Customer Reviews

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt: Letters from Children of the Great Depression

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This book contains absolutely touching letters written by the youth of America during a time when the country was struggling feed, clothe, and employ a large part of the population. Robert Cohen must have spent millions of hours researching the letters that were kept by Mrs. Roosevelt's staff.
Chapters focus on the following subjects: Ill-Clothed, Ill-Housed, Ill-Fed; Education; Social Life; and Minorities. Mr. Cohen draws conclusions based on the letters he researched, then includes letters written to Mrs. Roosevelt from the children. The letters are, for the most part, heartbreaking - I wouldn't recommend reading more than 4 a day, otherwise you might be overwhelmed.
This book gave me a greater understanding of what my grandparents lived through. I also that some things in life never change - our desire for art and culture, education, and societal acceptance.
A must-read for anyone with an interest in history, or for someone who is interested in hearing firsthand accounts of what life was like for a large part of the American population in the late 1920's and early 1930's.

Robert Cohen has taken letters from children (and young adults) who wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt asking for help during the Great Depression. Mrs. Roosevelt had become a beacon of hope for millions of Americans who had lost everything in the Depression and the letters are, at times, difficult to read due to the needs of the people writing directly to her hoping she would sent them money, clothes or other items to help their families.
Cohen takes each group of letters and introduces them with a short chapter explaining in more detail the issues addressed in the letters.
The fact that so many people wrote to Mrs. Roosevelt (more than 300,000 letters) and the fact that her staff was overwhelmed and unable to do much more than send form letters in return or refer some of the people to social agencies speaks volumes of the fact that the New Deal just could not possibly help everyone.