Eleanor Roosevelt by Joan S. Hust
October 11, 1884 - November 7, 1962
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, holding the post from 1933 to 1945 during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office.
•
She was a Roosevelt who married a Roosevelt. But it's important to know she was a Theodore-Roosevelt Roosevelt and certain traits from that side of the family were strong in her.
•
The obligation of honorable, generous, and responsible behavior. Like her Uncle Theodore, she triumphed against the odds.
•
She wore frumpy clothes. Her teeth needed straightening. But in all, in her way, she was beautiful, radiant. There were never any makeovers, no Hollywood savvy.
•
She was terrified of speaking in public at first, and her high-pitched voice could sail off uncontrollably. Yet she became one of the most effective speakers of her time.
•
She was a wife, a mother, teacher, and first lady of New York, first lady of the land, newspaper columnist, author, world traveler, diplomat, and a tough seasoned politician.
•
She never imitated anyone. She was ever and entirely herself, and a very great woman.
•
People were absolutely drawn to Eleanor Roosevelt. Her presence was felt the minute she came into the room. She sparkled.
•
For more than 30 years Eleanor Roosevelt was the most powerful woman in America. Niece of one president and wife of another, Eleanor was shaped and driven by politics.
•
She was one of the best politicians of the 20th century.
•
There is a tremendous amount of conflict and hurt in her life and a great sense of loss and struggle. She was happiest in the public arena, she was least happy in her most intimate private life.
•
She travelled far from her beginnings, to become the most admired - and the most controversial woman in America.
•
Everybody liked her because there was not a mean streak about her. She was loyal. She always did what she said she would do.
•
Theodore Roosevelt in 190 was the President of the United States. "Uncle Ted" always called Eleanor his favorite niece. Uncle Ted drove home the Roosevelt rule: never show fear and like all Roosevelt children, Eleanor was taught a strong sense of social responsibility.
•
Twice a week she rode the public trolley downtown to the grimy, teeming slums of the Lower East Side. There at the University Settlement House she did volunteer work with young immigrants, helping them adapt to life in America. She taught dance and calisthenics. She thought of her work as the "highlight" of her week.
•
Franklin proposed in November 1903, and Eleanor immediately accepted. He declared himself the happiest man on earth.
•
On March 17th, 1905, Eleanor and Franklin were married. President Theodore Roosevelt gave the bride away.
•
Eleanor and Franklin's early-married life was dominated by a powerful Roosevelt - Franklin's mother, Sara. Franklin D. Roosevelt 3rd, Grandson of Eleanor Roosevelt: Franklin was Sara’s only child and she was extremely possessive and did not want him to go off and marry somebody else and have some other life.
•
In 1906, the Roosevelt’s' first child, Anna, was born. James was born the next year.
•
They learned early that if their mother wouldn’t give them something all they had to do was to go see Granny. And they could charm Granny out of anything they wanted.
•
FDR was not a good father.
•
In the summer of 1917 Eleanor took the children north - to Campobello, the Roosevelt’s' sprawling summer home off the coast of Maine. Franklin stayed behind working in Washington. So did Lucy Mercer their social secretary.
•
She discovered that Franklin had an affair; she was so stunned and didn’t know where to put this hurt.
•
Franklin realized a divorced man could never be elected president. After he promised never to see Lucy again, Eleanor agreed to go on with the marriage. But they never lived together as husband and wife again. And never, in all her writings, all her memoirs, articles and interviews, did Eleanor ever mention Franklin's betrayal.
•
Eleanor and Franklin moved back to New York in 1920. Eleanor, now 36 years old, embarked on a new life. She took a secretarial course; she joined the League of Women Voters, and the Women's City Club.
•
Franklin's illness was diagnosed as polio. His legs were left withered and useless. He had to be carried off the island to return to New York.
•
Geoffrey Ward, Historian: There was a real battle in the Roosevelt family over Franklin’s future. His mother thought that he should come home to Hyde Park and become a country gentleman and be a happy invalid. He didn’t want to do that. He loved Hyde Park. But he didn’t want to be there forever. Eleanor Roosevelt backed him. She felt that if he wanted to try to get back into politics, he should be allowed to try.
•
I think they found life apart easier than life together. Both of them had causes to which they could devote themselves. They would come together periodically and then float apart again. The Roosevelt’s remained very fond of one another. I think that’s the way that they made their marriage work.
•
Through her work, Eleanor made a circle of close friends - politically sophisticated, independent women like Nancy Cook. Cook was a creative, energetic organizer in the state Democratic Party. She lived in Greenwich Village with her partner Marian Dickerman. Dickerman was a teacher and the first woman to run for the New York State legislature. When Dickerman took over the private Todd Hunter School in New York, Eleanor joined her teaching literature and history three days a week.
•
Franklin supported Eleanor's independence and enjoyed her new friends. In 1925 he even built them a small stone house, called Val Kill, near his mother's Hyde Park estate.
•
When occasion demanded Eleanor would entertain with Franklin at Sara's house nearby. But Val Kill was Eleanor's, and she would think of it as her real home for the rest of her life.
•
That same year FDR decided to reenter politics and run for Governor of New York. To dispel rumors that he was still sick, he ran an energetic campaign, and he won. For the first time in nearly a decade, Eleanor was a political wife again. She moved the family to Albany, and divided her time between her duties as the Governor's wife and her own activities.
•
Eleanor dreaded the idea of being First lady, of a life defined by teas and receiving lines. The day she realized that she was going to be the wife of the president was a traumatic day for her.
•
Eleanor Roosevelt had phenomenal, unprecedented energy. She was in action, in motion, it seems, 24 hours a day. That allowed her to do enormous amounts in her life.
•
In one three month period she logged 40,000 miles, giving lectures, visiting schools and factories, opening fairs. Six days a week, no matter where she was, she wrote a newspaper column called, "My Day." She talked to people from all walks of life. She saw firsthand the new government programs at work, and reported back to FDR.
•
Eleanor learned that Lucy Mercer was with FDR when he died in Warm Springs.
•
Franklin and Eleanor had experienced two world wars; they had witnessed unimaginable destruction, and millions of senseless deaths. For years they had talked about how to prevent another war and FDR had laid the groundwork for the United Nations.
•
In December 1945, the new president, Harry Truman asked Eleanor to be a delegate to the UN's first meeting in London. Eight months after Franklin's death, Eleanor arrived in England to begin a new career.
•
After Republican Dwight Eisenhower became president in 1952, Eleanor Roosevelt, like all presidential appointees, resigned her post. She was 68. For the first time in nearly 25 years she had no official duties to perform. She traveled extensively. She made the first of three trips to the newly established state of Israel. She visited Japan, the Soviet Union, and India. Although her visits were private, she was greeted like a head of state nearly everywhere she went. She was often accompanied by her friend and physician Dr. David Gurewitsch, the son of Russian émigrés, a worldly, cultivated man.
•
Eleanor Roosevelt was the most admired woman in the world. Her popularity was quite extraordinary. She was recognized as the best that America could be in her lifetime. I was privileged to hear her speak when I was a student at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. The reason we were so fortunate to have her as a guest speaker was because she was a friend of Dr. Spivey, the President of Florida Southern College.
QUOTES
“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water.”
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway.”
“You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.”
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart”
“It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know. We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death.”
“We are afraid to care too much; for fear that the other person does not care at all.”
“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself. ”
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
“No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful.”
“You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude”
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water.”
“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway.”
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
“You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.”
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
“It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know. We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death.”
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
“No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful.”
“You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude”
“If someone betrays you once, it’s their fault; if they betray you twice, it’s your fault.”
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
“A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water.”
“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
“Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway.”
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
“You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.”
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
“It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know. We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death.”
“We are afraid to care too much; for fear that the other person does not care at all.”
“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself. ”
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
“No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful.”
“You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude”
“If someone betrays you once, it’s their fault; if they betray you twice, it’s your fault.”
“Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.”
“The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.”
“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.”
“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.”
“Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.”
“Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of competence.”
“You have to accept whatever comes, and the only important thing is that you meet it with the best you have to give.”
”In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”
“Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn't have the power to say
yes.”
“Happiness is not a goal...it's a by-product of a life well lived.”
“Friendship with oneself is all important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.”
“Work is always an antidote to depression.”
“Remember always that you have not only the right to be an individual; you have an obligation to be one. You cannot make any useful contribution in life unless you do this.”
“Every time you meet a situation you think at the time it is an impossibility and you go through the tortures of the damned, once you have met it and lived through it, you find that forever after you are freer than you were before.”
“One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility”
“Lest I keep my complacent way I must remember somewhere out there a person died for me today. As long as there must be war, I ask and I must answer was I worth dying for?”
“As for accomplishments, I just did what I had to do as things came along.”
