Public life before the White House
In the 1920 presidential election, Franklin was nominated as
the running mate of Democratic presidential candidate James M. Cox. Roosevelt
joined Franklin in touring the country, making her first campaign appearances.
Cox was defeated by Republican Warren G. Harding, who won with 404 electoral
votes to 127.
Following the onset of Franklin's paralytic illness in 1921,
Roosevelt began serving as a stand-in for her incapacitated husband, making
public appearances on his behalf, often carefully coached by Louis Howe. She
also started working with the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL), raising funds
in support of the union's goals: a 48-hour workweek, minimum wage, and the
abolition of child labor. Throughout the 1920s, Roosevelt became increasingly
influential as a leader in the New York State Democratic Party while Franklin
used her contacts among Democratic women to strengthen his standing with them,
winning their committed support for the future. In 1924, she campaigned for
Democrat Alfred E. Smith in his successful re-election bid as governor of New
York State against the Republican nominee and her first cousin Theodore
Roosevelt Jr. Franklin had spoken out on Theodore's "wretched record" as Assistant Secretary of the Navy
during the Teapot Dome scandal, and in return, Theodore said of him, "He's a maverick! He does not wear the
brand of our family," which infuriated her. She dogged Theodore on the
New York State campaign trail in a car fitted with a papier-mâché bonnet shaped
like a giant teapot that was made to emit simulated steam (to remind voters of
Theodore's supposed, but later disproved, connections to the scandal), and
countered his speeches with those of her own, calling him immature. She would
later decry these methods, admitting that they were below her dignity but
saying that they had been contrived by Democratic Party "dirty tricksters." Theodore was defeated by 105,000
votes, and he never forgave her. By 1928, Roosevelt was promoting Smith's
candidacy for president and Franklin's nomination as the Democratic Party's
candidate for governor of New York, succeeding Smith. Although Smith lost the
presidential race, Franklin won and the Roosevelts moved into the governor's mansion
in Albany, New York. During Franklin's term as governor, Roosevelt traveled
widely in the state to make speeches and inspect state facilities on his
behalf, reporting her findings to him at the end of each trip.
In 1927, she joined friends Marion Dickerman and Nancy Cook
in buying the Todhunter School for Girls, a finishing school which also offered
college preparatory courses, in New York City. At the school, Roosevelt taught
upper-level courses in American literature and history, emphasizing independent
thought, current events, and social engagement. She continued to teach three
days a week while FDR served as governor, but was forced to leave teaching
after his election as president.
Also in 1927, she established Val-Kill Industries with Cook,
Dickerman, and Caroline O'Day, three friends she met through her activities in
the Women's Division of the New York State Democratic Party. It was located on
the banks of a stream that flowed through the Roosevelt family estate in Hyde
Park, New York. Roosevelt and her business partners financed the construction
of a small factory to provide supplemental income for local farming families
who would make furniture, pewter, and homespun cloth using traditional craft
methods. Capitalizing on the popularity of the Colonial Revival, most Val-Kill
products were modeled on eighteenth-century forms. Roosevelt promoted Val-Kill
through interviews and public appearances. Val-Kill Industries never became the
subsistence program that Roosevelt and her friends imagined, but it did pave
the way for larger New Deal initiatives during Franklin's presidential
administration. Cook's failing health and pressures from the Great Depression
compelled the women to dissolve the partnership in 1938, at which time
Roosevelt converted the shop buildings into a cottage at Val-Kill, which
eventually became her permanent residence after Franklin died in 1945. Otto
Berge acquired the contents of the factory and the use of the Val-Kill name to
continue making colonial-style furniture until he retired in 1975. In 1977,
Roosevelt's cottage at Val-Kill and its surrounding property of 181 acres (0.73
km2), was formally designated by an act of Congress as the Eleanor Roosevelt
National Historic Site, "to
commemorate for the education, inspiration, and benefit of present and future generations
the life and work of an outstanding woman in American history."
First Lady of the
United States (1933–1945)
Roosevelt became First Lady of the United States when
Franklin was inaugurated on March 4, 1933. Having known all of the twentieth
century's previous first ladies, she was seriously depressed at having to
assume the role, which had traditionally been restricted to domesticity and
hostessing. Her immediate predecessor, Lou Henry Hoover, had ended her feminist
activism on becoming first lady, stating her intention to be only a "backdrop for Bertie."
Eleanor's distress at these precedents was severe enough that Hickok subtitled
her biography of Roosevelt "Reluctant
First Lady".
With support from Howe and Hickok, Roosevelt set out to
redefine the position. According to her biographer Blanche Wiesen Cook, she
became "the most controversial First
Lady in United States history" in the process. Despite criticism of
them both, with her husband's strong support she continued with the active
business and speaking agenda she had begun before assuming the role of first
lady in an era when few married women had careers. She was the first
presidential spouse to hold regular press conferences and in 1940 became the
first to speak at a national party convention. She also wrote a daily and
widely syndicated newspaper column, "My
Day", another first for a presidential spouse. She was also the first
First lady to write a monthly magazine column and to host a weekly radio show.
In the first year of her husband's administration, Roosevelt
was determined to match his presidential salary, and she earned $75,000 from
her lectures and writing, most of which she gave to charity. By 1941, she was
receiving lecture fees of $1,000, and was made an honorary member of Phi Beta
Kappa at one of her lectures to celebrate her achievements.
Roosevelt maintained a heavy travel schedule in her twelve
years in the White House, frequently making personal appearances at labor
meetings to assure Depression-era workers that the White House was mindful of
their plight. In one famous cartoon of the time from The New Yorker magazine
(June 3, 1933), satirizing a visit she had made to a mine, an astonished coal
miner, peering down a dark tunnel, says to a co-worker, "For gosh sakes, here comes Mrs. Roosevelt!"
In early 1933, the
"Bonus Army", a protest group of World War I veterans, marched on
Washington for the second time in two years, calling for their veteran bonus
certificates to be awarded early. The previous year, President Hoover had
ordered them dispersed, and the U.S. Army cavalry charged and bombarded the
veterans with tear gas. This time, Roosevelt visited the veterans at their
muddy campsite, listening to their concerns and singing army songs with them.
The meeting defused the tension between the veterans and the administration,
and one of the marchers later commented, "Hoover
sent the Army. [President] Roosevelt sent his wife."
In 1933 after she became first lady, a new hybrid tea rose
was named after her (Rosa x hybrida "Mrs.
Franklin D. Roosevelt").
In 1937 she began writing her autobiography, all volumes of
which were compiled into The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt in 1961 (Harper
& Brothers, ISBN 0-306-80476-X).
Since 1982, the Siena College Research Institute has
periodically conducted surveys asking historians to assess American first
ladies according to a cumulative score on the independent criteria of their
background, intelligence, value to the country, being their "own women", integrity,
accomplishments, courage, leadership, public image, and value to the president.
Roosevelt has been ranked by participating historians as the best-regarded
first lady in each of the five such surveys to be conducted. In the 2003
survey, Roosevelt was ranked the highest in nine of the ten criteria
(background, value to the country, intelligence, being her "own woman", integrity, accomplishments, courage,
leadership, and value to the president). She was ranked the second-highest in
the remaining category (public image) behind only Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
In the 2008 survey, Roosevelt placed first in eight of the ten criteria
(intelligence, courage, value to the country, being her "own woman", integrity, accomplishments, value to the
president, and leadership) and second in the two remaining categories behind
only Jacqueline Kennedy. In additional questions included in the 2014 survey,
Roosevelt was assessed by historians as having been the greatest among 20th and
21st century first ladies in regards to advancing women's issues, being a
political asset, being a strong public communicator, public service performed
after leaving office, and creating a lasting legacy. She was also found t0 be
the second-easiest first lady for historians to imagine serving as president
herself. In the 2014 survey, Roosevelt and her husband were also ranked the
highest among first couples in terms of being a "power couple".
American Youth Congress
and National Youth Administration
The American Youth Congress (AYC) was formed in 1935 to
advocate for youth rights in U.S. politics, and it was responsible for
introducing the American Youth Bill of Rights to the U.S. Congress. Roosevelt's
relationship with the AYC eventually led to the formation of the National Youth
Administration, a New Deal agency in the United States, founded in 1935, that
focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16
and 25. The NYA was headed by Aubrey Willis Williams, a prominent liberal from
Alabama who was close to Roosevelt and Harry Hopkins. Speaking of the NYA in
the 1930s, Roosevelt expressed her concern about ageism, stating that "I live in real terror when I think we
may be losing this generation. We have got to bring these young people into the
active life of the community and make them feel that they are necessary."
In 1939 the Dies Committee subpoenaed leaders of the AYC, who, in addition to
serving the AYC, also were members of the Young Communist League. Roosevelt was
in attendance at the hearings and afterward invited the subpoenaed witnesses to
board at the White House during their stay in Washington D.C. Joseph P. Lash
was one of her boarders. On February 10, 1940, members of the AYC, as guests of
Roosevelt in her capacity as first lady, attended a picnic on the White House
lawn where they were addressed by Franklin from the South Portico. The
President admonished them to condemn not merely the Nazi regime but all dictatorships.
The President was reportedly booed by the group. Afterwards, many of the same
youth picketed the White House as representatives of the American Peace
Mobilization. Among them was Joseph Cadden, one of Roosevelt's overnight
boarders. Later in 1940, despite Roosevelt's publication of her reasons "Why I still believe in the Youth
Congress," the American Youth Congress was disbanded. The NYA was shut
down in 1943.
Arthurdale
Roosevelt's chief project during her husband's first two
terms was the establishment of a planned community in Arthurdale, West Virginia.
On August 18, 1933, at Hickok's urging, Roosevelt visited the families of
homeless miners in Morgantown, West Virginia, who had been blacklisted
following union activities. Deeply affected by the visit, Roosevelt proposed a
resettlement community for the miners at Arthurdale, where they could make a
living by subsistence farming, handicrafts, and a local manufacturing plant.
She hoped the project could become a model for "a new kind of community" in the U.S., in which workers
would be better cared for. Her husband enthusiastically supported the project.
After an initial, disastrous experiment with prefab houses,
construction began again in 1934 to Roosevelt's specifications, this time with "every modern convenience",
including indoor plumbing and central steam heat. Families occupied the first
fifty homes in June, and agreed to repay the government in thirty years' time.
Though Roosevelt had hoped for a racially mixed community, the miners insisted
on limiting membership to white Christians. After losing a community vote,
Roosevelt recommended the creation of other communities for the excluded black
and Jewish miners. The experience motivated Roosevelt to become much more
outspoken on the issue of racial discrimination.
Roosevelt remained a vigorous fundraiser for the community
for several years, as well as spending most of her own income on the project.
However, the project was criticized by both the political left and right.
Conservatives condemned it as socialist and a "communist plot", while Democratic members of Congress
opposed government competition with private enterprise. Secretary of the
Interior Harold Ickes also opposed the project, citing its high per-family
cost. Arthurdale continued to sink as a government spending priority for the
federal government until 1941, when the U.S. sold off the last of its holdings in
the community at a loss.
Later commentators generally described the Arthurdale
experiment as a failure. Roosevelt herself was sharply discouraged by a 1940
visit in which she felt the town had become excessively dependent on outside
assistance. However, the residents considered the town a "utopia" compared to their previous circumstances, and
many were returned to economic self-sufficiency. Roosevelt personally
considered the project a success, later speaking of the improvements she saw in
people's lives there and stating, "I
don't know whether you think that is worth half a million dollars. But I
do."
Civil rights activism
Roosevelt is seen by historians as having been significantly
more advanced than her husband on civil rights. During Franklin's
administration, Roosevelt became an important connection to the
African-American population in the era of segregation. Despite the President's
desire to placate Southern sentiment, Roosevelt was vocal in her support of the
civil rights movement. After her experience with Arthurdale and her inspections
of New Deal programs in Southern states, she concluded that New Deal programs
were discriminating against African-Americans, who received a
disproportionately small share of relief money. Roosevelt became one of the
only voices in her husband's administration insisting that benefits be equally
extended to Americans of all races.
Roosevelt also broke with tradition by inviting hundreds of
African-American guests to the White House. In 1936 she became aware of
conditions at the National Training School for Girls, a predominantly Black
reform school once located in the Palisades neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
She visited the school, wrote about it in her "My Day" column, lobbied for additional funding, and
pressed for changes in staffing and curriculum. Her White House invitation to
the students became an issue in Franklin's 1936 re-election campaign. When the
Black singer Marian Anderson was denied the use of Washington's Constitution
Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1939, Roosevelt resigned
from the group in protest and helped arrange another concert on the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial. Roosevelt later presented Anderson to the King and Queen of
the United Kingdom after Anderson performed at a White House dinner. Roosevelt
also arranged the appointment of African-American educator Mary McLeod Bethune,
with whom she had struck up a friendship, as Director of the Division of Negro
Affairs of the National Youth Administration. To avoid problems with the staff
when Bethune would visit the White House, Roosevelt would meet her at the gate,
embrace her, and walk in with her arm-in-arm.
She was involved by being "the eyes and the ears" of the New Deal. She looked to
the future and was committed to social reform. One of those programs helped
working women receive better wages. The New Deal also placed women into less
machine work and more white-collar work. Women did not have to work in the
factories making war supplies because men were coming home so they could take
over the long days and nights women had been working to contribute to the war
efforts. Roosevelt brought unprecedented activism and ability to the role of
the first lady.
In contrast to her usual support of African-American rights,
the "sundown town" Eleanor,
in West Virginia, was named for her and was established in 1934 when she and
Franklin visited the county and developed it as a test site for families. As a "sundown town", like other
Franklin Roosevelt towns around the nation (such as Greenbelt, Greenhills,
Greendale, Hanford, or Norris), it was for whites only. It was established as a
New Deal project.
Roosevelt lobbied behind the scenes for the 1934
Costigan-Wagner Bill to make lynching a federal crime, including arranging a
meeting between Franklin and NAACP president Walter Francis White. Fearing he
would lose the votes of Southern congressional delegations for his legislative
agenda, however, Franklin refused to publicly support the bill, which proved
unable to pass the Senate. In 1942, Roosevelt worked with activist Pauli Murray
to persuade Franklin to appeal on behalf of sharecropper Odell Waller,
convicted of killing a white farmer during a fight; though Franklin sent a
letter to Virginia Governor Colgate Darden urging him to commute the sentence
to life imprisonment, Waller was executed as scheduled.
Roosevelt's support of African-American rights made her an
unpopular figure among whites in the South. Rumors spread of "Eleanor Clubs" formed by
servants to oppose their employers and "Eleanor
Tuesdays" on which African-American men would knock down white women
on the street, though no evidence has ever been found of either practice. When
race riots broke out in Detroit in June 1943, critics in both the North and
South wrote that Roosevelt was to blame. At the same time, she grew so popular
among African-Americans, previously a reliable Republican voting bloc, which
they became a consistent base of support for the Democratic Party.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7,
1941, Roosevelt spoke out against Japanese-American prejudice, warning against
the "great hysteria against minority
groups." She also privately opposed her husband's Executive Order
9066, which required Japanese-Americans in many areas of the U.S. to enter
internment camps. She was widely criticized for her defense of Japanese-American
citizens, including a call by the Los Angeles Times that she be "forced to retire from public
life" over her stand on the issue.
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