“And clearly made you into a brave soldier, but a frightened woman.” The First Lady laid down her needle, looking at me with those piercing eyes. “Everyone fails, Lyudmila. I’ve failed. My husband has failed—you think all his New Deal proposals were dazzling successes? He has proposed initiatives that have fallen flat; he has espoused positions for which he has rightly been condemned; he has hosts of enemies who would happily see him dead.” A shadow crossed her face at that. “He has failed at more than most men ever try . . . but better that than not to try at all.”
