Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt’s maiden name was Roosevelt. She was a cousin of President Theodore Roosevelt, and a descendant of two prominent New York families. As her husband was the longest serving president, she occupied the position of First Lady longer than any other woman. She maintained close relationships throughout her life with women, including famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart and Associated Press reporter and later government employee Lorena Hickok. Speculation over whether such relationships were of a sexual nature continues among historians and scholars today.
When Eleanor became First Lady it was with a determined drive to change the office forever. It had been traditional for the First Lady to avoid the appearance of work outside of the White House; Eleanor continued her active career in business and in public appearances from the outset. She wrote a daily newspaper column entitled My Day which was syndicated nationwide, hosted her own radio broadcast, and wrote monthly magazine columns.
Eleanor began the practice of the First Lady holding her own press conferences, speaking through her own office rather than through that of the president. The president’s salary at the time was $75,000 and Eleanor publicly announced her intention to out-earn her husband. By the time the United States entered World War II Eleanor was commanding speaker’s fees of $1,000 per appearance, roughly equivalent to $17,000 today.
Eleanor took a particular interest in the plight of coal miners and their families, frequently to the exasperation of her husband. One project which he supported was her proposal to develop a pre-planned community of displaced miners in a subsistence farming community to be known as Arthurdale. The community was racially segregated, Jews were restricted, and Conservatives labelled it a “communist utopia.” FDR quickly withdrew from its support, although Eleanor avidly lobbied for funding for similar communities.
The imperious Eleanor banned male reporters from her press conferences, thus forcing editors to retain female reporters on their staffs. On more than one occasion FDR was forces to issue press statements which renounced the policies or opinions voiced by his wife. After leaving the White House and the office of First Lady, which she had forever changed, Eleanor continued her activism for the rest of her life.