Rendezvous with dentistry
ISSUE NO. 24 // FIELD TRIP
Hello there!
Believe it or not, I have a short issue for you today because of the holiday* and whatnot.**
I’m sharing a few photos and nuggets from my recent visit to the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, where I attended their Roosevelt Reading Festival. Because if there’s anything I need, it’s a taller stack of books to read. Specifically more books about the Roosevelts, as I only have ~10 lbs. of unread Roosevelt books waiting to for me. (Exhibit A)
In any case, it was such a treat to meet Shannon McKenna Schmidt, author of The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt's Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back. I also got to meet David Pietrusza, author of Roosevelt Sweeps Nation: FDR’s 1936 Landslide and the Triumph of the Liberal Ideal and the guy who introduced me to maybe my favorite presidential tidbit ever. (Exhibit B )
Enough name dropping. Let’s get to it.
Presidential Doodler
*Happy birthday, Calvin Coolidge.
**Full disclosure: it’s because I procrastinated big time.
PS Thank you to everyone who donated to my American Heart Association Heart Walk team! Collectively, our team raised more than $23,000 … and I sent out gobs of sparkly stickers as tiny but glittery tokens of gratitude.
Rendezvous with … dentistry
According to Pietrusza, FDR was advised against using the phrase “rendezvous with destiny” because it sounded too similar to “rendezvous with dentistry”. Obviously, FDR used it anyhow.
In the very next talk I attended, McKenna Schmidt shared a story about an American solder whose tooth was pulled while Eleanor Roosevelt visited troops in Australia. “It hurt like hell but with Mrs. Roosevelt watching, I had to act tough.”
Apparently, that soldier had a rendezvous with dentistry! (I know, I know. But I could not wait to add motion to these little serendipitous nuggets of info. I love when I stumble into facts that overlap like this.)
A few more random facts
(of varying importance and in no particular order)
There were daycares in the factories during WWII.
Daycares. Come on. According to Eileen A. Bjorkman, author of The Fly Girls Revolt: The Story of the Women Who Kicked Open the Door to Fly in Combat (and retired Air Force colonel and Executive Director at the Air Force Test Center) yeah. There were some pretty incredible advances during the war … walked back after the war.
FDR earned medals in the running high kick
I have a doodle in my very first sketchbook noting that he was able to kick a tin pan that was 7’ 11” in the air while he was a student at Groton. But I assumed that was kids just messing about. Nope. It’s actually a sport … and the only one he excelled at. Looks like he didn’t kick quite as high during the actual competition, but it still two feet over his head and earned him medals. (See photo below)
FDR was secretary of the Harvard Freshmen Glee Club
Not sure why, but I was tickled to learn this.
Eleanor helped bring a realistic black doll to market
At the time, black dolls were inaccurate and unflattering (offensive). Sara Lee Creech, social activist and white businesswoman) wanted to change that. Working with her friend Zora Neal Hurston, they ran prototypes past the black community to develop the best option. Eleanor Roosevelt was also asked to help, bringing together a group of leaders that included Jackie Robinson (!!!!) to weigh in on the doll. “More than just a doll … an Ambassador of Good Will.” Eleanor also bought 500 dolls to give away. I love this so much.
By the time the Roosevelt Reading Festival was over, I had less than an hour to zip through the museum (for my first time!) and see their new Black Americans, Civil Rights, and the Roosevelts. I need to go back again, and this time make time for a house tour.
(If you want to see pics from my first visit to Hyde Park, here they are.)
Follow along on Instagram for more doodles and presidential trivia.
