Optional Small Group Discussions (With questions and answer guides)

• Leadership: Different Decisions

• Leadership: Different Styles

• Organizing: Human Rights

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LEADERSHIP: DIFFERENT DECISIONS

The DAR: As First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt thought carefully about her

membership in different organizations, often the base for coalitions working on important issues.

She posed the question “If you belong to an organization and disapprove of an action which is

typical of a policy, shall you resign or is it better to work for a changed point of view within the

organization?”

In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Marian Anderson,

the world-renowned opera singer, to perform at Constitution Hall because she was African

American. Roosevelt women had belonged to the DAR for generations and Eleanor Roosevelt

believed that you needed to work actively in organizations to which you belonged and try to

change policies with which you disagree. She was not an active member in the DAR, but she did

join many others in asking them to change the “whites only” policy. In this case, she told the

readers of her syndicated My Day column, without naming the organization, that “They have

taken an action which has been widely talked of in the press. To remain as a member implies

approval of that action, and therefore I am resigning.”

Arrangements were made for Marian Anderson to sing on Easter Sunday at the Lincoln

Memorial. 75,000 people gathered at the base of the memorial, stretching towards the

Washington Monument. She began her recital with the powerful words of “America” and closed

with the soulful “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.” The First Lady did not attend.

Questions for Discussion-DAR

1. What were the pros and cons of Eleanor Roosevelt’s decision to resign from the DAR?

2. Why do you think she didn’t name the organization or attend the concert?

3. Did such a decision take courage in Washington, DC, in 1939?

4. How do you think the public reacted?

The GUILD: Just over a year later, the CIO unions were directly affected by the international

crises as the world moved toward World War II. When the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

was signed in 1939, leaders of the Communist Party USA immediately reversed position and

strenuously opposed aid for Western allies. They were joined by the leaders of several unions,

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including the American Newspaper Guild, but strongly opposed by others. Westbrook Pegler,

one of the most influential columnists in the country, had begun a crusade against communism,

which he suspected had infiltrated the press and influenced the New Deal. The American

Newspaper Guild and Eleanor Roosevelt were two of his prime targets.

In August 1940, delegates to the Guild convention told ER that a small group from New

York City, with Communist Party connections, had dominated the meeting, forced through

resolutions, and blocked proposals to condemn communism. Some members publicly resigned,

but May Craig, a friend of ER’s and a Washington correspondent, counseled her not to quit, for

“That would ruin us and do no good. It would please the publishers who don’t want a Guild

anyway.” Pegler boldly asserted that the Guild was controlled by communists, that ER was

ineligible for membership because she was “a diarist and a dilettante” and her union allies were

“thugs.”

On September 25, 1940, ER attended her first meeting of the Guild. Arriving at the Hotel

Capitol, she showed her Guild card at the door and received a slip entitling her to vote. The most

controversial issue was the question of endorsing FDR’ bid for a third term. John F. Ryan, Guild

organizer, reported on the contentious CIO state convention in Rochester. A heated debate

ensued about the domestic and foreign policies of FDR, punctuated with charges and

countercharges of communism. In the final vote, ER was in the minority and a report critical of

the president was approved. She met with members afterwards until well past midnight.

After several more disagreements with the Guild, ER announced her support for a slate of

officers to oppose the board of the New York Guild. The left-wing incumbents won. That same

month, she attended her first meeting of the Washington Guild. With her “ivory knitting needles

clicking away” she listened to speeches and voted with the majority, passing Mary Craig’s

resolution “to denounce communism, fascism, and Nazism.”

Questions for Discussion-The Guild

1. What leadership skills did Eleanor Roosevelt use?

2. How was this situation different from Marian Anderson and the DAR?

3. Have you ever faced a situation in your union where you considered resigning? How did

you resolve the problem?

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ANSWER GUIDE

Questions for Discussion: DAR

1. What were the pros and cons of Eleanor Roosevelt’s decision to resign from the DAR?

Pro: ER brought national attention to the issue of race discrimination, strengthened her

allies, and showed her own personal power.

Con: ER lost influence within the organization, risked alienating some allies, and risked

her own political influence.

2. Why do you think she didn’t name the organization or attend the concert?

Her approach was understated and non-threatening which would appeal to many of her

readers and she did not want to take attention away from Anderson.

3. Did such a decision take courage in Washington, DC in 1939?

Yes, DC was a racially segregated city. During ER’s life-time she received death threats,

the Ku Klux Klan put a bounty on her head, a bomb exploded in a church where she was

speaking, and some newspapers cancelled her column because of her civil and labor

rights support.

4. How do you think the public reacted?

Positively, polls showed popular approval except in the south and she received more mail

supporting this action than anything else that year.

Questions for Discussion: THE GUILD

1. What leadership skills did Eleanor Roosevelt use?

Active participation, listening, compromise, risk taking.

2. How was this situation different from Marian Anderson and the DAR?

ER opposed communism, but defended others right to disagree. She believed strongly in

what the unions were trying to do and she found an alternative solution. She found no

justification or alternative for the racial segregation policy of the DAR.

3. Have you ever faced a situation in your union where you considered resigning? How did you

resolve the problem?

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LEADERSHIP: DIFFERENT STYLES

The New Deal was influenced by three powerful, but very different women who remained

friends throughout their long lives. Identify and discuss their complimentary leadership styles.

How were they similar and how did they differ?

Frances Perkins served as Secretary of Labor in the administration of President Franklin

D. Roosevelt for twelve years. She was the first woman to hold a cabinet position. A graduate

of Mt. Holyoke College, she turned to social work as a way to improve workers lives. Critical to

her leadership was witnessing the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire where 146 workers died, most of

them young immigrant women. She was a key player in establishing the Wagner Act, the Fair

Labor Standards Act, and the Social Security. Under her leadership many workers secured the

right to join a union and bargain collectively, to receive a minimum wage and maximum hours,

and to security in retirement. She developed legislation, negotiated with Congress, and

administered complex legislation in a growing bureaucracy. Married with an ill husband and one

daughter, Frances Perkins kept her personal life very private and had difficult relations with the

press in general.

Rose Schneiderman, president of the Women’s Trade Union League, served on

President Roosevelt’s Labor Advisory Board and later as New York State Secretary of Labor. A

young Jewish immigrant from Poland, she soon became a cap maker by trade and fiery union

organizer by vocation. After the Triangle Fire she scathingly told the social reformers “We have

tried you good people of the public and we have found you wanting.” She actively supported

women’s suffrage and ran for the U.S. Senate on the American Labor Party of New York State.

In 1922, she became a mentor to Eleanor Roosevelt teaching her, and then Franklin, about the

social unionism of the garment workers. They were concerned not only with the critical issues

of improving wages and working conditions, but also about the housing, health care, and cultural

life of the workers. Rose Scheiderman understood that the labor legislation would only be

effective if it was enforced on the shop floor. Unions and strong labor education programs were

critical to this effort. She fought for both supported by a close circle of women friends.

Eleanor Roosevelt was First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. To celebrate

the first anniversary of her syndicated My Day column in 1936, she proudly joined the American

Newspaper Guild, CIO, and was a member for over twenty-five years. She used her column as

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one of several tools to educate the general public about the policies and programs of the New

Deal, gaining their trust and support. After FDR’s death she became a delegate to the United

Nations where she led the effort to write the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She

acknowledged Rose Schneiderman as her mentor and actively supported Frances Perkins for

public office. Both women were part of an extensive network of family and friends that

surrounded the Roosevelts and their five children.

Questions for Discussion

1. How were their leadership styles similar?

2. How were their leadership styles different?

3. Were they complementary?

4. Do you have different leadership styles among your union leaders?

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ANSWER GUIDE

1. How were there leadership styles similar?

Frances Perkins, Rose Schneiderman, and Eleanor Roosevelt were each committed to

improving the lives of workers, especially working women. They were part of an extensive

group of coalitions beginning with the Women’s Trade Union League. They understood the

importance of learning women’s priorities and they encouraged other women to take leadership

roles. They supported both legislation and unionization to improve the lives of workers and they

understood the need to take risks, as well as to compromise.

2. How did their leadership differ?

• Frances Perkins was more educated, reserved, and analytical, working behind the scenes

on the details of strategy, legislation, and administration. She was required to work with

all the unions, not just those considered more progressive, as well as with employers.

She favored legislation as the way to improve working conditions, but came to value

unionization as well. She did take very public positions and actions in support of the

Administration, but she disliked working with the press.

• Rose Schneiderman was an inspirational speaker who came from the working class and

understood the dynamics of the workplace and the union hall. She was a direct link to

workers, their problems, and the solutions being offered: organizing, educating, lobbying.

She relied on a strong network of women colleagues and maintained a life long focus on

the problems of working women.

• Eleanor Roosevelt came from a world of wealth and privilege, yet learned many lessons

from a sad childhood, a large family, and marital strains. She learned from others to listen

carefully to people’s concerns, to effectively use the media to reach both the poor and the

rich, to write extensively, testify before Congress, give public speeches, and to work

behind the scenes, as well as in public with the progressive community.

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3. Were their styles complementary?

Yes, legislation needed to be written and administered once the laws were passed and the

agencies established. Someone had to work on getting new laws implemented on the

factory floor. It was crucial to meet with the press and help educate the public about New

Deal programs so that they would support the efforts. One person doesn’t have to do

everything nor is there only one way to do things.

4. Can you identify different leadership styles, strengths and weaknesses, in your

leadership and in the leadership styles of other women with whom you are working or

organizing?

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ORGANIZING: HUMAN RIGHTS

Better wages and working conditions are the cornerstone of union organizing. For many

workers, however, being treated with dignity and respect is also crucial. They want to have a

voice in decisions that affect them everyday at work. Nurses, for example, are concerned about

the number of patients they can care for safely. Teachers bring expertise and experience to

questions about quality education from classroom size to textbooks.

Unions give people a voice at work; a basic human right. Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady

of the United States, delegate to the United Nations, and union member believed that “the right

to explain the principles lying back of labor unions should be safeguarded, that every workman

should be free to listen to the pleas of organization without fear of hindrance or of evil

circumstances.”

As a working journalist, ER, as she often signed her name, joined the American

Newspaper Guild in 1936 and was a member for over 25 years. In 1945, shortly after President

Roosevelt’s death, she was asked to serve as a delegate to the newly formed United Nations.

First she declined, saying that she wasn’t qualified. She went on to become one of the most

effective diplomats of her time. Later she advised others that “You must do the thing you think

you cannot do.”

ER worked closely with David Dubinsky of the International Garment Workers’ Union,

Mathew Woll of the Photoengravers Union, Jim Carey of the CIO, and Rose Schneiderman of

the Women’s Trade Union League to secure trade union rights in the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights. She explained that the United States delegation considered that “The right to

form and join trade unions was an essential element of freedom.”

Under ER’s guidance, and with union support, Article 23 declares that everyone, without

discrimination, has the right to a decent job, fair working conditions, a living wage, equal pay for

equal work, protection against unemployment, and the right to form and join a union. When

asked “Where, after all, do human rights begin?” she answered “In small places close to

home…the neighborhood…the school or college…the factory, farm or office…unless they have

meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.”

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Questions for Discussion

1. What risks did ER take and how did she overcome her fear?

2. Can you use the human rights approach to educate workers who know little about unions

and to counter the negative images portrayed by employers?

3. How can you use this document to reach immigrant workers? It is available on-line in

over 300 languages.

4. Is the appeal to democracy and a voice at work one that gains support from the broader

community-faith, civil rights, women, environmental?

5. Have you ever done something you thought you could not do?

Give Examples

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ANSWER GUIDE

1. What risks did ER take and how did she overcome her fear?

ER was concerned that she was not an experienced diplomat or an elected official. As the

only woman on the delegation, she thought failure would set all women back. She worked

very hard, reading materials and attending meetings, invited women to her hotel for

discussions, and worked closely with her friends in the labor movement, as well as with

delegates and staff from other countries.

Have you braved doing something you thought you could not do?

2. Can you use the human rights approach to educate workers who know little about unions

and to counter the negative images portrayed by employers?

Employers often portray union organizers as outsiders only interested in collecting dues

and/or raising wages to the possible harm of others. The human rights approach shifts the

discussion to questions of basic democracy at work and shows a long term commitment to

human rights on the part of unions.

3. Available on-line in over 300 languages, how can you use this document to reach

immigrant workers?

In the global economy, it is increasingly important for unions to reflect an international

awareness and perspective. The UDHR is a document well-known around the world and one

that can help to unite a diverse workforce.

4. Is the appeal to democracy and a voice at work one that you can use to gain support from

the broader community-faith, civil rights, women, environmental?

Many other community organizations are engaged in human rights issues. They are likely

not aware of labor’s role and the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt in this area. This issue can

provide a bridge to work together with the larger community.

5. Have you ever done something you thought you could not do?

Give examples.