October 6, 1996
by MICHAEL O. ALLEN and DON SINGLETON Daily News Staff Writers
Two American First Ladies came together in Riverside Park yesterday afternoon, one the current occupant of the White House and the other a larger-than-life bronze statue.
With songs and speeches and flags that rippled gently in the sunshine of a perfect early autumn day, Hillary Rodham Clinton led a crowd of thousands in dedicating the statue of her predecessor Eleanor Roosevelt.
The sculpture, portraying the lanky Roosevelt leaning against a rock, her chin resting on her hand as if she is in deep thought, stands on a low rise in the park’s 72d St., bounded by three mature trees and between two park benches. It is the first statue of a woman ever commissioned for a city park.
Clinton was greeted by a crescendo of applause and cheers from the audience as about a dozen placard-carrying people chanted, “Stop the welfare cuts.” The demonstrators were hustled off by police and park security officers. From the window of an apartment on W. 72d St., someone unfurled a banner that proclaimed, “Eleanor would have saved the safety net.”
A chorus of boos greeted Mayor Giuliani, but quickly subsided when he bagan to speak about Eleanor Roosevelt, a mother of five who was born on W. 37th St., married on E. 76th St. and kept a home on E. 65th St.
The mayor called Roosevelt “a great American, a woman committed to public service, the First Lady of the world. . . . one of the greatest figures in our century.”
“I must say that when the statue was unveiled I had just a great overwhelming emotional feeling,” Clinton said.
Then, after a long pause, she made a self-mocking reference to Bob Woodward’s book “The Choice,” in which the author reports that she took part in imaginary conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi.
“And I have to tell you that when I last spoke with Mrs. Roosevelt she wanted me to tell all of you how pleased she is by this great, great new statue.” The crowd applauded wildly.
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