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Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962
When Franklin D. Roosevelt took the presidential oath in March 1933, his wife Eleanor entered the White House declaring that she was "just going to be plain, ordinary Mrs. Roosevelt. And that's all." The promise was not long kept. Driven by her own keen sense of social and economic justice, Eleanor Roosevelt soon was deeply engrossed in New Deal politics. Touring the nation's economically distressed communities, she returned to Washington fired with enthusiasm for federally sponsored planned communities. She also made speeches and gave press conferences, where she addressed such issues as child labor and sweatshops. Perhaps most important, she urged her husband toward various reforms that he might otherwise have avoided in the name of political expediency. As she herself noted, "I think I sometimes acted as a spur even though the spurring was not always welcome."
Lotte Jacobi, 1944 |