No picture on this post of "that couple," and I won't give their names. You know the story.Today Al Kamen at the Washington Post wrote a column about a comparable incident that happened on New Year's Eve in 1938, when two teenagers bluffed their way into the White House and asked the Roosevelts for autographs. The full story is at the link, but I think this is the salient part:
Eleanor, who gave Bee an autograph, was not amused. It was "a rather unfortunate incident," she wrote in her "My Day" column, by a "thoughtless boy and girl," who displayed exceedingly "rude and unmannerly behavior." Perhaps worst of all, she wrote, "I imagine that to some young people at least, behavior of this kind will make [them] seem rather heroic." Eleanor wrote that she, "for one," would not hire anyone who acted that way.
That wasn't all. Eleanor also sent a note, delivered the next morning to Bee's mother, saying that Bee should have been taught better manners at home and implying that she was an unfit mother. Bee's mother -- a very proper Republican lady -- was horrified. Bee was duly punished.
By contrast, the [not to be named] get reality TV.
Kudos to Eleanor Roosevelt. Photo from the LIFE archives.
Those Life archives are so rich, aren't they. Additionally, the stories in the archives can give us a remarkable perspective to our current events. Well done.
ReplyDeleteNot only kudos to the First Lady but kudos to the mother of Bee!
ReplyDeleteFew mothers today would have the sense to punish their children for behaving so poorly. And that is probably why we have so many people who behave like the couple who shall not be named . . .
Just one more reason to love Eleanor and wonder what the heck people who call the crashers a "harmless" stunt are thinking.
ReplyDeleteThe saddest part is the recent gate-crashers were children at all. What has this reality-show phenomena taught us? Whatever it takes to make a name, do it and deny the blame.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, thank you for not displaying the names and photographs of "that couple." They deserve a lifetime of anonymity for what they did.
ReplyDeleteSecond, great bit of research. Very apt.