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.

Life After the White House

Following the death of her husband in 1945, Mrs. Roosevelt continued to live on the Hyde Park Estate. However, she did so at Val-Kill, the house that her husband Franklin remodeled for her near the mainhouse. Originally built as a small furniture factory, Val-Kill afforded Eleanor with a level of privacy that she had wanted for many years. Here she entertained her circle of friends in informal gatherings. The site is now the home of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill, dedicated to "Eleanor Roosevelt's belief that people can enhance the quality of their lives through purposeful action based on sensitive discourse among people of diverse perspectives focusing on the varied needs of society."

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After World War II, she was instrumental along with John Peters Humphrey and others in formulating the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On the night of December 10, 1948, Mrs. Roosevelt spoke on behalf of the Declaration calling it "the international Magna Carta of all mankind," and the Declaration was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly later that night.

Related Topics:
John Peters Humphrey - UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights - December 10 - 1948 - Magna Carta - UN General Assembly

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In 1954 Tammany Hall boss Carmine DeSapio campaigned against her son, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., in the New York Attorney General election and successfully defeated him. Mrs. Roosevelt held DeSapio responsible for her son's defeat and grew increasingly disgusted with his political conduct through the rest of the 1950s. Eventually, she would join with her old friends Herbert Lehman and Thomas Finletter to form the New York Committee for Democratic Voters, a group dedicated to enhancing the democratic process by opposing DeSapio's reincarnated Tammany. Eventually their efforts were successful, and in 1961 DeSapio was removed from power.

Related Topics:
1954 - Tammany Hall - Carmine DeSapio - Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. - New York - Herbert Lehman

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Mrs. Roosevelt was a close friend of Adlai Stevenson and was a strong supporter of his candidacies in the 1952 and 1956 presidential elections. When President Truman backed New York Governor W. Averell Harriman, who was a close associate of Carmine DeSapio, for the Democratic presidential nomination, Mrs. Roosevelt was disappointed but continued to support Stevenson who ultimately won the nomination. She backed Stevenson once again in 1960 but John F. Kennedy received the presidential nomination instead.

Related Topics:
Adlai Stevenson - 1952 - 1956 - Governor - W. Averell Harriman - 1960 - John F. Kennedy

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She was responsible for the establishment of the 2,800 acre (11 km2) Roosevelt Campobello International Park on Campobello Island, New Brunswick in 1964 following a gift of the Roosevelt summer estate to the Canadian and American governments.

Related Topics:
Acre - Campobello Island, New Brunswick - 1964

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Mrs. Roosevelt was an accomplished archer, and one of the first modern women to participate in the sport of bowhunting. Her exploits as a 20th-century Diana are well documented in the writings of her male bowhunting contemporaries Fred Bear, Howard Hill and Saxton Pope. A close personal friendship with J.E. Davis, editor of Ye Sylvan Archer, which was a popular bowhunting magazine of the time, led to an invitation to author several articles for that publication. Mrs. Roosevelt's tales of her hunting excursions were well received, though they did not serve to further the cause of women's liberation: in keeping with the chauvinistic standards of the time, Roosevelt's stories were published under the masculine pseudonym "Chuck Painton" to avoid offending the magazine's overwhelmingly male readership. One of Mrs. Roosevelt's prized trophies, the taking of which was immortalized in her poignant 1937 account Outwitting the Rompala Buck (Ye Sylvan Archer, v2), for many years graced the mantle above the fireplace in her husband Franklin's presidential library. It is now held as one of the organizing artifacts of the Community Forum Collection of the Smithsonian Institution.

Related Topics:
Diana - Outwitting the Rompala Buck

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After her death, her son Elliott Roosevelt wrote a series of best-selling fictional murder mysteries wherein she acted as a detective, helping the police solve the crime, while she was First Lady. They feature actual places and celebrities of the time.

Related Topics:
Elliott Roosevelt - Murder mysteries

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Eleanor Roosevelt suffered from bone marrow tuberculosis and died at her Manhattan apartment on the evening of November 7, 1962, at the age of 78. Mrs. Roosevelt was buried buried next to Franklin D. Roosevelt at their home in Hyde Park, New York on November 10, 1962.

Related Topics:
Bone marrow - Tuberculosis - Manhattan - November 7 - 1962 - Franklin D. Roosevelt - Hyde Park, New York - November 10

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She was the first honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

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