Eleanor Roosevelt has become quite the household name. She is an American, feminist, and FLOTUS icon; known not only nationally, but across the globe for her revolutionary work. Many girls aspire to turn into powerful, high-achieving women like her–myself included. Her success is recognized by virtually all, and she was in fact named in Time Magazine’s “100 Persons of the Century” as a leader and revolutionary (Time, “TIME 100 Persons of the Century”). While many think only of Eleanor Roosevelt’s time as First Lady of the United States, I would argue that her work with the United Nations was more impactful and influential worldwide.
Roosevelt was born on October 11th, 1884 in New York City. Interestingly, her full name is Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, so Eleanor is only a middle name. When she was only eight years old, her mother died, and two years later, she lost her father as well. As a result of these tragedies, she was then raised by her maternal grandmother. She was known as quite a shy child, but when she was sent to attend Allenswood Academy in London as a teenager, she was coaxed out of her shell a bit (“Eleanor Roosevelt”). Roosevelt describes her headmaster Mlle. Souvester as “one of the three most important influences in her life” (“Anna Eleanor Roosevelt”).
In 1902, when she returned to her family’s home in New York to make her debut as a “proper lady”. She faithfully complied with the social obligations her family wished for her; however, she maintained the principles that had been instilled by her at Allenswood. Because of these values, she joined the National Consumers League and, as a member of the Junior League for the Promotion of Settlement Movements, volunteered as a teacher for the College Settlement on Rivington Street. With her family somewhat appalled, she became known in the city as a dedicated worker.
That summer, Eleanor ran into her cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then a student at Harvard, on a train to Tivoli for a visit with her grandmother. The two caught up, and then became caught up in love after a year of secret courtship (“Eleanor Roosevelt Biography”). The two Roosevelts were engaged on November 22, 1903. Franklin’s mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, did not approve of their engagement. She felt her son deserved better, and that the two were too young to leap into a marriage. Though her disapproval did very little to stop them, and the couple was married on March 17, 1905. In fact, Eleanor’s uncle, Theodore Roosevelt gave her away, and the wedding made the front page of the New York Times (“Anna Eleanor Roosevelt”).
Married life was quite an adjustment for her, and she found that especially in the years ten-year span her children were born in, she somewhat lost herself. During this period, her public activities gave way to family concerns and her husband's political career. But in World War I, she became active in the American Red Cross, and volunteered at Navy Hospitals. This work “outside her family” helped Eleanor to regain confidence in her abilities and realize her potential.
Additionally, in 1921, FDR was diagnosed with polio, causing Eleanor to take a more active role in politics to help maintain his interests, as well as to assert her own. Balancing motherhood, wifely duties, and her own interests like a mf-ing boss, she participated in the League of Women Voters, joined the Women's Trade Union League, and worked for the Women's Division of the New York State Democratic Committee. She helped to establish Val-Kill Industries, a non-profit furniture factory in Hyde Park, New York, and taught at the Todhunter School, a private girls' school in New York City (“Eleanor Roosevelt Biography”). Many organizations wanted only to exploit Eleanor Roosevelt’s name, instead of using her manpower and energy, sifted through those invitations to Board of Trustees and such to find ways to fully involve herself in meaningful and important work.
In 1933, her husband FDR was elected president. Eleanor issued a disclaimer to the nation stating they should not expect a her to be a symbol of elegance and grace, but instead “plain, ordinary, Mrs. Roosevelt.” However, her time as First Lady turned out to be anything but ordinary, as she revolutionized the role in more ways than one.
Firstly, she served as her husband’s “eyes and ears” and traveled around the nation collecting objective and crucial information about relief projects, working and living conditions, and government institutions and programs to report back to him. However, she was not lost in the President’s shadow. Eleanor Roosevelt became the first First Lady to hold her own press confere, and in an effort to even the playing field, help it open only to women reporters, who were traditionally barred from presidential press conferences. But she did not stop at advocacy of women, Eleanor Roosevelt was also an advocate of the rights and needs of the poor, of the disadvantaged, and of minorities (History.com Staff, “Eleanor Roosevelt”). Lastly, she started a daily column, “My Day”, during her time as First Lady and continued until her death (“Eleanor Roosevelt Biography”).
ER’s accomplishments were unheard of for women in her time and her role. Previously, the role of the first lady was to pick china, greet guests with a smile but not an opinion, and to make the president more appealing with a motherly and nurturing nature. And while she unquestionably revolutionized the role of First Lady by expanding this definition to make room for a powerful, fearless, intelligent leader and woman, I believe her most influential work was with the United Nations.
After President Roosevelt's death on April 12, 1945, Mrs. Roosevelt continued in her public life. President Truman appointed her to the United Nations General Assembly where she served as chair of the Human Rights Commission and worked tirelessly to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the General Assembly on December 10, 1948. She believed this to be immeasurably instrumental to her humanitarian effort of instituting basic human rights globally. “We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind. This declaration may well become the international Magna Carta for all men everywhere,” she submitted to the United Nations General Assembly along with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ("Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the World, Social Justice & Human Rights Champion").
In 1953, Mrs. Roosevelt dutifully resigned from the United States Delegation to the United Nations, so that incoming Republican President Dwight Eisenhower could fill the position with an appointee of his own choosing. She then volunteered her services to the American Association for the U. N., and was an American representative to the World Federation of the U. N. Associations. She later became the chair of the Associations' Board of Directors. She was re-appointed to the United States Delegation to the U. N. by President Kennedy in 1961. Later he appointed her to the National Advisory Committee of the Peace Corps and chair of the President's Commission on the Status of Women. Mrs. Roosevelt became a recognized leader in promoting humanitarian efforts. (“Eleanor Roosevelt Biography”)