Becoming Madam Secretary

by Stephanie Dray

Churchill once said that meeting Franklin Roosevelt was like opening your first bottle of champagne, and that knowing him was like drinking it.

If somebody opens a door of opportunity for you, it’s the Lord’s will, she always said. So walk right in and do the best you can.

What I learned in my graduate lectures was amply demonstrated here at Hartley House—that industrialization, which ought to have modernized and elevated the lot of mankind, was instead plunging people into impoverishment.

Florence Kelley was a legendary reformer who trained at Hull House with Jane Addams and had earned a law degree.

“We’ll want you to lobby the state legislature to pass a bill limiting the workweek for women to fifty-four hours.”

“Oh, Franklin can’t win an election,” Mary insisted. “Not even the Roosevelts take him seriously. Eleanor is devoted to him, but others in the family call him Feather Duster Roosevelt.”

Because to be loved, really loved, one must be known, and I find that terrifying. In truth, I think it takes courage—real spiritual daring—to allow oneself to be known.”

“That people want to feel heard. Everybody wants to have that sense of belonging, of being on the inside. No one wants to be left out. So it’s not such a trial to indulge them.”