EuropaWorld 26/1/2001 2001: Eleanor Roosevelt

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York on October 1, 1884, daughter of Elliot and Anna, and the niece of the future American PresidentTheodore Roosevelt. Orphaned at the age of 8, she was a shy and withdrawn child brought up by her maternal grandmother who dispatched the young Eleanor to a prestigious English finishing school at the age of 15. Here she blossomed, excelling in languages and literature so that by the time she returned to America, two years later, she had already formed a strong idea of what she wanted to do in life.

Rejecting the traditional East Coast social activities of her peers, Eleanor instead chose to involve herself in the lives of the poor; teaching at community centres and visiting needy children in the slums. During this time she became aquainted with her distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, they were marriedin 1905. Her uncle, the President Roosevelt, gave the bride away.

During the early years of their marriage, Eleanor's main task was to raise the couple's five children. But, FDR's election to the New York Senate in 1910, catapaulted Eleanor into a new role: that of hostess, advisor, confidante and political helpmate to her husband.These demands, however, did not lessen her own social concerns which she continued to pursue with vigour. Thus during World War I while FDR served in Washington as assistant secretary of the navy during World War I, she worked with the Red Cross. She also became an ardent campaigner for equal rights for women and better working conditions for female employees.

Her role in public affairs expanded after 1921, when her husband was diagnosed with poliomyelitis. To help him conquer the crippling effects of the disease, she became his eyes and ears, a trusted and tireless reporter. She joined the Women's Trade Union League and became active in the Democratic Party, serving from 1924-1928, as financial chairman of the women's division. With her support and inspiration, her husband ran a successful campaign for governor in 1928. Four years after this, he was elected for the first of his 4 terms as US President.

When Mrs. Roosevelt came to the White House in 1933, she was already an informed social observer. Championing the causes of those who suffered discrimination and oppression she became an outspoken advocate of human rights for all. The unprecedented breadth of her activities transformed the role of First Lady. She instituted regular White House briefings for women correspondents for the first time. She broke precedent to hold press conferences, travel to all parts of the country, give lectures and radio broadcasts, and express her opinions candidly in a daily newspaper column, 'My Day'. Initially focused on the concerns of women, by 1939 she was addressing wider social and political issues.

Acutely aware of the needs of people suffering from the Great Depression many of Mrs Roosevelt's ideas were incorporated into the New Deal Social Welfare Program. She also helped found the National Youth Administration in 1935, which gave thousands of high school and college students part-time work.

During World War 11, her activities expanded to the world stage, visiting troops in Britain and the South Pacific to help boost morale. She also had her first experience s working at the United Nations, helping to found UNICEF.
When FDR died suddenly in 1945, she told reporters: that "the story is over." Nonetheless within a year she had resumed her public activities

Appointed a United States delegate to the first meeting of the United Nations in London, she went on to become the chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights. In this role she was a driving force behind the drafting and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.

At age 61, she was asked to serve as a delegate to the first meeting of the General Assembly of the UN and her public career continued until well into her seventies., She died in New York City in 1962 and was buried at (Hyde Park beside her husband. The legacy of her life continues not only in that famous Declaration, now the most translated document in history, but in the example she set of concern for others. Hers, truly, was an extraordinary life.