Well before she became the nation’s first lady in 1933, Eleanor Roosevelt was an activist dedicated to social reform and women’s rights.
Famous for her independent spirit, the New York native’s political ascendancy took place during a turbulent time, which saw the rise of the women’s suffrage movement and endured World War I before falling into the Great Depression.
Both the women’s movement and the circumstances of war and poverty drove Roosevelt into political action. During the First World War, she was heavily involved in Navy relief as well as the American Red Cross — causes that gave her purpose independent of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s career.
In the 1920s, while her husband was involved in New York state politics, Roosevelt became a member of the New York State League of Women Voters.
Roosevelt took to the White House her sense of purpose and ambition, despite criticism from both her family members and the public about the role of the first lady in the professional sphere.
When FDR rolled out the New Deal, the first lady used her connections with the women’s division of the Democratic National Committee to lobby her husband’s administration to put women in places of power within the Depression relief programs.
The former first lady also held press conferences exclusively for female journalists, bolstering women in an industry dominated by men so that they could advance in their careers.
— Lauren Vella
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