Eleanor Roosevelt and the Anti-Nuclear Movement: The Voice of Conscience

206 Pages·2016·1.48 MB·English

by  Dario Fazzi (auth.)

THE WORLD OF THE ROOSEVELTS
Eleanor Roosevelt and the
Anti-Nuclear Movement
The Voice of Conscience
Dario Fazzi
The World of the Roosevelts
Aim of the Series
This longstanding series has published high-quality monographs and
edited collections related to the presidencies of Franklin Roosevelt for
nearly two decades. Combining economic, political, diplomatic, social,
and intellectual history, it constitutes a comprehensive, multi-faceted
exploration of a pivotal era in American and global history.
More information about this series at
http://www.springer.com/series/14319
Dario Fazzi
Eleanor Roosevelt
and the Anti-Nuclear
Movement
The Voice of Conscience
Dario Fazzi
Roosevelt Study Center
Middelburg, The Netherlands
The World of the Roosevelts
ISBN 978-3-319-32181-3 ISBN 978-3-319-32182-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-32182-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016956410
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to
the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.
Cover illustration: © nsf / Alamy Stock Photo
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature
The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To Michael and Laura
A
cknowledgments
Although I am solely responsible for this book and its contents, it
would never have come to be without the help and encouragement
of a motley crowd of scholars, students, friends, and family, who have
guided me through the planning, development, and actual realization
of this volume.
Among these people, my colleagues at the Roosevelt Study Center
in Middelburg deserve a special mention, because they have constantly
fed me with their knowledge, experience, and wisdom. I would like to
thank David Woolner, Allida Black, and Lawrence Wittner for having
nurtured both my interest in the story of the Roosevelts and my passion
for peace history. I am very grateful to my Ph.D. supervisor, Mario Del
Pero, whose ability to combine rigor, creativity, and enjoyment has been
an example for me throughout this work.
I would like to thank all of the archivists I had the opportunity
to meet during these years of research in College Park, Hyde Park,
London, and Swarthmore. But I am also very grateful to two brilliant
young scholars of the USA, Valeria Benko and Gaetano Di Tommaso,
who gave me constant and priceless advice and greatly contributed to
the shaping of this book.
My family kept reminding me that values and principles exist. That’s
why I am grateful to all of them and especially to Alessia, who I hope
will find in this book an additional spur to carry on with her political and
historical studies.
Finally, I am honored of Charles Postel’s and his wife Michael’s friend-
ship. Besides being fine observers and intellectuals, both of them are
vii
viii ACkNOWLEDGMENTS
incredible teachers: in particular, they taught me how to correctly assess
the ups and downs of a lifetime. Charles did so in an admirable scholarly
way, while Michael added to it the carefulness of a beloved mother. That’s
why this book is dedicated to her. And to Laura as well, whose patience
and love keep me alive every day.
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
2 An Exceptional Pacifist 11
3 Entering the Atomic Era 41
4 Demystifying Nuclear Deterrence 79
5 Personal Commitment and Direct Involvement 117
6 An Agenda for Disarmament 145
7 Knowledge Is the Power, Education Is the Key 167
8 Conclusion 193
Index 197
ix
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
She was a supreme liberator, a liberator fi rst of herself, then of her sex, of
her country, of the abused and the injured around the planet.
She stood above all for the rebirth of individual responsibility.
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. 1
Writing a book on Eleanor Roosevelt is, p er se , a daunting task. The amount
of available primary sources is epic. During her lifetime, she managed to
write hundreds of thousands of letters, hundreds of articles in dozens of
different newspapers, journals, and magazines, thousands of columns, the
most prominent of which appeared under the title of My Day and If You
Ask Me , and 28 different books spanning a wide range of topics and genres,
from women’s rights to the United Nations, from political analyses to auto-
biographical accounts. Moreover, Mrs. Roosevelt’s presence in the media of
her era was continual. She not only hosted three r adio shows and a T V series
on her own, but she was also invited dozens of times to some of the most
popular programs of her era. She gave countless interviews and comments
on a number of varied issues, not to mention all of the speeches and talks
that she delivered at universities, public meetings, or other offi cial events.
A bulk of over 200 academic works represents the most relevant sec-
ondary literature on Eleanor Roosevelt. Practically almost any aspect of her
life has been scrutinized, historically contextualized, politically c riticized,
or intellectually assessed. Encyclopedias and companions keep offering
entries on her, a number of children’s books recount the story of her life
© The Author 2016 1
D. Fazzi, Eleanor Roosevelt and the Anti-Nuclear Movement,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-32182-0_1