Covering President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt
In 1944, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt requested that a woman reporter cover her, a role for which the A.P. recommended Gaylord. She wrote articles about Roosevelt's trips around the country, her dealings with other journalists, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's funeral procession after his death in 1945. During these years, Gaylord developed a friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt, who ultimately persuaded her to join the National Women's Press Club, of which Roosevelt herself was a proud member.
Edith Kinney Gaylord (left) with Eleanor Roosevelt (second from left) and others. Year unknown. Oklahoma Hall of Fame Archives.
1. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt leaving the United States Capitol after his inaugural speech. 1937. Courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society.
2. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (second from left) and Prime Minister Winston Churchill (far right). 1945. Courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society.
3. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt waving in the backseat of a car. 1938. Courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society.
4. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gives a speech at Fair Grounds Park in Oklahoma City. 1938. Courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society.
"Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, home from a five-week, 23,000-mile tour of south Pacific islands and Australia, declared Monday that American men fighting the Japanese realize they have a tough job ahead but want to stick it out.
Breaking precedent, the first lady welcomed men reporters to this press conference but with one exception the visitors left the questioning to their feminine colleagues. He was Bert Andrews of the New York Herald Tribune, who inquired whether she had heard complaints about the home front."
The Oklahoman. September 28, 1943. Courtesy The Oklahoman.
What is a press liaison? Why would First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt want a woman as a press liaison?