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Wednesday 7 November 2012

Eleanor Roosevelt

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of Eleanor Roosevelt's death in 1962.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born in October 11, 1884.  She was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. Her husband was also rumoured to be a distant cousin of hers - Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She became an advocate for civil rights.

After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt became an international author, speaker, politician, and activist for the New Deal coalition (a response to the Great Depression: Relief, Recovery, and Reform - Relief for the unemployed and poor; Recovery of the economy to normal levels; and Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression).

She worked to enhance the status of working women, although she opposed the Equal Rights Amendment because she believed it would adversely affect women.


Roosevelt was injured in April 1960 when she was struck by a car in New York City. She died in November 7, 1962 as a result of recurrent tuberculosis. Her funeral at Hyde Park was attended by President John F. Kennedy and former Presidents Truman and Eisenhower. At her memorial service, Adlai Stevenson asked, "What other single human being has touched and transformed the existence of so many? She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness, and her glow has warmed the world."


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