For an entire generation of Americans who lived through the Great Depression and World War II, Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) was a much-loved figure. she Rewriting the rules for first ladies, Because she traveled across the country by car, often alone, to meet, without prior notice, her fellow citizens, listen to their concerns and offer assistance.
Between 1933 and 1937, Wife of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) He toured some 64,000 kilometers per year. He hosted hundreds of weekly radio shows, gave regular press conferences, wrote a monthly magazine column, and published a popular daily column called “My Day” in 90 newspapers, as David Michaelis reveals in his biography of Eleanor (2020).
In 1948, she “entered the United Nations General Assembly, dressed modestly, without makeup, and walked quickly to the podium to receive the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The entire Assembly stood up and gave her a standing ovation. The applause of all the nations for one delegate,” the author describes.
After a decade as First Lady Eleanor became the world’s leading human rights defender. On his 70th birthday in 1954, the Washington Post published a cartoon showing a mother pointing to the Statue of Liberty to her son, Michaelis wrote. “Of course, I know who he is, mom,” the boy says. “It’s Mrs. Roosevelt.”
Eleanor Roosevelt He was born in New York and witnessed personal tragedies from a young age. She lost her parents during her childhood and was raised by her relatives. However, his Education in a progressive school in England awakened a deep social conscience in her.
Upon his return to the United States, he began… Engaging in humanitarian and educational issues, Which prepared her for the public life she would live in years later. She met Franklin Roosevelt when they were young and belonged to the same extended family, being distant cousins.
Although they saw each other occasionally in childhood, their first significant meeting occurred in 1903 during a reception at the White House, hosted by President Theodore Roosevelt, Eleanor’s uncle and Franklin’s cousin.
Franklin, then a student at Harvard, gradually became interested in Elinor, fascinated by her intelligence and sense of social responsibility. In 1903, Franklin, then 22, proposed to Eleanor, 19. They married in 1905 in a ceremony attended by President Theodore Roosevelt.
With Roosevelt in the White House, Eleanor refused to limit her role to official acts. instead of, He visited factories, hospitals, prisons, and refugee camps, and became the president’s eyes and ears During the Great Depression.
Her strong personality and commitment to the most disadvantaged made her an admirable and at the same time controversial figure, especially before His support for minorities and his defense of the rights of women and African Americans.
After her husband’s death in 1945, far from retirement, she deepened her international work and She was the United States delegate to the United Nations. as, He chaired the committee that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.