Our Husband and wife meeting, held on the evening of October 9, 2013 was easily our best attended Harding Club event in recent memory. The dining room was packed from wall to wall with members and their better halves creating a din of camaraderie and good cheer. At 8:20 p.m. Sergeant- at-Arms Martin Hochhauser called the meeting to order and turned the proceedings over to H.C. V.P. Lew Sims, who, in turn, called on Steve Kirshon to introduce the evening's speaker, whom we were all eager to hear; David B. Roosevelt. David is the son of Elliott Roosevelt and the grandson of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Perhaps, in light of his talk that night, it would be more germane to say that he was the grandson of Eleanor Roosevelt, his "Grandmere," with whom he spent a good deal of his first twenty years. While his talk was brief, David opened the floor our questions and gradually, through his engaging drawl and very personal recollections, we all felt we had come to know something of the influential and forward-looking first lady as she stood besides her husband but was also very much her own person. Grandmere, said David, had very definite opinions and likes and dislikes; including JFK, with whom she was less than enamored. Above all, David remembered his grandmother's informality - even with the great personages of her era - who were often also her house-guests at her beloved Val Kill retreat. In her own determined yet dignified way. said David, his grandmother was a mover and a shaker for causes she cared about like civil rights and Women's rights and supported such disparate organizations as the United Nations, the N.A.A.C.P, and the United Jewish Appeal. We thanked David Roosevelt for a fascinating evening and presented the grandson of the 32nd U.S. president with our official club coffee mug bearing the likeness of our namesake - and 29th U.S. president, Warren G. Harding, ( who, rumor has it, was a Republican.)
Respectfully submitted by
Peter Albenda