FAYE MOSS: Hello, everyone, and welcome to Superstars in History, the talk show where we meet famous people from the past. Today's guest was the longest-serving first lady of the United States. While expanding the modern role of the president's wife from hostess to activist, she broke boundaries and encouraged change. Straight from history, please welcome Eleanor Roosevelt.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: Hello, Faye!
FAYE MOSS: It's amazing that you're related to two presidents! Your uncle Theodore Roosevelt was president in the early 1900s, and your husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also known as FDR, later became president. You were born into a wealthy, socially prominent New York family in 1884, but you didn't have the happiest childhood.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: I disappointed my beautiful mother because I was a shy, unattractive child who was afraid of everything. Before I was ten, both my parents died, so I was raised by my grandmother. Other children thought I was a strange, sad girl whose dresses were always out of style. I felt like an outsider and hated that everyone pitied me because I was an orphan.
FAYE MOSS: How did you go from awkward child to activist first lady?
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: When I was 15, my grandmother sent me to a girls' school near London, where I spent three happy years. The headmistress, Mademoiselle Souvestre, encouraged and inspired us to do something with our lives. I wanted to stay another year, but my grandmother insisted I return to New York City to make my entry into society.
FAYE MOSS: Oh, I'd love to dress up and go to all those fancy balls!
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: I hated that! Thanks to Mademoiselle Souvestre, I knew there was more to life than finding a husband. I taught classes in the New York City slums and investigated the poor working conditions of women and children.
FAYE MOSS: It sounds like you were busy! How did you meet your husband?
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: Franklin was a distant cousin, so we'd met as children before we encountered each other again as young adults. We married in 1905 and had six children, though one died as an infant.
FAYE MOSS: That was only one crisis you faced together.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: In 1921 Franklin contracted polio and was suddenly paralyzed. He never walked again without assistance. His mother wanted him to return to his childhood home and become a country gentleman, but I wasn't going to let that happen. Before his illness, he'd planned to run for governor of New York State. I kept his name alive in the Democratic Party by encouraging politicians to visit him. I also rose to leadership positions in the women's division of the party. It was a busy time because I was teaching at a girls' school in New York City. I kept teaching after Franklin was elected governor in 1928, and we had moved to the state capital several hours away. I also did some writing and radio work.
FAYE MOSS: When FDR became president in 1933, the Great Depression had left millions of Americans jobless and homeless. FDR believed the government should take care of people, so he created the New Deal—an ambitious package of programs to employ and help them.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: I'm impressed with how much you know!
FAYE MOSS: Thanks! How did you feel about becoming first lady?
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: I was reluctant because I dreaded becoming just a hostess, and I'd avoided this role my whole life. Having earned my own money, I didn't want to give up my work and my financial independence. Some people criticized me for hosting radio programs, writing magazine articles, and giving speeches—even though I donated my earnings to charity.
FAYE MOSS: It was unusual back then for married women to work, never mind the first lady.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: I always encouraged women to work. For example, to encourage newspapers to employ women reporters, only women were allowed to attend my press conferences.
FAYE MOSS: You were also well known as a civil rights champion. How did that start?
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: As first lady I traveled the country to gather information so I could update Franklin on Americans' opinions and needs. I was never afraid to tell him what I thought he should hear. In 1933, after visiting unemployed coal miners, I pushed for the development of Arthurdale, West Virginia. This community provided jobs as well as decent housing for miners and their families. Although many people judged it a failure because of its cost, I was happy that we could help some families. But I was disappointed when the first residents banned African Americans from the community. This led me to become more involved in the fight against racial prejudice.
FAYE MOSS: Speaking of which, tell us about the famous incident with singer Marian Anderson.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: In 1939 she wasn't allowed to perform at a Washington, DC, auditorium because she was African American. I spoke against the organization that owned the venue and helped arrange an outdoor concert at the Lincoln Memorial that 75,000 people attended—much more than the original venue could hold!
FAYE MOSS: That's incredible! During World War II, you identified with many mothers because your four sons were serving in the military. Your visits to American troops in the South Pacific and Great Britain increased your popularity. Journalists and high-ranking military men were amazed at your energy and stamina.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: During my trips I was also working on "My Day," my six-day-a-week newspaper column that I started in 1936. Over the years I wrote about everything from places I visited to issues I wanted to push. When the British king and queen visited us before the war, I wrote about people criticizing me for serving hot dogs. They loved the hot dogs, by the way!
FAYE MOSS: Your years as first lady ended when FDR died unexpectedly in 1945, barely months into his fourth term. I've heard there were constant rumors you'd run for office.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: Although I campaigned for Democratic presidential candidates, I had no interest in running for anything. From 1945 to 1952, I served as a delegate to the United Nations, where my proudest accomplishment was the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Those rights ranged from free speech and privacy to health and education.
FAYE MOSS: Wow! You certainly led a full life, but it's time to let you get back to history.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: Thank you for having me!
FAYE MOSS: Eleanor Roosevelt continued working with the United Nations. In the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy named her chairperson of his committee on the status of women. She kept writing, speaking, and traveling the world for causes she believed in. Her final "My Day" column was published six weeks before she died in 1962 at the age of 78. Today she is remembered as one of the most influential women of the twentieth century.
I hope you enjoyed today's show. See you next time on Superstars in History.