The Life, Times, and Vision of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt
The relationship of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt began as the courtship of two young people raised in the same elite New York social circle. Over the next four decades, it became something far more unusual.
January 30—Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) was born at Hyde Park
1884
October 11—Eleanor Roosevelt (ER) was born in New York City
1905
March 17—Franklin and Eleanor are married
1910
Franklin was elected to New York State Senate
1912
Eleanor attends her first Democratic Party Convention
1913
April—Franklin was appointed as Assistant Secretary of the Navy
1918
Eleanor works with the Red Cross, the Navy Department to help American Servicemen in WWI
1920
Franklin is nominated for Vice President on ticket with James N. Cox, but lost to Coolidge and Harding
Eleanor joins League of Women Voters and works for womens’ political gains following the successful movement
1921
August—Franklin is stricken with poliomyelitis at Campobello, New Brunswick, Canada
1922
Eleanor writes “Why I Am a Democrat,” crystallizing her ideals and commitment to the Democratic Party
1927
Franklin founded the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation therapy center for the treatment of polio victims
1928
November 6—Franklin was elected as Governor of New York
1932
November 8—Franklin was elected as President
Eleanor states that the country should not expect the new First Lady to be a symbol of elegance but rather, “plain, ordinary Mrs. Roosevelt.”
1933
March 4—Franklin was inaugurated as 32nd President
March 6—Eleanor becomes the 1st First Lady to hold a press conference where only female reporters are admitted
June 16—Franklin signs the National Industrial Recovery Act, part of his “New Deal” platform
1936
November 3—Franklin was Reelected as President
1940
November 5—Franklin was reelected as President
1941
December 8—U.S. declares war on Japan
December 11—U.S. declares war on Germany
1942
January 6—Franklin Gives State of the Union speech popularly known as the “Four Freedoms”
1945
April 12—Franklin died in Warm Springs, Georgia
April 15—Franklin buried in Hyde Park, New York
Regarding Franklin’s death, Eleanor says “ The story is over,” and returns to private life at her beloved Val-Kill cottage in Hyde Park
Eleanor accepts President Harry Truman’s offer to serve as a US delegate to the United Nations
1947
Eleanor begins work on drafting the Declaration of Human Rights
1952
Eleanor resigns from the UN delegation after the election of Republican President Eisenhower
1960
Eleanor meets with John F. Kennedy at Val-Kill
1961
President Kennedy reappoints Eleanor to the UN and appoints her as the first chairperson of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women
1962
November 10—Eleanor dies in NYC from disseminated tuberculosis, aplastic anemia and heart failure
