Koninginnedag 2009

Ik had mij eerder op de dag losgerukt uit de angstaanjagende, verstikkende mensenmassa. Het spookte door mijn hoofd: : "je hebt maar één gek nodig''.

Mijn spookbeeld werd in Apeldoorn bewaarheid.

Afgunst?

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Enfin. De leugen regeert. Wist Martin Bril dat hij zoveel vrienden had? En waarom schreef niemand dat Martin heel vaak een bloedchagrijnige, egocentrische stomdronken chaoot was? Of schrijf je dat niet als vriend? Ik hoop dat mijn vrienden na mijn dood iets meer waarheden in hun stukjes schrijven. Zo eenzijdig wil ik niet herinnerd worden. En ik hoef ook niet zoveel vrienden. Volgens mij had Martin maar één vriend en dat is Ronald Giphart. Die doet wat een echte vriend behoort te doen na de dood, namelijk zwijgen. Voor Martin had er wel een mooi stukje in gezeten. Vrees dat het hem iets te veel poespas was geweest. (bron)

Ronald Giphart twittert en blogt er lustig op los, hoor! Over Martin Bril.

Maar daar komt Youp natuurlijk niet.

Vraag: 'heeft Youp van 't Hek vrienden?'

All the presidents wives 33

MAMIE GENEVA DOUD EISENHOWER

Born:
14 November, 1896
Boone , Iowa

Father:
John Sheldon Doud , born 18 November, 1870, Rome, New York, meatpacker, died 23 June, 1951

Mother:
Elvira Carlson "Minnie" Doud, born 13 May, 1878, Boone, Iowa; married 10 August, 1894, Boone, Iowa; died 28 September, 1960, Denver, Colorado

Ancestry:
English, Swedish; Mamie Eisenhower's paternal ancestors in the United States extended back ten and eleven generations to England. They settled in Connecticut for over one hundred years before migrating west to New YorkState where MamieEisenhower's father was born, in the city of Rome. All of MamieEisenhower's maternal ancestors were Swedish; her grandfather Carl Severin Jeremiasson, born in Halland County, Sweden in 1841, and her grandmother, JohannaMariaAndersdotter, born in Fjarar, Sweden in 1841, immigrated to the United States and settled in Boone, Iowa.

Birth Order and Siblings:
Second of four children; three sisters; EleanorCarlsonDoud (27 June, 1895 - 8 January, 1912), EdaMaeDoud (23 December, 1900 - 9 November, 1918), Mabel Frances "Mike" Doud Gill Moore (6 October, 1902 - 15 October, 1988)

Physical Appearance:
Auburn hair, blue eyes, 5'1"

Religious Affiliation:
Presbyterian

Education:
Jackson Elementary School , 1902-1905, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Corona [Elementary] School, 1906-1910, Denver, Colorado; East Denver High School, sporadic attendance 1910-1914, Denver, Colorado; The Mulholland [High] School, sporadic attendance 1910-1914, San Antonio, Texas; Miss Wolcott School for Girls, 1914-1915, Denver, Colorado, a finishing school; Miss Hayden’s Dance School, no date known, Denver, Colorado

Occupation before Marriage:
Mamie Eisenhower 's early years were spent in a series of different towns and regions in the Midwest and Southwest. Her father relocated the family from Boone to Cedar Rapids, Iowa when she was only nine months old. In 1902, due to the frail health of her elder sister Eleanor the family relocated first to Pueblo, Colorado, then to Colorado Springs. In 1905, they settled permanently in Denver, Colorado. Due to her mother's dislike of the severe winters, the Douds purchased another home, in San Antonio, Texas and began spending the cold months there in 1910. Thus Mamie Eisenhower split her high school educations between two schools, one in Denver, the other in San Antonio. From childhood on, Mamie Eisenhower was especially close to all members of her family and they were extremely social in their communities, often making their home a center of activity for other children and families. Mamie Eisenhower had little interest in academics, but her father, a successful businessman, taught her the value of money and she early on developed an ease and skill with budget and finance. Thus, while she was raised with creature comforts including household help, jewelry and fine clothing, she remained extremely conscientious about cost and was expert at saving money. She played the piano, the electric organ and enjoyed dancing, bridge and canasta.

Marriage:
19 years old to Dwight David Eisenhower (14 October, 1890 - 28 March, 1969), West Point graduate, second Lieutenant U.S. Army, on 1 July, 1916, Doud home, Denver, Colorado. The couple met during the winter when the Douds lived in San Antonio, Texas and Eisenhower was stationed at nearby Fort Sam Houston. Following their wedding, they lived in the officers’ barracks there, the first of 33 homes that they lived in during the next 37 years of Eisenhower's military career assignments

Children:
Two sons; Doud Dwight (Icky) Eisenhower (24 September, 1917 - 2 January, 1921); John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower (born 3 August, 1922)

A decorated hero, and later U. S. ambassador to Belgium and military historian, John Eisenhower served as a White House aide to his father. His son David married Julie Nixon, the daughter of the 37th President.

Occupation after Marriage:
Being the spouse of a career military officer who placed his duty to the Army and his country above his family life proved difficult for Mamie Eisenhower throughout the first thirty-five years of her marriage. The 1920 death of her first son, and her frequent trips back to the comfort of her parents' home created tension between her and "Ike" as he was always known. Nevertheless, she determined to establish a new home for him in whatever place he had been assigned, including Panama, Paris and the Philippines. Much of her time was spent with other military wives and she sometimes involved herself in projects benefiting the communities in which they lived such as establishing a free hospital for Panamanian women who were racially barred from the U.S. Army hospitals.

During World War II, Eisenhower became Supreme Allied Commander of the European front and famously staged the D-Day Invasion of June 5, 1944. Promoted to five-star general, Ike led the final assault on Germany and accepted their surrender on May 7, 1945. Throughout the war years, Mamie Eisenhower lived in Washington at the Wardman Park Hotel. She didn’t see her husband for nearly three years and it was a difficult time. She had no secretarial staff yet was the subject of thousands of letters and press inquiries. Her private life was confined to her family and a handful of other Army wives and she volunteered as a waitress at an Army canteen in Washington, once serving coffee to an unwitting First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She also suffered from depression and other anxieties, fearing for her husband's well-being but also sometimes uncertain what to make of both printed and whispered suggestions that he was having a love affair with his Army jeep driver and aide, Kay Summersby. History has not supported the story. The Eisenhowers wrote each other often, and Ike’s devotion to his wife continued to grow over the years.

After the war, Eisenhower served as President of Columbia University, then as Commander of NATO; Mamie Eisenhower thus also established homes in New York City and on the outskirts of Paris, respectively.

Presidential Campaign and Inauguration:
The 1952 marked the first presidential campaign in which the spouses of a presidential ticket were consciously marketed to women voters as part of a larger effort. Thus along with the Republican effort to enlist housewives as supporters and party volunteer workers by translating political issues into those most women of the era could relate to such as grocery bills or having their sons, husbands sent to the Korean War front, there were also "Mamie for First Lady," "We Want Mamie," and "I Like Mamie Too" buttons (the last one a play on the popular "I Like Ike" slogan). Mamie Eisenhower was an energetic and enthusiastic figure on her husband's 77-stop train tour of the nation, the candidate often finishing a speech by asking a crowd, "How'd you like to meet my Mamie?" a cue for her to appear and wave. On the whistlestop, she even willingly restaged a scene of waving to reporters and photographers in her bathrobe and slippers. Behind the scenes, she often listened to him rehearse his speeches and sometimes gave suggestions to edit them in a way that spoke more directly to the common citizen, in simple and direct language. She also maintained a degree of control over who came onto the campaign train, into their personal car to meet the candidate. During their layovers in hotels, when the campaign manager assigned her rooms that were apart from her husband's suite, she overruled him. In both the 1952 and the 1956 presidential campaigns of her husband, Mamie Eisenhower also made brief appearances on television commercials and live broadcasts with him.

Mamie Eisenhower was the first president's wife known to be kissed openly in public by her husband following his Inaugural ceremony. She encouraged her husband to compose an Inaugural prayer which he recited at the ceremony and also strongly approved the decision to invite African-American opera singer Marian Anderson to sing at the ceremony. She also arranged for the accommodations of her African-American maids to stay in Washington, still segregated at the time, and attend all the Inaugural events.

First Lady:
20 January, 1953 – 20 January, 1961
56 years old

Mamie Eisenhower viewed her role as First Lady without complication as being simply the wife of the president and the hostess of the White House. Indeed, few First Ladies seemed to better reflect the general role, priorities and values of most middle-aged middle class American women during her White House tenure than did MamieEisenhower in the 1950's: family, home, entertaining, and personal appearance.

With her experience as a high-ranking military spouse, Mamie Eisenhower knew well how to manage a large staff, demanding nothing short of excellence from them yet expressing personal, familial warmth for them. She was famous for not only ordering that the mansion's carpets and rugs be kept meticulously clean and clear of even shoe marks but for also ordering up fancily-decorated cakes for practically every occasion, including the birthdays of the domestic staff member. With her favorite color of pink showing up frequently in her public wardrobe and in the décor of the private quarters of the White House, she helped to make it a popular color for textiles of the early 1950's, one paint company even offering "First Lady Pink" among its pallet. Also copied were her famous bangs, a short hairstyle she adopted in the 1920's at a time when she rekindled her marriage; for sentimental reasons she would not change the look, despite even public letters advising her to do so. Always coordinating her accessories, she was voted onto the nation's best-dressed list for clothing and hats. In the mansion, she spent much time on overseeing flower arrangements using her preferred gladiolas. For holidays like Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and Halloween, she decorated the state rooms with paper decorations and had seasonal music piped in. Even her personal tastes reflected the majority of the nation: she was an avid television fan of the comedy series "I Love Lucy" and the "Milton Berle Show" and watched them from a porthole television set cut into the wall of the upstairs hall of the private quarters.

The Eisenhowers entertained a record number of heads of state in post-war era but even the President's wish to use the rooms of the mansion had to first be approved by the First Lady who kept the schedule for its use. With her personal preference for light popular music, she hosted the first White House performance of musical theater music, with selections from hit shows then on Broadway. It was in the context of her role as hostess that Mamie Eisenhower became a more political symbol in several instances. During the 1953 annual Vice President's dinner to which the entire U.S. Senate was traditionally invited, Mamie Eisenhower did not permit an invitation to be sent to the controversial Republican Senator JosephMcCarthy of Wisconsin, then famous for his hearings on un-American activities. It proved to be a useful way for the President to distance himself from McCarthy without entirely alienating the more conservative wing of his party. Mamie Eisenhower also presided over a dinner and reception at which full protocol honors were accorded to the president of Haiti when he visited as the first world leader of African heritage to come to the White House.

Perhaps her most dramatic role as First Lady occurred in the hours and days following the September 24, 1955 heart attack suffered by the President at her mother's home in Denver. Mamie Eisenhower immediately contacted the White House physician and cooperated in helping to keep her husband warm before he was transported to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in a hastily created presidential suite there. For several weeks while he recuperated, Mamie Eisenhower took full charge of the administrative flow of work to the President, reviewing the requests for visitors and meetings, limiting his schedule according to medical advice and strictly managing his diet. She also assumed not only her mail but the President's, responding to citizens and world leaders alike. She played a similar role following his June 9, 1956, emergency ileitis operation, although it was not as dangerous a condition as the heart attack had been. In the days that followed his November 25, 1957, mild stroke, from which he rapidly recovered, Mamie Eisenhower refused to permit the President to attend a state dinner that was scheduled that evening and successfully insisted that Vice President Richard Nixon take his place.

Mamie Eisenhower was not known to voice objections to any of her husband's major presidential decisions. In the case of his sending federal troops to ensure the integration of Little RockHigh School in 1957, she was privately quite defensive of what she viewed as the rightness of his action. After three decades in the non-partisan military, Mamie Eisenhower began her tenure as First Lady without either the intense loyalty to political party or a strong interest in the Washington power hierarchy. She maintained many friendships with Democrats and was apt to admire a political figure, such as Democrat Averell Harriman, without regard to partisanship. One of the few instances during her eight years as First Lady when she campaigned for a candidate other than her husband was on behalf of an old friend from Denver, Ellen Harris, then running as a Republican for a seat in Congress. She expressed the view that "We women have to have a voice in things."

Despite her strict view that married women should not pursue careers outside of the home, Mamie Eisenhower did not equate this with docility. From her own personal experiences, she believed adamantly that women were superior to men when it came to real estate, savings, investment and purchasing decisions, never underestimating the importance of women's economic power. "Your independence," she wrote in "If I Were a Bride Today," an article that appeared in Today's Woman magazine, "depend[s] on you…[the only way] to avoid debt…is for the husband to give his wife the paycheck and let her be responsible for it…If he sets up charge accounts and pays the bills…things are almost certain to get out of hand…" She herself practiced this in the White House. She encouraged the kitchen staff to use boxed cake-mixes and Jell-O for both efficiency and lower cost. Often she scanned the daily newspapers to see what bulk food staples were on sale and prompted the housekeeper to make such purchases for not only her own family but for state entertaining.

Mamie Eisenhower held a press conference on March 11, 1953, just weeks after becoming First Lady but documentation shows that President Eisenhower's advisors opposed even the slightest suggestion of the First Lady having official responsibilities beyond that of hostess and James Hagerty, his press secretary, cancelled any prospect of further press conferences. He also halted an effort for her to support public television, fearing it might raise questions of government sponsoring propaganda. The President's Chief of Staff Sherman Adams prevented an effort to streamline and formalize her relationship with women's clubs across the country. Although she voiced her objection to the West Wing seeking to control her public life, Mamie Eisenhower ultimately acquiesced.

One way in which Mamie Eisenhower kept an unfettered line to the public was through her extensive correspondence. She believed strongly that each person that took the time to write to her deserved a personal response and she signed tens of thousands of letters during her tenure. On occasion she exercised some small political influence when she passed on inquiries that she supported for military housing, enlistment deferments, transfers, pensions, and civil service employment, and even suggestions such as a tattoo of blood type for servicemen, to Administration officials. Another venue were her frequent statements of public support to military or defense-related crises and issues of her era such as support for the United Nations because women "knew well the anxiety and anguish that war brings," and increasing blood donations for gamma globulin to prevent "the crippling and deformity that so often follows a polio attack." In her Civil Defense statement, the First Lady noted that "any housewife may be tomorrow's heroine….It is difficult in the midst of our present day lives, filled with so many home and community activities, to believe that an atomic attack could happen here. It can happen. We must be prepared…"

Part of her large commitment to entertaining was also serving as the President's ceremonial stand-in. In the post-war era, the President had less time for the ceremonial appearances many of his predecessors had acceded to; in Eisenhower's case, the First Lady began to assume many of the group and association appearances previously made by a President. Many large women's groups requested a meeting with the popular Mamie Eisenhower and she expended great time and effort to do so, often spending several hours a day during the tourist season, either shaking hands or waving and speaking from some stairs to delegations that snaked their way through the state rooms.

In later years, Eisenhower would concede that he often consulted Mamie Eisenhower's view on issues he was facing, calling her "my invaluable, my indispensable, but publicly inarticulate lifelong partner." During an economic conference, he told participants, "Let me try this out on Mamie. She's a pretty darn good judge of things." He further observed, "She is a very shrewd observer. I frequently asked her impression of someone, and found her intuition good. Women who know the same individual as a man do give a different slant. I got it into my head that I'd better listen when she talked about someone brought in close to me." In later years, even Jim Hagerty would concede that Mamie Eisenhower could "argue with him [the President] plenty of times about his policies…" Although she only visited the Oval Office on four occasions, the First Lady learned the names, faces and backgrounds of the support staff that served the President, as well as the Cabinet members and often sought them out with praise after she'd heard of their accomplishments from the President: it helped to lift morale. Other times she would contact the wives of such officials to praise them.

Although she never sought to address a specific social issue, it is a popular fallacy that Mamie Eisenhower undertook no public initiative. Towards the end of her tenure, she committed herself to two causes. Following the President's heart attack, Mamie Eisenhower became increasingly aware of the prevalence of heart disease. She assumed both local and national chairmanship of The American Heart Association's fundraising drives to widen its scientific research and public awareness. (Although she herself was a cigarette smoker, there was not yet any scientific findings released tying smoking and heart disease.) It was not an unsubstantial role that she played: the AHA president praised her years of sponsorship which proved it's "most fruitful" with a 70 percent increase in income and jump in the volunteer force to 750,000. Mamie Eisenhower, he wrote, "made possible many dramatic advances in the research….as well as in our supporting programs of education and community service."

Through many of her old friendships with spouses of retired military personnel, she also became aware of the financial difficulties they endured. She helped to raise funds and broke ground for what was then called the "Army Distaff Home," to provide affordable, secure retirement housing and health care services for Army widows who, at the time, received minimal benefits from the government. Aided by thousands of Army wives around the world, the 16 acre facility in Washington, D.C. was financed, lushly landscaped and opened its doors in 1962 with the name "Knollwood."

It was also in her last years in the White House that she encountered her first public criticism. Columnist Drew Pearson pointed out that she violated the Railroad Act by accepting gratis train travel to "Maine Chance," a Phoenix, Arizona spa run by her friend, the beautician Elizabeth Arden. Mamie Eisenhower suffered from an inner ear condition called Meniere’s disease, which caused her to suffer bouts of severe dizziness. When she appeared unsteady because of these episodes, rumors that she was an alcoholic were printed in the 7 June 1959 issue of the tabloid National Enquirer. She was also criticized for shopping in a chain store by the National Federation of Independent Business and endured press scrutiny when she inadvertently crossed a picket line at the Bonwit Teller department store, having been incorrectly told that the dispute only involved the shoe concession.

According to the memoirs of Richard Nixon, Mamie Eisenhower also played an unwitting role in the 1960 election when she telephoned his wife Pat Nixon. The First Lady was worried about the President's potential health risk if he carried through on his promise to vigorously campaign for his Vice President in the last crucial weeks before the election. Pat Nixon passed on the request to her husband. The Nixon campaign did not request that President Eisenhower schedule campaign event appearances. Nixon subsequently lost by a razor-thin margin.

The Eisenhowers retired to their Gettysburg, Pennsylvania farm which they had purchased in 1950.

Post-Presidential Life:
Mamie Eisenhower was relieved to begin a retirement with her husband in healthy condition. They traveled through Europe and enjoyed an active social life, often visiting Georgia and California in the winter months where the former president played golf. Mamie Eisenhower warily agreed to serve as a co-chairman with incumbent First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy to raise funds for a National Cultural Center in 1962, and she accepted the Kennedys' invitation to attend a state dinner for the Japanese Prime Minister. During that visit, she inspected some of the historic restoration work that her successor had conducted in the mansion but expressed little enthusiasm for it.

During the Kennedy Administration, Mamie Eisenhower successfully persuaded her husband to intercede with Republican Senator Everett Dirksen to approach President Kennedy on behalf of his former Chief of Staff Sherman Adams, who was suicidal as he faced federal charges of income-tax evasion. The two Republicans promised to support Kennedy in whatever legislation he wished if he would put the Adams case in the "deep freeze." As it turned out, Kennedy sought and obtained the support of Eisenhower and Dirksen for his historic 1963 Testy Ban Treaty.

While attending the funeral of the assassinated president in 1963, Mamie Eisenhower encouraged her husband to accept an overture by former President Harry Truman to renew their acquaintance. For many years afterwards, when she made an annual drive from Pennsylvania to Kansas, she stopped to telephone Bess Truman in Missouri. When an oral history of Truman later claimed that Eisenhower had an affair with Kay Summersby and a television dramatization of the alleged affair aired, Mamie Eisenhower expressed her confidence to friends and family of the falsehood of the claim but did not attack either the late former president or the television network. Her husband's wartime love letters to her were subsequently published.

Eisenhower 's heart condition rapidly worsened six years after he left the White House and by 1968 he was permanently hospitalized. During this time, in conversation with incumbent First Lady and friend Lady Bird Johnson, Mamie Eisenhower expressed her fears of living alone and unprotected as a presidential widow. Mrs. Johnson spoke to her husband about it, and President Johnson signed legislation that offered lifetime Secret Service protection to presidential widows. During his last few months, Mamie Eisenhower moved into Walter Reed Army Hospital to be with him, where he died in April of 1969.

Often expressing loneliness for her late husband, Mamie Eisenhower kept herself as active as her health permitted. She made an annual drive to visit his grave in Kansas, and to see her elderly uncle Joel Carlson in Iowa. She also spent many of her winters in Palm Desert, California. When she dedicated a hospital wing there dedicated to President Eisenhower, Mamie Eisenhower delivered another public speech. Likewise, she spoke at the first commencement of Eisenhower College in Seneca Falls, New York, an institution she strongly supported with financial gifts and heading up fundraiser events. She also lent her name to her community's institutions such as Gettysburg College and an historic preservation drive which sold old bricks from the town square as a fundraiser.

Throughout her post-White House years, Mamie Eisenhower maintained a close friendship with the family of her husband's former vice president; in 1968, when Eisenhower was spontaneously asked by a group of reporters who see viewed as a viable Republican candidate for the presidency, it was Mamie Eisenhower who interrupted to suggest Richard Nixon. With the 1968 marriage of her grandson David to the daughter of President Richard Nixon, Mamie Eisenhower was considered a member of the First Family and frequently made overnight stays at the White House and Camp David. In 1972, she taped a television campaign advertisement endorsing Nixon's re-election, and recalled his loyalty to Ike. During the Watergate scandal, she remained a loyal friend to Pat Nixon, although she did not express her views on the President's ultimate decision to resign in 1974. Mamie Eisenhower felt it unpatriotic to question the authority of the White House and supported the Vietnam War policy under LBJ and Nixon, while conceding that it was an unusually difficult struggle for U.S. troops. She was adamant in her opposition to the so-termed "Women's Lib" movement or use of the term "Ms." as a way of addressing women; she stated that she had no idea what women wished to become liberated from, and was startled when a woman Secret Service agent was assigned by rotation to protect her.

In widowhood, Mamie Eisenhower became staunchly partisan. Although she warmly welcomed President and Mrs.Carter to her Gettysburg home in the summer of 1979, she publicly supported the gubernatorial candidacy of Republican Richard Thornburg in her state. Despite a warm and long friendship with Dr.Loyal Davis and his wife Edie, the parents-in-law of Ronald Reagan, Mamie Eisenhower suggested that she intended to support the Republican presidential candidate George H.W.Bush just months before the 1980 presidential primaries began. In her last year, Mamie Eisenhower applied for a suite at Knollwood (see above) so she could be around friends and closer to family members. Since entry was possible only when an opening occurred and there was widespread public misunderstanding of her application she withdrew it, a matter she explained in her last interview, with reporter Barbara Walters that aired several days after her death.

Death:
82 years old
1 November, 1979
Washington , D.C.

Burial:
Place of Meditation Dwight D. Eisenhower Center
Abilene , Kansas

*Mamie Eisenhower's funeral was attended by Rosalynn Carter and Pat Nixon.

Bron: http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/

Fashion online 11

GUCCITIME

Bea Arthur

, comedienne in hart en nieren, is niet meer.

In Nederland werd ze bekend als de norse Dorothy in Golden Girls. Ik zag haar in de VS in de jaren zeventig als de feministische Maude, die op middelbare leeftijd een abortus liet plegen. De Amerikanen waren na deze aflevering in alle staten.

Bea Arthur was geweldig. Kom maar op met de herhalingen.

Het toneel speelt

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op het ogenblik "Het Geslacht".


Topacteurs die hysterisch schreeuwend over het toneel rollen. Een 'Virginia Woolf' anno 2009?

Neen, daar doe ik de klassieker mee tekort.

Het Geslacht, met o.a. Carina Crutzen en Mark Rietman, barst van de drank, sigaretten, clichés, metaforen en vooroordelen. Tot vervelends toe.

Desondanks, bij deze de link naar meer informatie over speeldata e.d. http://www.hettoneelspeelt.nl/

Ik wil er niet teveel woorden meer aan vuil maken.

Even rust............................

Trickshow

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Hanneke Groenteman prijst in ieder blogje een familielid aan. Of dat nou muzikale neven of nichten zijn, haar regisserende/presenterende zoon, haar ex-schoondochter, haar kleinkinderen of haar huidige schoondochter - dagelijks lees je over ze bij het 'groentevrouwtje'.

Ik schrijf niet zoveel over onze zoon Jacob (voorgrond foto), die als zelfstandige golfprofessional zijn brood verdient. Hij behoeft weinig reclame, zijn lesboek (GCR - Golfcentrum Rotterdam) staat nagenoeg vol.

Daarnaast houdt hij zich bezig met talentvolle NGF-jeugd (Nederlandse Golffederatie) en doceert hij aankomende B-professionals (Van Swinderencollege), waar hij nota bene zelf nog studeert.

Jacob hoopt zichzelf deze zomer A-professional te mogen noemen. Dat biedt ongekend (inter)nationaal perspectief.

Sinds enige tijd manifesteert hij zich met collega Michael Koster op een heel ander terrein: golfentertainment.

De Mini & Maxi onder de golfprofessionals.

Fun

Geen idee waarom, maar ik vond deze "Peter van Straaten" wel toepasselijk voor deze druilerige zondag.

Orkaterpost

Vanaf 7 mei weer een Alex van Warmerdamfilm in de bioscoop: De laatste dagen van Emma Blank

*****

Ander nieuws: OPROEP!!! Adopteer nieuwkomers

Rommeldam

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Uit:het AD

Burgemeester Ahmed Aboutaleb wil de Rotterdamse straten en pleinen teruggeven aan de jeugd.

Maar niet zonder meer, zegt hij tegen het AD. ,,De dominante opinie van nu is dat als drie, vier jongeren op een straathoek staan, dat meteen wordt geassocieerd met overlast. Soms is dat het geval, maar zeker niet altijd,’’ aldus Aboutaleb. Hij is zich ervan bewust dat hangjongeren de grootste ergernis van de Rotterdammers vormen. Met de gemeenteraad én de jeugd wil hij de discussie aangaan over wat jongeren op straat wel of niet mogen. ,,We moeten ons de vraag stellen hoeveel ruimte we als samenleving aan jongeren willen bieden. Zelf leg ik de grens bij intimideren, spuwen, seksueel getinte opmerkingen tegen vrouwen en bedreigingen in het algemeen.’’

Volgens de burgemeester vormen hangjongeren niet a priori een probleem. ,,Het is van alle tijden dat de straat een verblijfsruimte is voor jongeren. Af en toe lijkt het erop dat wij de straat alleen maar mogen zien als een stuk grond waarbij we lopen van a naar b, en dat een verblijf op straat ongewenst is. In deze redenering ga ik niet helemaal mee.’’

Zo sprak hij met Rotterdamse jongeren. ,,Twee Kroaten, twee Marokkanen. Ze zitten op school en hebben een bijbaantje. Soms vervelen ze zich en gaan ze de straat op. Dan worden ze opgejaagd door mijn dienders en krijgen 90 euro boete. Ja, dan zijn ze al hun zakgeld kwijt.’’

MIJN dienders: u leest het goed.

Het is een publiek geheim dat deze burgemeester zich opsluit in zijn kantoor. Hij is niet of nauwelijks bereikbaar. Dit in tegenstelling tot zijn voorganger Opstelten.

Ik loop dagelijks (bijna) tegen een muur van hangjongeren aan. Ga er met een grote boog omheen om maar niet uitgescholden en nagespuugd te worden.

Nu zijn er ook nog twee VVD wethouders opgestapt. Dit in verband met de 'Ramadanaffaire'.
Nee, dit heeft niets met de islamitische vastenmaand te maken.

Uit protest tegen het aanblijven van de omstreden islamoloog Tariq Ramadan als adviseur van de gemeente Rotterdam is de VVD alsnog uit het stadsbestuur gestapt. Beide wethouders, Mark Harbers (economie) en Jeannette Baljeu (verkeer), hebben hun ontslag ingediend.

Vorige week drong de VVD aan op het vertrek van Ramadan, maar gaf de partij onder druk van met name coalitiegenoot GroenLinks het verzet tegen de Egyptisch-Zwitserse hoogleraar van de Erasmus Universiteit uiteindelijk op. Voortschrijdend inzicht heeft de liberalen tot inkeer gebracht, zei Harbers vanavond op het stadhuis. „Ramadan creëert een spoor van verwarring.”
Diens standpunten over vrouwen en homo’s blijven volgens de VVD onduidelijk, reden waarom hij niet de aangewezen persoon is om het integratiedebat in Rotterdam (47,5 procent migranten) te leiden.

Harbers weersprak de suggestie dat het besluit zou zijn ingegeven door de landelijke partijtop. Tweede Kamerlid Hans van Baalen, lijsttrekker bij de komende Europese verkiezingen, noemde Ramadans contractverlenging zondag "onverkoopbaar". Harbers: „Wij hebben onze eigen afwegingen gemaakt.” Volgens hem staan Ramadans standpunten op gespannen voet met „de vrijheid van ieder individu om invulling te geven aan hun leven binnen onze samenleving”. Uit uitputtend bronnenonderzoek van de gemeente bleek vorige week dat Ramadan (46) in het verleden geen homofobe en vrouwonvriendelijke uitspraken zou hebben gedaan.
VVD-fractieleider Jerry van der Waarde hekelde gisteravond vooral de opstelling van coalitiegenoot GroenLinks. „Zowel de GroenLinks-fractie als de GroenLinks–wethouder [Rik Grashoff] heeft ons niet de ruimte geboden die wij hen in het verleden wel hebben gegeven.” Hij doelde daarmee onder meer op het debat, bijna twee jaar geleden, over de aanleg van kolencentrales in Rotterdam.

Pijn deden volgens Van der Waarde ook de woorden van Grashoff, vorige week bij de presentatie van de resultaten van het onderzoek waaruit Ramadans ‘onschuld’ moest blijken. De wethouder noemde de islamfobie bij die gelegenheid een dreigende „volksziekte” en stelde „een nationaal inentingsprogramma” voor. Indirect beschuldigde hij coalitiegenoot VVD van stemmingmakerij. Een dag later bood Grashoff zijn excuses aan voor „die wat ongelukkig gekozen metafoor”.

PvdA-fractieleider Peter van Heemst bekende gisteravond „verbijsterd” te zijn door de stap van de liberalen. „De VVD is vijf keer van mening veranderd, en laat de stad uitgerekend nu in de steek, middenin de recessie.” De door Van Heemst in 2006 opgezette ‘brede coalitie’ heeft daarmee geen stand gehouden. „Persoonlijk doet dat ook pijn.” Van Heemst vermoedt dat de stap is ingegeven door de landelijke partijtop. „Als dat waar is, dan stel je partijpolitiek dus boven het stadsbelang, en dat is uitermate kwalijk.”

De rood-christelijke coalitie houdt hierdoor een minimale meerderheid (23 van de 45 zetels).

Binnen de PvdA fractie is ophef ontstaan over de weblog van het raadslid Matthijs van Muijen, die daar ongezouten zijn mening gaf op het curieuze verloop van het raadsdebat over de omstreden islamoloog Tariq Ramadan van vorige week donderdag.

Van censuur is geen sprake. Ieder raadslid van de PvdA mag in Rotterdam bovendien zeggen en schrijven wat hij of zij wil. „Alleen klappen we niet uit de fractie, want dat hebben we zo met elkaar afgesproken”, zegt raadslid Marco Heijmen van Rotterdams grootste coalitiepartij
Matthijs van Muijen, PvdA-raadslid in Rotterdam.
En dus verwijderde hij maandagavond eigenhandig een weblog van een van zijn collega’s van de eigen website. Het stuk, geschreven door Matthijs van Muijen, ging onder meer over de twijfels binnen de PvdA over het aanblijven van de omstreden islamoloog Tariq Ramadan als ‘bruggenbouwer’ in dienst van de gemeente Rotterdam. „De 180 procent draai van [coalitiegenoot] de VVD maakt de politiek ongeloofwaardig”, noteerde Van Muijen onder meer, nadat Ramadan in de raad het voordeel van de twijfel had gekregen

Bron: NRC

God, wat haat ik Volkert van der Graaf

Down memorylane

IJsclub Kralingen dient alleen nog als tennisbaan, maar heet nog steeds IJsclub Kralingen.

U ziet waarom. Luxe appartementen hebben de nostalgie verdrongen.

Mijn vader tenniste hier in de jaren vijftig.

Ik schaatste hier 's winters mijn rondjes, reed achter de jongens aan en kocht polkabrokken in het door oliekachels verwarmde clubhuis.

Zie hier de tennisjeugd van Kralingen, anno 2009. Waarschijnlijk hangt hun kamer vol met foto's van idolen als Nadal en Federer.

Het zijn en blijven hoogstwaarschijnlijk dromen.

Maar de tassen hebben ze in ieder geval.

Zwagerman

in de NRC van vandaag. Zo mooi!!

"Enfin"

Fokke&Sukke

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************
1. Martin Bril
2. Theodor Holman
Mijn twee favoriete columnisten, in die volgorde. Dan komt er een hele tijd niets.

Ik schreef gisteravond, vlak na de bekendmaking van zijn overlijden, dat anderen maar over Martin Bril moeten schrijven. Als ik het doe wordt het een aaneenschakeling van clichés.

De mist, die na een moment verbijstering mijn hoofd binnendreef, is vandaag nog niet geheel opgetrokken.

En dan die show van Ivo Niehe voor het KWF!
Die wist natuurlijk ook niet wat hij ermee aan moest.

Man rot op, dacht ik.
Vijfenvijftig procent = 55% overleeft het. Ja, maar daar hebben Martin en zijn familie nu helemaal niets aan.

Wij evenmin. Ook mijn man kreeg in 2002 te horen dat zijn leukemie ongeneeslijk is.
Zo navrant.

Vannacht heb ik over de dood gedroomd. Hij rook naar kanker.

Theodor had vast al een pittig stukje klaarliggen over de JSF-crisis. Ik heb hem ge-sms't en gemaild: "schrijf alsjeblieft een mooi stukje over Martin Bril".

Columnisten kunnen elkaar, met een ongekende felheid, de tent uitschrijven. Het zijn niet vanzelfsprekend vrienden.
Maar Bril werd ontegenzeglijk zeer gewaardeerd door zijn schrijfstijl. Hij groeide.

Vandaag schrijft Holman in Het Parool

BRIL

Ik weet het moment nog. Ik weet ook het stukje nog. Het staat in Het tekort en heet 'Wat God misschien te zeggen heeft'.

Het liefst zou ik nu de hele column citeren, maar ik beperk me tot de eerste regel: 'Er zijn van die dingen die tussen neus en lippen gebeuren, of in een ooghoek, en die desondanks - of juist daarom - weken- of zelfs maandenlang in de herinnering voort kunnen leven - het beeld van een tergend langzaam, bijna bewegingloos opstijgend vliegtuig in de zonnesmog boven een stad bijvoorbeeld, met dat angstaanjagende geluid erbij.'

Het stukje liet je even in een droom verkeren. Je was gedurende 700 woorden volkomen weg van deze wereld, terwijl je het gevoel had er juist midden in terecht te zijn gekomen. Je zag iets wat je herkende, maar nog nooit had gezien. Martin had het gezien. En je vroeg je af hoe hij die magie precies veroorzaakte; hoe hij het voor elkaar kreeg om méér te zeggen dan er stond.

Martin schreef als een perfecte cameraman; hij maakte mooi uitgesneden close-ups en leek vervolgens bedachtzaam uit te zoomen.

Over een opwaaiende jurk bijvoorbeeld: 'Hij zweefde omhoog, het was als het ware de zoom die opsprong, als een polsstokhoogspringer die zojuist zijn stok heeft losgelaten, en alle plooien voegden zich naar de bries als ontspannen spieren.'

En zo is er een oeuvre met duizenden en duizenden van dit soort zinnen.

Zinnen als geraffineerde foto's; ogenschijnlijk een normale situatie: een reiger in het park, een fiets tegen een pui, de enkels van Hillary Clinton, de blik van een hond, maar naarmate je de foto beter bestudeert, overvalt je een soort zenverlichting; een lichte levensvraag wordt beantwoord en je aangereikt als een amuse gueule.

Ik wou dat ik de lichtheid van zijn stijl had om mijn eigen verdriet te beschrijven, maar die ontbeer ik.

Ik ben ook aangeslagen. En kwaad op de dood.

Het verhaal 'Wat God misschien te zeggen heeft' gaat uiteindelijk over een balkon waarop alleen een oude, metalen vuilnisemmer staat. Er is een lamp die stipt aanfloept als de zon 'in de boeken achter de horizon verdwijnt'.

Verder gebeurt er niets. 'Honderden verhalen passeren de revue en onveranderlijk vergeet ik ze weer. Ik kijk en wacht. Het is een vorm van bidden vermoed ik zo. Wachten tot God wat zegt.'

Martin Bril

21 oktober 1959 - 22 april 2009.

Anderen kunnen hier beter over schrijven en praten dan ik.

Ik ben intens verdrietig.

Post van mijn uitgever

Uitgeverij Aspekt

Zojuist verschenen: CLASH AAN DE COOLSINGEL
Euro 17,95
Auteur: Jan Booister

Hoe Pim het stadhuis binnenwalste

Clash aan de Coolsingel: de wegbereiders van Pim Fortuyn ligt morgen in de boekenwinkel.

Journalist Jan Booister sprak uitvoerig met alle betrokkenen over de eerste vier maanden van Leefbaar Rotterdam. Ruwweg de periode dat de Rotterdamse docent Ronald Sørensen eind 2001 de partij oprichtte, tot de start van het college van Leefbaar, CDA en VVD.
Het leest als een jongensboek, en zo ervoeren de Leefbaren het ook: vanuit het niets de grootste worden en de stad veranderen.

Hieronder een voorpublicatie van hoofdstuk 18: Fortuyn verklapt een geheim.

Na de historische verkiezingsavond, rust Leefbaar Rotterdam even uit. Plannen om meteen te gaan onderhandelen, worden opgeschort. Fortuyn is gewoon te moe, laat Barry Madlener weten. Bij de fractieleden strijden ongeloof en verbazing om voorrang.
Zes à zeven zetels, oké, dat had gekund. Misschien acht. Maar dit (17 zetels, red.) Wat moet dat worden?

Er moet een nieuw college komen, dat is wel zeker, en met een belangrijke rol voor Leefbaar Rotterdam. Fortuyn zelf maakt zich daar misschien wel het minste zorgen over. Op de verkiezingsavond heeft hij al gezegd dat hij zich niet druk maakt over de collegeonderhandelingen. We worden het wel eens met elkaar, laat hij dan al weten.

Lang niet alle ambtenaren fronsen de wenkbrauwen. Er zijn er ook die tot actie overgaan. De ochtend na de verkiezingsavond, bijvoorbeeld, overlegt gemeentesecretaris Nico van Eck met zijn medewerkster Ria van Wingerden, ook actief bij eerdere formaties, over een kamer in het stadhuis voor de fractie van Leefbaar Rotterdam. Die moet er zo snel mogelijk komen. Of ze Fortuyn wil bellen.

Het Bureau Raad heeft het telefoonnummer van Fortuyn en Van Wingerden belt. De telefoon wordt opgenomen met de mededeling: Met professor Fortuyn.

Van Wingerden zegt: Ik heb een fractiekamer voor u in het stadhuis. Fortuyn is een tijdje stil. Maar we zijn nog niet geïnstalleerd, zegt hij dan stomverbaasd.

Fortuyn heeft geen idee hoe de zaken in het stadhuis gaan. En hij heeft waarschijnlijk geen millimeter medewerking verwacht. In Rotterdam doen ze dat anders.

Gedichtsels

De Turing Nationale Gedichtenwedstrijd is de eerste nationale gedichtenwedstrijd van Nederland die toegankelijk is voor iedereen en niet gaat over een dichter, maar over een gedicht. Het concept is afkomstig uit Engeland, waar jarenlang met succes door soortgelijke wedstrijden aandacht voor poëzie, bekende dichters en nieuwe talenten is gerealiseerd. De wedstrijd wordt georganiseerd door de Poëzieclub.

Iedereen van zestien jaar of ouder mag zoveel gedichten insturen als hij of zij wil. De gedichten moeten in de Nederlandse taal (of een dialect) zijn geschreven, en moeten voor 1 November 2009 zijn ingediend. Dit is alleen mogelijk via de speciaal daarvoor ingerichte website www.nationalegedichtenwedstrijd.nl.

Alle dichters blijven gedurende het gehele beoordelingsproces anoniem. De jury bestaat uit Gerrit Komrij (voorzitter), DJ Giel Beelen, korte verhalen schrijfster Sanneke van Hassel, Turing Foundation bestuurslid Alexander Ribbink, en dichter Vrouwkje Tuinman. De Nationale Dichter des Vaderlands Ramsy Nasr is ambassadeur van de wedstrijd.

De 100 beste gedichten worden gepubliceerd in een speciale bloemlezing met een voorwoord van Gerrit Komrij. De auteurs van de beste 10 gedichten worden bovendien uitgenodigd door Uitgeverij Augustus om een manuscript in te dienen, dat in overweging zal worden genomen voor publicatie. De hoofdprijs bedraagt € 10.000,-.

Turing Foundation

Wedstrijdregels in het kort
- Gedichten moeten in de Nederlandse taal (of een Nederlandse streektaal) zijn geschreven.
- De maximale lengte van een gedicht is 40 regels. Er zijn geen beperkingen aan thematiek of stijl.
- Gedichten mogen niet eerder zijn gepubliceerd of in eigen beheer zijn uitgegeven, ook niet digitaal.
- Minimum deelnameleeftijd is 16 jaar, de Nederlandse nationaliteit is geen vereiste.
- Het deelnamegeld is € 3 per gedicht. Inzending en betaling kan uitsluitend via deze website.
- De sluitingsdatum is 1 november 2009 om 24.00 uur.

Ik ben al begonnen.

Mijn eerste regel luidt: wie niet waagt, wie niet wint.

Dom blondje?

All the presidents wives 32

ELIZABETH VIRGINIA "BESS" TRUMAN

Birth:

13 February 1885Independence, Missouri

Father:

David Willock Wallace, born 15 June 1860, Independence, Missouri, County Treasurer, Deputy Surveyor in U.S. Customs Bureau Kansas City division, died 17 June 1903, Independence, Missouri

Mother:

Margaret (Madge) Gates Wallace, born 4 August 1862, Port Byron, Illinois; married 13 June 1883, Independence, Missouri; died 5 December 1952, The White House, Washington, D.C.
"Madge" Wallace was the daughter of George Porterfield Gates, co-founder of the local Waggoner-Gates Milling Company, a successful business that made the family extremely wealthy by local standards. Following the suicide of her father, Bess Wallace, her mother and brother lived for a year in Colorado Springs, Colorado. When they returned they moved in with her maternal grandparents. It would be the home of Bess Truman for the rest of her life.

Birth Order and Siblings:

Eldest of four; three brothers: Frank Gates Wallace, (4 March 1887 - 12 August 1960), George Porterfield Wallace, (1 May 1892 - 24 May 1963), David Frederick Wallace, (7 January 1900 - 30 September 1957)
Ancestry:Irish; English; Bess Truman's paternal Wallace ancestors came from Ireland to the U.S. in the 1700's.

Physical Appearance:

Medium height; dark blonde hair, blue eyes

Religious Affiliation:

Born into Presbyterian faith, became Episcopalian

Education:

Local Public School, Independence, Missouri, 1891-1897: Bess Wallace was a classmate of her future husband starting in the fifth grade; Independence High School, Independence, Missouri, 1898-1901: Bess Wallace was a noted athlete in high school, winning many tennis tournaments and also playing shot-put. She graduated in the same class as her future husband; Miss Barstow's School, Kansas City, 1901-1903: Bess Wallace attended the finishing school in nearby Kansas City and studied language and literature.

Occupation Before Marriage:

After the suicide of her father, Bess Wallace took charge of many household decisions for her mother. She maintained a lengthy acquaintance with Harry Truman, whom her mother did not approve of because of his more humble origins. They were engaged in 1917, but waited to marry until he had finished his service in World War I. She briefly considered becoming a school teacher but did not pursue it.

Marriage:

34 years old, on 28 June, 1919, Independence, Missouri, to Harry S. Truman, veteran, haberdasher, (born 8 May 1884, Lamar, Missouri, died 26 December 1972, Kansas City, Missouri)

Children:

1 daughter; Mary Margaret Truman, 17 February 1924, Independence, Missouri

Occupation after marriage:

Manager, Accountant, Truman-Jacobsen Haberdashery, Kansas City, Missouri, (1919-1922)Unsalaried in all her capacities at the store, Bess Truman also worked as a saleslady in the endeavor, which he co-owned with Eddie Jacobsen.
As Harry Truman rose in local politics as a district county judge (1922-1933), Bess Truman remained at home in the traditional role of wife, mother, housekeeper and caretaker of her mother.

Bess Truman moved with her daughter and husband to Washington, D.C. in 1934, following his election to the U.S. Senate. They lived in a series of small apartments. Bess Truman preferred her life back home in Missouri and when Congressional sessions were over, returned with her daughter to Independence for lengthy stretches. During World War II, with her daughter now a teenager in school in Virginia, Bess Truman largely remained in Washington, D.C. She became more active outside of her family. She joined the Senate Wives Club efforts to aid the Red Cross, and also volunteered at the H Street USO.

When Senator Truman became the chairman of the Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, he hired Bess Truman to work as an office clerk, and she answered constituent mail and helped to edit his committee reports. She was federally salaried at $4,500 a year. After Truman's 1944 nomination as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, she was dubbed "Payroll Bess" by Republican Clare Booth Luce, but Truman refused to relent to critics and kept his wife on the payroll, defending her genuine ability and work. She also provided a sound advisory role to her husband, reading the Congressional Record daily, serving as an unnamed pro-Truman source for newspaper reporters and running his Senate office when he was out of Washington. She mistrusted President Roosevelt on occasion, considered him a wily politician.

Campaign and Inauguration:

In attendance at the 1944 Democratic National Convention with her husband and daughter, Bess Truman was angry when she learned that her husband had accepted the offer of President Franklin Roosevelt to run as his vice-presidential running mate. "What if he should die?" she asked him. "Then you would be President." Despite her misgivings, she supported her husband, even participating in a rare radio interview. When Roosevelt died less than three months after the January 1945 Inauguration, she was overcome not only with grief but fear of what her new role would entail. She and her daughter rushed down to the White House on 12 April, several hours after FDR's death to witness Truman's swearing-in as president, in the Cabinet Room.

When Harry Truman ran for re-election in 1948, Bess Truman viewed his chances with pessimism. She accompanied him on his famous whistlestop tour, and he developed a routine of introducing her as "the Boss" at the conclusion of his speeches from the back platform. She was known to keep at least one governor from joining the train because of his earlier criticism of Truman. Bess Truman was also known to reprimand her husband when he made what she considered strong language, often spoken in a heated moment.

At the 1949 Inaugural Parade, when Truman friend, the actress Tallulah Bankhead booed South Carolina's U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, who had bolted the Democratic Party to oppose Truman as a Dixiecrat candidate, Bess Truman cheered on her friend.

First Lady:

60 years old

12 April 1945 - 20 January 1953

Bess Truman had never wanted to be the Vice President's wife, let alone the President's wife. According to her daughter, Bess Truman's fear of public knowledge of her father's suicide was one reason she insisted on maintaining a low public profile. As she returned with the President and Cabinet to Washington from the funeral of President Roosevelt, she asked Labor Secretary Frances Perkins if it was necessary for her to conduct press conferences as Eleanor Roosevelt had; in fact, her predecessor had already scheduled one for them both to appear, as a way of introducing Bess Truman to the reporters. Assured that she could do as she wished, Bess Truman cancelled the press conference and never held one. Nor did she ever grant an interview to a newspaper or magazine, although she did respond to written questions from the press and she would answer questions when she was approached in a spontaneous moment.

Bess Truman also differed from Eleanor Roosevelt in deciding not to address social issues of her era. When she accepted an invitation to an autumn 1945 Daughters of the American Revolution tea, African-American Congressman Adam Clayton Powell called her the "last lady of the land" in protest. Powell suggested that her attendance at the DAR event amounted to her tacit approval of their upholding the city's segregation rules which forbid non-white performers from taking the stage at their Constitution Hall. Bess Truman was appalled at the idea, and released a strong statement to the press that, "I deplore any action which denied artistic talent an opportunity to express itself because of prejudice against race or origin." The incident solidified her resolve to keep a low profile.

Throughout her eight years as First Lady, Bess Truman sponsored the more traditional charities and causes associated with First Ladies prior to Eleanor Roosevelt, although she continued the Roosevelt fundraising efforts for the March of Dimes, which sought to eradicate infantile paralysis. She would greet leaders of various causes in the White House and pose for a photograph that was released to the press, or she attended a charity luncheon as a headliner whose presence had helped to sell tickets.

Following the end of World War II in August of 1945, Bess Truman signed a "housewife's pledge" of voluntary food rationing in the White House, setting an example for other Americans to limit their consumption so as to permit food donations to be sent to the many devastated populations of postwar Europe, in short supply of basic food staples. In the private quarters of the White House, Bess Truman was not above occasionally cooking or cleaning for her own family, although she always had a housekeeper and servants to assist her when she wished. Despite the fact that she was a traditional woman, Bess Truman would later privately suggest her support of birth control to her daughter. She maintained her belief that divorce was too easily obtainable.

In 1948, when it was learned that the old mansion was in danger of collapsing, the Trumans had to immediately vacate the premises. A debate ensued as to how best address the problem. There were some who suggested the house be torn down and a new replica built in its stead. Bess Truman believed strongly that although it might be more expensive, it was important to preserve at least the four walls of the original house and have it serve as the shell for a modern, structurally sound presidential mansion. This was the solution chosen. The Trumans relocated to the double-house complex across Pennsylvania Avenue, the Lee-Blair House, and lived there from 1948 to 1952.

With American entry into the Korean conflict in 1950, Bess Truman sponsored Red Cross and other voluntary aid efforts to benefit servicemen. She also hosted numerous garden parties at the Blair-Lee House for local servicemen. The Blair-Lee House was smaller than the White House and required breaking what had usually been one large reception into several smaller ones, scheduled in sequence. Bess Truman was not in harm's way when two Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire at the entrance to the Blair-Lee House, in an attempt to assassinate

President Truman in November 1950. As a result, however, her movements became even more limited by security concerns. When she had first become First Lady, she had even been permitted to still drive her own car, a privilege she had to forego for the duration of her tenure.

Bess Truman was implicated in a political scandal during her husband's Administration. In 1949, it was learned that the President's military aide Harry Vaughan had accepted a $375 deep freezer for the First Lady from a Chicago firm seeking federal contracts. Senator Clyde Hoey opened congressional hearings on the contractor, but as the role of Bess Truman was investigated, it was found she had simply accepted it as a routine gift and was cleared of wrongdoing. No less a person than the sharp anti-Truman critic, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, then leading a rabid anti-Communist campaign, praised Bess Truman, declaring she was "the only good thing about the White House."

Greatly preferring the relative peace of her own Missouri home, Bess Truman spent as much time as possible there, including the summer months and holiday season. Whenever they were apart, Harry Truman wrote detailed and affectionate letters to his wife, giving her inside observations and political assessments of figures such as England's Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. When they were both in residence in Washington, Bess Truman spent about two hours every evening with the president, reviewing his speeches, schedule and policy decisions. To what degree she influenced policy or changed Truman's views is uncertain, since there was no documentation generated when they were meeting together. It is known that she disapproved of his initial choice for press secretary, and supported the naming of Charlie Ross, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Washington editor.

Truman declared to reporter Marianne Means in 1962, that he never made an important decision without first seeking the advice and reaction of his wife. Although their daughter would later claim otherwise, Truman affirmed to Means that he had consulted her on the dropping of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, which led to the Japanese surrender and end of World War II. Bess Truman later defended his decisions, affirming that it ultimately saved the lives of countless other Japanese and Americans from an otherwise expected land war.

She also vigorously defended Truman's controversial decision to fire General Douglas MacArthur in 1951 for insubordination. According to their daughter, Bess Truman was also responsible for the approval and funding of a cultural exchange program with the Soviet Union and funding for cancer research at the newly created National Institute of Health.

When the Trumans moved back into the newly completed White House, now with air-conditioning throughout the rooms, Bess Truman was said to have expressed some disappointment in the loss of the feel of the old house. She did not make extensive decorating decisions since it was a foregone conclusion that Truman would not be seeking another term and the family would occupy the new White House for only a few months. She was visibly thrilled when he publicly announced that he was retiring from politics. Bess Truman's last month in the White House was overshadowed by the death of her aged and ill mother, who had lived with her throughout the Truman presidency.

The press and the public were never permitted to have a genuine glimpse of the character and personality of Bess Truman as First Lady. She remained sedate in appearance and cryptic in her few remarks. Only later, as accounts from White House staff, friends and family began to appear in print did her generosity, sensitivity and wit emerge for the public.

Life After the White House:

Bess Truman was eager to retire with her husband from the life of politics in Washington, D.C. and to return to the home she had known all her life, the Gates Mansion in Independence, Missouri. She returned to her weekly bridge club, and served as the editor of her husband's memoirs. She traveled to Hawaii in 1953, and then Europe for six weeks with the former President in 1956, and made a second trip to the Continent two years later. Bess Truman also made a rare television appearance ion 27 May 1955, on the CBS television show, "Person to Person." Both Trumans were interviewed by their daughter Margaret, who was substituting for the regular host, Edward R. Murrow; the show is the only lengthy audio-visual recording of Bess Truman. She also was a breast cancer survivor, having undergone a mastectomy in 1959.

While she remained on good terms with her successor Mamie Eisenhower, Bess Truman was excited with the return of the Democrats to the White House in 1960. She made a visit back to the mansion, staying there overnight with her husband, daughter and son-in-law during the Kennedy Administration. She was also on good terms with the Lyndon Johnsons, and joined in a 30 July 1965 ceremony with them and her husband, when the President came to present the Trumans with the first two membership cards entitling them to Medicare coverage. Like her husband, she remained supportive of the LBJ Vietnam War policy. She was also present to greet Richard and Pat Nixon, when that presidential couple came to see the Trumans in 1969. Bess Truman strongly supported the Nixon Administration's mining of Haiphong Harbor.
Bess Truman's last appearance at a public event was the funeral of her husband in December of 1972. She lent her name in support of Thomas Eagleton's campaign for the U.S. Senate from Missouri. She remained an avid baseball fan and rooted for her home-team, the Kansas City Royals. In her last years, she enjoyed reading murder mysteries, and her daughter eventually became known for a of murder mystery book series under her name. Although she remained loyal to the Democratic Party, she welcomed President Gerald Ford and his wife Betty, and it was later suggested that she privately supported his candidacy in 1976, having become disenchanted with the direction of the Democratic Party that year. When her daughter lived in Washington, D.C. Bess Truman made a last visit to the city, and toured the White House again, without fanfare or any official notice. She welcomed President Jimmy Carter in her home when he campaigned for re-election in Independence, Missouri. Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter and then-incumbent First Lady Nancy Reagan all attended Bess Truman's funeral in 1982.

Death:

97 years old

18 October 1982

Independence, Missouri
Bess Truman was the longest-living of the First Ladies

Burial:Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and MuseumIndependence, Missouri

Bron: http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/

Twittert u ook?

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Er is MSN. Dat was mijn eerste digitale chat-ervaring.

Een paar maanden geleden (iedereen kende het al) ontdekte ik Skype. Ik ben veel te pragmatisch voor dat soort dingen. Wasted time, al dat slappe geouwehoer.
Behalve de gesprekken die ik met zoonlief vanuit Amerika voer(de), leidt het tot niets.

Twee weken geleden nodigde een Amerikaanse vriendin mij uit voor Facebook. Daar heb ik welgeteld tien minuten op gestaan. Toen verklaarde ik mijzelf voor gek.

En er is Twitter, dat in Nederland inmiddels bekend is geworden door Maxime Verhagen en Arend Jan Boekestijn.

**********************************************************************************

In NRC.NEXT las ik het volgende:

Vorige week was Amsterdam het toneel van The Next Web conferentie. Meer dan 800 internetnerds verzamelden zich in de Westergasfabriek om te praten over de toekomst van hun vak. Onder hen was ook Andrew Keen, de meest bekende criticaster van deze beroepsgroep. Zijn belangrijkste boodschap? Twitter vergroot de ongelijkheid op het web.

Afgelopen jaren juichten internetexperts dat Web 2.0 een democratiserende werking op het web had. Nieuws was alleen belangrijk als het op de voorpagina van sociale nieuwssite digg.com belandde. De enige die roet in het eten gooide, was Keen. Hij schreef het boek The Cult of the Amateur, waarin hij betoogde dat Web 2.0 de ondergang van de culturele elite betekende. In plaats van Bob Dylan, luisteren we tegenwoordig naar amateuristische YouTube-zangers. Bovendien levert Web 2.0 geen geld op.

Nu is er Twitter. Opeens microbloggen miljoenen mensen. Deze ontwikkeling bejubelt Keen wel, want ,,het staat symbool voor de individualisering van westerse maatschappijen. Het is het medium van de toekomst.” Maar tegelijkertijd vergroot volgens Keen het medium de ongelijkheid. Waar Web 2.0 democratie bevorderde, lijkt Twitter de oude elite weer in ere te herstellen.
Ik denk dat het voorbeeld van Oprah Winfrey - die sinds vorige week twittert- dit maar al te duidelijk maakt.

Op Twitter draait het voor de meeste gebruikers om het aantal mensen die je updates volgen, ,,followers” genoemd. Hoe meer followers, hoe meer aanzien. Als iemand met veel followers een boek aanraadt, levert dat meer lezers op. Hetzelfde geldt voor een blog. Zo herstelt Twitter het oude model van reputaties en invloedrijke personen.

Zoals Oprah. De vrouw die met haar boekenclub en tv-programma liet zien hoe ongelofelijk groot haar invloed is. Zij twittert nu ook en heeft na slechts twaalf updates al 366.122 followers. Tot nu toe richtte ze zich in haar persoonlijke berichten tot andere twitterende beroemdheden, zoals Larry King, Asthon Kutcher (die dankzij een grote promotiestunt meer dan een miljoen followers heeft), Demi Moore en basketbalster Shaquille O’Neal. Zo is de elite van beroemdheden weer hersteld. Met als enige verschil dat wij, het gewone volk, mee kunnen kijken.

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Toevallig, want sinds gisteren ben ik een Twittert (zoals Wim van Hanegem het ongetwijfeld zal uitspreken).
Niet dat ik weet wat de aanvullende waarde is. Of al die bekendheden ook echt bekendheden zijn valt nog te bezien. Er wordt wat afgefraudeerd met namen en fake-berichtjes.(http://www.maxpam.nl/2009/04/3312/#more-3312 en http://www.maxpam.nl/2009/04/big-brother-is-twittering-you/#more-3355)

Er zijn mensen (ik ken ze) die hun dag vullen met bovenstaande programma's, er zelf ook een blog op nahouden en rondzwerven op andermans sites en blogs. Mensen die in de waan leven dat ze daadwerkelijk contact leggen met beroemde idolen. Mensen die naarstig/wanhopig op zoek zijn naar contacten.

Ik twitter omdat ik publiciteit zoek voor mijn boek. Hoelang ik het volhoud?
Als het me net zo vergaat als met al die andere programma's - niet lang.

Tot ik kierewiet word.

El's corner 5

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AZ is terecht kampioen geworden.

Ajax heeft een handje geholpen. De grootste nederlaag van het seizoen.
Wat een blamage.

Ik keek even naar mijn eigen score op Dreamteam en zag tot mijn grote vreugde dat ik dit weekend maar liefst 39 = negenendertig punten heb gescoord .

In mijn eigen subleague 'Kameraden' (bestaande uit twee heren en ikzelf) ben ik naar de tweede plaats gestegen. Het heeft even geduurd.

Net als Feijenoord dit jaar: ik ben een slow starter.

Storing

Vanmorgen bleek 'onze' Q-Parkgarage niet open te gaan voor inkomend verkeer. Al die mensen die hier op deze zonnige koopzondag wilden parkeren stonden uren te wachten of worstelden zich (indien dat lukte) los uit de file.

Het was een merkwaardige toestand. Gelukkig konden wij als abonnees er wel uitrijden.

We hadden het plan geopperd naar Knokke te gaan. Even Snoepy uitlaten.
Manlief koos - tot mijn ongenoegen - de volgende route. Maastunnel, Heinenoordtunnel, Haringvlietbrug, Bergen op Zoom - Liefkenshoektunnel.

In ons open autootje ontwijk ik het liefst tunnels.

Maar goed.........................

De Haringvlietbrug was open, ging dicht - maar de bomen (automatisch - dus geen brugwachter) bleven dicht.

Bizar, dit had ik nog nooit meegemaakt.

Kinderen speelden voetbal op de A29.

Even dacht ik aan 1973.

Na veertig minuten kwam er een auto van Rijkswaterstaat langs. Aangezien wij voorin de file stonden kwam voor ons de verlossing vrij snel.

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Maar zij, in haar twintig jaar oude Fiatje, had minder geluk. Weliswaar stond ze in Poll position - ze had ogenschijnlijk haar accu leeg laten lopen.

Waarschijnlijk te lang naar de filemeldingen geluisterd.

De literatuurrechter

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Connie Palmen en Saskia Noort lagen in de clinch en vochten dat uit aan de tafel van DWDD.

Nou ja, uitvechten?

Het was Hugo Borst die het vuurtje aanwakkerde en Palmen het bloed onder haar nagels vandaan haalde.

Die laatste begon met excuses aan te bieden voor haar (dronken?) uitspraken op het boekenbal over "nietsnut" Saskia Noort . Ze sloeg de handen voor de ogen toen ze met de beelden werd geconfronteerd.

Palmen, die zichzelf omhoog heeft gewerkt door relaties met bekende - liefst intellectuele - Nederlanders, behoort tot de literatuurelite.
Saskia Noort daarentegen - volgens C.P. - niet. Het werk van bestsellerschrijver Noort mag niet eens literair genoemd worden.

Wat is literatuur?
Wie bepaalt wanneer iets literatuur is?
De schrijvers? De recensenten? De lezers?

Zodra er clichés in een boek voorkomen is het geen literatuur, zei Palmen gisteravond. Die verklaring kende ik niet, maar neem ik voor zoete koek aan.

''Weg van mijn moeder", is geen literatuur. Die intentie heb ik ook niet.
"Soms wordt het literatuur", schreef Theodor Holman.
Mijn streven is een verhaal zo aantrekkelijk mogelijk te vertellen. Het moet boeien.

Dat mijn uitgever er het etiket 'literaire fictie' op heeft geplakt zal la Palmen ook wel niet aanstaan.

Saskia Noort verweerde zich door precies hetzelfde te zeggen. Haar uitgever plaatst haar werk in de categorie 'literaire thriller'.

So what. Waar maken de 'oude rotten' zich druk om?

Een paar jaar geleden was er ophef omdat er alleen maar non-fictie werd geschreven.
Nu hebben ze een ander pispaaltje gevonden.

Afgunst omdat Noort rijk wordt van haar thrillers? Dat ze binnenloopt.

Schrijvers als Kluun, Heleen van Rooijen en Saskia Noort trekken wel mensen naar de boekhandel. Dat lijkt mij alleen maar positief. Laat de mensen zelf bepalen wat ze willen lezen.

Het is toch meegenomen als ze tegelijkertijd bij Donner op de koopjesafdeling IM van Connie Palmen voor vijf euro aanschaffen?

Dan kan die tenminste een kam kopen.

Een film te ver?

Fitna II.

Overspeelt Geert Wilders zijn hand?

Hondenleven

Ze heeft het gehaald!!

Scooby is vandaag vijftien = 15 jaar geworden.

Uitzonderlijk??

Jazeker.

Ze is - volgens de dierenarts - de oudste Labrador in de praktijk.

Vorige week kreeg ze haar jaarlijkse inentingen en nam de dierenarts afscheid met, "tot volgend jaar".

Scooby is nog behoorlijk bij de pinken. Ze laat ons duidelijk weten wat ze ervan vindt.

Vooral wanneer we haar lievelingsplek - ons huisje in Brouwershaven - inruilen voor 28-hoog in Rotterdam.

De eerste nachten poept ze - uit protest - haar mand vol.

Zo ook wanneer ze in het pension is geweest.

Na onze lange vakantie in Amerika maakte ze het wel heel bont. Ze produceerde vier nachten achter elkaar zachte ontlasting, wat tot achter haar oren zat.

"Dit is het einde", sprak ik op een ochtend. "Ze kan het niet meer ophouden, we laten haar inslapen".

Maar ik kon de daad niet bij het woord voegen. Die heldere, ondeugende ogen...........

Scooby zakt door haar achterhoeven, ondanks de medicijnen. Wij krijgen de indruk dat het gevoel in de achterhand langzaam wegebt.

Maar in Zeeland leeft ze op en gedraagt ze zich als een modelhond.

Dat spuitje blijft dus voorlopig in het medicijnkastje van de dierenarts.

Een paar dagen geleden fietste ik over een landweggetje nabij het Grevelingenmeer.

Ik werd ingehaald door een jongeman met twee - niet te definiëren - honden. Het waren vecht/waakhonden, dat zag ik wel. Gedeeltelijk Herder, gedeeltelijk Strattford - een 'ras' waar ik mijn Scoob niet mee zou laten 'spelen'.

(Mijn schoonvader - huisarts en keurmeester van jachthonden - vertelde ooit dat fietsen met een hond heel slecht is. Gevolg: hartvergroting. De hond rent zich dood voor zijn baas. ).

Deze man liet zich nota bene trekken door de twee honden en jaagde ze op.

Op een gegeven moment moest de binnenste hond zijn behoefte doen en hield in.

Wat er toen gebeurde verdwijnt nooit meer van mijn netvlies.

De man op de fiets trapte het dier in zijn middenrif. Keihard.

Hij riep: 'Lopen godverdomme'.

De hond gilde en rende nog harder dan daarvoor.

Ik schreeuwde onbewust 'nee!'. Wat voelde ik mij machteloos.

Hij keek om een maakte een hoofdgebaar van 'wat mot je'.

Ik hield in.

Sterker nog, ik besloot terug te gaan.

De stoom kwam uit mijn oren. Tegelijk wilde ik niet de 'gebeten hond' worden.

Deze honden halen in ieder geval de vijftien jaar niet.

En die man????????????

Die verdient een spuitje.

FUN

All the presidents wives 31

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt

Born:

October 11, 1884 in New York City

Died:

November 7, 1962 in New York City

Father:

Elliott Roosevelt (1860-1894)

Mother:

Anna Rebecca Hall Roosevelt (1863-1892)

Ancestry:

Dutch, English

Siblings:

1. Elliott Roosevelt (1889-1893)
2. (Gracie) Hall Roosevelt (1891-1941)

Physical Description:

Eleanor Roosevelt was 5’8 ½" tall, with beautiful golden blonde hair that darkened as she aged, then turned a soft gray. Her eyes were blue and rather small, but piercing. She wore glasses for much of her life. She had buck teeth which made her mouth seem like it never closed properly. They also made her voice high pitched and shrill. When she got dentures later in life, her appearance not only improved, but her voice modified as well. She had large graceful hands that were often busy knitting or crocheting. She dressed plainly, but looked, as her husband said, "magnificent" in evening clothes. Eleanor’s mother, who was a beautiful woman, was ashamed of her daughter’s looks and always called her "Granny".

Religion:

Presbyterian

Education and Childhood:

Eleanor had a sad and lonely childhood. Her cold mother rejected her because of her looks, and her adored father (Theodore Roosevelt’s younger brother) was an alcoholic. Eleanor’s mother died when she was eight and her father when she was ten. By this time, her parents had drifted apart due to Elliott’s drinking. Eleanor had deeply loved her father, who always called her his "little Nell", and she was devastated by his death. Eleanor and her brother were sent to live with Grandmother Hall, a stern unloving woman. Grandmother Hall dressed Eleanor in clothes that were both uncomfortable and old fashioned. Eleanor’s aunt and uncle, Theodore and Edith Roosevelt, invited her to visit as often as possible. She, however, didn’t get along well with other children, which made the visits difficult.

When she was fifteen, Eleanor’s life changed for the better when she was sent to Allenwood, an English finishing school outside London, run by headmistress, Marie Souvestre. Mlle. Souvestre recognized Eleanor’s abilities and helped her to overcome her fears and lack of self confidence. The three years at Allenwood helped to develop Eleanor into the woman she would later become.

When she returned home in 1900, she began teaching at the Rivington Street Settlement House. She visited tenement houses and joined a consumers’ league.

Eleanor often visited her uncle in the White House. A rivalry developed between her and her cousin, Alice Roosevelt. When Edith Roosevelt heard Alice mimic Eleanor, she cautioned her stepdaughter by saying, "Be careful, Alice, for one day the ugly duckling will turn into a beautiful swan."

Husband:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945)

Courtship:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was Eleanor’s fifth cousin; they had known each other since childhood. During her coming out parties for her debut, they talked about her work with the poor, which intrigued Franklin. They soon began seeing each other. They were very different: he was handsome, debonair, free spirited, humorous and had a light-hearted manner; she was plain, very serious, lacking in confidence and rather poor. Sara Roosevelt, Franklin’s mother, did not approve of the match. Despite sending her son on a cruise to separate the couple, they became engaged in November of 1904. As her closest male relative, President Teddy Roosevelt agreed to give his niece away.

Marriage:

March 17, 1905 in the adjoining homes of Eleanor’s aunts, Mrs. Henry Parish and Mrs. E. Livingston Ludlow. Alice Roosevelt served as maid of honor. The guests paid more attention to President Roosevelt than to the newlywed couple causing Eleanor to say, "He has to be the corpse at every funeral and the bride at every wedding." Franklin and Eleanor had a short honeymoon at Hyde Park.

Age at marriage:

20 years, 157 days

Personality:

As she grew older, Eleanor Roosevelt gained self confidence. She was a woman who hated idleness; her hands were always busy. She had strong loyalties and a deep-seated passion for life. Eleanor could show a surprising coldness and sternness that were at odds with her public image. She could express herself in warm, loving terms that caused her letters to be misconstrued. She preferred writing letters to using the phone. She liked to write and wrote all of her columns herself. Eleanor’s causes, projects and "strays" (as her family referred to her friends) sometimes made her seem distant to her own family. Her vision of what should be sometimes made her an irritant to her husband and his staff, but they knew they couldn’t do without her. A tireless woman, she pursued her goals relentlessly, causing a reporter covering her to comment, "Oh Lord, please, make her tired one day – please!"

Children:

1. Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1906-1975)
2. James Roosevelt (1907-1991)
3. Franklin Roosevelt (1909-1909)
4. Elliott Roosevelt (1910-1990)
5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. (1914-1988)
6. John Aspinwall Roosevelt (1916-1981)

Years Before the White House:

During their early married life, Franklin and Eleanor lived in New York City and Hyde Park. Sara Delano Roosevelt arranged their lives. When Franklin was elected to the state senate, they moved to Albany, which took them away from Sara and her control. Eleanor began to attend legislative sessions and to build an interest in politics.

In 1915, President Wilson appointed Franklin under-secretary of the Navy. The Roosevelts moved to Washington. During this period, Eleanor discovered that her husband was having an affair with her social secretary, Lucy Page Mercer. This discovery took a terrible toll on Eleanor. She offered her husband a divorce. Sara Roosevelt intervened, and the couple decided that enough love still existed between them to stay together. The marriage, however, was never the same again.

Eleanor began to move out from under the shadow of her husband and mother-in-law. With the help of her husband’s advisor, Louis Howe, Eleanor began to create her own career. Her career plans were put on hold in 1921, when Franklin developed polio while summering in Campobello, Maine.

The joint efforts of Eleanor and Louis Howe kept Franklin’s name before the party. Eleanor became "his eyes, ears and feet." She helped Franklin, while still maintaining her own interests. She taught at Todhunter School, created furniture at Val Kil – her cottage on the Hyde Park estate – and wrote articles for newspapers and magazines. She visited hospitals, schools, asylums and prisons.

Franklin was elected Governor of New York, enabling him to see first hand the effects of the depression. Even though she had no desire to be First Lady, Eleanor campaigned for her husband for President in 1932.

First Lady:

March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945:

From the start, Eleanor Roosevelt made it clear that she was going to be a different kind of First Lady. She wasn’t concerned with the food that was served or the general appearance of the White House. As a result of Eleanor’s general disinterest in the running of the House, the staff let rooms get dusty, people often commented on how dingy things appeared, and even the President’s complaints about the food fell on deaf ears.

Aside from running the household, Mrs. Roosevelt touched every corner of the globe, spoke out on all the issues of the day and looked into all variety of problems for her husband. She spoke out on the rights of the African-Americans, the poor of West Virginia, the plight of working women, the migrant workers and the dissatisfied students. She walked, rode, flew and drove into all parts of our country. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, she expanded her travels all over the world.

She entertained King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and visited them in London. When the DAR refused to allow Marian Anderson, an African American, sing at Constitution Hall, Eleanor Roosevelt resigned her membership. She then invited Marian Anderson to sing for the King and Queen of England.

Eleanor wrote her autobiography and, in 1935, started writing a daily column (My Day) that proved to be a great asset to her husband. She threw the White House open to a huge following of friends. The White House was never busier, with guests including Winston Churchill, the future Queen Margaret of the Netherlands and Madame Chaing Kai Chek.

Eleanor had a radio program and continued to give speeches. She loved flying and wanted to take lessons from Amelia Earhart, but F.D.R. talked her out of it.

After December 7, 1941 (the attack on Pearl Harbor), Eleanor only intensified her work load. She crossed the world twice, visited the wounded, talked to soldiers and brought back ideas and suggestions to be discussed with Franklin. Eleanor feared for her four sons, all of who were in the service, and for her increasingly frail husband. She was rightly concerned that Franklin would not survive his fourth term.

Eleanor was speaking at a club in Washington, D.C. on April 12, 1945 when she was summoned back to the White House. F.D.R. had died earlier that day in Warm Springs, Georgia. Eleanor discovered that Franklin had resumed his relationship with Lucy Mercer (Rutherford) with the help of their daughter, Anna and that Lucy was with him when he died.
Leaving the White House with Fala (the President’s Scottie dog), Eleanor Roosevelt commented, "The story is over".

Life After the White House:

The story was anything but over. Eleanor Roosevelt became active in the NAACP, the League of Women Voters and was appointed to the newly founded United Nations. She helped to frame the Human Rights Amendment. She attended the Democratic conventions in 1952 and 1956 in support of Adlai Stevenson and in 1960 in support of John F. Kennedy. In 1961 Eleanor and seven other former and future First Ladies, attended Kennedy’s inauguration. She developed tuberculosis on the bone marrow and phlebitis late in 1961, which made her last year somewhat difficult.

Death:

November 7, 1962
Age: 78 years, 27 days

Burial:

Hyde Park, N.Y.

Legacy:

Eleanor Roosevelt was a unique person, who became First Lady at a unique time in our country’s history. She had twelve years to make her mark. There was no cause she didn’t at least consider and no road she wouldn’t travel. She remains one of our most actively involved First Ladies.

http://www.firstladies.org/default.aspx