The First Lady of World War II

Join author Shannon McKenna Schmidt as she discusses her book, “The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back” – the first book to tell the full story of Eleanor Roosevelt’s unprecedented and courageous trip to the Pacific Theater during World War II. We’ll discuss how the trip impacted the war effort, Eleanor, and the world. It’s guaranteed to be a fascinating conversation and we hope you can join us for it!

Note: This program will be recorded and a link will be sent to all registrants soon after the program. It will be available on YouTube for one month.

This program is in partnership with the Ashland Public Library.

About The First Lady of World War II:

On August 27, 1943, news broke in the United States that First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was on the other side of the world. A closely guarded secret, she had left San Francisco aboard a military transport plane headed for the South Pacific to support and report the troops on WW2’s front lines.

Americans had believed she was secluded at home.

As Allied forces battled the Japanese for control of the region, Eleanor was there on the frontlines, spending five weeks traveling, on a mission as First Lady of the United States to experience what our servicemen were experiencing… and report back home.

“No other U.S. mother had seen so much of the panorama of the war, had been closer to the sweat and boredom, the suffering.” ―Time, October 4, 1943

About Shannon:

Shannon McKenna Schmidt is the author of You Can’t Catch Us: Lady Bird Johnson’s Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train and the Women Who Rode with Her and The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back. She is also the coauthor of Novel Destinations: A Travel Guide to Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen’s Bath to Ernest Hemingway’s Key West and Writers Between the Covers: The Scandalous Romantic Lives of Legendary Literary Casanovas, Coquettes, and Cads.

In addition, Shannon has written for National Geographic Traveler, Shelf Awareness, and other publications and websites. She has been a guest on radio and television programs including MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and she has spoken at the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, the National World War II Museum, and many other venues. An avid traveler, she spent a seven-year stretch on the road full-time, first trekking the United States by RV and then backpacking around the globe.

Shannon lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.