Eleanor Roosevelt Biography Quotes 60 Report mistakes

Early Life
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born on October 11, 1884, in New York City. She was the daughter of Anna Hall Roosevelt and Elliott Roosevelt, and the niece of Theodore Roosevelt, who later became President of the United States. Orphaned at a young age, she was raised by her maternal grandmother, Mary Hall. Shy and self-conscious as a child, she took refuge in study and service, developing a sensitivity to injustice that would shape her public life. The family connections that linked her to the Roosevelts and to New York society were important, but her path diverged from expectation as she sought meaningful engagement with the world beyond social circles.

Education and Personal Awakening
As a teenager, she attended Allenswood Academy near London, where the headmistress, Marie Souvestre, encouraged independent thought, international awareness, and civic responsibility. This experience transformed Eleanor Roosevelt, giving her confidence and a sense of purpose. Returning to New York, she volunteered in settlement houses on the Lower East Side, taught immigrant children, and joined the Junior League organized by reformers such as Mary Harriman. These early commitments to social work and education formed the foundation of a lifelong belief that democracy required active citizenship.

Marriage and Family
On March 17, 1905, she married Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Her uncle, President Theodore Roosevelt, gave the bride away. The couple eventually had six children, five of whom survived to adulthood: Anna, James, Elliott, Franklin Jr., and John. Franklin Roosevelt rose in public life, serving as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and later as Governor of New York. During World War I, Eleanor Roosevelt worked with the Red Cross and visited military hospitals, stepping into roles that brought her into contact with political advisers such as Louis Howe. When Franklin Roosevelt was stricken with polio in 1921, she became a crucial partner in his recovery and political resurgence, serving as his eyes and ears across the state and nation and developing her own voice as a public figure.

Building a Public Identity
In the 1920s, she taught at the Todhunter School in New York, a progressive school she helped run with Marion Dickerman, and created a retreat and social enterprise at Val-Kill in Hyde Park with Dickerman and Nancy Cook. She forged ties with reformers including Frances Perkins, who later became Secretary of Labor, and built networks through women-led organizations that supported labor rights, consumer protections, and youth opportunities. Her writing, speaking, and organizational leadership broadened the constituency of social reform in New York and prepared her for national influence once her husband entered the White House.

First Lady of the United States
When Franklin D. Roosevelt became President in 1933, Eleanor Roosevelt redefined the role of First Lady. She held regular press conferences that prioritized women reporters, traveled widely to inspect New Deal programs, and wrote the daily column My Day, begun in 1935, which reached millions of readers. She supported initiatives like the National Youth Administration and worked closely with officials such as Harold Ickes and Harry Hopkins. Her advocacy extended to labor and rural relief, and she championed the inclusion of women in public life, encouraging figures such as Frances Perkins to pursue bold policy goals.

A steadfast advocate for civil rights, she cultivated close relationships with leaders including Mary McLeod Bethune and Walter White. In 1939, she resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution after the organization denied the use of Constitution Hall to the contralto Marian Anderson; the concert arranged at the Lincoln Memorial, introduced by Ickes, became a landmark event. She corresponded with labor organizer A. Philip Randolph and pressed the administration to address discrimination in defense industries. Her independent public activity occasionally drew criticism, but she sustained it with the support of allies and amid a demanding White House environment shaped by aides such as Missy LeHand and the seasoned strategist Louis Howe. She also formed a lasting friendship with journalist Lorena Hickok, who provided counsel and insight as she navigated national scrutiny.

World War II and the Home Front
During World War II, Eleanor Roosevelt traveled extensively, visiting factories, military bases, and hospitals. In 1943 she toured the South Pacific to meet service members and assess conditions, bringing back detailed reports to Washington. She supported African American pilots at Tuskegee and encouraged the expansion of opportunities for women and minorities in defense work. In the early years of the war she served with Fiorello La Guardia in the Office of Civilian Defense, advocating volunteer mobilization and civil preparedness. Through her columns and radio broadcasts, she communicated to the public about sacrifice, morale, and the responsibilities of democratic citizenship in wartime.

United Nations and the Universal Declaration
After President Roosevelt died in April 1945, President Harry S. Truman appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as a United States delegate to the United Nations. She became chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights in 1947 and led the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly on December 10, 1948. Working with colleagues such as Rene Cassin of France, Charles Malik of Lebanon, and Peng Chun Chang of China, she built consensus across cultural and political divides. Her insistence on clear, universal language reflected a belief that human rights apply to every person and that governments are accountable to those standards. She remained a central figure in the UN through 1952, a visible diplomat for the idea that peace rests on dignity, freedom, and social progress.

Books, Public Voice, and Continuing Advocacy
Eleanor Roosevelt wrote prolifically, including the three-volume autobiography This Is My Story, This I Remember, and On My Own, as well as You Learn by Living. She used these works, along with My Day, lectures, and radio programs, to interpret public events and to invite readers into the practice of citizenship. She promoted refugee aid, civil rights, and international cooperation, aligning with organizations such as the American Association for the United Nations. Through Val-Kill she maintained a home base that symbolized her belief in practical craftsmanship, community, and accessible leadership.

Later Years and Legacy
In the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy asked her to chair the President's Commission on the Status of Women, drawing on her long experience with labor and social reform to study barriers facing women in education, work, and public life. She continued to travel, to meet with activists and students, and to encourage emerging leaders. Eleanor Roosevelt died in New York City on November 7, 1962, after a period of illness, and was buried at Hyde Park beside Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Eleanor Roosevelt broadened the meaning of public service in the United States. She transformed the First Lady's role into a platform for policy and moral leadership, linked grassroots observations to national action, and carried American ideals into a universal framework at the United Nations. Through partnerships with reformers and statesmen, from Frances Perkins and Mary McLeod Bethune to Rene Cassin and Harry S. Truman, she demonstrated how empathy, persistence, and principled negotiation could make government more responsive. Her life connected private conscience to public responsibility, leaving a legacy that continues to inform debates over democracy and human rights.

Our collection contains 60 quotes who is written by Eleanor, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Motivational - Ethics & Morality - Wisdom - Truth.

Other people realated to Eleanor: Albert Einstein (Physicist), Theodore Roosevelt (President), Franklin D. Roosevelt (President), John F. Kennedy (President), Adlai E. Stevenson (Politician), Olin Miller (Writer), Alice Roosevelt Longworth (Author), John Kenneth Galbraith (Economist), Harry S. Truman (President), Miriam Beard (Historian)

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