Eleanor Roosevelt

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt
White House portrait
Born
October 11, 1884 New York City, New York, USA
Died
November 7, 1962 New York City, New York, USA

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (October 11 1884 – November 7 1962) was an American political leader who used her stature as First Lady of the United States, from 1933 to 1945 to promote the New Deal of her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as Civil Rights. After his death she built a career as author and speaker, as a proponent of the New Deal Coalition and spokesperson for human rights. She was a First-wave feminist and created a new role for First Lady.

Roosevelt was a leader in forming the United Nations, the United Nations Association and Freedom House. She chaired the committee that drafted and approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Roosevelt considered this the finest accomplishment of her life. President Harry S. Truman called her the First Lady of the World, in honor of her extensive travels to promote human rights.

Family background

Eleanor Roosevelt

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born at 56 West 37th St. New York City, New York to Elliott Roosevelt and Anna Eleanor Hall. She was the favorite niece and goddaughter of Theodore Roosevelt. The former President was surrogate father to the future First Lady.

Eleanor's family descended from Claes Martenszen van Rosenvelt who emigrated to New Amsterdam (Manhattan) from the Netherlands in the 1640s. His grandsons, Johannes and Jacobus, began the Oyster Bay and Hyde Park, New York branches of the Roosevelt family. Eleanor descended from the Johannes branch. Her future husband, Franklin descended from the Jacobus branch.

Roosevelt is also a descendant through her mother's family, of William Livingston, a signer of the U.S. Constitution. Two brothers followed young Anna Roosevelt. The Roosevelt family was completed with the addition of Elliott Jr. (1889-1893) and Hall Roosevelt (1891-1941).

She preferred to be called Eleanor, using the name Anna only for signing checks and other official documents.

Childhood

File:EleanorRoosevelfatherElliotin1889.jpg

Anna Eleanor and her father Elliot Roosevelt, 1889

Following her parents' deaths, young Anna Eleanor was raised by her maternal grandmother Mary Ludlow Hall (1843-1919), an emotionally cold woman, in Tivoli, New York. She was looked down upon by most of her mother's family. Her Hyde Park Roosevelts cousin and future mother-in-law, Sara Delano Roosevelt also used to say disparagingly of her less wealthy Manhattan Roosevelt cousins, "we got all the looks and the money."

In her grandmother's home, Eleanor's Hall uncles were mostly wealthy alcoholic playboys who Eleanor was uncomfortable around. Multiple locks were placed on the door of her room from the inside. One time when visiting her aunt Anna Cowles, Theodore Roosevelt's sister, she broke down in tears and exclaimed, "Auntie I have no real home." Aunt Bamie was instrumental in getting her out of the Hall home.

Eleanor's grandmother Mary Hall tried to limit contact with the Roosevelts after Elliott's death. Uncle Ted, however, had Eleanor to his Sagamore Hill home, where she was given special attention.

The only contact she had with young men was at house parties given by her aunt Corinne Robinson at Christmas. It was at one of these parties that she met her cousin and future husband Franklin Roosevelt.

Education

Eleanor in 1898, as a student in England

With the encouragement of her Aunt Bamie, Theodore Roosevelt's sister, she was sent to Allenswood, a girls' boarding school outside of London. She studied there from 1899 to 1902.

At Allenswood the headmistress, Mademoiselle Marie Souvestre, made a lasting impression. Souvestre had a fierce interest in liberal causes. Eleanor spent summers traveling Europe with her. Her studies in history, language and literature gave her an abiding interest in social justice as well as the knowledge and poise to articulate her opinions clearly and eloquently.

Eleanor won the affection of both the instructors and the students at Allenswood. One of her proudest moments there was when she made the field hockey team. She was one of the school's favorite students and was be deeply missed when she returned to the States.

Eleanor listed Souvestre as one of three major influences in her life, saying, "Mlle. Souvestre shocked one into thinking, and that on the whole was very beneficial."

During her time at Allenswood, Eleanor came out of her shell of childhood loneliness and isolation. She thrived both academically and emotionally. When it was time for her to return to New York, her mentor, Mll. Souvestre did her best to prepare her for a return to the far less structured world of the Hyde Park Roosevelts.

Eleanor and Franklin

File:ER FDR Campobello 1903.jpg

Eleanor and Franklin at Campobello Island in 1903

In 1902 Eleanor ran into her cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a Harvard student. They began a discreet courtship which led to their engagement in November 1903. Eleanor and Franklin were fifth cousins, once removed. Sara Delano Roosevelt, FDR's mother, was against the match and managed to delay their marriage for 16 months. In a vain attempt to preoccupy Franklin's mind in hopes that he would forget Eleanor, she sent him on a trip with friends for an extended period of time. Most of Eleanor's Hall and Roosevelt clans approved the match. Uncle Ted approved as well.

On St. Patrick's Day March 17, 1905, she married Franklin D. Roosevelt; President Theodore Roosevelt took the place of his late brother in giving Eleanor away in marriage. Her cousins Alice Roosevelt and Corinne Robinson were bridesmaids along with Isabella Greenway.

Their marriage produced six children, Anna Eleanor Jr., James, Franklin Delano Jr. (1909-1909) Elliott, Franklin Delano Jr. and John Aspinwall. As the children grew older and married, Mrs. Roosevelt was often depressed and disappointed by the "lack of self-discipline" her children displayed. Eleanor Roosevelt often felt more miserable about her children's unsuccessful private lives than she did about her husband's infidelity. In her later years, she frequently commented after arguments with her adult son that she "would be better off dead" and that her "being alive caused them to compete because she had overshadowed" them.

Following the death of her husband in 1945, Roosevelt continued to live on the Hyde Park Estate, in Val-Kill, the house that her husband had remodeled for her near the mainhouse. Originally built as a small furniture factory for Val-Kill Industries, it afforded Eleanor a level of privacy that she had wanted for many years. The home served as a private sanctuary from her domineering and oppressive mother-in-law, Sara Delano Roosevelt (Faber 1983). Roosevelt also entertained her circle of friends in informal gatherings at the house. The site is now the home of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill.

Relationship with mother-in-law

File:Eleanor roosevelt & sara delano roosevelt 1908.jpg

Eleanor and her future mother-in-law, Sara Delano Roosevelt Aug 1904

Eleanor had a sometimes contentious relationship with her domineering mother-in-law, Sara Delano Roosevelt, who at 5'10" was only 2 inches shorter than Eleanor. Long before Eleanor fell in love with Franklin, she already had a relationship with his mother. She was a distant but highly engaging cousin with whom Eleanor corresponded.

Although they had a somewhat contentious relationship, Sara sincerely wanted to be a mother to Eleanor and did her best before and during the marriage to fill this role. Sara had her own reasons for attempting to prevent their marriage.

Eleanor's mother-in-law insisted on dominating the young couple's daily life. "Mother" went so far as to choose their first home, close to her own. She also decorated and furnished it to her tastes and hired the staff to run it.

From Eleanor's perspective, she was relatively young and inexperienced. With a mother long dead, she lacked the support that her own mother, Anna Hall Roosevelt, might have given had she lived. In any case, Sara Roosevelt, despite her forceful personality, and her rather domineering manner with her son, had much to offer her new daughter-in-law on virtually all the areas that a young wife of means might need to know.

Eleanor sometimes resented Sara's domineering nature. Nevertheless, she valued Sara's opinion highly in the early years of her marriage, until she developed the experience and confidence that any young wife gains from the school of marriage "hard knocks."

From Sara's perspective, she was bound and determined to ensure her son's success in all areas of life including his marriage. Sara had doted on her son to the point of spoiling him, and now intended to help him make a success of his marriage with a woman that she evidently viewed as being totally unprepared for her new role as chatelaine of a great family.

Sara lavished huge presents on her new grandchildren. Eleanor was troubled by the influence that came with "mother's largesse."

FDR's affair

Despite its happy start, the Roosevelts' marriage almost split over Franklin's affair with Eleanor's social secretary Lucy Mercer (later Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd). Eleanor immediately threatened a divorce if the affair continued. Franklin told his mother that he was considering a divorce.

So implacable was Sara's opposition to this proposition that she warned that she would disinherit him. By the time of this affair, Sara had grown extremely fond of Eleanor. Eleanor was told by Sara that "Roosevelts don't do divorce," and pointed out to Eleanor that if a divorce were to materialize, she would have to raise five children alone.

Aunt Corinne and Uncle Ted were influential in convincing their niece to remain in the marriage, likely for reasons similar to Sara's. Theodore who was widely considered a candidate for the presidency in 1920 could not afford the threat of a damaging family scandal.

Furthermore, Lucy was a Roman Catholic which made any thought of her marrying a divorced Protestant problematic at best. Finally, Franklin agreed not to see Lucy, but much evidence points to a continued affair or at least much personal contact between him and Lucy, stretching right up to Franklin's death in 1945.

First Lady of the United States

During Franklin Roosevelt's terms as President, Eleanor was very vocal about her support of the American Civil Rights Movement and of African-American rights. However, her husband needed the support of Southern Democrats to advance his agenda, so he did not adopt the cause of civil rights. Eleanor became the connection to the African-American population instead, helping Franklin Roosevelt to win their votes.

In 1939, the African-American opera singer Marian Anderson was refused permission to perform at Constitution Hall (owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution) in Washington. Eleanor resigned her membership in the D.A.R. over the incident. She did not raise a similar protest when the District of Columbia school board, under jurisdiction of President Roosevelt and the Democratically controlled Congress, turned down Anderson's request to give the performance to an integrated audience at a white public high school.

Later in the year, Secretary of State Harold L. Ickes, at the suggestion of Walter White of the NAACP, arranged for Anderson to perform on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Anderson sang to a live audience of 70,000, and a nationwide audience of millions on radio.

In addition to racial equality, Eleanor Roosevelt used her position as First Lady to bring attention to the need for decent housing, healthcare and education for all. She viewed advancement on social welfare to be up to women. She believed these issues would not get the attention they need if women didn't push them.

World War II

Eleanor Roosevelt was very active on the homefront during World War II. She cochaired a national committee on civil defense. She also made innumerable visits to civilian and military centers to boost war morale. She strongly advocated for more opportunities for African Americans and women. In 1943, Eleanor, along with Wendell Willkie and other Americans concerned about the mounting threats to peace and democracy during World War II, established Freedom House. The purpose of Freedom House is to promote democracy and freedom around the world.

Eleanor opposed her husband's decision to sign Executive Order 9066 which resulted in the internment of 110,000 Japanese nationals and American citizens of Japanese descent in internment camps in the western United States.

Post White House Public Life

File:Eleanor Roosevelt with Soong Mei-ling.jpg

Eleanor Roosevelt and Madame Chiang Kai-shek

After World War II, Roosevelt played an instrumental role, along with René Cassin, John Peters Humphrey and others, in drafting the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This was the accomplishment that she was proudest of. Many believe this was her most significant contribution to human history.

Roosevelt served as the first chairman of the U.N. Human Rights Commission (Glendon 2000). One of her most important contributions was that of creating opportunities for the members of the Human Rights Commission to gather informally and get to know one another, across their cultural divides and discuss issues off the record.

On the night of September 28, 1948, Roosevelt spoke on behalf of the Declaration calling it "the international Magna Carta of all mankind" (James 1948). She went on to say that the Declaration was based on "the spiritual fact that man must have freedom in which to develop his full stature and through common effort to raise the level of human dignity". The Declaration was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948 (Kenton 1948). The vote of the General Assembly was unanimous except for eight abstentions.

From the 1920s until her death in 1962, Roosevelt remained involved heavily in advocating for social change. She opposed the Equal Rights Amendmentfor a number of years, concerned that it would prevent Congress and the states from passing special protective legislation that she thought women workers needed (Pfeffer 1996). Eventually, when she saw how slow the progress was on women's equality, she changed course and supported the amendment.

Eleanor becomes a columnist

In 1928, Eleanor met Associated Press reporter Lorena Hickok, a White House correspondent. They became close friends after Hickok conducted a series of interviews with Roosevelt in 1932, and remained so for the rest of their lives. Hickok suggested the idea for what would eventually become Roosevelt’s column My Day. My Day was a daily newspaper column which started in 1935, in which she talked about interesting things that happened to her each day as well as her outlook on issues.

In July 1949, Eleanor had attacked proposals for federal funding of certain (nonreligious) activities, such as bus transportation for students in Catholic schools in her columns. This caused a high visibility fight with Francis Cardinal Spellman, the Catholic Archbishop of New York. Spellman pointed out that the Supreme Court had recently upheld such provisions, and accused her of anti-Catholicism. Most Democrats rallied behind Roosevelt, so Spellman went to Eleanor's Hyde Park home to bury the hatchet.

New York and national politics

In 1954, Tammany Hall boss Carmine DeSapio campaigned against Eleanor's son, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., during the New York Attorney General elections, which Franklin (Jr.) lost. Roosevelt held DeSapio responsible for her son's defeat and and did not agree with his political conduct through the rest of the 1950s.

Eventually, she joined her old friends Herbert Lehman and Thomas Finletter to form the New York Committee for Democratic Voters, a group dedicated to enhancing the democratic process by opposing DeSapio's reincarnated Tammany. Their efforts were eventually successful, and DeSapio was removed from power in 1961.

With Frank Sinatra, 1960

Roosevelt was a close friend of Adlai Stevenson and a strong supporter of his candidacies in the 1952 and 1956 presidential elections. When President Truman backed New York Governor W. Averell Harriman, a close associate of Carmine DeSapio, for the Democratic presidential nomination, Roosevelt was disappointed. She continued to support Stevenson, who ultimately won the nomination. She backed Stevenson again in 1960 but John F. Kennedy received the presidential nomination instead.

In 1964, Roosevelt established the 2,800 acre (11 km²) ([1]) Roosevelt Campobello International Park on Campobello Island, New Brunswick. This followed a gift of the Roosevelt summer estate to the Canadian and American governments.

Eleanor Roosevelt was outspoken on numerous causes and continued to galvanize the world with her comments and opinions well into her 70s.

Death

In 1961, all volumes of her autobiography were compiled into The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt, which is still in print some 45 years later.

Eleanor Roosevelt survived her husband by nearly 20 years. In 1960, by the age of 76 she had been diagnosed with anaplastic anemia. During treatment of the disease, she developed bone marrow tuberculosis, recurring from a primary 1919 infection, and died at her Manhattan apartment on the evening of November 7, 1962 at the age of 78. At her memorial service, Adlai Stevenson asked, "What other single human being has touched and transformed the existence of so many?"

Mrs. Roosevelt was buried next to Franklin D. Roosevelt in Hyde Park, New York on November 10, 1962. So revered was she among the public that a commemorative cartoon published at the time simply showed two angels looking down towards an opening in the clouds with the caption "She's here", since no introduction was needed.

Mrs. Roosevelt maintained a strong loyalty to "Uncle Ted" even nearly forty-five years after his death. Among her belongings was her membership card for the Theodore Roosevelt Association.

In 1968 she was awarded one of the United Nations Human Rights Prizes. There was an unsuccessful campaign to award her a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize; however, the Nobel Prize has only once been awarded posthumously. [2] Roosevelt is the ninth most admired person in the 20th century, according to Gallup.

• Roosevelt received 35 honorary degrees during her life, compared to 31 awarded to her husband. Her first, a Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) on June 13, 1929, was also the first honorary degree awarded by Russell Sage College in Troy, New York. Her last was a Doctor of Law (L.L.D.) degree granted by what is now Clark Atlanta University in June 1962. [3]

• Roosevelt is believed to be the tallest of all First Ladies: she was six feet tall.

• She is the only first lady to be the wife of one U.S. President and the niece of another.

See also

• Franklin Delano Roosevelt husband
• Elliott Roosevelt father
• Anna Hall Roosevelt mother
• Hall Roosevelt brother
• Theodore Roosevelt uncle
• Molly Yard
• Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd

Further reading

• Beasley, Maurine H., Holly C. Shulman, and Henry R. Beasley, ed. The Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2001 ISBN 0313301816 Foreword by Blanche Wiesen Cook ; introduction by James McGregor Burns.

• Cook, Blanche Wiesen. Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol. 1: 1884-1933. New York : Viking, c1992-1999 ISBN 067080486X

• Cook, Blanche Wiesen. Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume 2, The Defining Years, 1933-1938. New York : Viking, c1992-1999 ISBN 0670844985

• Lachman, Seymour P. "The Cardinal, the Congressmen, and the First Lady." Journal of Church and State 7, 1965 : pp.35–66 ISSN 0021-969X

• Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor and Franklin: The Story of Their Relationship Based on Eleanor Roosevelt's Private Papers. Franklin Center, Pa. : Franklin Library, 1981, c1971 Foreword by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. ; introduction by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr.

• Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor: The Years Alone. New York : New American Library, 1985, c1972 ISBN 0452007712

• Roosevelt, David B. and Mascetti, Manuela Dunn. Grandmère: A Personal History of Eleanor Roosevelt. New York : Warner Books, c2002 ISBN 0446527343 Foreword by Allida M. Black ; introduction by Mike Wallace ; with a special contribution by Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands.

• Goodwin, Doris Kearns. No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. New York : Simon & Schuster, c1994 ISBN 0671642405

• Streitmatter, Roger, ed. Empty Without You: The Intimate Letters of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok. New York : Free Press, c1998 ISBN 0684849283

For Young Readers

• Weidt, Maryann N. Stateswoman to the World: a Story about Eleanor Roosevelt. Minneapolis : Carolrhoda Books, c1991 ISBN 0876146639 Illustrations by Lydia M. Anderson.

External links

• Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site
• The Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill
• The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers
• Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
• National First Ladies' Library
• The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute
• The Roosevelt Institution, a student think tank inspired in part by Eleanor Roosevelt
• TeddyRoosevelt.com: Information about Eleanor and her favorite, famous uncle Teddy.
• Some of My Best Friends Are Negro: Mrs. Roosevelt and her views on race.
• Online Biographical Sketch at George Washington University's Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Site
• [http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/index.html George Washington University's Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Site
• [4], Mrs. Roosevelt dies at 78. New York Times Obituary, November 8, 1962.
• Eleanor & Harry The correspondence between Eleanor Roosevelt and President Harry S. Truman

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Faber, Harold. "An Upstate Focus for Eleanor Roosevelt Centennial" New York Times Nov., 1983, Metropolitan Desk: 54. Academic. LEXIS-NEXIS. Indiana University, Bloomington. ?

• Glendon, M.A. "John P. Humphrey and the Drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" Journal of the History of International Law, 2000: pp. 250-260. The Hague ; Boston : Kluwer Law International, 1999 ISSN 1388-199X

• James, Michael. "Soviet Rights Hit by Mrs. Roosevelt" New York Times 29 Sept. 1948: A4. ABI/Inform Global. ProQuest. Indiana University, Bloomington. ?

• Kenton, John. "Human Rights Declaration Adopted by U.N. Assembly" New York Times 11 Dec.

1948: A1. ABI/Inform Global. ProQuest. Indiana University, Bloomington. ?

• Roosevelt, Eleanor. The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt. New York : Da Capo Press, 1992, ISBN 03680476X dacapopress.com

• Manly, Chesly. "U.N. Adopts 1st Declaration on Human Rights" Chicago Daily Tribune 11 December, 1948. Chicago, Ill. : Tribune Co., 1963 ISSN 1085-6706

• Pfeffer, Paula F. "Eleanor Roosevelt and the National and World Women's Parties." Historian Fall 1996: 39-58. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Indiana University, Bloomington. ?

• "The Draft Declaration of Human Rights" The New York Times 19 June 1948. ProQuest. EBSCO. Indiana University, Bloomington. ?

Preceded by: Lou Henry Hoover

First Lady of the United States 1933–1945

Succeeded by: Bess Truman

First Ladies of the United States

M. Washington · A. Adams · M. Jefferson Randolph · D. Madison · E. Monroe · L. Adams · E. Donelson · S. Jackson · A. Van Buren · A. Harrison · J. Harrison · L. Tyler · P. Tyler · J. Tyler · S. Polk · M. Taylor · A. Fillmore · J. Pierce · H. Lane · M. Lincoln · E. Johnson · J. Grant · L. Hayes · L. Garfield · M. McElroy · R. Cleveland · F. Cleveland · C. Harrison · M. McKee · F. Cleveland · I. McKinley · Edith Roosevelt · H. Taft · Ellen Wilson · Edith Wilson · F. Harding · G. Coolidge · L. Hoover · Eleanor Roosevelt · B. Truman · M. Eisenhower · J. Kennedy · C. Johnson · P. Nixon · B. Ford · R. Carter · N. Reagan · B. Bush · H. Clinton · L. Bush

 

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