Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the longest-serving first lady of the United States, during her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four terms as president from 1933 to 1945.
Between 1906 and 1916, she gave birth to six children, one of whom died in infancy. The Roosevelts’ marriage became complicated after Eleanor discovered her husband’s affair with her social secretary, Lucy Mercer, in 1918. Due to mediation by her mother-in-law, Sara, the liaison was ended officially. After that, both partners started to keep independent agendas, and Eleanor joined the Women’s Trade Union League and became active in the New York state Democratic Party.
Roosevelt was, in her time, one of the world’s most widely admired and powerful women. Nevertheless, in her early years in the White House, she was controversial for her outspokenness, particularly with respect to her promotion of civil rights for African Americans.
- Eleanor Roosevelt was born with the name Anna Eleanor Roosevelt but she preferred her middle name and went by Eleanor. Both her parents died before she was ten years old – she was barely eight years old when her mother passed, and her father shortly thereafter. She and her brothers were sent to live with their Grandmother, where she attended an all-girls school.
- She married her fifth cousin, Franklin, on March 17, 1905.
- A history maker, she became the first First Lady to hold her own press conference and only allowed female reporters to attend. She wrote her own newspaper column called “My Day” up until she died. She traveled the country, speaking to and meeting the American people.
- Eleanor Roosevelt redefined the role of what it meant to be the First Lady. As an active advocate, she was incredibly present amongst the communities in her country.
- She is featured on one of the 2023 quarter dollars as part of the U.S. Women Quarter series.
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