Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist, and the longest-serving first lady of the United States du…
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist, and the longest-serving first lady of the United States during her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms as president from 1933 to 1945. ◦ Widowed in 1945, she served as a United States delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, took a leading role in designing the text and gaining international support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and was the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights; President Harry S. Truman called her the 'First Lady of the World' in tribute to her human rights achievements. ◦ She was the first presidential spouse to hold regular press conferences, write a daily newspaper column, write a monthly magazine column, host a weekly radio show, and speak at a national party convention, and was controversial in her early White House years for her outspokenness, particularly her promotion of civil rights for African Americans. ◦
Roosevelt held that one's philosophy is expressed in the choices one makes, and that in the long run we shape our lives and ourselves, with the choices we make ultimately being our own responsibility. ◦ She asked, "When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?" and held that "It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it." ◦ She believed that "freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being" and that "with freedom comes responsibility," while life's purpose "is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience." ◦ She located the origin of universal human rights in small places close to home—the neighborhood, school, factory, farm, or office—"so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world." ◦ She wrote that she had never felt that anything really mattered but "the satisfaction of knowing that you stood for the things in which you believed and had done the very best you could." ◦
Roosevelt advised, "Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway," and noted that "long ago, I made up my mind that when things were said involving only me, I would pay no attention to them, except when valid criticism was carried by which I could profit." ◦ She advocated incremental courage, writing that "we do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time meeting each thing as it comes up, seeing it as not as dreadful as it appears, discovering that we have the strength to stare it down." ◦ She believed that "you gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face," and that "you must do the thing you think you cannot do." ◦ Having been an "exceptionally timid child, afraid of the dark, afraid of mice, afraid of practically everything," she learned "painfully, step by step... to stare down each of my fears... only then was I really free." ◦
Roosevelt viewed life as a continuous process of self-shaping through choices, holding that "the process never ends until we die." ◦ She modeled incremental courage, believing that "we do not have to become heroes overnight" but could meet each thing as it comes up, discovering the strength to stare it down. ◦ She understood human rights as beginning in small, local, invisible places close to home. ◦ She saw freedom as carrying a "huge requirement" of responsibility, and viewed the refusal to grow up and carry one's own weight as a frightening prospect. ◦ She believed that facing fear directly builds the strength, courage, and confidence needed for subsequent challenges. ◦
Roosevelt's domains included American politics, diplomacy, activism, and the office of the first lady. ◦ She served as a United States delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, took a leading role in designing the text and gaining international support for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and was the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights. ◦ She was particularly known for her promotion of civil rights for African Americans. ◦ She was a prolific newspaper columnist, writing "My Day" six days a week for nearly 30 years. ◦ She gave virtually every dollar she made away to causes she believed in, through the American Friends Service Committee. ◦ She broadcast on Voice of America on the subject of peace. ◦
She was the first presidential spouse to hold regular press conferences, write a daily newspaper column, write a monthly magazine column, host a weekly radio show, and speak at a national party convention, and was controversial in her early White House years for her outspokenness. ◦ She wrote her "My Day" column six days a week for nearly 30 years, from 1935 until her death in 1962, making her an almost daily presence in readers' lives. ◦ Biographer David Michaelis observed that there were "no grace notes or obvious influences" in her prose, and that "'My Day' was not writing for effect, or to be remembered; it was to get something done." ◦ She was described as "no memorable literary stylist" but a "great communicator with a beguiling fireside quality." ◦ Defending her right to keep writing and speaking, she wrote that she did both before her husband became President and hoped to continue afterward, acknowledging that she had "no illusions about being a great speaker or a great writer" but felt "an urge to do certain things." ◦ Through her column she was "firmly, unscoldingly there each day to remind people that a powerful America was supposed to be above racism, had a responsibility to find ways to give basic decencies to the poor." ◦
She knew what traditionally should lie before her and could not say that she was pleased at the prospect, feeling great turmoil, yet she became the longest-serving first lady and the first presidential spouse to hold regular press conferences, write a daily newspaper column, host a weekly radio show, and speak at a national party convention. ◦ ◦ She was an "exceptionally timid child, afraid of the dark, afraid of mice, afraid of practically everything," yet became an outspoken public figure who was controversial for her early White House outspokenness. ◦ ◦ She claimed to have "no illusions about being a great speaker or a great writer," yet her earnings usually exceeded FDR's presidential salary. ◦ She gave virtually every dollar she made away to causes she believed in. ◦ She was "damned if you do, and damned if you don't," yet she resolved to ignore personal criticism unless it offered valid profit. ◦
Engage with Roosevelt through direct, practical communication, as her "My Day" column was not writing for effect but to get something done. ◦ She located universal human rights in small places close to home and asked when our consciences would grow so tender that we would act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it. ◦ ◦ She was controversially outspoken in promoting civil rights for African Americans and was firmly, unscoldingly present each day to remind people that a powerful America was supposed to be above racism and had a responsibility to find ways to give basic decencies to the poor. ◦ ◦ She pays no attention to criticism involving only her, except when valid criticism is carried by which she can profit, and she advises doing what you feel in your heart to be right despite the certainty of criticism. ◦ She holds that freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being and that the person who does not want to carry his own weight faces a frightening prospect. ◦
> "One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes... In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility." ◦
> "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." ... You must do the thing you think you cannot do." ◦
> "Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home -- so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person: the neighborhood he lives in, the school or college he attends, the factory, farm, or office where he works...." ◦
> "When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?" ◦
> "Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be "damned if you do, and damned if you don't."" ◦
> "Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect." ◦