Eleanor Roosevelt

Essay by bri212High School, 12th gradeA, April 2009

download word file, 2 pages 4.5

Eleanor Roosevelt was born October 11. 1884 in New York City. She was the niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, and in 1902 Eleanor married future president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the fifth cousin of Theodore Roosevelt. Eleanor Roosevelt was a very intelligent woman and influenced her husband a great deal during his period of time in the White House, especially when it came to his New Deal. She was a key figure in several of the most important social reform movements of the twentieth century including the Progressive movement, the New Deal, the Women's Movement, the struggle for racial justice, and the United Nations. She was overall the most politically active First Lady in American history.

Eleanor Roosevelt had a large impact on the politics of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Eleanor began holding press conferences open only to women reporters. She also worked closely with Molly Dewson to increase the number of women appointed into the Roosevelt administration.

Eleanor also argued that women should be able to keep their jobs even if their husbands were employed, and she made sure there were relief programs for women, as well as men.

Eleanor Roosevelt also pushed for the creation of youth programs and encouragede the establishment of the National Youth Administration. Her influence with helping the youth had an affect on the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps. This program took in young men and placed them in camps where they would focus on natural resource conservation. This would help their families from the burden of taking care of them and they were also paid and expected to send some of their money home to their families.

Eleanor was active in civil rights and befriended many black leaders including Mary McLeod Bethune and Walter White. She lobbied against...