Eleanor Roosevelt Embraces a Tribute to Her Husband’s Memory

Roosevelt was, in her time, one of the world’s most widely admired and powerful women. In her years in the White House she was controversial for her outspokenness, particularly with respect to her promotion of civil rights. She was the first presidential spouse to hold regular press conferences, write a daily newspaper column, write a monthly magazine column, host a weekly radio show, and speak at a national party convention. Her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt, revered by many, often consulted with her on policy and used her as a connection to groups he sought to woo or to assist.

Following FDR’s death in April 1945, Eleanor Roosevelt was a lightening rod for those who wanted to honor or pay respects to her late husband. She had her own projects as well. She pressed the United States to join and support the United Nations and became its first delegate to the committee on Human Rights. She served as the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and oversaw the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Later, in the administration of John F. Kennedy, she chaired its Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. By the time of her death, Mrs. Roosevelt was regarded as “one of the most esteemed women in the world”.

Typed letter signed, on her Val-Kill Cottage letterhead, June 28, 1948, to a Miss Cooke, lauding her tribute to FDR. “Thank you so much for sending me the copy of your book of poems and for the tribute to my husband. I shall place the book in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library with the other tributes to my husband’s memory.”