Hello, my name is Paget Brewster,
and today we're gonna talk about Eleanor Roosevelt
and the Communist sniper.
- Cheers. -
- Na zdorovie.
Okay. - [laughs]
- Our story begins in 1941.
It was the Second World War
and the U.S. was fighting Japan.
And Russia was fighting the Nazis.
And Russia is suffering,
so Joseph Stalin calls Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
and he's like, FDR, my friend,
can you [bleep] help me out here please?
I'm getting my ass kicked here in Russia
by these "Nat-zis" 'cause--
- "Nat-zis."
- Not Nancys.
- I didn't say Nancys. I said "Nat-zis."
- Nazis, yeah, I misheard you.
And Franklin's like, it's not up to me, man.
I understand what you're talking about.
It's a shit show, but I got Congress.
I got the American people.
I can't help you out right now because no one supports me,
so Stalin's like, oh, [bleep].
Okay, I'll tell you what.
I'm gonna send someone over there: Pavlichenko.
Huge sniper.
Big deal.
Highly feared.
The greatest sharpshooter in the history of mankind.
Just meet with my sniper.
So in July of 1942, Franklin Delano Roosevelt
and his wife Eleanor are like, oh, what's happening today
in the White House?
We always have stuff to do.
And Franklin says, "Oh, Eleanor,
"we got to meet with this sniper.
He's being sent from the Red Army,"
and the sniper is a 25-year-old woman
named Lyudmila Pavlichenko.
- Say it again.
- [slowly] Lyudmila Pavlichenko.
- Lyudmila--
- Pavlichenko.
- Buh-luh-jinga.
- Pavlichenko.
- Pavli-jinka.
- Pavlichenko!
- Pavlichenko.
- I really like you.
We're friends.
What?
- I'm just letting you finish, as a gentleman.
- You are a gentleman, but with just the right amount
of a bastard.
[both laughing]
Shit.
Oh, no, I'm drunk.
So she says to them, "There is no color line.
"There is no male-female segregation in the Red Army.
"We are a nation of people
who want to defend our motherland,"
and Eleanor, who is a feminist and a human rights advocate--
[bleep] badass-- takes Franklin aside and says,
"This girl--this tomboy, sharpshooting,
"genius killer,
"I can take her on the road and she will get us
enough American support to go after the Nazis."
President Franklin Roosevelt was like, okay,
if you think that can happen, go for it.
So they get on a train, and they're traveling
across the U.S., and the American press
starts hearing about a girl sniper sent from Russia.
She does town hall meetings.
She meets with the local press.
But all they want to know is why don't you wear blush?
Are you allowed to wear makeup on the front lines?
And then a journalist tells her, your uniform,
the skirt's too long.
It's drab.
You look fat.
And she's like, what the [bleep] are they f--
I'm crawling through the mud with a...
[dogs barking]
Coyotes!
The coyote's eating the neighbor's cat.
Well, we got to wait this out, right?
So-- [chuckles]
So--it's not funny.
It's a serious thing.
They finally get to Chicago halfway through their journey,
and backstage, Eleanor Roosevelt
is Burgess Meredith from "Rocky."
She's just massaging her shoulders
and saying, "Come on, you can do this.
"I know they're asking stupid questions.
"They're silly questions. Don't worry about it.
"You can make it through.
"I need you to talk to the American public
"the way you've talked to me
and shame America into joining the second front."
So Lyudmila walks out on a Chicago stage
and says,
"Gentlemen, I am but 25 years old,
"and I have killed
"309 Fascist occupants in my country.
"This uniform I wear, that you say is ugly,
"that you say makes me look fat,
"this uniform has dirt on it
"and the blood of my enemies on it,
"and I wear it with pride.
"Don't you think you've been hiding behind my back
for too long?"
And the crowd goes batshit bananas, clapping,
and Eleanor, she's backstage like,
yeah, Lyudmila!
I love it!
Go, girl!
[triumphant music]
But-- [groans]
Jesus.
I got to burp.
My stomach's making noise.
I'm trying to talk about WWII.
It's too much.
♪ ♪
- Okay, so Eleanor Roosevelt and Lyudmila Pavlichenko
are going from town to town, and she's no longer a curiosity
or an oddity.
She's, like, this impressive folk hero.
She's an amazing woman,
who was so young,
doing the work of dozens of men at 25 years old.
When I was 25, I think I plucked off all my eyebrows
and dressed like Prince.
- [laughs]
- Anyway, 15 yeas later, we are in a Cold War with Russia.
Eleanor is in Moscow and has a political minder
that says, "You can't really talk to anyone about anything.
"You're gonna eat some sablefish.
"You're gonna drink some vodka.
"You're gonna wear a furry hat showing that it's not that bad
"between Russia and America.
That's your job, lady."
And she's like, uh...
no.
I'm Eleanor goddamn Roosevelt,
and I'm gonna go and see my [bleep] pal.
This emissary takes Eleanor Roosevelt
to Lyudmila Pavlichenko's house.
This woman was a national hero, but she's living
in this tiny two-room apartment,
and Lyudmila opens the door.
Hello, Lyudmila.
Hello, Mrs. Roosevelt.
Like, Eleanor and Lyudmila are sitting formally
with the Russian minder, and at a certain point,
Lyudmila makes an excuse and says, "Oh, oh, oh.
"Sorry, sorry. Have to leave,"
and finds a way to take Eleanor away
from the Russian minder, and she's half-laughing,
half-crying, and she's hugging Eleanor and saying,
"Oh, my friend, it's so good to see you after all these years."
[chuckles]
"And think about all the friends we met
on our trip across the U.S.,"
and Eleanor's so happy to talk to her, just saying,
"Oh, Lyudmila, we did have a great time, didn't we?"
And these two incredibly powerful, smart women
saved millions of lives by engendering the American public
into joining the war effort,
and it was such an important part of history,
but it's just two women happy to see each other and saying,
"Do you remember that time we went to Chicago?"
Shit.
[groans]
God damn it.
I think it's really touching.
[triumphant music]
Cheers.
[chuckles]
♪ ♪
Sorry. - Don't talk.
Oh, you got to do it again.
You talked.
- What?