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In America’s darkest hour, a woman blazed the trail to the presidency |
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Written by NEIL GODBOUT
Citizen news editor
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Thursday, 28 August 2008 |
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UNITED STATESSECOND WORLD WAR
If you thought Hillary Clinton said that, you would be wrong.
If Clinton had been awarded the Democratic nomination this week and had gone on to become the first female president of the United States, she would have been standing on the shoulders of the giant who wrote those words 60 years ago, a nearly six-foot-tall political force who invented the modern incarnation of the politically active First Lady.
Before Eleanor Roosevelt came to the White House in 1933 with her charismatic husband Franklin, the First Lady’s job was to stand quietly by her man and host afternoon tea for the other wives of Washington’s political elite.
Eleanor would have none of that.
During Franklin’s rise, first to Woodrow Wilson’s cabinet, then governor of New York and finally the White House, Eleanor rolled up her sleeves and worked the political trenches, particularly after her husband became paralyzed from the waist down in 1921.
Franklin denied his inability to walk right up to his death in April 1945, using braces, canes and the strong arm of one of his sons to make it look like his legs could actually hold any weight. But that wasn’t the only private detail Franklin hid from the American public.
After having six children together, Franklin and Eleanor’s marriage became a partnership of convenience after Eleanor discovered, in 1918, her husband’s longtime affair with his secretary. Eleanor certainly had the means to leave but their children and their unified political and social views kept them together.
Franklin’s paralysis and their friendship-disguised-as-marriage allowed Eleanor to become her own woman before it was fashionable to do so. Her imposing stature, the family pedigree (Theodore Roosevelt was her uncle and Franklin was her fifth cousin) and her tireless drive took care of the rest.
During Franklin’s 12 years as president, Eleanor became the face of his presidency. Although FDR inspired a devotion to a president from the American public that has never been duplicated and his soaring voice over the radio was a tonic for a nation battered first by the Great Depression and then the Second World War, Eleanor went out among the people.
She travelled extensively as First Lady, bringing her husband’s vision of hope to both urban and rural America. She brought attention to the plight of the poor and was a fierce advocate for increased rights for African-Americans. The first First Lady to hold regular news conferences, Eleanor also wrote her own syndicated newspaper column.
More importantly, she was Franklin’s most trusted adviser, his eyes and ears out in the field, reporting back to the White House on the political mood of the country and how the New Deal was slowly turning the ravaged economy around.
Eleanor’s political work didn’t end with FDR’s death. Harry Truman made her the U.S. delegate to the newly-formed United Nations, a post she held for more than six years. During her UN tenure, she chaired the human rights commission and played a key role in drafting the Declaration of Human Rights.
When a woman finally occupies America’s highest office, there will be many women, including Hillary Clinton, to thank for blazing the trail, but none deserve more credit for vaulting American women into the political arena than Eleanor Roosevelt.
Neil Godbout is The Citizen's news editor.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 28 August 2008 )
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