Eleanor Roosevelt

On Wednesday, I told my mom I am planning to do a blog post on Eleanor Roosevelt. On Thursday, Melania Trump wore a jacket with "I really don't care, do you?" written on the back when visiting kids her husband separated from their families and put in cages. I took a deep breath and laughed at that irony!

I am not one of those people that fall under the category of having an opinion on a first lady because of my opinion on her husband. They are their own people. They make their own decisions. Sometimes I am in the "save Melania" camp. Sometimes I am in the "she's as bad as her husband" camp. I doubt that jacket was about the kids. She wasn't wearing it when with them. The media made a big deal of her high heals for one trip to an area of Texas destroyed by a hurricane. I think the jacket was about that.

Currently, Michelle Obama is my favorite first lady ever. She is full of grace, dignity, beauty, compassion, brilliance, and diplomacy. But, I also know I would have very much liked Eleanor Roosevelt. I just don't know why I assume that. Probably because I know she was an involved first lady. So, I decided to research her.

https://www.biography.com/people/eleanor-roosevelt-9463366

It turns out, it's interesting that the reason I am drawn to her is because she was involved. That's how she changed the role of first lady.

When Franklin Roosevelt took office as president in 1933, Eleanor dramatically changed the role of the first lady. Not content to stay in the background and handle domestic matters, she gave press conferences and spoke out for human rights, children's causes and women's issues, working on behalf of the League of Women Voters.

Along with penning her own newspaper column, "My Day," Eleanor focused on helping the country's poor, stood against racial discrimination and, during World War II, traveled abroad to visit U.S. troops. She served in the role of first lady until Franklin Roosevelt's death on April 12, 1945. 

President Harry Truman appointed Eleanor as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, a position in which she served from 1945 to 1953. She became chair of the U.N.'s Human Rights Commission and helped to write the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—an effort that she considered to be her greatest achievement.

President John F. Kennedy reappointed her to the United States delegation to the U.N. in 1961, and later named her to the National Advisory Committee of the Peace Corps and as chair of the President's Commission on the Status of Women.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eleanor-Roosevelt

During her 12 years as first lady, the unprecedented breadth of Eleanor’s activities and her advocacy of liberal causes made her nearly as controversial a figure as her husband. She instituted regular White House press conferences for women correspondents, and wire services that had not formerly employed women were forced to do so in order to have a representative present in case important news broke. In deference to the president’s infirmity, she helped serve as his eyes and ears throughout the nation, embarking on extensive tours and reporting to him on conditions, programs, and public opinion. These unusual excursions were the butt of some criticism and “Eleanor jokes” by her opponents, but many people responded warmly to her compassionate interest in their welfare. Beginning in 1936 she wrote a daily syndicated newspaper column, “My Day.” A widely sought-after speaker at political meetings and at various institutions, she showed particular interest in child welfare, housing reform, and equal rights for women and racial minorities.

In 1939, when the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to let Marian Anderson, an African American opera singer, perform in Constitution Hall, Eleanor resigned her membership in the DAR and arranged to hold the concert at the nearby Lincoln Memorial; the event turned into a massive outdoor celebration attended by 75,000 people. On another occasion, when local officials in Alabama insisted that seating at a public meeting be segregated by race, Eleanor carried a folding chair to all sessions and carefully placed it in the centre aisle. Her defense of the rights of African Americans, youth, and the poor helped to bring groups into government that formerly had been alienated from the political process.

I definitely feel like America is better because she was our first lady. She would be a powerful voice for us resisters today it looks like. It doesn't mention GLBTQ views. I suspect it wasn't talked about back then. But, I highly suspect she would support equal rights for them as well if she lived today.

Her voice was bigger partially because of her husband's polio. He had limitations. Sometimes, she was the powerful substitute. The first feminist. It sounds like she was very much like Michelle Obama.

What drove Eleanor was her big heart. She didn't want to see anyone suffer. She didn't like prejudices. The drive for everyone to be considered equal is what made her so powerful. It is frustrating that we still fight her battles today. But, our voices are also her voice. I hope in 2020 we get a new first lady. One more like Michelle Obama and Eleanor Roosevelt.

I'll never be able to fully rank first ladies. There just isn't much information about all of them. Eleanor Roosevelt was easier to find because she was so involved. She was so vocal. So I have a list of first ladies I really like. But, there isn't an order to it.

Eleanor Roosevelt
Michelle Obama
Jackie Kennedy
Hillary Clinton

Republican first ladies that weren't so bad.

Barbara Bush

Yeah, I'm tapped out at that one. I need more from Laura Bush before I can add her.