Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt was a honest person
who had responsibility and compassion towards her
husband , family and her fellow man, whatever their social
status. She used great citizenship and initiative actions in
dealing with anyone who was fortunate enough to make her
acquaintance. Eleanor Roosevelt is an outspoken advocate
of social justice. During the years she has taken over a lot
of responsibility. For someone who spent thefirst third of
her life as shy and timid, she showed great courage once
she was thrust into the presidential "spotlight". Most
Americans considered her a true "American Hero".
"Ladies and gentlemen, members of the press, I now
announce the presence of our first lady of the United
States, Eleanor Roosevelt", is something similar to what
you would hear when being addressed at a press
conference or important meetings. She was a well
respected human being, achieving great duties and
responsibility in life. She was appointed by President John
F. Kennedy to be on the first peace corps advisory board.
She was such an active lady while her husband was in
office that she was no longer willing to stay quietly in the
background of her husband. She took a job as an editor
and advertising manager of a monthly publication " The
Women's Democratic News" where she became more
independent towards herself and work. Eleanor Roosevelt
became very involved in women issues, being that she also
joined the newly organized Women's division of the New
York State Democratic party and moved swiftly into
positions of leadership. Not only was she responsible
among organizations and people, she later became her
husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt's eyes and ears, dedicating
her life to his purposes, being a trusted and tireless
reporter. One of the reasons she did become so helpful
towards her husbands career was besides the fact that she
was the first lady, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with
a disease called polio and caused him to be permanently
crippled in August of 1921. She then became even more
loyal to him and our country having to deal with people
from different nations, organizations and positions. While
the President struggled to regain the use of his legs, Eleanor
Roosevelt and Louis Howe joined forces to keep his
political and business contacts alive. She became a
powerful voice for youth employment and civil rights
forblacks and women. No first lady has been more visible
and outspoken than Eleanor Roosevelt. Perseverance, was
another great quality of Eleanor Roosevelt. From the time
she was a little girl she had to persevere. Both her parents
were considered to be handsome and gay socialite among
New York society. She was a very plain, shy insecure
child, who knew that she was neither pretty nor graceful
and that she was a disappointment to her beautiful mother.
Although she was the apple of her father's eye, he
disapproved of her being afraid and timid. Her father was
an alcoholic and was away from the family a lot as he tried
to straighten out his life. Her mother died when she was
only eight years old of diphtheria, and her father died when
she was ten. She was raised by her maternal grandmother
who was very strict and most of her education was by
tutors.( In accordance to her mothers wishes, her
grandmother sent her to a private school in England when
she was fifteen. It was here that Eleanor started to blossom
and become a person in her own right. Upon her return to
New York, she had her debut into New York Society in
1902. In 1903 she became reacquainted with her distant
cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt whom she knew from
childhood. Eleanor and Franklin fell in love and were
married in 1905, despite his mother's opposition. Sara
Delano Roosevelt was a domineering person who ran
Eleanor's household as if it were her own. She always
made Eleanor feel in adequate. It wasn't until Franklin was
elected to the New York State Senate and they moved
away to Washington, that Eleanor was free of Sara's
interference and meddling. When Eleanor was in her
thirties, she finally began to emerge as her own person due
to events in her life. Moving away from her mother-in-law,
being exposed to the political scene in Washington, finding
out about her husband's affair with her social secretary,
and Franklin contracting polio all forced her to come out
into the public life.( Although she was shy, she learned to
make public appearances and participate in New York
politics because she knew Franklin's career depended on
it. She also went back to teaching, wrote articles, lectured
and opened a furniture factory in upstate New York. She
became further politically active and participated in several
women's organizations that were involved in social
legislation. The plan had been for her involvement to
reawaken her husbands interest in the outside after he was
crippled by polio. Once this was accomplished though,
Eleanor had no intentions to just go back into the shadows.
While first lady of New York State, she was the legs and
eyes for Franklin as she made inspections of state
institutions. When she became first lady of the nation, she
advised her husband, helped to foster legislation and spoke
her mind on social issues. She fought for the improvement
of housing, education, health and the status of minority
groups.( Even while doing all this, she did not surrender any
of her other activities. She earned her own income and
gave most of her money to various charities. She traveled
throughout the country, visiting coal mines and
impoverished Appalachian farms. ( During World War II
she continued to do inspections for her husband and made
goodwill tours to England, the South Pacific and the
Caribbean. She also visited American troops abroad to
boost their morale. She also visited military camps inside
the United States and reported her findings to the
President. She was a critic of racial discrimination and even
resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution
because of their racial policies. She pushed for better job
opportunities for blacks. She was criticized harshly for her
views, although she tempered herself for the sake of her
husband's re-election. She was not afraid to passionately
discuss her views on any policy or legislation with her
husband. And although both denied that she had any real
influence with the president, her views were always an
important factor in the outcome of many of those
decisions.( Along with her many accomplishments Eleanor
Roosevelt had a lotcompassion to her work. In 1946, she
was elected chair of the United Nations eighteen-member
Human Rights Commission, which had been instructed to
draft an international bill of rights. During the next two years
Mrs. Roosevelt proved herself a skillful diplomat as she
mediated among the clashing views of delegates from
different nations and cultures. As you can read she was a
very active lady who carried prominent compassion
towards her work. During her years as a United Nations
delegate, Eleanor Roosevelt continued to lecture,
broadcast, and write. She delivered more than one hundred
lectures a year , she broadcasted a daily radio
commentary, and hosted a weekly television interview
show, one of the first of it's kind. She was very loyal to
herself and to the nation throughout the years. She served
as a UN delegate throughout Truman's two terms as
president. She had one of the most wonderful and
worthwhile experiences in her life when she served as one
of five American delegates to the first meeting of the United
Nations General Assembly, she first refused and later said
yes.( You would never thing that such a person would have
so many characteristics that showed so much about her and
what she did. She continued a vigorous carrer until her
strength began to wane in 1962. She died in New York
City in November, and was buried at Hyde Park beside
her husband. She was so memorable that if you ever travel
to the New York area, go to Hyde Park. People
remodeled their house, the house of Eleanor and Franklin
D. Roosevelt and made it an Historical place to see.
Whenever you perceive the name Eleanor Roosevelt, you
can remember how she showed great compassion to her
work and life. How loyal she was to the people of our
nation. What great responsibility's she consummated and
what respect she gave and received from and to so many.
Works Cited Diller, Daniel C. & Robertson, Stephen .L "
The Presidents, First Ladies and Vice Presidents. Library
of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 1959. Collier
Encyclopedia: Copyright 1989 Cook, Blanche Wiesen :
Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume One New York: Vikking 1992
Eleanor Roosevelt: This is My Story New York: Harper &
Bros., 1937 On My Own New York: Harper & Bros.,
1949 Http://personalweb.smcvt.edu/smahady/ercover.html
Lash, Joseph P. : Eleanor and Franklin: The Story of Their
Relationship Based on Eleanor Roosevelt's Private Papers.
New York: W.W. Norton, 1971 Lash, Joseph P. : Eleanor
Roosevelt: A friend's Memoir. Garden City, N.Y Lorena
Hickok : Eleanor Roosevelt: Reluctan First Lady New
York: Dodd, Mead 1962
WWW.whitehouse.gov/WH/glimpse/firstladies/html/ar32.html
WWW.geocites.com/collegepark/library/4142/childhood.html
Young's , J. Williams T. : Eleanor Roosevelt: A Personal a
Public Life Boston: Little, Brown, 1985