Roosevelt, Eleanor (1884-1962).
UXL Biographies. Online Detroit: UXL, 2003.
Eleanor Roosevelt
1884-1962
Born: October 11, 1884 in New York, New York, United States
Died: November 7, 1962 in New York, New York, United States
Nationality: American etc.
Occupation: First Lady, Philanthropist, Diplomat etc.
Table of Contents:Biographical Essay | Further Readings | View Multimedia File(s)
Through her humanitarian efforts in America and abroad, Eleanor Roosevelt became one of the
best-known and most admired women in the world.
Biographical Essay:
Eleanor Roosevelt's extended family was among the ruling class in America in the first half of the
twentieth century. Her uncle, Theodore Roosevelt, and her husband and fifth cousin, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, both became presidents. Their accomplishments, however, did little to overshadow
hers. While her husband was president, she helped develop or strongly supported many of the
programs in his New Deal plan to rescue the country from the throes of the Great Depression.
After his death, she continued working for the rights of the poor and the oppressed, this time on a
global scale. Through her humanitarian efforts in America and abroad, Roosevelt became one of
the best-known and most admired women in the world.
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City on October 11, 1884. She was the daughter
of Elliot Roosevelt, brother of future president Theodore Roosevelt, and Anna Ludlow Hall. Her
father, although loving, was an alcoholic; her mother was cold and disapproving. By the time she
was eight, both of her parents had died, so she went to live with her grandmother. Awkward and
shy, she was sent to finishing school in England when she was fifteen. Here the withdrawn
Roosevelt blossomed, excelling in languages and literature and becoming popular for the first time
in her life.
More interested in social work
When she returned to New York City at age seventeen, Roosevelt refused to take part in the
activities of high society. Instead, she chose to work toward social reforms. She taught dancing
and literature at community centers and visited needy children in the slums. Through her work,
she gained an intimate knowledge of how the poor actually lived. During this time, she met her
fifth cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt. Against his mother's wishes, they were married on March 17,
1905. Her uncle, President Theodore Roosevelt, gave her away at the wedding. Over the next ten
years, she gave birth to six children (one died in infancy).
Neither her family nor her husband's growing political career prevented Roosevelt from pursuing
her own social concerns. While he served in Washington as assistant secretary of the navy during
World War I, she worked with the Red Cross. She visited wounded troops in the Naval Hospital
and worked to improve conditions at a hospital for the mentally ill. After Roosevelt and her
husband returned to New York in 1920, she became active in movements calling for equal rights
for women and better working conditions for female employees.
In the summer of 1921, Roosevelt's life changed drastically. While vacationing on an island off the
coast of Maine, her husband was stricken with an attack of poliomyelitis (polio). The disease left
him permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Determined to maintain her husband's political
links, she quickly learned public speaking and political organization. Over the next few years, she
campaigned for Democratic candidates in New York and worked for the women's division of the
party.
Changes role of first lady
In 1928 Roosevelt's husband was elected governor of New York. She then became his "legs,"
inspecting state hospitals, prisons, and homes for the elderly. In 1932 he was elected to the first of
four presidential terms, giving her a national platform from which to address her concerns.
Roosevelt forever changed the role of the First Lady. She began holding weekly press
conferences, speaking only to women reporters mainly on women's issues. In 1935 she started
writing a column, "My Day," which appeared in national newspapers. For its first three years, "My
Day" focused on the concerns of women. By 1939, however, Roosevelt was addressing general
political topics in her column.
This change reflected the increasing role Roosevelt played in her husband's policy decisions.
More than anyone in the White House, she brought the cause of the oppressed to her husband's
attention. She championed the struggle of Appalachian farmers to reclaim their land, and she
made sure African Americans were receiving relief from New Deal programs. Throughout her
reign as First Lady, she argued against all forms of discrimination. Roosevelt was especially
concerned with the condition of America's youth during the Depression. In 1935 she helped found
the National Youth Administration, which gave thousands of high school and college students
part-time work.
Roosevelt had always been a pacifist (person opposed to war and conflict), but supported the war
effort when America entered World War II in 1941. She concentrated her energies on the welfare
of American soldiers. In the summer of 1943, she traveled twenty-three thousand miles visiting
field hospitals in Australia and the South Pacific.
Champions human rights around the world
After her husband died suddenly on April 12, 1945, Roosevelt continued her public activities. In
December of that year, President Harry S Truman appointed her a United States delegate to the
first meeting of the United Nations in London. She became the chairperson of the Commission on
Human Rights, which was given the job of drafting an international bill of rights. On December 10,
1948, the United Nations accepted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Roosevelt had
been the driving force behind its creation.
When Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower became president in 1952, Roosevelt resigned her
position at the United Nations. She became a leading spokesperson for liberal causes, arguing for
civil rights not only in American but in all other countries. Traveling around the world throughout
the 1950s, she called for nuclear disarmament and urged leaders to protect the human rights of
their people. Even in her late seventies, Roosevelt remained a powerful voice in the Democratic
party. She died at her home in New York City on November 7, 1962.
FURTHER READINGS
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Cook, Blanche Weisen, Eleanor Roosevelt, Viking, 1992.
Flemion, Jesse, and Colleen M. O'Conner, eds., Eleanor Roosevelt: An American Journey, San Diego State
University Press, 1987.
Freedman, Russell, Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery, Clarion Books, 1993.
Gottfried, Ted, Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of the Twentieth Century, Franklin Watts, 1997.
Lash, Joseph P., Eleanor: The Years Alone, Norton, 1972.
Morey, Eileen, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lucent Books, 1998.
Roosevelt, Eleanor, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt, Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1937.
Roosevelt, Eleanor, Eleanor Roosevelt's My Day, vol. 1, Pharos Books, 1989.
Schuman, Michael A., Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady and Humanitarian, Enslow, 1995.
Spangenburg, Ray, and Diane K. Moser, Eleanor Roosevelt: A Passion to Improve, Facts on File, 1997.
Vercelli, Jane Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Chelsea House, 1995.
Source Citation: "Roosevelt, Eleanor (1884-1962)." UXL Biographies. Online Detroit: UXL, 2003. Student
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