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It's easy to forget that the first voice from the White House that Americans heard after the attack on Pearl Harbor was the president's wife.


Historian David McCullough describes Eleanor Roosevelt as "one of the most effective speakers of her time." 

She used her talents to embrace the relatively new mass medium of radio to calm fears, encourage participation in the war movement and later to rally people towards the cause of peace and an effective United Nations. 

Stephen Smith, the executive editor of American Radio Works, wrote about it in his new book, "The First Lady of Radio: Eleanor Roosevelt's Historic Broadcasts."

Smith joins The Daily Circuit to talk about his book.

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Stephen Smith

Guest

It's easy to forget that the first voice from the White House American heard after the attack on Pearl Harbor was actually the president's wife.

Eleanor Roosevelt: The first lady of radio

The First Lady of Radio, by Stephen Smith

How Eleanor Roosevelt became the first lady of radio

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