Eleanor Roosevelt was a different kind of first lady. Before Eleanor, first ladies did not work. They did not speak in public and share their opinions.
Eleanor chose not to sit back and just be a good hostess. She had ideas. She wanted to help people. She was not content to pour tea and smile at White House parties. The staff at the White House was shocked to see Eleanor moving furniture herself her very first week as first lady. But she wanted the White House family rooms to look like a home, not a museum.
Eleanor had meetings with women reporters. She was the first first lady to hold press conferences about issues of the day. And reporters were happy to write about everything the first lady did and said. They followed her on visits to slums near the White House. She visited the camp set up by former soldiers who were out of work. Reporters quoted her saying that it was disgraceful to have people living in poverty.
Franklin Roosevelt worked hard to end the Great Depression of the 1930s. He created the New Deal. That was the name for a group of government programs created to get the economy back on its feet. Banks reopened with government help. They loaned money to farms and businesses. The loans helped save jobs and create new ones. President Roosevelt passed laws to help people while they were out of work. For example, the Social Security Act of 1935 gave money to retired people, as well as to disabled people and to workers who had lost their jobs. By 1940, the government had provided sixteen million dollars for people in need. It was a new kind of government, a government that looked after its citizens.
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
IN THE 1920S, MANY PEOPLE BECAME RICH BUYING STOCKS. (STOCKS ARE SHARES OF COMPANIES.) THEN IN LATE OCTOBER, 1929, THE STOCK MARKET CRASHED. THAT MEANT MANY STOCKS BECAME WORTHLESS. THIS FORCED MANY COMPANIES THAT ISSUED STOCKS AND THE BANKS THAT INVESTED IN THEM TO CLOSE. BY 1932, FIVE THOUSAND BANKS HAD CLOSED AND ABOUT THIRTY-TWO THOUSAND COMPANIES WERE OUT OF BUSINESS. OVER TWELVE MILLION PEOPLE LOST THEIR JOBS. MANY PEOPLE LOST THEIR HOMES, TOO. WHAT COULD BE DONE TO HELP PEOPLE?
All first ladies receive letters and requests from people. But Eleanor received much more than anyone before her. In 1933, more than three-hundred thousand letters came from every part of the country—from children, mothers, and families. Eleanor and her secretary, Malvina “Tommy” Thompson, answered every single one! Eleanor also traveled all over the United States. In the days before television, this brought her in touch with the people of America. In 1933, she traveled almost forty thousand miles. Her travels earned her the nickname “Everywhere Eleanor.” And the support and love that Eleanor received from the letters and her trips made Eleanor proud of who she was and what she did. During the White House years, photos of Eleanor show her smiling.
In 1935, Eleanor began giving lectures. She spoke about her favorite subjects, such as world peace, or about what living at the White House was like. Sometimes she gave lectures about the changing role of women. People flocked to hear her speak. They paid money to listen to her. Some people did not think that it was right for the first lady to get paid. Eleanor ignored them. She did not keep any of the money. She gave it to her favorite causes. What was wrong with that?
Eleanor also wrote a newspaper column. The column was called “My Day.” She wrote about her thoughts and opinions. She often gave radio interviews. People would gather around their radios and hear what their first lady had to say. It was like having Eleanor Roosevelt over for tea or dinner.
In 1936, while campaigning for her husband’s reelection, Eleanor wrote a book. It told about her early life and she called it, This Is My Story. The book became a bestseller.
Eleanor noticed something as she traveled around the country, meeting voters. She saw that African-Americans were not treated the same way that white people were, especially in the South. Black people were segregated—kept apart—from white people. They had to drink water from different water fountains, eat at different restaurants, and stay in “blacks-only” hotels.
Eleanor knew this was wrong. African-Americans deserved to be treated the same as white people. She tried to make this point whenever she could. Many of Eleanor’s friends and advisers were African-Americans.
In 1938, Eleanor’s friend the African-American educator Mary Macleod Bethune asked Eleanor to attend a conference in Birmingham, Alabama. People were going to discuss ways to make the lives of poor people better. Eleanor decided to go.
At that time, Alabama was segregated. And in the conference room, blacks could not sit with whites. Eleanor wanted to sit with her friend, Mary Bethune. But by law, she could not. So very calmly, Eleanor picked up her chair and moved it into the aisle. She sat between the whites and the blacks. She acted as a bridge between the two groups. The police did not dare arrest the first lady.
Marian Anderson was a very famous African-American opera singer. Eleanor loved her rich, beautiful voice. In 1939, Marian Anderson wanted to give a concert at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. Eleanor was thrilled. But a group called the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) owned the hall. And they refused to let Marian Anderson sing there. Eleanor was horrified and very angry. Eleanor quit the D.A.R. in protest and helped arrange an outdoor concert on Easter Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial. More than seventy-five thousand people came to hear Marian Anderson sing. Eleanor was among them.
Eleanor visited black schools. She often had her picture taken with black leaders. She raised money for groups that helped blacks. Some people admired her for this, but others did not. In fact, some Southern leaders asked Franklin if he could stop his wife. He laughed and said no—Eleanor had her own opinions. What others thought no longer stopped Eleanor.
In 1940, there was another presidential election. Franklin had served two terms as president. No president had ever served more than that. Not even George Washington. But World War II was raging. Adolf Hitler, the Nazi ruler of Germany, was trying to conquer all of Europe. And the United States was probably going to be pulled into the war, too.
FDR decided to run again. This bothered many Democrats. They felt that two terms were enough for any president. To show their disapproval, many Democrats would not support Henry Wallace, who was FDR’s choice for vice president. FDR said he would not run without Wallace as his running mate. It was a battle of wills. How could the problem be solved?
The solution—call Mrs. Roosevelt! Eleanor flew to Chicago. That was where the Democrats’ convention was being held. At the convention, the Democrats would pick whom they wanted to run for president and vice president. Eleanor gave a short speech. The whole convention fell silent as she spoke. She said that in this difficult time, the president deserved to pick his own running mate. And that’s exactly what happened. All the delegates at the convention voted for Henry Wallace, FDR’s choice for vice president.
Once again, Eleanor campaigned hard for Franklin. Now as many people came to hear Eleanor speak as they did to hear the president. And he won again, the first president elected to a third term.
After the U.S. joined World War II, Eleanor visited soldiers all around the world. She was like a substitute mother. She took messages home to their families. She comforted them. She wrote letters to them. Eleanor was now the most popular woman in the world.
PEARL HARBOR
On Sunday, December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Japanese planes dropped bombs on U.S. warships docked there. Nineteen ships were sunk or damaged. Hundreds of U.S. planes on the ground were destroyed. Some twenty-four hundred people were killed. It was a horrible day in American history. Because of the attack, the United States declared war on Japan.
In 1944, with the war still on, FDR ran for president and won a fourth term. But FDR was sixty-two years old now, and he was tired and sick. While Eleanor was giving a speech in Washington, Franklin Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia. It was April 12, 1945, just before the war ended. The whole nation went into mourning. For many people, FDR was the only president whom they could remember. And Eleanor was their beloved first lady, the mother of a nation at war. Now she was alone. What would she do? |