1. 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.