Eleanor Roosevelt

Several years ago, I purchased a biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, titled Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol. 1:  1884-1933 By Blanche Wieson Cook.  I don't believe I have ever read a more moving and interesting book.  For me personally, she is an inspiration and a role model, someone all women can aspire to be like. She never considered herself to be a beautiful woman but wrote that one's prospects in life were not totally dependent on physical beauty, writing wistfully "No matter how plain a woman may be if truth and loyalty are stamped upon her face all will be attracted to her."  Words that give credence to what my mom used to tell me, "Pretty is as pretty does."  It was said that she literally lit up a room with her smile when she entered it.

A Young Eleanor Roosevelt
Image via ~ Google Images

Eleanor was tutored privately and at age 15, encouraged by her father's sister, her aunt "Bamie" was sent to a private finishing school outside London, England (Allenswood Academy)  The headmistress at the time, Marie Souvestre, was a noted feminist and educator who sought to cultivate independent thinking in young women in her charge.  She learned to speak fluent French and gained self-confidence.  Later, she would study at The New School in the 1920's.  Below is a brief history of her accomplishments.

Eleanor Roosevelt later in life
Image via ~ Google Images

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (/ˈɛlɨnɔr ˈroʊzəvɛlt/; October 11, 1884 - November 7, 1962) was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Dealpolicies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international author, speaker, politician, and activist for the New Deal coalition. She worked to enhance the status of working women, although she opposed the Equal Rights Amendment because she believed it would adversely affect women.

In the 1940s, Roosevelt was one of the co-founders of Freedom House and supported the formation of the United Nations. Roosevelt founded the UN Association of the United States in 1943 to advance support for the formation of the UN. She was a delegate to the UN General Assembly from 1945 and 1952, a job for which she was appointed by President Harry S. Truman and confirmed by the United States Senate. During her time at the United Nations she chaired the committee that drafted and approved theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights. President Truman called her the "First Lady of the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements.^[1]

Active in politics for the rest of her life, Roosevelt chaired the John F. Kennedyadministration's ground-breaking committee which helped start second-wave feminism, the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. In 1999, she was ranked in the top ten of Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century.^[2]

 If you're interested in more information on her early life and marriage to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, check here:  Wikipedia ~ Eleanor Roosevelt.  You won't be disappointed.

Do you have a special person who inspires you?

Source of information ~ Wikipedia