During the Great Depression every aspect of American life was greatly affected. The low spirits of the American people were soon transformed when Franklin D. Roosevelt began his presidency. While in office, Franklin D. Roosevelt created a package of social programs known as the New Deal. The New Deal was developed to help raise the spirits of Americans, find a solution for unemployment, and assist those that were in need. Throughout Roosevelt’s presidency, his wife Eleanor Roosevelt played the role of being both his eyes and ears. This paper will focus on Eleanor Roosevelt and the role that she played with the New Deal during the Great Depression. Eleanor Roosevelt was committed to social reform before taking on the role as the First …show more content…
Under the guidance of Marie Souvestre Eleanor was able to come out of her shell and lose the image of an outsider, the outside she was while growing up in New York. Marie Souvestre “was primarily a moralist in politics, and she was concerned more with social justice than with social analysis. In this regard she strengthened Eleanor’s disposition toward a social idealism based on intuitive reason and the promptings of her heart rather than intellectual analysis.” It was through traveling with Marie Souvestre that Eleanor gained an understanding of what it was like to be an independent woman. Upon Eleanor’s return to the United States in 1902 she decided to become an active reformer during the Progressive Era, going against her grandmother’s wishes to make her social debut in New York. Influenced by Theodore Roosevelt, Eleanor learned the importance of structured political reform and fair labor practices that would benefit citizens of a different socio-economic class than from the one that she was accustomed to while growing up. Working alongside women of her same socio-economic class led to the formation of the Junior League for the Promotion of Settlement Movements. Settlement Houses were vital to immigrant communities as it taught them basic skills and lessons. It was in the Lower
In her early years, Eleanor was a debutante. Eleanor was enrolled in the Junior League (Scharf, 1987). The Junior League was a group of young upper-class women who planned to add social responsibility to their lives (Scharf, 1987). Eleanor took her role of social responsibility very seriously (Scharf, 1987). She taught classes at the Rivington Street Settlement House in Manhattan (Scharf, 1987). Eleanor treated the immigrants with absolute kindness and taught her classes with total commitment and personal satisfaction (Scharf, 1987).
Eleanor Roosevelt was very influential in the policies of the New Deal, and also spoke very openly in support of civil rights and women’s rights. She worked to expand the amount of women in the Roosevelt administration and said that women should still be able to have jobs even if their husbands were employed. She supported the Southern Tenant Farmer’s Union and promoted the inclusion of blacks in the government. Eleanor visited migrant camps, coal mines, and the homes of sharecroppers. She also founded many programs to help people who were affected by the Great Depression.
President Roosevelt in his New Deal plan helped the women by introducing the Fair Labor Relations Act in the 1930’s. This led to over 800,000 women joining labor unions to be able to fight for equal wages, working conditions, and other things.
Jane Addams is recognized as a social and political pioneer for women in America. In her biography, which later revealed her experiences in Hull House, she demonstrates her altruistic personality, which nurtured the poor and pushed for social reforms. Although many of Addams ideas were considered radical for her time, she provided women with a socially acceptable way to participate in both political and social change. She defied the prototypical middle class women by integrating the line that separated private and political life. Within these walls of the settlement house, Addams redefined the idea of ?separate spheres,? and with relentless determination, she
Eleanor Roosevelt was once a shy, timid girl with her focus on her family but over time became a strong leader, who would have rather spoiled them As a child, Eleanor was timid, shy and serious, but after her husband, Franklin, was paralyzed from the waist down she became a strong, determined women. “Meanwhile Eleanor had changed.” (pg. 794) At first, she had only got involved in the community because she felt it was her duty to keep Franklin in the public eye. However, as the years rolled on and her duty was complete, she still continued to make her mark in the world. This new, strong Eleanor did great things like working with poor children, helping with war efforts, and much more.Eleanor’s focus was on raising her children in a way that
The United States was already three years into the Great Depression. By march 13,000,000 people were unemployed, and nearly every bank was closed. For his first hundred days he proposed a program to bring recovery to businesses, agriculture, and bring relief to the unemployed. In the spring of 1935 he proposed “The New Deal”, his domestic policy. The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, and financial reforms. In 1935 the united states had achieved some measure of recovery, but bankers and businessmen were turning away from The New Deal program (“Franklin D. Roosevelt” 1). Even though the new deal did not end the Great Depression it helped restore hope in the American people. Overall Roosevelt helped America overcome many challenges, but there were many more obstacles America would face in the next twenty
Before she even became the first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt had already started to advance her own career. She taught in New York City at Todhunter, a private school for girls, and loved her job so much that even when she moved to Albany, she found a way to continue to work at Todhunter (Spangenburg 54). On top of teaching, in the 1920s, Roosevelt became active in the Democratic Party as she gave speeches and helped promote her husband’s nomination for governor of New York and later for the president of the United States (“Humanist”). Furthermore, by working as a teacher and becoming politically active, Roosevelt was able to be financially independent, something highly unusual for women during her time, and used the money she earned for her own
From the beginning of time to the early 1900’s women had little to no legal rights. In the book Eleanor & Park it is the year of 1986. Eleanor’s mother would stay home all day to cook and clean. With the exception of going out occasionally to get the minimal amount of groceries. Richie, Eleanor’s stepfather, was not a good person, not by any means. Richie was one of those men who wanted certain things done in a certain way. When they weren’t done his certain way he would retaliate. In this book, particular men treated some women like they were worth no more than a piece of dirt, some men would treat women like they were the sun and the center of their universe, school systems treated the teenage girls differently than the teenage boys.
“Success must include two things: the development of an individual to his utmost potentiality and a contribution of some kind to one 's world” (Roosevelt, p 119, 1960). Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City October 11th, 1884 (Burns, 2012). Having grown up in a family considered to be in the top of society, Eleanor could have focused her life on parties and social gatherings. However, Eleanor came to the realization that she preferred social work rather than to attend parties with the rich (Burns, 2012). Eleanor is a perfect example of an effective leader in three ways, she was a lifelong learner, she used her position in life to better the society as a whole and she faced her many fears and flaws with life lessons she used later on.
The Great Depression (1929-1939) is arguably one of the darkest, most hopeless times in American history. After the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, nearly the entire nation was in economic turmoil. Banks and businesses were closing, families were left penniless, and children were starving. The United States was in dire need of change if it hoped to recover from such a disaster. With the newly elected first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, that change was coming. Over the course of the next decade, Roosevelt used the New Deal to combat the crisis. The New Deal is the collective term for government acts, programs, and projects enforced to assist those suffering during the Great Depression. Using her influence as first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt effectively displayed civil disobedience by taking action on behalf of youth, women, African Americans, and the unemployed through the New Deal.
The Great Depression changed the role American government played in the everyday citizen’s daily life. Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the true founder of liberalism in today’s political thought. In Give Me Liberty, Roosevelts modern liberalism is described as, “active efforts by the national government to modernize and regulate the market economy to uplift less fortunate members of society.” Because of this ideology, his reign as President included more executive orders issued than by any other President in history up to today, most of these socialist policies to invoke a more productive government. His leadership during the great depression is second to none and he did create many governmentally produced jobs. When people were scared of the future they could always tune in to the President’s fireside chats to hear from their friend, FDR. The master politician produced hope in a time of
In the 1930s, The Great Depression swept over America and life was greatly affected. Poverty, unemployment, and homelessness grew in the East causing women to get more involved with the daily activities outside of the household. In “The Grapes Of Wrath” most men went to work, either in factories or on the lands, while the women stayed home. Eleanor Roosevelt became a key voice inside the White House, she took on an active role in programs and supporting women working on the home front. The hardships women faced during the Great Depression and women’s involvement in the labor force during World War II, led women to have a more independent and influential role in the family.
FDR had a sad concern for the people of America in misfortune and so took it under his wing to come up with something that would benefit these people; the New Deal. The New Deal consisted of many significant key laws shown on the chart in the book (Keene, 666). FDR sought advice from the Brain Trust in which wanted to revive the practice of governmental regulation in economic crisis and to protect the common good, but many people were against this seeing that, through governmental spending, there were “leaks in the unseen pipes” wasting taxpayer money (Keene, 666). FDR’s wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, showed her empathy towards the misfortunate as well by taking her stand and speaking out against racial inequality and poverty amongst travelling the country. The roles taken by both FDR and Eleanor in the American society during the harshest moments of the Depression define the social elements of the Depression Era, and that has been what has set aside this White House couple apart from others before and after their time. “FDR infused hope into a time of trouble and confusion” (Keene,
This book is about a woman who forever changed the course of women's role in American history. Eleanor Roosevelt was an extremely important figure in the history of the United States, especially during the twentieth century. The way the author uses the book to help the reader to feel included in Eleanor's life, makes the reader feel as if he knows Mrs. Roosevelt.
Eleanor possessed a positive, determined attitude throughout her whole life, which contributed, to her being a hero of her time. It all started when she was young. Her family always encouraged her to spend time with the less fortunate. She often went to the Newsboys Lodging House, which was founded by her grandfather, to help young boys. Here, Eleanor and her father would serve dinner together to young boys without homes (Sawyer). This taught her to be grateful for what she had and not to allow small problems to impact her life. Her family had a major influence in her life. Eleanor 's family taught her the right morals and values, which influenced her to become such an amazing woman (Sawyer 21). She always put other people before herself. For example, many of the young women of her time hosted parties for the Junior League, which she also belonged to. Instead of parties Eleanor went into the slums and worked directly with people in poverty. She felt she was making a positive impact on others lives instead of spending her time socializing (Tatlock 14). Later on in her life, Eleanor’s mother passed away, this was more than her father could bear. He