Eleanor Roosevelt

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (October 11 1884 – November 7 1962) was an American human rights activist, diplomat and as the wife of President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt, the longest serving First Lady of the United States from 1933-1945. An active First Lady, she traveled around the United States promoting the New Deal and visited troops at the frontlines during World War II. She was a first-wave Feminist and an active supporter of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Early Life

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born at 56 West 37th St. in New York City, NY to Elliott Roosevelt and Anna Hall Roosevelt and was the favorite niece of Theodore Roosevelt. Following her parents deaths, young Anna Eleanor was raised by her maternal grandmother, an emotionally cold woman, in an autocratic house. She was looked down upon by most of her family, presumably because of her plain looks and six foot tall frame. On St. Patrick's Day (17 March) 1905 she married Franklin D. Roosevelt; President Theodore Roosevelt took the place of his late brother in giving Eleanor's hand to her husband to be. Their marriage produced six children, of whom five survived infancy. However their marriage almost split over sexual explorations outside marriage by FDR -- see Franklin Delano Roosevelt for more information. She also had a contentious relationship with her domineering mother-in-law, Sara Delano Roosevelt, who at 5'10" was 2 inches shorter than Eleanor, who stood 6' tall in her prime.

Related Topics:
New York City - NY - Elliott Roosevelt - Anna Hall Roosevelt - Theodore Roosevelt - St. Patrick's Day - 17 March - 1905 - Franklin D. Roosevelt - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Eleanor and Franklin were fifth cousins, once removed. They descended from Claes Martenszen van Rosenvelt who emigrated to New Amsterdam (Manhattan) from the Netherlands in the 1640s. His grandsons, Johannes and Jacobus, began the Oyster Bay and Hyde Park, New York branches of the Roosevelt family. Eleanor is descended from the Johannes branch and Franklin is descended from the Jacobus branch.

Related Topics:
New Amsterdam - Manhattan - Netherlands - Oyster Bay - Hyde Park, New York

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Although she was still in her Uncle Teddy's good graces, Eleanor found herself at odds with his eldest daughter, Alice Roosevelt who was enraged that the homely Eleanor not only snagged her cousin Franklin as a husband, but that Franklin, and now Eleanor, were members of the Democratic Party, which Alice viewed as an afront to Theodore Roosevelt's position as president.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1928, Mrs. Roosevelt met Associated Press reporter Lorena Hickok, a White House correspondent. They would become close friends after Hickok conducted a series of interviews with Mrs. Roosevelt in 1932. For the rest of their lives they would be close friends, Hickok suggested the idea for what would eventually become Mrs. Roosevelt?s column My Day.

Related Topics:
1928 - Lorena Hickok - White House - 1932

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some of her writings in her column would later cause friction with the mandarin Francis Cardinal Spellman, who was ultimately forced to come to Eleanor's Hyde Park home to bury the hatchet.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After a few years away from Washington, Hickok returned and lived in the White House with the first family in 1940. Eleanor Roosevelt and Hickok maintained a personal correspondence in which Mrs. Roosevelt wrote to Hickok in 1933:

Related Topics:
1940 - 1933

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"My Pictures are nearly all up & I have you in my sitting room where I can look at you most of my waking hours! I can't kiss you so I kiss your picture good night and good morning" and "Most clearly I remember your eyes, with a kind of teasing smile in them, and the feeling of that soft spot just northeast of the corner of your mouth against my lips.",

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

These letters have become the source of a theory that claims Eleanor Roosevelt was bisexual, though many historians continue to debate this controversial claim. Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of one of Mrs. Roosevelt's most extensive biographies, made a well-documented argument for the theory in her work. Doris Kearns Goodwin, who wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, has publicly disputed Cook's assessment that Mrs. Roosevelt was bisexual.

Related Topics:
Blanche Wiesen Cook - Doris Kearns Goodwin - Pulitzer Prize

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~