Eleanor Roosevelt

Politician

1884 – 1962

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Who was Eleanor Roosevelt?

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, holding the post from 1933 to 1945 during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office. President Harry S. Truman later called her the "First Lady of the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements.

A member of the Roosevelt and Livingston families, Eleanor had an unhappy childhood, suffering the deaths of both parents and one of her brothers at a young age. At 15, she attended Allenwood Academy in London, and was deeply influenced by feminist headmistress Marie Souvestre. Returning to the US, she married her cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1905. The Roosevelts' marriage was complicated from the beginning by Franklin's controlling mother, Sara and after discovering Franklin's affair with Lucy Mercer in 1918, Eleanor resolved to seek fulfillment in a public life of her own. She persuaded Franklin to stay in politics following his partial paralysis from polio, and began to give speeches and campaign in his place. After Franklin's election as Governor of New York, Eleanor regularly made public appearances on his behalf. She had also shaped the role of First Lady during her tenure and beyond.

Famous Quotes:

  • The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
  • Anyone who knows history, particularly the history of Europe, will, I think, recognize that the domination of education or of government by any one particular religious faith is never a happy arrangement for the people.
  • The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.
  • You always admire what you really don't understand.
  • When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.
  • A trait no other nation seems to possess in quite the same degree that we do -- namely, a feeling of almost childish injury and resentment unless the world as a whole recognizes how innocent we are of anything but the most generous and harmless intentions.
  • It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.
  • I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.
  • It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.
  • Somewhere along the line of development we discover what we really are, and then we make our real decision for which we are responsible. Make that decision primarily for yourself because you can never really live anyone else's life, not even your own child's.

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Born
Oct 11, 1884
New York City
Also known as
  • Anna Eleanor Roosevelt
  • First lady Eleanor Roosevelt
  • Granny
  • First Lady of the World
Parents
Siblings
Spouses
Children
Religion
  • Episcopalian
Ethnicity
  • Dutch-American
  • Scotch-Irish American
Nationality
  • United States of America
Profession
Education
  • Allenswood Academy
    (1899 - 1902)
  • The New School
Employment
  • School Teacher, Dalton School
    (1926 - 1933)
Lived in
  • Hempstead
  • New York City
  • Washington, D.C.
Died
Nov 7, 1962
Manhattan
Resting place
Hyde Park

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

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