Roosevelt and Eisenhower

I'm about finished with Eleanor Roosevelt's autobiography.
Quite a controversial figure in her day.
She couldn't sit still;
she was constantly traveling to all parts of the world.
She spoke her mind and roiled consciences.
I also viewed a 1965 documentary on her life.
It won an Academy Award, and has now been put on DVD
with a new introduction by Hilary Clinton.
Well worth watching.


I'm also reading a book that I've had for several years
and just never picked up and read.
Written by Harold Stassen and  Marshall Houts, it's entitled,
Eisenhower: Turning the World Toward Peace.


My main professor in college was Glen Stassen, the son of
Harold Stassen.
It was many years after college that I found out 
about Harold Stassen's career.
He was elected Governor of Minnesota at the age of 31!
In the Eisenhower administration he was 
called 'Secretary of Peace' and had
other official titles, and was part of Ike's Cabinet.
He had been appointed to serve on the commission that
created the charter of the United Nations,
a charter which he signed.
He was at the ceremony of surrender of the Japanese
aboard the U.S. Missouri at the end of WWII.
He was a main force in bringing General Eisenhower
into the 1952 campaign as a candidate for President.
He wrote the main draft of the first Inaugural speech for Ike.
He served as a negotiator with the Russians for arms reduction.
He considered himself a 'progressive Republican' and disagreed
with the right wing of the party.


I'm only half way through Stassen's book, and I'm enjoying
the stories of behind the scenes events in the Republican party
during those post-WWII years.
Harold Stassen's emphasis on peace through negotiation
came to me through his son, Glen Stassen, my college teacher.


Ironically, Eleanor Roosevelt also had a strong emphasis
on sitting down with adversaries and talking things out.
She had a rather direct conversation with Khrushchev in Russia
about the possibilities of disarmament and cooperation.


I think Jesus would have liked Eleanor and Harold.