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GRAVITAS MAGAZINE GravitasMag.com | 71 So who was this woman that has been at times called the most controversial First Lady in United States history…the First Lady of the World by President Harry Truman…and one of the top 10 most widely admired people of the 20th century, according to Gallup's 1999 ranking? Born in New York City in 1884 to socialites Elliott Roosevelt and Anna Rebecca Hall, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was a very privileged but rather sad, shy child. Tragically, before the age of 10 she lost both parents and a little brother. Subsequently, Eleanor (who preferred to be addressed by her middle name) and her other younger brother Hall were sent to the home of their maternal grandmother, where together they were raised until Eleanor's departure for a finishing school just outside London. ere the young woman was strongly influenced by the school's founder and headmistress, Marie Souvestre, a noted feminist educator of the time. Having lost her own mother at such a tender age, Eleanor was likely starved for maternal affection. But she grew confident and blossomed under Marie's watchful eye, becoming very popular among her classmates and getting involved in a variety of organizations and clubs. Shortly after returning to the U.S. for her coming out party as a debutante in New York society, Eleanor met Franklin Delano Roosevelt, her father's fifth cousin. e two married in 1905 (with the vehement disapproval of FDR's mother) and set off on a path together that would shape the course of history. Despite the fact that she bore six children, Eleanor reportedly disliked sex, categorizing it as "an ordeal" to be endured. And though she had earned the endearing nickname "Granny" for her tendency to be a bit of an old soul even as a little girl, she never felt very maternal toward her own children, who were primarily raised by her prickly and controlling mother-in-law. Eleanor once wrote very frankly that "it did not come naturally to [her] to understand little children, or to enjoy them." What was second nature to young Eleanor, however, was her intense desire to right the wrongs she witnessed in the world. Drawing upon the liberal arts education Souvestre had instilled in her at Allenswood Academy, Eleanor spent her entire life fighting on behalf of women, the poor, laborers and minorities. Her work included volunteering with the Red Cross, joining the League of Women Voters, chairing the United Nation's Human Rights Commission and helping to write the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—which she considered her greatest achievement. At the end of World War I, during which her husband had served as assistant secretary of the Navy, Eleanor came upon a stack of love letters in Franklin's suitcase. e notes revealed an affair with Lucy Mercer, Eleanor's social secretary, for whom Franklin was considering leaving Eleanor. For the sake of his reputation and public persona (he had served as a New York State senator from 1911-13, and already had his eye on the presidency), a divorce was agreed to be unwise. Eleanor and Franklin decided to stay together, but from that point forward, the marriage was considered by the couple to be little more than a political partnership. Over the years following this confrontation, their relationship was plagued by rumors of further extra-marital affairs on both sides. Eleanor had an extremely close relationship—some say affair—with the famed Associated Press reporter Lorena Hickok, who was composing a biography of Mrs. Roosevelt during her husband's 1932 presidential campaign. Eleanor wrote dozens of pages daily to "Hick," as she affectionately called her. ree hundred of these letters (more than 3,500 were discovered to have been written between the two over a 30-year span) were printed in a book by Rodger Streitmatter titled Empty Without You, published in 2000. Around the same time as her reported fling with Hick, word around town was that Eleanor and New Deal administrator Harry Hopkins were an item. Gossip hounds also romantically linked Eleanor to her appointed bodyguard, New York State Police Sergeant Earl Miller. Clearly Eleanor did not intend on standing idly by while Franklin continued to get a little action on the side (Ms. Mercer was but one of several FDR dalliances). In the political arena, the scope of Eleanor's activism had been broadened with the onset of her husband's polio in 1921. Having encouraged him to stay on his career path despite his sudden illness, Eleanor began making public appearances on his behalf, essentially acting as a THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN THE BEAUTY OF THEIR DREAMS.

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