Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (/ˈɛlɪnɔːr ˈroʊzəvɛlt/ EL-in-or ROH-zə-velt; October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist.[5][6] She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office, making her the longest-serving first lady of the United States.[5] Through her travels, public engagement, and advocacy, she largely redefined the role of First Lady. Roosevelt then served as a United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945 to 1952, and took a leading role in designing the text and gaining international support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 1948 she was given a standing ovation by the assembly upon their adoption of the Declaration.[7][8] President Harry S. Truman later called her the "First Lady of the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements.[9]
For other uses, see Eleanor Roosevelt (disambiguation).
Eleanor Roosevelt
Office established
Office established
Office established
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Catherine Smith
Edith Lehman
November 7, 1962 (aged 78)
New York City, U.S.
Roosevelt was a member of the prominent and wealthy American Roosevelt and Livingston families and a niece of President Theodore Roosevelt.[8] She had an unhappy childhood, having suffered the deaths of both parents and one of her brothers at a young age. At 15, she attended Allenswood Boarding Academy in London and was deeply influenced by its founder and director Marie Souvestre. Returning to the U.S., she married her fifth cousin once removed, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1905. Between 1906 and 1916 she gave birth to six children, one of whom died in infancy. The Roosevelts' marriage became complicated after Eleanor discovered her husband's affair with her social secretary Lucy Mercer in 1918. Due to mediation by her mother-in-law Sara, who was a strong financial supporter of the family, the liaison was ended officially.[10] After that both partners started to keep independent agendas, and Eleanor joined the Women's Trade Union League and became active in the New York state Democratic Party.
Eleanor helped persuade Franklin to stay in politics after he was stricken with a paralytic illness in 1921, which cost him the normal use of his legs, and she began giving speeches and appearing at campaign events in his place. Following Franklin's election as Governor of New York in 1928, and throughout the remainder of Franklin's public career in government, Roosevelt regularly made public appearances on his behalf; and as First Lady, while her husband served as president, she significantly reshaped and redefined the role.
Roosevelt was, in her time, one of the world's most widely admired and powerful women.[10] Nevertheless, in her early years in the White House she was a controversial first lady for her outspokenness, particularly with respect to her promotion of civil rights for African Americans. She was the first presidential spouse to hold regular press conferences, write a daily newspaper column, write a monthly magazine column, host a weekly radio show, and speak at a national party convention. On a few occasions, she publicly disagreed with her husband's policies. She launched an experimental community at Arthurdale, West Virginia, for the families of unemployed miners, later widely regarded as a failure. She advocated for expanded roles for women in the workplace, the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans, and the rights of World War II refugees. Following her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt remained active in politics for the remaining 17 years of her life. She pressed the United States to join and support the United Nations and became its first delegate to the committee on Human Rights. She served as the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and oversaw the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Later, she chaired the John F. Kennedy administration's Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. By the time of her death, Roosevelt was regarded as "one of the most esteemed women in the world"; The New York Times called her "the object of almost universal respect" in her obituary.[11]
In 1999, she was ranked ninth in the top ten of Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century,[12] and was found to rank as the most admired woman in thirteen different years between 1948 and 1961 in Gallup's annual most admired woman poll.[13] Periodic surveys conducted by the Siena College Research Institute have consistently seen historians assess Roosevelt as the greatest American first lady.
Cultural references
In the 1940s and 1950s, female impersonator Arthur Blake drew acclaim for his impersonations of Eleanor Roosevelt in his nightclub act.[264][265] At the invitation of the Roosevelts, he performed his impersonation of Eleanor at the White House.[266][264] He also impersonated F.D.R. in the 1952 film Diplomatic Courier.[267]
Sunrise at Campobello, a 1958 Broadway play by Dore Schary, dramatized Franklin's attack of and eventual recovery from polio, in which Mary Fickett starred as Eleanor. The 1960 film of the same name, which was based on the play, starred Greer Garson as Eleanor.
The Eleanor Roosevelt Story, a 1965 American biographical documentary film directed by Richard Kaplan, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[268] The Academy Film Archive preserved it in 2006.[269]
Roosevelt was the subject of the 1976 Arlene Stadd historical play Eleanor.[270]
In 1976, Talent Associates released the American television miniseries Eleanor and Franklin, starring Edward Herrmann and Jane Alexander as Franklin and Eleanor; it was broadcast on ABC on January 11 and 12, 1976 and was based on Joseph P. Lash's biography from 1971, Eleanor and Franklin, based on their correspondence and recently opened archives. The film won many awards, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Peabody Award. Director Daniel Petrie won a Primetime Emmy for Director of the Year – Special. In 1977 they released a sequel, Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years, with the same stars. It won 7 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Special of the Year. Daniel Petrie again won a Primetime Emmy for the second film. Both films were acclaimed and noted for historical accuracy.
In 1979, NBC televised the miniseries Backstairs at the White House based on the 1961 book My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House by Lillian Rogers Parks. The series portrayed the lives of the Presidents, their families, and the White House staff who served them from the administrations of William Howard Taft (1909–1913) through Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961). Much of the book was based on notes by her mother, Maggie Rogers, a White House maid. Parks credits Eleanor Roosevelt for encouraging her mother to start a diary about her service on the White House staff.[271] The series won the Writers Guild of America award for Long Form Television Series,[272] received a Golden Globe nomination for Dramatic Television Series,[273] and won an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup.[274] Among the 10 additional Emmy nominations was Eileen Heckart for her portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt.[275] She received an Emmy nomination again the following year for her performance as Eleanor Roosevelt in the NBC television movie F.D.R.: The Last Year.[276]
In 1996, Washington Post writer Bob Woodward reported that Hillary Clinton had been having "imaginary discussions" with Eleanor Roosevelt from the start of Clinton's time as first lady.[277] Following the Democrats' loss of congressional control in the 1994 elections, Clinton had engaged the services of Human Potential Movement proponent Jean Houston. Houston encouraged Clinton to pursue the Roosevelt connection, and while no psychic techniques were used with Clinton, critics and comics immediately suggested that Clinton was holding séances with Roosevelt. The White House stated that this was merely a brainstorming exercise, and a private poll later indicated that most of the public believed these were indeed just imaginary conversations, with the remainder believing that communication with the dead was actually possible.[278] In her 2003 autobiography Living History, Clinton titled an entire chapter "Conversations with Eleanor", and stated that holding "imaginary conversations [is] actually a useful mental exercise to help analyze problems, provided you choose the right person to visualize. Eleanor Roosevelt was ideal."[279]
In 1996, the children's picture book Eleanor by Barbara Cooney, about Eleanor Roosevelt, was published. It describes her as a shy girl who goes on to do great things.[280]
In 2014, the American documentary series The Roosevelts: An Intimate History was released. Produced and directed by Ken Burns, the series focuses on the lives of Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt. The series premiered to positive reviews and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator for Peter Coyote's narration of the first episode.[281] In September 2014, The Roosevelts became the most streamed documentary on the PBS website to date.[282]
Dear Eleanor is a 2016 American film about two best friends traveling across the U.S. in 1962 to meet their childhood hero, Eleanor Roosevelt.[283][284]
Eleanor Roosevelt's life and time as First Lady are featured in The First Lady. She is played by Gillian Anderson, and by Eliza Scanlen as young Eleanor.
