In the Spring of 1945, the nation mourned the passing of its 32nd President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Few grieved as much as his wife Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, who had guided FDR through polio, stood by his side in politics, and drove him to uphold the New Deal. So it was not surprising when Eleanor declared to her all female press corps, “The story--- is over.” In truth, It was anything but.
Mrs. Roosevelt's greatest accomplishments followed her husband’s death, and more than any man of her time, shaped the events of her era. As a diplomat, she secured our modern respect for human rights and peace. As an activist, she laid the groundwork for Civil Rights as an essential ally. Mrs. Roosevelt should be an inspiration and heroine to all Americans. Unfortunately, too often she is forgotten. In December of 1945, President Harry Truman appointed Eleanor as a member of the United State’s first delegation to the newly formed United Nations. Mrs. Roosevelt surprised everyone with her skillful oration and political acumen. Her early tests on the Social Humanitarian Cultural Committee saw her clash with Soviet retributionists, who sought to forcibly return refugees to home nations to be tried as traitors, a measure that Mrs. Roosevelt helped strike down in the general assembly. However, Eleanor’s greatest legacy came with her leading role in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Leading the UN Human Rights Commission, Eleanor insisted on a document that bridged nationalities to the ideals of the human race as a whole - controversially Condemning the post-war atrocities of colonialism and the Iron Curtain. The Declaration would become a cornerstone document of the UN, and inspire a century of activism to secure the rights promised in it. In her seven years as Delegate, Eleanor traveled around the world to meet with and learn about different peoples and their concerns. She discussed the Pakistani Partition with Indian Prime Minister Nehru, the Chinese Civil War with Madame Chiang Kai Shek, the decolonization of Kenya with British Prime Minister Clement Atlee, and even met with Israeli Prime Minister Chaim Weizmann to voice her support for a Jewish homeland. Her travels granted her a unique perspective of the world, and respect for all cultures and their own struggles. During the Eisenhower presidency, Eleanor maintained that racial inequality was the biggest threat to democracy. Becoming more vocal as the decade progressed with the unprecedented Brown v. Board of Ed. decision and the integration crisis at Little Rock, Eleanor became disillusioned at government policies of patient integration. Eleanor helped to fund, train, and support sit-ins, marches, and boycotts; she worked with prominent Civil Rights leaders like Dr. King and Autherine Lucy during the Montgomery Bus Boycotts as well as the planning of the March on Washington. During Freedom Summer, she chaired a public hearing investigating police brutality against protesters. For Mrs. Roosevelt, the integration of schools and providing equal opportunity to all was a personal goal. She used her influence during the 1956 National Convention to ensure that the Democratic platform included support for Brown v. Board of Ed. When John Kennedy was elected in 1960, Mrs. Roosevelt publicly disapproved of his lack support of Civil Rights, and campaigned around the nation in support of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960. Eleanor spent the last two years of her life in pain, suffering severely from Aplastic Anemia and Tuberculosis. Under President Kennedy, she drove for the creation of and led the Commission for the Status of Women, and spoke in Congress advocating for legislation that would provide equal pay for equal work, dropping her four decade opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment. In the Fall of 1962, Eleanor returned to her childhood home at Val Kill, New York. There she spent her last days finishing her memoir, and passed away at the age of 78. Eleanor Roosevelt's story is all the more meaningful and inspiring for the expectations that she overcame. After her husband’s death, she was expected to fade into obscurity. Eleanor refused, leading our nation in its first global congress and traveling around the world to explore all its cultures. Her ability to not only defy these expectations, but bridge the inequalities of the world so that others might overcome their own expectations remain her greatest legacy. For Eleanor, as she wrote in her autobiography, “Staying aloof is not a solution, but cowardly evasion.”
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