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Eleanor Roosevelt's Influence On America

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It was a Tuesday evening in November of 1932, and the excitement was floating around the ballroom. All the people were dressed up and enjoying the night. One particular lady was roaming around the great ballroom, talking to everyone she came upon. It was not her night to be celebrating, but her husband was anxiously awaiting the news in a separate room. She would come to a group of people, thank them for their generous donations to the campaign, and encourage them the results would be in favor of the Democrats. The lady was not completely thrilled about the possibility of having to move to the White House, but she would support her husband no matter what. When the election was almost finished, the soon-to-be-President joined his guests in the …show more content…

Without a doubt, she revolutionized the role of First Lady and continued to influence American’s lives. Being a First Lady, Eleanor created many firsts within the public role. Eleanor started to hold press conferences for women reporters only (“Eleanor Roosevelt”). Her everyday tasks included writing her newspaper column, giving lectures and speeches, writing books, responding to mail for the White House, visiting battlefields, and attending her many meetings with the different organizations she was involved. Eleanor was the first President’s wife to make her life more public and open. She became an international lady, often being referred to as the “First Lady of the World” (Bolton 295). Eleanor traveled as a representative for her husband, working as his eyes and ears. Often times, Eleanor would appear at different places unexpectedly to see what was really going on. At the end of her trips, she would report back to the President what her issues and concerns were and what the people she encountered thought (Gibo). While in the White House, Eleanor worked for people having equal rights. This also applied to the people that worked in the White House. The first thing that Eleanor actually did as the First Lady, was improve the working conditions of the servants in the White House (Bolton 304). One of her …show more content…

After her husband died, people encouraged her to stay involved with politics, but Eleanor feared that without being in the White House, she would lose influence throughout the world (Black). When her role as First Lady was completed, Eleanor moved on to things like the United Nations and other programs. Eleanor spent a total of seven years as a delegate. She had the opportunity to travel the world to investigate social, economic, and political issues to bring back for the United Nations delegates to work on. She also had some very tough decisions to make when it came to staying involved in organizations. Although Eleanor was a very avid supporter of the Daughters of American Revolution, she decided to resign from the group in 1939 because they would not let Marian Anderson sing because Marian was an African American. When Eleanor left the group, she organized for Marian to sing at the Lincoln Memorial where over 75,000 people attended to hear her sing (Gibo). In her later years of life, Eleanor continued to write newspaper columns, and especially books. She still gave very powerful speeches focusing on social justice and “the future of essential democracy” (“Eleanor Roosevelt”). The United Nations gave Eleanor the chance to fight for people and inspire others throughout the world to fight for the rights they deserved. When

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