Bethune was holding, and it turned out to be the meeting of the National Council of Negro Women. And after Mrs. Roosevelt spoke, and she was driving herself on up to Hyde Park, I took her back to her car, Mrs. Bethune said to me, "What is your name? She said, "Well, we need you. And from that moment, I don't think there was a week for the rest of her life that I did not have some direct contact.
She was a mentor, a tutor, a spiritual advisor, everything. Bethune -- Mrs. And I became sort of like the chairman of that group. And we worked on how, as American youth -- and the conference was held at Vassar College in -- how it was we would work with young people coming from all around the world, with her as First Lady, in hosting this conference and in helping to shape it. But also -- and this again was the time of the United Front, you have to bear in mind, where you had the communist countries, as well, coming into this conference -- so, once again, we had to figure out who we were and what we were standing for, and had to be prepared to stand up for what we believed.
But Mrs. Roosevelt was right there every minute, knitting away sometimes, but always advising. And until her death, she was very close to me. Roosevelt, she was driving herself.
I can't imagine Mrs. HEIGHT: It's hard to believe there was a time when the wife of the President of the United States would drive her own Thunderbird, park it in a Harlem street for two hours, go back and get in her own car, by herself. Her only advance that day was Dorothy Height. And -- but she got back in her car and drove on to Hyde Park.
There was no Secret Service. There was no advance. Shows you the difference in the climate. BOND: Yes, yes, it is. Now, this relationship with Ms. Bethune leads you into the National Council, which surely you knew about before.
