Name
9th Grade Reading Comprehension
Eleanor Roosevelt on Fear
Eleanor Roosevelt is remembered as the wife of President Franklin D.
Roosevelt. Known for her political activism, she was an outspoken first lady who
made frequent public appearances. During World War II, Eleanor supported the
rights of black Americans to serve in a visible way in the military, and she
supported civil rights generally. When her husband died in the final months of
World War II, she was appointed as his successor to be a delegate to the United
Nations General Assembly. Eleanor helped draft the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, which was adopted by General Assembly on December 10, 1948,
an act which she considered this her greatest achievement.
What was behind her amazing successes? In Eleanor’s own words, it was fear,
and her determination to overcome it: “Fear is the most devastating emotion on
earth. I fought it and conquered it by helping people who were worse off than I
was. I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do,
provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experiences
behind him.”
Eleanor grew up believing herself to be an “ugly duckling.” She was
ashamed of her clothes, her shyness, and her looks. She began to come out of
her shell in 1910. when Franklin was a member of the New York State Senate. As
Eleanor describes it: “He and eighteen other Assemblymen were waging a war
against Tammany Hall. These Assemblymen spent much of their time holding
conferences in our home in Albany both day and night. So I visited the wives of
these men. I was shocked to find that many of them were spending their days
and nights in lonely hotel rooms. They knew no one in Albany except their
husbands. I found that by trying to cheer them up and by trying to give them
courage, I developed my own courage and self-confidence.”
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