1890s

1892 Anna Hall Roosevelt, mother, dies. 1894 Elliot Roosevelt, father, dies. 1899-1902 Attends Allenswood School. Headmistress Madame Souvestre says that she has a superior intellect and is a born leader.

1900s Describes uncle, Pres. Roosevelt Click Here to download FREE audio player

1902 Leaves Allenswood after three years to make her society debut at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Dec. 11. 1903 Becomes engaged to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a fifth cousin once removed. 1903-04 Enrolls in Junior League of New York, teaching calisthenics and dancing to immigrants in slum areas. Also joins the Consumers’ League and investigates working conditions in garment factories and department stores. 1905 Marries Franklin in New York on March 17. The bride is given away by uncle, Pres. Theodore Roosevelt. 1906 Gives birth to Anna on May 3. 1907 Gives birth to James on Dec. 23. 1909 Gives birth to Franklin, Jr. on March 18. He dies of influenza the same year.

1910s Women's Suffrage

1910 Gives birth to Elliott on Sept. 23. 1911 Regarding women’s suffrage, states: “If my husband is a suffragist, I probably must be too.” 1912 Attends her first Democratic Party convention. 1914 Gives birth to the second Franklin, Jr. on Aug. 17. 1916 Gives birth to John on March 17. 1918 Works with the Red Cross and the Navy Department to help American servicemen in World War I. 1918 Learns of her husband’s affair with her social secretary, Lucy Mercer. Franklin agrees to end affair and the couple decide against divorce. 1919 Volunteers at St. Elizabeth Hospital visiting shell-shocked World War I veterans. 1919 Volunteers as translator at International Congress of Working Women in Washington.

1920s

1920 Joins Franklin on campaign trail during his unsuccessful bid for Vice President on the James Cox ticket. Begins friendship with Louis Howe, an advisor to her husband. 1920 Joins League of Women Voters and works for women’s political gains following the successful suffrage movement. Learns art of making speeches from Howe and delivers first public speeches for the League. 1921 Nurses Franklin after he is stricken with polio and encourages his ambition to return to public life. 1922 Joins the Women’s Trade Union League and befriends WTUL activists Rose Schneiderman and Maud Schwartz. 1922 Joins the Women’s Division of the Democratic State Committee and begins association with Marion Dickerman and Nancy Cook, activists in mainstream Democratic Party politics. 1922 Writes “Why I Am a Democrat” for the League, crystallizing her ideals and commitment to the Democratic Party. Democratic Luncheon Meeting, 1924 1925 Together with Franklin, builds Val-Kill Cottage in Hyde Park, as a retreat for herself, Dickerman, Cook and friend Caroline O’Day. 1925 Co-founds the Val-Kill furniture factory with Dickerman and Cook. 1926 Together with Dickerman and Cook, purchases Todhunter School, a girl’s school in New York where she teaches history and government. 1927 Befriends Mary McLeod Bethune, black president of Bethune-Cookman college who helps to develop her understanding of black issues and conditions. 1928 Named the director of Bureau of Women’s Activities of the Democratic National Committee. 1928 Writes “Women Must Learn to Play the Game as Men Do” in Redbook magazine as a call for women to become political “bosses.”

1930s Role as first lady Great accomplishments of FDR

1932 After Franklin is elected president, states that the country should not expect her as first lady to be a symbol of elegance but rather, “plain, ordinary Mrs. Roosevelt.” 1933 Becomes the first president’s wife to hold press conferences on March 6; only female reporters are admitted. 1933 Helps to bring about Arthursdale, an experimental homestead project for West Virginia coal miners. 1934 Helps to initiate the National Youth Administration, which employed young Americans. 1934 Arranges a meeting between Franklin and NAACP leader Walter White to discuss anti-lynching legislation. 1934 Campaigns for O’Day, during O’Day’s successful run for Congress. 1935 Arranges a meeting between Franklin, James Farley, head of the Democratic National Committee, and Molly Dewson, head of the Women’s Division of the DNC, to discuss the role of women in the upcoming elections. 1935 Starts publishing her syndicated column, “My Day,” which she continues until her death. 1936 Helps Bethune secure the directorship of the Division of Negro Affairs at the National Youth Administration. 1939 Attends Southern Conference for Human Welfare meeting in Birmingham, Ala., with Bethune. Defies state authority by sitting in center aisle, between whites and blacks, after police tell her she is violating segregation laws by sitting with black people. 1939 Helps to arrange a concert by black singer Marian Anderson for 75,000 people at Lincoln Memorial. 1939-40 Uses her influence to help Karl Frank, who had been active in the German underground movement against Hitler. Helps relocate to America several labor and socialist deputies and their families stranded in Europe.

1940s Krushchev said to me... Our great people...

1941-42 Serves as assistant director of civilian defense. 1943 Travels to South Pacific to boost troop morale. 1945 With Eleanor’s intervention and pressure from civil rights groups, the Army Nurse Corps opens its ranks to black women. 1945 Regarding Franklin’s death, Eleanor says “The story is over,” and returns to private life at the Val-Kill cottage in Hyde Park. 1945 Becomes a member of the NAACP board of directors. 1945 At President Harry Truman’s request, becomes a U.S. delegate to the United Nations. 1946 Debates Soviet delegate head, Andrei Vishinski, regarding World War II refugee repatriation. The General Assembly votes against Vishinski and Eleanor emerges as the world’s foremost spokeswoman for human rights. 1947 After being elected head of the 18-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission, begins work on drafting the Declaration of Human Rights. 1947 Joins Truman in addressing a plenary session of the NAACP annual conference held at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. In her speech, Eleanor stresses the need for civil rights to be viewed as an international issue, thus highlighting the United Nation’s ongoing role in developing a human rights doctrine. 1947 Spearheads a drive by liberals to create Americans for Democratic Action, which advocates domestic social reform and supports Truman’s toughening stance against Russia in the developing Cold War. 1948 Gives “The Struggles for the Rights of Man” speech at the Sorbonne during the U.N. General Assembly meeting in Paris. 1948-49 Teams with her daughter Anna and ABC on a daytime radio discussion program. 1948 Threatens to resign from the United Nations if Truman fails to give recognition and aid to newly created Israel. Truman eventually recognizes and supports Israel and Eleanor remains at the United Nations. 1948 Helps to secure passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the General Assembly. 1949 Cardinal Francis Spellman denounces Eleanor’s stance opposing federal aid to parochial schools.

1950s

1950 Teams with her son Elliott and NBC on a television and radio show featuring famous guests, such as Albert Einstein and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. 1952 Resigns from the U.N. delegation after the election of Eisenhower. 1953 The Women’s Division of the Democratic National Committee, which Eleanor served on for 31 years, is abolished and the staff integrated into existing party structure. 1957 Travels to the Soviet Union for the New York Post, meets Nikita Khrushchev. 1959 Khrushchev visits Eleanor at Hyde Park.

1960s

1960 Writes “You Learn by Living,” reflecting on the experiences of her life. 1960 Meets with John F. Kennedy, begins to take an active role in the Kennedy campaign. 1961 Kennedy re-appoints Eleanor to the United Nations and appoints her as the first head of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women. 1962 Leads an ad hoc Commission of Inquiry into the Administration of Justice in the Freedom Struggle; reports on the efforts and status of civil rights in the United States. 1962 Dies in New York of complications stemming from tuberculosis on Nov. 7 and is buried next to Franklin at Hyde Park on Nov. 10. Timeline text and images courtesy Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. Special thanks to Mark Jensen and Aroop Pandya, Marist College Academic Computing Department, for production assistance. Back to Eleanor Roosevelt