名人軼事56:Eleanor Roosevelt Was the Most Influential Wife of Any

Eleanor Roosevelt Was the Most Influential Wife of Any American President

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VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Shirley Griffith with People in America in VOA Special English.

Today, we tell about the woman who was the most influential wife of any

American president, Eleanor Roosevelt.

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VOICE ONE:

Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife of America's thirty-second president, Franklin

Delano Roosevelt. She helped her husband in many ways during his long

political life. She also became one of the most influential people in America.

She fought for equal rights for all people -- workers, women, poor people,

black people. And she sought peace among nations.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City in Eighteen eighty-four.

Eleanor's family had great wealth and influence. But Eleanor did not have a

happy childhood. Her mother was sick and nervous. Her father did not work. He

drank too much alcohol. He was not like his older brother, Theodore Roosevelt,

who was later elected president.

When Eleanor was eight years old, her mother died. Two years later, her father

died. Eleanor's grandmother raised the Roosevelt children. Eleanor remembered

that as a child, her greatest happiness came from helping others.

VOICE TWO:

In the early nineteen hundreds, many people were concerned about the problems

of poor people who came to America in search of a better life. Eleanor

Roosevelt could not understand how people lived in such poor conditions while

she and others had so much wealth.

After she finished school, Eleanor began teaching children to read in one of

the poorest areas of New York City, called "Hell's Kitchen." She investigated

factories where workers were said to be badly treated. She saw little children

of four and five-years-old working until they dropped to the floor. She became

involved with other women who shared the same ideas about improving social

conditions.

Franklin Roosevelt began visiting Eleanor. Franklin belonged to another part

of the Roosevelt family. Franklin and Eleanor were married in nineteen-oh-

five. In the next eleven years, they had six children.

VOICE ONE:

Franklin Roosevelt began his life in politics in New York. He was elected to

be a state legislator. Later, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him to be

assistant secretary of the Navy. The Roosevelts moved to Washington in

nineteen thirteen. It was there, after thirteen years of marriage, that

Eleanor Roosevelt went through one of the hardest periods of her life. She

discovered that her husband had fallen in love with another woman. She wanted

to end the marriage. But her husband urged her to remain his wife.

She did. Yet her relationship with her husband changed. She decided she would

no longer play the part of a politician's wife. Instead, she began to build a

life with interests of her own. In nineteen twenty-one, Franklin Roosevelt was

struck by the terrible disease polio. He would never walk again without help.

His political life seemed over, but his wife helped him return to politics. He

was elected governor of New York two times.

VOICE TWO:

Eleanor Roosevelt learned about politics and became involved in issues and

groups that interested her. In nineteen twenty-two, she became part of the

Women's Trade Union League. She also joined the debate about ways to stop war.

In those years after World War One, she argued that America must be involved

in the world to prevent another war. "Peace is the question of the hour," she

once told a group of women. "Women must work for peace to keep from losing

their loved ones."

The question of war and peace was forgotten as the United States entered a

severe economic depression in nineteen twenty-nine. Prices suddenly dropped on

the New York stock market. Banks lost their money. People lost their jobs.

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VOICE ONE:

Franklin Roosevelt was elected president in nineteen thirty-two. He promised

to end the Depression and put Americans back to work. Missus Roosevelt helped

her husband by spreading information about his new economic program. It was

called the New Deal. She traveled around the country giving speeches and

visiting areas that needed economic aid.

Missus Roosevelt was different from the wives of earlier presidents. She was

the first to become active in political and social issues. While her husband

was president, Missus Roosevelt held more than three hundred news conferences

for female reporters. She wrote a daily newspaper commentary. She wrote for

many magazines. These activities helped spread her ideas to all Americans and

showed that women had important things to say.

VOICE TWO:

One issue Missus Roosevelt became involved in was equal rights for black

Americans. She met publicly with black leaders to hear their problems. Few

American politicians did this during the nineteen thirties and nineteen

forties. One incident involving Missus Roosevelt became international news.

In nineteen thirty-nine, an American singer, Marian Anderson, planned a

performance at Constitution Hall in Washington. But a conservative women's

group refused to permit her to sing there because she was black.

VOICE ONE:

Missus Roosevelt was a member of that organization, the Daughters of the

American Revolution. She publicly resigned her membership to protest the

action of the group. An opinion study showed that most Americans thought she

was right.

Eleanor Roosevelt helped the performance to be held outdoors, around the

Lincoln Memorial. More than seventy thousand people heard Marian Anderson

sing. Missus Roosevelt was always considered one of its strongest supporters

of the civil rights movement.

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VOICE TWO:

The United States was forced to enter World War Two when Japanese forces

attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in nineteen forty-

one.

Missus Roosevelt made many speeches over the radio praising the soldiers she

saw on her travels. She called on people to urge their government to work for

peace after the war was over. Franklin Roosevelt died in nineteen forty-five,

soon after he was elected to a fourth term as president.

When his wife heard the news she said, "I am more sorry for the people of this

country than I am for myself."

VOICE ONE:

Harry Truman became president after Franklin Roosevelt died. World War Two

ended a few months later. The leaders of the world recognized the need for

peace So they joined together to form the United Nations. President Truman

appointed Missus Roosevelt as a delegate to the first meeting of the UN. A

newspaper wrote at the time: "Missus Roosevelt, better than any other person,

can best represent the little people of America, or even the world."

Later, Missus Roosevelt was elected chairman of the UN Human Rights

Commission. She helped write a resolution called the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights. That declaration became an accepted part of international law.

VOICE TWO:

Missus Roosevelt spent the last years of her life visiting foreign countries.

She became America's unofficial ambassador. She returned home troubled by what

she saw. She recognized that the needs of the developing world were great. She

called on Americans to help the people in developing countries. A few years

before she died, Eleanor Roosevelt spoke about what she believed in life. This

is what she said:

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: “This life always seems to me to be a continuing process

of education and development. What we are preparing for, none of us can be

sure. But, that we must do our best while we are here and develop all our

capacities is absolutely certain. We face whatever we have to face in this

life. And if we do it bravely and sincerely, we’re probably accomplishing

that growth which we were put here to accomplish.”

VOICE ONE:

Eleanor Roosevelt gave the best she had all through her life. People around

the world recognized their loss when she died in nineteen sixty-two.

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VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis.

I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE ONE: And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for People in America

in VOA Special English.