July 9, 1934 – Eleanor Roosevelt has a full
schedule of events as she visits Chicago for two days. At 9:30 a.m. the wife of
President Franklin Roosevelt holds a press conference in the NBC studios at the
Merchandise Mart. At 10:15 a.m. she
visits the Simmons exhibit at the Century of Progress and participates in a
commercial broadcast for the company, the proceeds of which will be donated to
charity. At noon the First Lady takes
lunch with the president of the fair and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Rufus C. Dawes,
after which she requests to see the fair without any escort. At 5:30 Mrs. Roosevelt is the guest at a
reception given by the Women’s Trade Union League at 530 South Ashland Avenue. Unbelievably, she arrives in Chicago on the
night of July 8 from Madison, Indiana with no official escort. She and two female companions make the
265-mile drive, taking turns at the wheel of a “low slung, sand colored
automobile,” their arrival at the Blackstone Hotel “heralded by no fanfare,
their path was cleared by no police escort and no committee of notables was
waiting to greet them.” [Chicago Daily Tribune, July 9, 1934]
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