a prestigious nonpartisan body”
: PM,
Song
, 281.