How Much Do You Know About Eleanor Roosevelt?

Eleanor Roosevelt delivered her most famous speech, “The Struggle for Human Rights,” to the United Nations in support of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in September 1948. “The basic problem confronting the world today,” she stated, “is the preservation of human freedom for the individual and consequently for the society of which he is a part.”

In 1924, Eleanor Roosevelt and two of her friends built a cottage on a favorite picnic spot in Hyde Park, New York. On the property, which was named Val-Kill, the trio had a small handicraft factory built. The factory closed after 10 years, but Roosevelt had it converted into a house that became her primary residence. Today, Val-Kill is the only National Historic Site dedicated to a First Lady.

During WWI, Eleanor Roosevelt became an inspiration to many other civilians when she volunteered with the Red Cross in Washington, D.C. Roosevelt worked at the Red Cross canteen and helped source free wool so clothes could be knitted for soldiers and their families. Once a week, Roosevelt also helped at the Naval Hospital aiding the injured.

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Springwood estate in Hyde Park, New York, became known as the “summer White House” during the President’s time in office. The Roosevelts hosted many political guests there during the summer months, including Winston Churchill and King George VI. After FDR’s death in 1945, he was buried in the estate’s Rose Garden, and when Eleanor died in 1962, she was buried beside him. The home is now the Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, colloquially known as Hyde Park.

Eleanor Roosevelt’s full name was Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, after her mother, Anna Hall Roosevelt. Roosevelt’s mother and father both died before she was 10 years old, and she was brought up by her grandmother, Mary Ludlow Hall. Roosevelt was a studious child and really came out of her shell after she attended a school for girls in London at the age of 15.

Eleanor Roosevelt was never afraid to use her political influence, and when Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, drawing the United States into the Second World War, she encouraged FDR to continue with the economic policies of the New Deal. These policies, although no longer officially known as the New Deal after 1941, included Social Security, unemployment insurance, and federal agricultural subsidies.

Eleanor Roosevelt was a strong advocate for civil rights, and was especially outspoken against the barbaric practice of lynching. She joined the NAACP and helped the group lobby FDR to support an anti-lynching bill. (The bill, however, was consistently blocked.) Eleanor Roosevelt’s unwavering support for civil rights caused the Ku Klux Klan to place a $25,000 bounty on her head.

Although Eleanor Roosevelt liked to describe herself as “plain, ordinary Mrs. Roosevelt,” she was far from it. After Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death in 1945, President Harry S. Truman appointed Eleanor to the United Nations, keen to make use of the diplomatic skills she demonstrated during her time as First Lady. Eleanor Roosevelt’s position at the U.N. allowed her to pursue her passion for humanitarian work.

After being appointed to the U.N. in 1945, Eleanor Roosevelt was made chair of the Commission on Human Rights. In this role, she took the lead in drafting and developing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted in 1948. This milestone document outlined fundamental and universally protected human liberties, such as the right to life and the prohibition of slavery.

In April 1933, Eleanor Roosevelt hosted pioneering pilot Amelia Earhart for dinner at the White House. Halfway through the meal, Earhart suggested they take a short flight together to Baltimore, and the First Lady readily agreed. During the flight, Earhart took the controls and Roosevelt sat by her side. After the round trip, they arrived back at the White House in time for dessert.

Eleanor Roosevelt was known for her liberal views, leading FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to suspect she held communist sympathies. As a result, Hoover had his agents monitor Roosevelt over the course of her life, building up one of the largest files at the bureau. Roosevelt was outraged by Hoover’s methods and frequently requested that he desist from investigating her friends, but to no avail.

Eleanor Roosevelt was a passionate advocate for women’s rights, and when she arrived at the White House she introduced press conferences for women correspondents. As a result of the initiative, many news wire services quickly recruited female reporters so they would not miss out on any scoops, which helped widen access to the previously male-dominated press pool.

Writing in her memoir in 1960, Eleanor Roosevelt made this well-known observation: “Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier.” Reflecting on her long career of political and humanitarian service, the former First Lady wrote, “We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just one step at a time.”

The Great Depression began with the stock market crash of 1929 and stretched on throughout the next decade. When Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt entered the White House in 1933, the U.S. was in the grip of a severe economic downturn. FDR, with the backing of Congress, instigated a number of economic recovery programs that became known as the New Deal.

Eleanor Roosevelt was the niece of the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. In 1905, Eleanor married her distant cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and it was Theodore who gave the bride away at the wedding, as both of Eleanor’s parents had died. In 1933, FDR became the 32nd U.S. President and Eleanor readily took to the role of First Lady, far expanding the position’s influence.