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Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt portrait 1933

Eleanor Roosevelt (October 11, 1884 - November 7, 1962) was the longest serving First Lady. She served as first lady during the four presidential terms of her husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Childhood

Eleanor was born Anna Eleanor Roosevelt to Elliott B. Roosevelt and Anna Hall Roosevelt. She had wonderful, loving parents and was the apple of her daddy's eye. At six years old, Eleanor's father was injured in an accident that left the once very active and happy man, sad and very limited. The Roosevelt family took a vacation to hopefully assist in Mr. Roosevelt's recovery. They took him to a sanitarium. During this time, an epidemic of diphtheria was spreading through New York. Eleanor's mother contracted diphtheria and before her father was able to reach her, she died. Eleanor was eight at this time. Five months after her mother's death, her little brother died of the same ailment. Poor little Eleanor became an orphan at the age of ten when her father died. For many years, she lived in a dreamworld, refusing to believe she had lost her parents and brother.

Getting Hitched

Eleanor's Wedding Dress

In 1903, Eleanor started seeing her fifth cousin more and more. His name was Franklin D. Roosevelt. Their friendship turned to a relationship. March 17, 1905, St. Patrick's Day was the date set for their wedding. Before the wedding, however, they attended her Uncle Ted's inauguration. At the wedding, Uncle Ted gave away Eleanor to Franklin. Franklin was going after a political career as Eleanor stayed home taking care of their four children. Their marriage wasn't all rainbows and butterflies; however, Franklin had an affair with her secretary, Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd. The main thing that they had in common was their passion for public service.

First Lady Life

During her life at the white house, she held press conferences for exclusively women reporters. She had 350 of these throughout her time as first lady.

Life Alone

Eleanor had learned many lessons from her journey in life. This led her to write several books many of which were on her life policies. In her book, You Learn by Living, she reveals what she believes to be "the most important requirements for happiness": "A feeling that you have been honest with yourself and those around you; a feeling that you have done the best you could both in your personal life and in your work; and the ability to love others."