Eleanor returned to New York in 1902. She was expected to make her debut into society when she turned eighteen, a thought she did not relish at all because she was so convinced of her lack of beauty. Her debut would necessarily, and unfortunately for her, have to be a bigger deal than usual since her Uncle Theodore Roosevelt was President of the United States. He now encouraged Eleanor to assume a strong sense of social responsibility. While servants were accepted as part of the Roosevelt household, the obligation to help those who were less fortunate was always considered very important. Eleanor took this seriously and willingly plunged into social activities and house-settlement work. She took public transportation down to the lower east side of New York to do volunteer work in the slums twice a week, helping new immigrants adjust to life, teaching, and visiting the factories (sweat-shops) where she saw the terrible working conditions for women and children. She joined the New York Consumer’s League to help expose these harsh conditions in an effort to improve the situation (Dietz & Williams, Producers, and Williams, Writer/Director, 2000; Scharf, 1987).
Life and Work
After her marriage to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1905 she was told to give up her public activities, and so she took up the duties of wife and mother, living under the domination of Franklin’s mother, Sara Roosevelt. By 1916 she had five children and the family had already relocated to Washington, DC because Franklin had been appointed assistant secretary of the Navy in 1913. As Franklin’s career took off, there were a lot of things expected of the wife of an up and coming politician besides managing a large household, and Eleanor tried to fulfill the many traditionally female social roles expected of her. Washington etiquette required her to make endless social calls, host afternoon teas, evening cocktail parties and other functions, all of which she did not particularly enjoy, but did out of duty. In 1914, she hired a social secretary, Lucy Mercer, to help with the many demands of public life (Cook, 1999; Flemion, & O’Connor, 1987).
A dramatic revelation was to plunge her life upside down into a great depression and rude awakening. Franklin had returned from a trip in 1918, and while Eleanor was unpacking his luggage, she discovered a bunch of letters written to her husband by Lucy Mercer. The stark and horrible revelation that her husband had betrayed her left her absolutely and completely devastated. She confronted Franklin and offered him a divorce. But Franklin’s mother, Sara, ever domineering, said that no divorce was allowed in the Roosevelt family. Eleanor and Franklin agreed to stay together for the sake of the family and his career, but Eleanor was never able to be intimate with him. Scharf, 1987, said:
“As 1919 ended, Eleanor Roosevelt confided in her diary that she had never ‘felt so strangely as in the past year.’ More specifically, she admitted, ‘all my self-confidence is gone and I am on edge though I never was better physically.’ Sixteen months had elapsed between the discovery of Lucy Mercer’s letters and the diary entry. The outward mien of a dutiful wife and concerned parent masked the troubled uncertainties of a betrayed woman whose hard-won, seemingly secure world had collapsed around her” (pg. 57).
She managed to carry on, and out of the failed marriage relationship she forged a political partnership with Franklin that would last until his death in 1945.
Eleanor’s public role can be traced back to her education under Mlle. Souvestre. Her ability to use her life experience as a means of growth emerges from her personal story that was filled with so much sadness and loneliness: a shy, fearful child—rejected by her mother and dominated by her grandmother—grows into a serious young woman overanxious to please her husband and her mother-in-law. Eventually, over time, Eleanor was able to transform herself from the typical society matron into a strong, autonomous and unconventional woman who transcended the narrow role allowed females in her time. By the 1920s, issues dealing with the rights of women were at the top of her list of priorities. She joined the League of Women Voters and the Women’s City Club. She overcame her great fears and learned to speak in public. She was on the front lines and became a very influential political figure for women’s rights. She helped women organize labor unions, deal with abuses in the work place and child labor (Flemion, & O’Connor, 1987).
As First Lady, after Franklin had been elected President, Eleanor used her influence to promote the advancement of women. She started to hold her own press meetings, invited other women leaders to speak, and allowed only women to attend. Because the media were keenly interested in her and wanted to follow everything she did, they were forced to hire women as reporters in order to have access to these private press meetings. For Eleanor, it was a creative way of getting women into the media (Flemion, & O’Connor, 1987).
She devoted substantial time during the Depression years to improving the condition of impoverished women. She worked to ensure that women were given jobs whether they were single or married. She also worked vigorously to guarantee that women receive fair wages, equal benefits, and support for childcare. She encouraged owners to keep their shops open in the evening so that the working women could still do the necessary shopping after work. Another achievement of Eleanor Roosevelt was to get women into positions of political power. Eleanor believed that it was important for women to get involved in politics, starting from the ground up, learning the ropes as they went while continually encouraging other women to get involved. Two years into Franklin’s first term, fifty women were in prominent government positions through Eleanor’s influence and contacts. She worked tirelessly for the protection of women against racism and sexism. She was instrumental in getting black women into government positions. She encouraged white women to fight racism against black women, and she brought black and white women’s groups together. In 1940 Eleanor described herself as “an old woman who has worked on one front or another for almost forty-odd years for women’s rights” (Flemion, & O’Connor, 1987, pg. 87).
As well as working for the advancement of women in society, Eleanor was also very active in working for equal rights and opportunities for blacks. She opposed the Nazi propaganda and the racism directed against the Jewish people by Hitler. She reasoned with Franklin that the racism being fought against Hitler and his forces in Europe was no different than the racism being inflicted upon the black people in America (Grubin, 1994).
The culmination of Eleanor’s career was her work with the United Nations, which began in 1945 and continued for seven years. Appointed by President Harry Truman, she initially felt that she was not qualified for the job because of her lack of diplomatic experience. But she accepted, knowing that she was paving the way for the future. En route to England in January 1946 for the opening meeting of the foundation of the United Nations, Eleanor was the only woman joining an all-male delegation representing the United States. She chaired the Committee for Human Rights which in 1948 drafted the international document known as the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” This became her single most important achievement. She worked persistently in the labor of drafting this International document, which she insisted must be acceptable to all religions, ideologies, and cultures. She worked on it literally word for word. This “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” has gone down in history as one of Eleanor Roosevelt’s greatest legacies and achievements, one for which she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times (Dietz & Williams, Producers, and Williams, Writer/Director, 2000; Flemion & O’Connor, 1987; Roosevelt, 1958, On My Own).
Flemion & O’Connor, 1987, quoted Eleanor Roosevelt’s own summary of her sense of the meaning of human rights in a speech to the United Nations in 1958:
“Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home—so close and so small they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world for the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world” (pg. 261).
Psychology of Women’s Issues
In 1932 when Franklin Roosevelt was elected President, Eleanor felt a great turmoil within herself. She knew what traditionally would lie before her as First Lady and was not thrilled with the idea. When Franklin Roosevelt began office, America was in a great depression and Eleanor was looking for a meaningful role in which she could contribute. She wouldn’t be happy just hosting tea parties and greeting people in reception lines. Instead, she became a practical politician and party worker, not only because her husband was disabled, but also because of her own interests. She became the media’s first “First Lady.” She traveled extensively and always reported back to Franklin. She would tell him what she saw of poor working conditions, people that were starving and living in terrible poverty, and any other matters that she felt should be addressed. She would keep after him about these issues even if he seemed busy about other matters. She was sort of like his conscience that wouldn’t go away. Eleanor lived the values she believed in: equality, freedom and democracy. Eleanor Roosevelt changed the way First Ladies would be expected to conduct themselves (Dietz, & Williams, Producers; & Williams, Writer/Director, 2000).
She was influential in encouraging other women to become leaders and have positions in the city and state governments. Schraf, 1987, quotes Eleanor Roosevelt, “I was keenly interested, I accepted every challenge and every opportunity to learn more, and I had a great energy and self-discipline” (pg. 166). She wrote a daily syndicated newspaper column that chronicled her activities, almost in a diary style. She began this after she had been First Lady for a few years, and continued it almost until her death in 1962. The column was instrumental in allowing her to establish her own identity, separate from Franklin D. Roosevelt at a time when women had few role models other than movie stars. Eleanor’s column gave a different perspective on women, not the stereotypical portrayal of actresses, wives and mothers, but as independent, capable, strong, and intelligent women. The column let her readers see her as someone with her own interests, earning her own income, and voicing her own opinions on contemporary issues. In 1952 the Advertising Research Council said that the column was read by 37% of women newspaper readers and that Eleanor Roosevelt was the columnist with the most appeal to women (Beasley, Schulman, & Beasley, 2000, pg. 358).
Regarding a host of women’s issues, Flemion & O’Connor, 1987, characterized Eleanor Roosevelt so well that I quote at length:
“...The point is that from the 1920s to the end of her life Eleanor Roosevelt fought for political power, private independence and public dignity for all women. As a leading politician from 1920 forward she fought for equal representation of women on all levels of the democratic process.... “One of her boldest and most feminist essays, ‘Women Must Learn to Play the Game as Men Do,’ was published in the April 1928 edition of Redbook: ‘Women have been voting for ten years. But have they achieved actual political equality with men? No, ... in small things they are listened to; but when it comes to asking for important things they generally find they are up against a blank wall... Politically, as a sex, women are generally ‘frozen out’ from any intrinsic share of influence... The machinery of party politics has always been in the hands of men, and still is. Our statesmen and legislators are still keeping in form as the successors for the early warriors gathering around the camp fire plotting the next day’s attack...’ Eleanor concluded her article by dismissing the ideas of those women who professed ‘to be horrified at the thought of women bosses bartering and dickering in the hard game of politics with men.’ She was cheered by the fact that ‘many more women realize that we are living in a material world, and that politics cannot be played from the clouds.’ She understood that the task was hard and that the role of women in public life was difficult. Women’s lives, to begin with, she noted, were always ‘full of interruptions.’ There was the home, the children, the meals to prepare, the dinner parties to arrange. She was aware of the double standards and the double-job burdens. And so, she noted, women have to be more organized, more methodical, and—yes even more hard-working than men. Nevertheless, she was adamant: ‘Women must learn to play the game as men do’” (pgs. 213-214).
Against a backdrop of having lived a pathetic and intensely sad childhood, an almost “fairy-tale” marriage in which she quickly realized she would be dominated and controlled by her mother-in-law, the betrayal of her husband, a constant and nagging sense of her inadequacy as a mother, and depressive feelings all her life, Eleanor Roosevelt rose above the tragedies of her life and focused her energy towards helping others, especially those who had no voice. Adlai Stevenson asked at Eleanor’s funeral service,
“What other single human being has touched and transformed the existence of so many?… She walked in the slums and ghettos of the world, not on a tour of inspection…but as one who could not feel contentment when others were hungry” (Hoff-Wilson & Lightman, 1984, pg 27).
Her important role in the foundation of the United Nations, and most especially her work behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, from writing it to being the leading spirit behind its adoption, continues to live on. This document has come to be recognized all over the world as a powerful statement of human equality and continues to be the basis for efforts to internationalize the concept of human rights (Flemion & O’Connor, 1987).
Personal Reflections
Initially I dove into this project knowing nothing about Eleanor Roosevelt, except that when I mentioned the assignment to another sister at the beginning of this course she had said I might want to check her out. I poured through books, videos, and DVDs in order to absorb as much as I could of her life and times in which she lived. I was really astonished at how much one person could do. One of the amazing things about Eleanor Roosevelt is that she was able to work so effectively within the serious constraints imposed on women in her time. She had plenty of heartache and suffering in her life and own family, and at times she would sink into a dark depression, but she never wallowed in her depression or personal sorrows. She turned that outwards and mobilized all her emotional and physical energy for the benefit of others. She lived through two World Wars, the Great Depression, the foundation of the United Nations to promote equality internationally. She possessed courage and conviction in everything that she set out to do. She strongly believed that you gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. Her philosophy was that you must do the very thing you think you cannot do (Beasley, Schulman, & Beasley, 2001).
“Her journey to greatness, her voyage out beyond the confines of good wife and devoted mother involved determination and amazing courage” (Cook, 1999, pg. 1).
Summary
In summary, I would say that I have encountered a remarkable woman from the 20th century, who overcame great obstacles and tragedies in both her personal life as well as her family life. It is amazing to me just how much she accomplished in her lifetime She devoted almost her entire life to doing good to others, fighting for what she believed in. She always put others first, never herself. She transcended her past to become one of the greatest champions of minority rights, basic human rights, women’s rights to act as equals with men in the world of politics. She followed her own philosophy that individuals must discover for themselves who they are, what they want out of life, and what they want to contribute to life. Flemion, & O’Connor, 1987, said:
“She left a short legacy about living for all humanity to ponder: ‘We all create the person we become by our choices as we go through life. I a very real sense…we are the sum total of the choices we have made’” (pg. xv).
References
Cook, Blanche Wiesen (1999). Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol. 2. NewYork: Viking.
Beasley, M., Schulman, H. & Beasley, H. (Eds.). (2001). The Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia.
Westport: Greenwood Press.
Dietz, K. & Williams, S. (Producers), & Williams, S. (Writer/Director). (2000). Eleanor
Roosevelt [Motion Picture]. Burbank: Public Broadcasting Service.
Flemion, J. & O’Connor, C. (Eds.). (1987). Eleanor Roosevelt: An American Journey. San
Diego: San Diego State University.
Grubin, D. (Producer/Writer). (1994). FDR, Vol. 1 & 2. [Motion Picture]. Burbank: Public
Broadcasting Service.
Hoff-Wilson, J. & Lightman, M. (Eds.). (1984). Without Precedent: The Life and Career of
Eleanor Roosevelt. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Kaplan, R. (Director) & MacLeish, A. (Writer). (1965). The Eleanor Roosevelt Story. [Motion
Picture]. New York: Kino International Inc.
Roosevelt, Eleanor (1958). On My Own (1st ed.). New York: Harper & Brothers.
Roosevelt, Eleanor (1961). The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt. New York: Harper &
Brothers.
Roosevelt, Eleanor (1949). This I Remember (1st ed.). New York: Harper & Brothers.
Scharf, Lois (1987). Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of American Liberalism. Boston: Twayne
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