All the presidents wives 31

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt

Born:

October 11, 1884 in New York City

Died:

November 7, 1962 in New York City

Father:

Elliott Roosevelt (1860-1894)

Mother:

Anna Rebecca Hall Roosevelt (1863-1892)

Ancestry:

Dutch, English

Siblings:

1. Elliott Roosevelt (1889-1893)
2. (Gracie) Hall Roosevelt (1891-1941)

Physical Description:

Eleanor Roosevelt was 5’8 ½" tall, with beautiful golden blonde hair that darkened as she aged, then turned a soft gray. Her eyes were blue and rather small, but piercing. She wore glasses for much of her life. She had buck teeth which made her mouth seem like it never closed properly. They also made her voice high pitched and shrill. When she got dentures later in life, her appearance not only improved, but her voice modified as well. She had large graceful hands that were often busy knitting or crocheting. She dressed plainly, but looked, as her husband said, "magnificent" in evening clothes. Eleanor’s mother, who was a beautiful woman, was ashamed of her daughter’s looks and always called her "Granny".

Religion:

Presbyterian

Education and Childhood:

Eleanor had a sad and lonely childhood. Her cold mother rejected her because of her looks, and her adored father (Theodore Roosevelt’s younger brother) was an alcoholic. Eleanor’s mother died when she was eight and her father when she was ten. By this time, her parents had drifted apart due to Elliott’s drinking. Eleanor had deeply loved her father, who always called her his "little Nell", and she was devastated by his death. Eleanor and her brother were sent to live with Grandmother Hall, a stern unloving woman. Grandmother Hall dressed Eleanor in clothes that were both uncomfortable and old fashioned. Eleanor’s aunt and uncle, Theodore and Edith Roosevelt, invited her to visit as often as possible. She, however, didn’t get along well with other children, which made the visits difficult.

When she was fifteen, Eleanor’s life changed for the better when she was sent to Allenwood, an English finishing school outside London, run by headmistress, Marie Souvestre. Mlle. Souvestre recognized Eleanor’s abilities and helped her to overcome her fears and lack of self confidence. The three years at Allenwood helped to develop Eleanor into the woman she would later become.

When she returned home in 1900, she began teaching at the Rivington Street Settlement House. She visited tenement houses and joined a consumers’ league.

Eleanor often visited her uncle in the White House. A rivalry developed between her and her cousin, Alice Roosevelt. When Edith Roosevelt heard Alice mimic Eleanor, she cautioned her stepdaughter by saying, "Be careful, Alice, for one day the ugly duckling will turn into a beautiful swan."

Husband:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945)

Courtship:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was Eleanor’s fifth cousin; they had known each other since childhood. During her coming out parties for her debut, they talked about her work with the poor, which intrigued Franklin. They soon began seeing each other. They were very different: he was handsome, debonair, free spirited, humorous and had a light-hearted manner; she was plain, very serious, lacking in confidence and rather poor. Sara Roosevelt, Franklin’s mother, did not approve of the match. Despite sending her son on a cruise to separate the couple, they became engaged in November of 1904. As her closest male relative, President Teddy Roosevelt agreed to give his niece away.

Marriage:

March 17, 1905 in the adjoining homes of Eleanor’s aunts, Mrs. Henry Parish and Mrs. E. Livingston Ludlow. Alice Roosevelt served as maid of honor. The guests paid more attention to President Roosevelt than to the newlywed couple causing Eleanor to say, "He has to be the corpse at every funeral and the bride at every wedding." Franklin and Eleanor had a short honeymoon at Hyde Park.

Age at marriage:

20 years, 157 days

Personality:

As she grew older, Eleanor Roosevelt gained self confidence. She was a woman who hated idleness; her hands were always busy. She had strong loyalties and a deep-seated passion for life. Eleanor could show a surprising coldness and sternness that were at odds with her public image. She could express herself in warm, loving terms that caused her letters to be misconstrued. She preferred writing letters to using the phone. She liked to write and wrote all of her columns herself. Eleanor’s causes, projects and "strays" (as her family referred to her friends) sometimes made her seem distant to her own family. Her vision of what should be sometimes made her an irritant to her husband and his staff, but they knew they couldn’t do without her. A tireless woman, she pursued her goals relentlessly, causing a reporter covering her to comment, "Oh Lord, please, make her tired one day – please!"

Children:

1. Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1906-1975)
2. James Roosevelt (1907-1991)
3. Franklin Roosevelt (1909-1909)
4. Elliott Roosevelt (1910-1990)
5. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. (1914-1988)
6. John Aspinwall Roosevelt (1916-1981)

Years Before the White House:

During their early married life, Franklin and Eleanor lived in New York City and Hyde Park. Sara Delano Roosevelt arranged their lives. When Franklin was elected to the state senate, they moved to Albany, which took them away from Sara and her control. Eleanor began to attend legislative sessions and to build an interest in politics.

In 1915, President Wilson appointed Franklin under-secretary of the Navy. The Roosevelts moved to Washington. During this period, Eleanor discovered that her husband was having an affair with her social secretary, Lucy Page Mercer. This discovery took a terrible toll on Eleanor. She offered her husband a divorce. Sara Roosevelt intervened, and the couple decided that enough love still existed between them to stay together. The marriage, however, was never the same again.

Eleanor began to move out from under the shadow of her husband and mother-in-law. With the help of her husband’s advisor, Louis Howe, Eleanor began to create her own career. Her career plans were put on hold in 1921, when Franklin developed polio while summering in Campobello, Maine.

The joint efforts of Eleanor and Louis Howe kept Franklin’s name before the party. Eleanor became "his eyes, ears and feet." She helped Franklin, while still maintaining her own interests. She taught at Todhunter School, created furniture at Val Kil – her cottage on the Hyde Park estate – and wrote articles for newspapers and magazines. She visited hospitals, schools, asylums and prisons.

Franklin was elected Governor of New York, enabling him to see first hand the effects of the depression. Even though she had no desire to be First Lady, Eleanor campaigned for her husband for President in 1932.

First Lady:

March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945:

From the start, Eleanor Roosevelt made it clear that she was going to be a different kind of First Lady. She wasn’t concerned with the food that was served or the general appearance of the White House. As a result of Eleanor’s general disinterest in the running of the House, the staff let rooms get dusty, people often commented on how dingy things appeared, and even the President’s complaints about the food fell on deaf ears.

Aside from running the household, Mrs. Roosevelt touched every corner of the globe, spoke out on all the issues of the day and looked into all variety of problems for her husband. She spoke out on the rights of the African-Americans, the poor of West Virginia, the plight of working women, the migrant workers and the dissatisfied students. She walked, rode, flew and drove into all parts of our country. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, she expanded her travels all over the world.

She entertained King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and visited them in London. When the DAR refused to allow Marian Anderson, an African American, sing at Constitution Hall, Eleanor Roosevelt resigned her membership. She then invited Marian Anderson to sing for the King and Queen of England.

Eleanor wrote her autobiography and, in 1935, started writing a daily column (My Day) that proved to be a great asset to her husband. She threw the White House open to a huge following of friends. The White House was never busier, with guests including Winston Churchill, the future Queen Margaret of the Netherlands and Madame Chaing Kai Chek.

Eleanor had a radio program and continued to give speeches. She loved flying and wanted to take lessons from Amelia Earhart, but F.D.R. talked her out of it.

After December 7, 1941 (the attack on Pearl Harbor), Eleanor only intensified her work load. She crossed the world twice, visited the wounded, talked to soldiers and brought back ideas and suggestions to be discussed with Franklin. Eleanor feared for her four sons, all of who were in the service, and for her increasingly frail husband. She was rightly concerned that Franklin would not survive his fourth term.

Eleanor was speaking at a club in Washington, D.C. on April 12, 1945 when she was summoned back to the White House. F.D.R. had died earlier that day in Warm Springs, Georgia. Eleanor discovered that Franklin had resumed his relationship with Lucy Mercer (Rutherford) with the help of their daughter, Anna and that Lucy was with him when he died.
Leaving the White House with Fala (the President’s Scottie dog), Eleanor Roosevelt commented, "The story is over".

Life After the White House:

The story was anything but over. Eleanor Roosevelt became active in the NAACP, the League of Women Voters and was appointed to the newly founded United Nations. She helped to frame the Human Rights Amendment. She attended the Democratic conventions in 1952 and 1956 in support of Adlai Stevenson and in 1960 in support of John F. Kennedy. In 1961 Eleanor and seven other former and future First Ladies, attended Kennedy’s inauguration. She developed tuberculosis on the bone marrow and phlebitis late in 1961, which made her last year somewhat difficult.

Death:

November 7, 1962
Age: 78 years, 27 days

Burial:

Hyde Park, N.Y.

Legacy:

Eleanor Roosevelt was a unique person, who became First Lady at a unique time in our country’s history. She had twelve years to make her mark. There was no cause she didn’t at least consider and no road she wouldn’t travel. She remains one of our most actively involved First Ladies.

http://www.firstladies.org/default.aspx