Why do we love Eleanor?
Though she was born into a family of fame and privilege, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt did not have an easy childhood. Her mother, known for being a great beauty, and her father, an alcoholic banished from his prominent political family, died when she was a child, leaving her to be raised by her strict maternal grandmother. After a socially correct upbringing, Eleanor debuted into society and immediately began helping the less fortunate and campaigning for women's right to vote. Upon her marriage to her distant cousin Franklin in 1905 (where she was given away by her uncle, President Theodore Roosevelt) and the birth of their six children, she devoted herself to an atypically independent life of service. Throughout her husband's public life, including posts as senator, assistant secretary of the Navy, and governor of New York, Eleanor volunteered for the Red Cross, became active in the League of Women Voters, the Women's Trade Union League, and the women's branch of the Democratic Party. When her husband was stricken with polio in the 1920s, she became his political stand-in, keeping his name and agenda before the voters he could not reach.
When Franklin was elected to the presidency, Eleanor became his mobile envoy, lecturing, giving radio addresses, and becoming a major voice in his administration to aid the poor and minorities. In 1941, she became the codirector of the Office of Civilian Defense. She traveled throughout Europe and the Pacific visiting troops during World War II. When her husband died, Eleanor became even more prominent, appointed to the United Nations by President Harry S Truman, she resigned her post after 8 years and was appointed again by President John F. Kennedy. She continued to be an outspoken champion for the rights of the downtrodden throughout her life..
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Biography:
Born - October 11, 1884
New York City
Died - November 7, 1962
New York City
Achievements:
- Wrote over twenty-five books, including memoirs, advice, compilations of her radio broadcasts and newspaper columns, political studies, and biographies.
- Co-founded a furniture factory to give work to the poor in 1925.
- Bought, with partners, a girls' school in 1926, where she was vice principal and taught History and Government.
- As First Lady, she redefined the position, initiating weekly press conferences with women reporters, lecturing throughout the country, and hosting her own radio program. Traveling widely, she served as her husband's eyes and ears and became a major voice in his administration for measures to aid the underprivileged and racial minorities.
- Helped create an experimental homestead project for West Virginia coal miners in 1933, during the Depression.
- Repeatedly took stands against segregation and racism, including refusing to sit in the "Whites" section at a conference in Alabama in 1939, sitting in the center aisle instead in defiance of police orders, and supporting singer Marian Anderson by resigning from the DAR that same year.
- In 1941, became co-director of the Office of Civilian Defense.
- In 1945, became a member of the NAACP's board of directors.
- Appointed a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations by President Harry Truman in December 1945, where she became Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights and was instrumental in the drafting of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
- President Kennedy appointed her as the first chairperson of the President's Commission on the Status of Women in 1961.
- Chaired an ad hoc Commission of Inquiry into the Administration of Justice in the Freedom Struggle; reports on the efforts and status of civil rights in America.
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