Before FDR took office in 1933, the role of the First Lady was simple: stay in the background, handle domestic matters, host parties for politicians.
Little did America know that one woman was going to come along and change it all.
Eleanor Roosevelt grew up as a timid, shy child in New York City. After losing both of her parents during her childhood, she was educated in England, which, according to biography.com "helped draw her out of her shell."
Soon after coming back to America, she married her fifth cousin once removed, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Together, they had six children. It was FDR who introduced her to the life of politics- he became Assistant Navy Secretary in 1913, just before World War I. As the wife of a Cabinet member, Eleanor took on several volunteer positions at the Red Cross and Navy Relief Society, thus marking the beginning to her charitable role in government.
In 1921, FDR suffered a polio attack, prompting Eleanor to step up with her husband's political career. She began to pursue writing, teaching, politics, and feminist movements (ex. The Women's Trade Union League, The League of Women Voters, etc.). Soon after FDR became president in 1933, she took these skills to the next level. Eleanor "gave press conferences and spoke out for human rights, children's causes and women's issues, working on behalf of the League of Women Voters" (biography.com). She wrote for her own newspaper column, "My Day", and focused primarily on equality issues, such as poverty and racial discrimination. An extreme activist, she soon rose to play significant role in American society, shining a bright light through the darkness of the 1930s depression. At one point, she even stated, "It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness".
Even when her husband died in 1945, Eleanor did not stop her work. She went on to become chair of the United Nation's Human Rights Commission and helped write the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She was reappointed by both presidents Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy to continue her work in the United Nations. Kennedy would also later appoint her to the National Advisory Committee of the Peace Corps and the President's Commission on the Status of Women.
Eleanor Roosevelt played a revolutionary role not only nationally, but on a global scale as well. Within America, she rose above the traditional role of the First Lady. She was one of the first public officials to advocate for causes through the mass media, standing up firmly for those wronged by society and representing a figure of charity and activism. On a global scale, she helped secure the foundation of the United Nations, which would unite all countries under the hope for a better world.
Singlehandedly, Eleanor not only revolutionized the role of the First Lady, but also played a major role in transforming the world into what it is today.
Sources: http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=33
http://www.biography.com/people/eleanor-roosevelt-9463366#synopsis
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/eleanor_roosevelt.html
I really like this post! I found that it was similar to Edith Wilson in terms of First Lady involvement in presidential affairs. I didn't know that she worked for Human Rights Commission and it shows that she genuinely cared about the welfare of the public, not just the privileged.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Learning how Eleanor took the initiative to educate herself before becoming the First Lady, makes the speaking she did more meaningful because she was not speaking as the wife of the president she was speaking as and educated activist who was willing to work for change. Before her, the First Lady was merely a figure head but Eleanor's efforts proved to future First Ladies and wives every where that there is more that women can do than just stand by their husbands. Not only was Eleanor and activist for her own ideas but she supported her husband's New Deal and travelled the country as his eyes and ears and reporting back the success of his program. For more information on Eleanor's furthering of the first lady role during the depression - http://www.history.com/topics/first-ladies/eleanor-roosevelt
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