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VOICE ONE:
I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Shirley Griffith with People in America in VOA Special English.
Today, we tell about the woman who was the most influential wife of any
American president, Eleanor Roosevelt.
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VOICE ONE:
Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife of America's thirty-second president, Franklin
Delano Roosevelt. She helped her husband in many ways during his long
political life. She also became one of the most influential people in America.
She fought for equal rights for all people -- workers, women, poor people,
black people. And she sought peace among nations.
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City in Eighteen eighty-four.
Eleanor's family had great wealth and influence. But Eleanor did not have a
happy childhood. Her mother was sick and nervous. Her father did not work. He
drank too much alcohol. He was not like his older brother, Theodore Roosevelt,
who was later elected president.
When Eleanor was eight years old, her mother died. Two years later, her father
died. Eleanor's grandmother raised the Roosevelt children. Eleanor remembered
that as a child, her greatest happiness came from helping others.
VOICE TWO:
In the early nineteen hundreds, many people were concerned about the problems
of poor people who came to America in search of a better life. Eleanor
Roosevelt could not understand how people lived in such poor conditions while
she and others had so much wealth.
After she finished school, Eleanor began teaching children to read in one of
the poorest areas of New York City, called "Hell's Kitchen." She investigated
factories where workers were said to be badly treated. She saw little children
of four and five-years-old working until they dropped to the floor. She became
involved with other women who shared the same ideas about improving social
conditions.
Franklin Roosevelt began visiting Eleanor. Franklin belonged to another part
of the Roosevelt family. Franklin and Eleanor were married in nineteen-oh-
five. In the next eleven years, they had six children.
VOICE ONE:
Franklin Roosevelt began his life in politics in New York. He was elected to
be a state legislator. Later, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him to be
assistant secretary of the Navy. The Roosevelts moved to Washington in
nineteen thirteen. It was there, after thirteen years of marriage, that
Eleanor Roosevelt went through one of the hardest periods of her life. She
discovered that her husband had fallen in love with another woman. She wanted
to end the marriage. But her husband urged her to remain his wife.
She did. Yet her relationship with her husband changed. She decided she would
no longer play the part of a politician's wife. Instead, she began to build a
life with interests of her own. In nineteen twenty-one, Franklin Roosevelt was
struck by the terrible disease polio. He would never walk again without help.
His political life seemed over, but his wife helped him return to politics. He
was elected governor of New York two times.
VOICE TWO:
Eleanor Roosevelt learned about politics and became involved in issues and
groups that interested her. In nineteen twenty-two, she became part of the
Women's Trade Union League. She also joined the debate about ways to stop war.
In those years after World War One, she argued that America must be involved
in the world to prevent another war. "Peace is the question of the hour," she
once told a group of women. "Women must work for peace to keep from losing
their loved ones."
The question of war and peace was forgotten as the United States entered a
severe economic depression in nineteen twenty-nine. Prices suddenly dropped on
the New York stock market. Banks lost their money. People lost their jobs.
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VOICE ONE:
Franklin Roosevelt was elected president in nineteen thirty-two. He promised
to end the Depression and put Americans back to work. Missus Roosevelt helped
her husband by spreading information about his new economic program. It was
called the New Deal. She traveled around the country giving speeches and
visiting areas that needed economic aid.
Missus Roosevelt was different from the wives of earlier presidents. She was
the first to become active in political and social issues. While her husband
was president, Missus Roosevelt held more than three hundred news conferences
for female reporters. She wrote a daily newspaper commentary. She wrote for
many magazines. These activities helped spread her ideas to all Americans and
showed that women had important things to say.
VOICE TWO:
One issue Missus Roosevelt became involved in was equal rights for black
Americans. She met publicly with black leaders to hear their problems. Few
American politicians did this during the nineteen thirties and nineteen
forties. One incident involving Missus Roosevelt became international news.
In nineteen thirty-nine, an American singer, Marian Anderson, planned a
performance at Constitution Hall in Washington. But a conservative women's
group refused to permit her to sing there because she was black.
VOICE ONE:
Missus Roosevelt was a member of that organization, the Daughters of the
American Revolution. She publicly resigned her membership to protest the
action of the group. An opinion study showed that most Americans thought she
was right.
Eleanor Roosevelt helped the performance to be held outdoors, around the
Lincoln Memorial. More than seventy thousand people heard Marian Anderson
sing. Missus Roosevelt was always considered one of its strongest supporters
of the civil rights movement.
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VOICE TWO:
The United States was forced to enter World War Two when Japanese forces
attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in nineteen forty-
one.
Missus Roosevelt made many speeches over the radio praising the soldiers she
saw on her travels. She called on people to urge their government to work for
peace after the war was over. Franklin Roosevelt died in nineteen forty-five,
soon after he was elected to a fourth term as president.
When his wife heard the news she said, "I am more sorry for the people of this
country than I am for myself."
VOICE ONE:
Harry Truman became president after Franklin Roosevelt died. World War Two
ended a few months later. The leaders of the world recognized the need for
peace So they joined together to form the United Nations. President Truman
appointed Missus Roosevelt as a delegate to the first meeting of the UN. A
newspaper wrote at the time: "Missus Roosevelt, better than any other person,
can best represent the little people of America, or even the world."
Later, Missus Roosevelt was elected chairman of the UN Human Rights
Commission. She helped write a resolution called the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. That declaration became an accepted part of international law.
VOICE TWO:
Missus Roosevelt spent the last years of her life visiting foreign countries.
She became America's unofficial ambassador. She returned home troubled by what
she saw. She recognized that the needs of the developing world were great. She
called on Americans to help the people in developing countries. A few years
before she died, Eleanor Roosevelt spoke about what she believed in life. This
is what she said:
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: “This life always seems to me to be a continuing process
of education and development. What we are preparing for, none of us can be
sure. But, that we must do our best while we are here and develop all our
capacities is absolutely certain. We face whatever we have to face in this
life. And if we do it bravely and sincerely, we’re probably accomplishing
that growth which we were put here to accomplish.”
VOICE ONE:
Eleanor Roosevelt gave the best she had all through her life. People around
the world recognized their loss when she died in nineteen sixty-two.
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VOICE TWO:
This program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis.
I'm Shirley Griffith.
VOICE ONE: And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for People in America
in VOA Special English.
