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.

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1882

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