The First Ladies
by Marie Benedict
Contents
Chapter 41
Overview
Eleanor visits Mary amid racist threats and Louis Howe’s decline, seeking comfort and strategy. They align on creating a women’s division and focused Black voter outreach for FDR’s campaign. When a hostile crowd forms outside, Eleanor seizes the moment, planning press coverage of their interracial meal to challenge segregation.
Summary
On August 11, 1936, Eleanor Roosevelt visits Mary McLeod Bethune at the National Council of Negro Women’s new Vermont Avenue townhouse. Despite receiving racist threats and heightened security precautions, Eleanor comes with her guard, Earl, who agrees to wait on the stoop with additional men posted.
Inside, Dovey Johnson greets Eleanor, and Mary welcomes her. Eleanor confides that Louis Howe is gravely ill at Walter Reed, fearing his moral guidance for Franklin will be lost and that Steve Woodburn might fill the vacuum. Mary comforts Eleanor and urges prayer while focusing on actionable work.
Over dinner, they discuss Mary’s new Federal Council of Negro Affairs and the upcoming campaign. Concerned by Franklin’s relaxed posture without Howe’s prodding, Eleanor proposes organizing a women’s division and a targeted Negro outreach effort, insisting Mary’s time be tied to clear promises; Mary agrees.
A hostile white crowd gathers outside upon seeing a white and a Black woman dining together. Eleanor chooses not to retreat: she has Earl mobilize the security detail to disperse the group and resolves to call her women reporters to photograph their shared meal, aiming to normalize interracial dining.
Who Appears
- Eleanor RooseveltFirst Lady; grieves Louis’s decline, plans women’s/Black outreach, defies mob by publicizing interracial meal.
- Mary McLeod BethuneNYA leader and NCNW head; consoles Eleanor, aligns on campaign strategy, supports public statement over shared dinner.
- EarlEleanor’s security chief; insists on close guard, confronts crowd, mobilizes detail for safety.
- Louis HoweFDR’s key aide; gravely ill, his potential absence alarms Eleanor about moral guidance.
- Franklin D. RooseveltPresident; more relaxed about reelection, center of planned women’s and Black voter outreach.
- Dovey JohnsonYoung NYA/NCNW aide; greets Eleanor and helps host the dinner.
- Steve WoodburnAdvisor whose possible rise in influence worries Eleanor if Howe cannot counsel FDR.
- Hostile white crowdRacist onlookers angered by interracial dining, prompting Eleanor’s press strategy.