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Sunday, February 10, 2013

Works Cited

Works Cited

Historical Events that Impacted Lorena Hickok

Historical Events 

Harry Hopkins
1. The Great Depression had many affects on Lorena Hickok.Lorena Hickok was hired by Harry Hopkins, the head of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration as a confidential investigator. Hickok recorded everything she saw in her notebook. Hickok's experience were accounted in the form of letters and telegrams, which were sent to Harry Hopkins and Eleanor Roosevelt. These reports were then compiled and edited to create a narration book on America's Great Depression. Hickok was shocked that " One-Third of the nation was affected by the great depression". The remaining Two-Thirds lived without problems.Hickok was very worried that without relief, families were in danger of being obliterated with months of scarcity. As the great depression went on, poverty crept from place to place and families had to rely on the state support to survive and educated men found themselves unemployed.Hickok could not see all of these people affected and wanted to do something, but she was also affected with lots of scarcity. Hickok noted the following in her reports: 
In W. Virginia, camps set up for 4000 undernourished children. Food cost 30 cents per child per day. The children were so malnourished that the average weight gain was 5 pounds in the first 2 weeks
In New Orleans a government worker was mixing with a crowd of transients when he was accosted by a woman who offered him sex. He said, “I can’t. I haven’t any money.” She said wearily, “Oh, that’s alright. I only costs a dime.”
In Colorado, Hickok spoke with the workers in a sugar beet field. One was a 10 year old girl who had been working in the field for 2 years, from 6AM to 6 or 7 at night.
In South Dakota people were eating boiled thistles. A child fainted in school; the teacher told her to go home and eat. She said she couldn't, "it’s her sister’s turn to eat that day.

Lorena Hickok

2. From 1929 to 1933, almost one in every seven businesses failed. In 1933, when Lorena Hickok began her travels, 13 million Americans were out of work. That number amounted to about 25 percent of the workforce. In comparison, only about 3.1 percent of the population had been jobless before the stock market crash in 1929. The stock market crash put Hickok our of work for most of the time. In 1928, Hickok joined the Associated Press. She was very happy with her job at that time and was very concentrated with her job. She never took a leave and many people told her to but, she wanted to do this job because she love it. Then when the Stock Market Crashed, everything was destroyed. She didn't loose her job, but she was getting paid 50% less. She had to pay for almost everything in her family and could not afford to get paid very little. Also she was thinking of working at two jobs, but she would be very tired and not do a good job.


3. In 1933, Roosevelt launched the New Deal. Before the New Deal, Hickok reported that many found it difficult to admit they needed help. After the News Deal, there were few places the poor and unemployed could turn for help. Herbert Hoover had believed that private charities could cope with the economic crisis, and he had encouraged Americans to rely on them to do so. Many wealthy Americans generously supported charities to help the less fortunate. In New York City, charitable donations for the needy increased from $4.5 million in 1930 to $21 million in 1932. These donations also helped Hickok in  a way that after she save up all her money, she also donated part of her money to local charities. He thanked Roosevelt that he launched the New Deal. She was very grateful for all the help she got and gave it back in the same way.

Eleanor Roosevelt (Right) and Lorena Hickok ( Left)

4. Both Hickok and Eleanor were very connected. Hickok learned important points of the New Deal through Eleanor. Eleanor invited Hickok on almost every trip she took. They both had a goal of  removing poverty from the US and the Ned Deal did the same thing. Relief, recovery, and reform were the goals of the New Deal legislation that was passed from 1933 through 1935 and Because relief was very much in need, it was the first priority for the first 100 days of the new Congress.  They both tried to make new regulations to prevent poverty and give relief to the poor. She took this lesson and then spread it through media since she was a reporter and she also gave some money to people to help them When she was a child, Hickok suffered through a lot of bad events. The Great Depression affected all of her childhood that she had to quit college and find a job somewhere else. After the Great Depression she was hired to work at the World's Fair. 

5. Roosevelt invited Hickok to stay at the White House. From 1940-1945, Hickok had inside access to most of war news. Also she worked for the Democratic Party on women's issues. During World War II, Hickok's job was to expose partisanship of zealots and minimize their influence on women. She had to persuade women to support the war and defeat fascism and leading her to protect women's rights. The Opponents after Pearl Harbor were countries who long had opposed Roosevelt and she had to fix this. In doing this, Hickok leaned to be a good leader and not persuade anyone else to tell you something different. Also her lessons that she learned in school helped her to be recognized as the best leader for helping persuade women to support the war. World War II impacted Hickok to know how women were feeling towards the war and she started to earn more money and help her family recover from the Great Depression. 

6. Since Hickok had full access to the war news, she wrote many books. One of her famous book was " Reluctant First Lady ". In the book she states that " 
Not in large sums to organized charities although in 
later years in the White House, when her earnings were 
very large, she gave huge sums to the American Friends 
Service Committee and, during World War II, to the 
American Red Cross. But in the days before she went to 
the White House she liked to give money directly to 
people who needed it."

Through the events that she faced, they impacted Hickok to help others and give back to the community. Always help the poor and never be selfish. So through this, she started many charities and food drives. She know how it would be to not be cared by others and used this event to fuel her throughout her life. 



7. Hickok's diabetes worsened in early 1945, forcing her to leave the DNC. In 1947, Hickok secured a job with the New York State Democratic Committee. Also in 1945, FDR died. So, Eleanor was appointed to the US Delegations to the United Nations. The next president elected was Harry Truman. Truman was very different from FDR and Hickok didn't like him. The Cold War began when Kim II Sung invaded South Korea and Truman didn't like this. Truman wanted a naval blockade of Korea and since the US was on heavy budget backup, The US could not enforce it and called for the UN to do it. The war was a stalemate for two years until an armistice was signed. Over 30,000 Americans were killed. The US had many budget problems. This forced Americans to cut many things. We had to supply the soldiers with food and this affected Hickok. The wages dropped her family budget by 60% and she could not afford to loose her job. She also had diabetes and had a hard time keeping up with it. 

8. The Korean War forced the US to cut the budget and in turn cut some jobs. This and Diabetes forced Hickok to quit her job and hey move to a cottage in Hyde Park. There she started to write books aimed at elementary school readers. She raised a lot of money by publishing the books. Then she took the money and used it to supply food to the soldiers in the Cold War. In return she got aid from the government. At this time Eleanor was working for the rights of women, the poor, minorities and workers. So the cold war affected her to provide food and in return she got money for the food. 

9. The Great Depression was one of worst event in US History. The Dust Bowl was caused by drought and erosion. People didn't have money to water their crops and there was very little rain. Hickok was forced to save food and most of her food was destroyed. Also the Great Depression caused the US to cut wages and most of the banks closed. She had to live in poverty and no food until the Great Depression was done. 

10. Also the Great Depression forced the banks to close. FDR did may things to help the people and many people liked him. He hired investigators to investigate the banks and keep the good banks open. But this didn't help Hickok. She never got married because the great depression caused her to loose all of her money and also she was in a relationship with Eleanor. 


Saturday, February 9, 2013

Political Changes that Occurred Between 1929 and 1950

Political Changes

Since Lorena Hickok had a very close relationship with the first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, who was very involved in Democratic Party politics, Hickok inherited the same political view. Hickok followed Eleanor everywhere she went and saw what Eleanor was doing to help and followed her in the same path. Two days after becoming the first lady, Eleanor had the 1st press conference with 35 women reporters. One of then was Lorena Hickok. Hickok told Eleanor that she wanted to help women reporters keep their jobs during the depression. Ever since the 1st press conference, Eleanor would invite Hickok to keep the American people informed about her White House like and the political activities that were going on. For a very long time Hickok lived at the White House and learned how to be a politician and act like one. Eleanor taught Hickok all the ideas and trick to be a successful political person. This changed Hickok's political view points and that is what Eleanor's goal was. As this went on Hick's attitude towards the government changes. Before, Hickok was very angry at the government because she was getting paid very much as a very young adult. After she met Eleanor at the 1st press conference, Hickok told Eleanor about her problems and she want a change at all the reporters. This made Eleanor very concerned and took part and making a change. This made Hickok realize that the government and the new president/first lad was not bad at all. 

Economic Changes that Occured Between 1929 and 1950.

Economic Changes

Since Hickok failed college, she was hired at a Train Station to cover the Train's Arrivals and Departures for $7 week. She joined the Milwaukee Sentinel, in an attempt to following the footsteps of Edna Ferber, a novelist and reporter. She was hired as a society editor, but she quit that job and moved to the city where she wanted to be an interviewer. As an interviewer, she interviewed famous celebrities such as actress Lillian Russell, Opera Singers Nellie Melba and Geraldine Farrar. She also quite her job there because she didn't like the city and moved to Minneapolis in order to work for the Minneapolis Tribune. She was given unusual opportunities for a female reporters such as the Paper's Chief Reporters. She had to cover politics, sports and prepare editorials. In 1923, Hickok was awarded for writing the best story of the month written the President Harding's funeral train. As a reporter and interviewer she was becoming very famous and received more award than any other reporters. In Minneapolis, Hickok was living with a reporter, Ella Morse and in 1926, Hickok was diagnosed with Diabetes and Morse really persuaded Hickok to quit that job and take a leave so they could be together and Hickok could write a novel. They both went to San Francisco and Morse unexpectedly left Hickok and eloped with her boyfriend. She regretted quitting he job, but she had to for her friend and now her friend left Hickok. She didn't want to return to Minneapolis, so Hickok moved to New York and got another job at the New York Daily Mirror. She worked there for about a year and could not forget about her friend, so she quit that job also. She was regretting every job that she quit and she took a month leave to refresh her mind. Then in 1928, she joined the Associated Press, where she became the top correspondents. She wrote a story in November 1928 about the sinking of the USS Vestris. Then she published it in the New York Times. She was the first woman to appear in the paper and everyone was impressed about her. She then began to report about the Lindbergh Kidnapping and other events. She became so famous that she did not want to quit her job here and by 1932, she was known as the “nation’s best-known female reporter". 

Social Changes That Occurred Between 1929 and 1950

Social Changes

Hickok was assigned to interview Theodore Roosevelt for the Associated Press in 1928. In October of 1932, Missy LeHand passed away, so First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt picked Hickok to accompany her to the funeral in New York. This was the beginning of a very long relationship that would hurt her future as a Journalist. By the time Roosevelt's inauguration in 1933, Hickok was Eleanor's closest friend. They both took trips to Albany and Washington D.C. and spent every day talking about something. Hickok was invited to dinner at the Roosevelt's every Sunday and on other days, Hickok joined Eleanor at the Theater, Opera or had dinned at Hickok's apartment. Also at Roosevelt's inauguration, Eleanor was given a Sapphire Ring given to by Hickok. The next day, Hickok  interviewed Eleanor Roosevelt in the White House Bathroom. At this time, Hickok was a very close relationship with Eleanor and she had a very hard time interviewing people. Hickok and Eleanor were separated, so they talked to each other via telephone and letters. Eleanor also put a photo of Hickok in her room and she would kiss it every night and morning. Since Hickok was writing a biography of First Lady, Eleanor was writing 15 page letters to Hickok. This relationship was disputed by many historians and Eleanor was in many relationships with other women. Eleanor's biographer, Blanche Cook was arguing that the relationship was " romantic" and generated national attention. This destroyed Hickok's Journalism career. She was admitted to almost every single publishing company, but resigned because she could not concentrate about her work. 

Lorena Hickock's Short Biography

Who Was Lorena Hickok?


Lorena Hickok was born on March 7, 1893 in Wisconsin. Her mother was a dressmaker and her father was a butter maker. Her cousin helped Lorena to finish high school after her mother died when she was 14. After she failed college, Lorena went into Journalism and worked for Minneapolis Tribune and the Associated Press as a reporter. This job jot her famous, so by 1932, she because the nation's best female reporter. She was assigned to cover Roosevelt ans Hickok struck up a close relationship with the soon-to-be First Lady. As this went on many people thought that Hickok was having a close relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt. Later that year, Hickok was compromised as a reporter, so she left the AP and began work as the chief investigator for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). Following complications with her diabetes, Hickok resigned from FERA in 1936 and worked for three years promoting the 1939 New York World's Fair. From 1940 to 1945, she served as the executive secretary of the Women's Division of the Democratic National Committee, living at the White House for most of this time. In 1947, Lorena began working for the New York State Democratic Committee. Then her health began to decline, so she resigned everything and moved to Hyde Park. Hickok died in 1968 on the Roosevelt Estate.