To take a deep breath here on DU, here's a pic of my favorite First Lady and greatest singer.

[Faygo Kid]

Those fingers in my hair. That sly, come hither stare. That strips my conscience bare.

It's witchcraft.

[patrice]

1. I remember Mamie. Wow! Look at that corsage!! Who's the guy?

Just kidding. I know who Sinatra is. Never appealed that much to me. I didn't turn to popular music until The Beatles.

[liberalmuse]

2. But...but...I thought that was Eleanor?

Love them both.

[patrice]

17. You're right, stupid me.

:blush:

[shifting_sands]

4. Mami?

That's Elenore Roosevelt

[patrice]

16. I'm embarassed.

I thought it was Mamie Eisenhower. I look at it now and wonder how I could have made that mistake.

Time to stop ducking in out of here like a jack-in-the-box.


:blush:

[Drunken Irishman]

3. Wasn't Sinatra a Repub? I know his daughter is a Dem, though.

[bbinacan]

5. He was both

IIRC he supported JFK but later supported Reagan.

[Drunken Irishman]

8. I know a lot of celebs supported Reagan only because he was one of them.

[silverojo]

13. Here's why Sinatra turned Repuke:

http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/cops_others/frank_sinatra/4.html

QUOTES:
Kennedy’s advisors rightly felt that the president of the United States should not be sharing a bed with a woman who was also dating one of the country’s top mobsters, particularly when Kennedy’s brother Robert, the attorney general, was working so hard to rid the country of organized crime. Almost overnight the president made a turnaround, dumping Campbell and distancing himself from Sinatra, who was stunned by the sudden cold shoulder from the White House.

...snip

The change in attitude was felt most dramatically when Kennedy, who had planned to stay at Sinatra’s home in Palm Springs during a California visit in March 1962, abruptly changed his plans and stayed with singer Bing Crosby, a Republican! Sinatra had even gone to the expense of building an addition on his house to accommodate the president and his staff.

Read the rest at the link above.

[catzies]

6. Sinatra was a Dem first, a Repug later. Felt dissed by the Kennedys

so the story goes.

[Faygo Kid]

10. Not until Reagan. Before that, he was a ferocious Dem for civil rights.

Frank Sinatra fought for civil rights in the 1940s. He was extraordinary. We can make fun of the dead here, but Sinatra was throughout most of his life a hard fighter for civil rights.

He was accused of being a Commie and a N-lover for his unwavering support. He certainly wasn't perfect. But he was every bit an American icon as the very best of our nation.

Plus, the music. Listen to "American Idol" now. All screaming to show off. Frank knew the music. And interpreted the music. Cole Porter, and Nelson Riddle on arrangements.

Learn about this guy. He was America.

[Captain Hilts]

42. Yes, he was a STRONG civil rights advocate.

Check the Bettman archive on corbis.com for the photo of ER with Lionel Hampton, Benny Goodman and Sinatra preparing for a benefit for Spellman College. Or is it Bethune? One of those. It's cool.

[Wizard777]

44. That's due to Sammy Davis Jr. The Rat pack saw the hardships he had to endure simply because he was

black. There were place the rat pack would go to and they wouldn't let Sammy in because he was black. They did shows at places Sammy had to leave after the show because he was black.

[Captain Hilts]

46. Sinatra did a short about how there is no 'white' and 'black' blood during WWII...

long before he met Sammy.

He told how soldiers don't care what color person donated blood came from.

[Wizard777]

49. But sammy was when it was in his face. They refused to Play Vegas venues that wouldn't admit blacks.

It was with Sammy they made their stand against racism.

[Captain Hilts]

51. Yes, but Sinatra had made the stand before.

I think band singers - such as Sinatra - because of the travelling and the unfairness of accommodations for black musicians - were particularly attuned to this kind of thing.

What Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, etc. had to go through...

[Unbowed]

7. Funny you should post that photo.

Obama has always reminded me of Sinatra. They eye color is different, but they both have that same kind of cool machismo.

Chairman of the Board.

[csziggy]

9. I like this First Lady and this singer better

Eleanor Roosevelt with Marian Anderson

[squawk7700]

11. Not much of an opera fan here...I like this one better

:D

[Manifestor_of_Light]

21. They do opera with surtitles in English now, ya know.

Or maybe you don't. :D

Rocked my world when I saw Surtitles in English for the first time. I didn't understand opera before that either.

[Vinca]

24. As I recall, Eleanor quit the DAR when they wouldn't allow

Marian Anderson to sing at their convention.

[Captain Hilts]

27. A concert in their building. Study history!

and Harold Ickes was just as important in arranging the concert as ER was.

He had been head of the Chicago branch of the NAACP before Sec. of the Interior.

[DianaForRussFeingold]

12. witchcraft? IMO,This (Frank Sinatra song) is more fitting for her...

Video and still images of Barack Obama set to the music of Frank Sinatra.
My Way-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOuFUH9KgDA

edited to add-
made from Historical, old film- The Eleanor Roosevelt Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcELCm265AY&feature=related

[Faygo Kid]

14. Can you explain? My computer is shot, and I can't bring up YouTube.

I promise to buy a new one, and to check this on Monday at work.

But can you describe? Thanks!

[DianaForRussFeingold]

19. Can you watch it if I post it on DU video?

Poster's description--" Video and still images of Barack Obama set to the music of Frank Sinatra. I think we can all agree that Barack Obama is a different type of politician and that he is truly trying to change the politics of old into the politics of "HOPE."

I know many people who ask, "how is Barack going to change ANYTHING?" Well, let me tell you. He plans on getting all parties together around the table, broadcasting all proceedings, then relying on the American people to hold their representatives accountable. You see, it's going to be pretty hard to justisfy a 80 - 100% profit margin in front of the American people when a 10 - 15% profit margin will benefit EVERYBODY!"

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

15. When I was younger, I didn't care for Sinatra the singer

although I did like some of his movies. He was a fine actor. I thought his music was boring and not very hip. He grew on me as I got older and I now acknowledge his greatness.

[Faygo Kid]

25. His arrangements with Nelson Riddle were and are extraordinary.

The Capitol years, in the 1950s. Wow.

[Captain Hilts]

26. I love 'em too! LOVE "Witchcraft." Wish I could link...

to a photograph on the Corbis website of ER with Lionel Hampton, Benny Goodman and Frank Sinatra...

This one will have to do for now...

[Captain Hilts]

45. I have, in album frames, on my wall "Beatles '65" and "Sinatra '65"

Guess Capitol liked the title.

[JDPriestly]

18. Eleanor's thoughts

A man said to me recently, "I would like before I die to live in a community where no individual has an income that could not provide his family with the ordinary comforts and pleasures of life, and where no individual has an income so large that he did not have to think about his expenditures, and where the spread between is not so great but that the essentials of life may lie within the possession of all concerned. There could be no give and take in many ways for pleasure, but there need be no acceptance of charity."

#

Men have dreamed of Utopia since the world began, and perfect communities and even states have been founded over and over again. One could hardly call the community that this man likes to visualize Utopia, but it would have the germs of a really new deal for the race.

#

As I see it we can have no new deal until great groups of people, particularly the women, are willing to have a revolution in thought; are willing to look ahead, completely unconscious of losing the house on Fifth Avenue as long as somewhere they have a place to live which they themselves may gradually make into a home; are willing to give up constant competition for a little more material welfare and cooperate in everything which will make all those around them acquire a little more freedom and graciousness in life.

#

If a sufficient number of women can honestly say that they will willingly accept a reduction in the things which are not really essentials to happiness but which actually consume a good deal of the money spent by the rich, in order that more people may have those things which are essential to happy living, then we may look, I believe, for the dawn of a new day.

http://womenshistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=womenshistory&cdn=education&tm=31&f=00&tt=14&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//newdeal.feri.org/er/er16.htm

[DianaForRussFeingold]

20. Thank You, JDPriestly

:pals: She was a such an inspiring and motivational speaker --sometimes,funny too..

I'm just learning about the kind of person Mrs. Roosevelt was and I really, admire her.

She really cared about people, in all walks of life. :hug:

[LibDemAlways]

22. I saw an old What's My Line rerun recently where

Mrs. Roosevelt was the "mystery guest." She was promoting the work of the United Nations. Imagine a time when a former first lady would appear on a popular television show to tout the UN. Times have changed, and not for the better.

[Captain Hilts]

28. It's on Youtube. Search "rosenvelt" It's a riot. nt

[Captain Hilts]

29. She was a rock star. Could fill Madison Square Garden for a cause. nt

[Kool Kitty]

23. Two of my favorite people.

The amazing Eleanor Roosevelt and the Voice, oh that Voice.

[Uncle Joe]

30. American Experience on PBS had an outstanding biography of FDR and Eleanor

which concluded last night. I found my self crying when he died and I was born eleven years after that but it was sort of like a time warp.

[Captain Hilts]

32. Yes, pretty good, but...

they don't really note that the very traits that made him a lousy husband and father - he was manipulative and dishonest - are exactly the traits that helped make him a good president. He manipulated Churchill the same way he manipulated his mother and Eleanor. Interesting guy.

[Uncle Joe]

33. I disagree with your premise as to what made him a great President, but I'm

curious as to how you believe he manipulated Churchill.

[Captain Hilts]

34. Read about the Teheran conference.

The book Franklin and Winston is good on this, as is Lord Moran's diary/memoir, among others.

[Uncle Joe]

35. Well short of reading the book,

do you have a cliff notes version of what the beef is about?

[Captain Hilts]

37. FDR decided that it was important that "Uncle Joe" not feel left out...

as FDR and WSC had already spent so much time together, including the week before the conference. So, FDR decided to really play up to Stalin - Mary Soames mentioned this in the show and how much it hurt her dad to suddenly have FDR poking fun at her dad with Stalin.

Now, it was a good idea for FDR to do this, but it was a bad one not to give Churchill a 'heads' up' that he was going to do so. That way, Churchill's feelings would not have been so hurt. But, as Averill Harrimann and FDR's translator noted, FDR seemed to enjoy other people's discomfiture. It was a grander form of playing Sara off Eleanor, etc. The R's daughter noted that many times when they were kids Eleanor left the dinner table in tears over comments Sara would make about the pretty girls FDR could have married and FDR let her do it. Rex Tugwell was horrified to see how FDR let his mother address Eleanor at the dinner table. United, Sara and Eleanor could have conquered the world, divided, it left FDR in charge and a lot of people unhappy.

FDR was "just incapble of having a true friendship with anyone," as LeHand once said.

[Uncle Joe]

39. I agree on both counts it was good strategy and he should have given Churchill

a heads up.

The only part where I disagree is that manipulation of people is what made Roosevelt one of our greatest Presidents.

Apparently FDR was capable of intimacy, as his relationship with Lucy Mercer seems to attest it just wasn't with his wife; whom I also deeply respect.

I believe FDR faced two handicaps that shaped his character, the first was growing up under a domineering mother in an aristocratic environmental bubble which curtailed his ability to form deep relationships especially among his peers. I believe this is what initially attracted him to Eleanor, they were both loners of sorts.

The second was the crucible of Polio paralyzing for life a man in his prime with all the creature comforts wealth could afford. It was this which connected him to the people even though many people at the time didn't know he suffered this debilitation as it was camouflaged.

I believe Roosevelt's strongest character assets which transformed him in to one of our greatest Presidents was the ability to connect with, inspire and understand the American People's plight during their darkest hours. He at the pinnacle of power understood the paralyzing effects of fear from personal experience and this came through in his voice. In short he had much empathy for the average American not usually associated with people from his environment, indeed his own class mates would go on to vilify him as a class traitor.

He certainly wasn't perfect, but I've yet to know of anyone who is.

[Captain Hilts]

41. I agree.

...though I think, in many ways, his most intimate relationship was with his cousin, Daisy Suckley. The letters he wrote to her are so untypical of any of his others we've read. With Eleanor - and Lucy - there were so many strings attached and issues attached. Push comes to shove, he lied to them both.

[bdamomma]

38. that's a great picture of two great men.......sigh

[Captain Hilts]

40. Some sources say Eleanor took it. I don't know.

http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/photos.html

[VOX]

31. Two of the greatest -- absolutely iconic. Great pic. n/t

[Gold Metal Flake]

36. With Pete Seeger...

http://www.shorpy.com/node/3420?size=_original

[Captain Hilts]

43. Everybody here knows the song "Mrs. Robinson" was originally "Mrs. Roosevelt," Right? nt

[Uncle Joe]

47. I didn't know that, but that's what I love about D.U.

I'm always learning something new.:thumbsup:

[Captain Hilts]

48. I saw Paul Simon talk about it on a Cavett show repeat...

the episode on which he is a guest with Mickey Mantle, who goes after him for mentioning DiMaggio in a song.

NOW the lyrics make sense!

[Captain Hilts]

52. Here's a link to the photograph of ER with Lionel H, sinatra, Tommy dorsey...

www.pro.corbis.com

Search for this photograph number:

027991

[ellie]

50. Love her!

That's where I got my DU handle.