The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project is a university-chartered research center
associated with the Department of History of The George Washington University
|
1933 |
Becomes
First Lady and struggles to find an acceptable role in
the administration
Visits Bonus Army encampment
Holds regular press conferences, the first first lady
to do so
Champions Arthurdale, an experimental homestead
project for West Virginia coal miners, and joins
advisory committee to the Housing Division of the
Works Progress Administration
Travels 40,000 miles investigating social and economic
conditions
Receives and answers 300,000 letters from August 31st -
December 31st
Closely monitors National Recovery Administration and
Federal Emergency Relief Administration projects
Sponsors White House Conference on the Emergency Needs
of Women
Writes "Passing Thoughts of Mrs. Roosevelt," a monthly
column for Women's National Democratic News and "Mrs.
Roosevelt's Page," for Woman's Home Companion (until
late 1935); and It's Up to the
Women |
1934 |
Joins
DC Chapters of the National Urban League and NAACP
Pressures FDR to initiate the National Youth
Administration
Begins friendship with NAACP leader Walter White
Lobbies for anti-lynching legislation, old age
pensions, and subsistence homesteads
Hosts White House Conference on Camps for Unemployed
Women
Tours Puerto Rico
Campaigns for Democrats, especially friend Rep.
Caroline O'Day
Travels the nation investigating government
programs
Resumes commercial radio broadcasts
Writes "The
New Governmental Interest in Arts," and "Old
Age Pensions"
|
1935 |
Champions the World Court in a radio appeal designed to undercut Father Charles Coughlin's campaign against it
Helps create the Federal Writers, Artists, Music and Theater Projects and National Youth Administration
Tours Ohio coal mine, sparking great debate over role of first lady
Defends her activities by writing "In Defense of Curiosity"
Presses DNC Chair Farley to plan specific role for women in 1936 election
Begins writing "My Day," a syndicated column which runs until October 1962
Writes A Trip to Washington with Bobby and Betty
Signs contract for two lecture tours a year, a schedule she keeps until 1962 |
1936 |
Joins The American Newspaper Guild
Meets with American Youth Congress and begins close
friendship with Joseph Lash
Helps Mary McLeod Bethune become Director, Division of
Negro Affairs, NYA
Chairs Washington Commission on Housing
Louis Howe dies
Supports Southern Tenant Farmers Union earning the ire
of the Liberty League which makes her the target of
its anti-FDR campaign
Keynotes National Urban League's 25th anniversary celebration ["The
Negro and Social Change"]
Monitors Works Progress Association programs
Val-Kill Cottage Industries closes
FDR wins re-election by largest margin in history
Writes "Are We Overlooking the Pursuit of
Happiness?" |
1937 |
Successfully
campaigns to have the State Department admit Hanns and
Lou Eisler, a radical anti-fascist composer and his
wife
Lobbies for Wagner-Stegall Act (housing) which
passes
Aggressively defends WPA, NYA, and Federal One
Programs
Fails to convince FDR to push Senate to ratify
Gavagan-Wagner-Van Nys anti-lynching bill
Supports Spanish civil war in speeches and columns and
contributes to Spanish Children's Fund and Abraham
Lincoln Brigade disregarding allegations of being soft
on communism
Cancels speech in Lancaster, Pennsylvania when she
learns club excludes Jews
Endorses the creation of a community for Jewish
refugees in Palestine
Writes This Is My Story, the
first of four autobiographies, and "Dear Mrs.
Roosevelt," a question and answer column for
Democratic Digest which runs until January 1941 |
1938 |
Lobbies for the Wagner Health Bill which
does not pass
Convenes White House Conference on Participation of
Negro Women and Children in Federal Welfare
Programs
Helps launch Southern Conference on Human Welfare,
attends its first conference, and defies Birmingham
segregation laws
Kristallnacht occurs in Germany
Campaigns against the poll tax
Ends Val-Kill partnership with Dickerman and Cook
Writes "Tolerance" and This
Troubled World |
1939 |
Resigns
from DAR in support of Marian Anderson and helps to
arrange Anderson's Lincoln Memorial concert
Addresses NAACP national convention in Richmond
Lobbies FDR to push child-refugee bill
Assists Karl Frank aid him in anti Hitler
underground
Helps European labor and socialist deputies (and some
of their families) relocate to America
Defends American Youth Congress before the House
Committee on Un-American Activities (Dies
Committee)
Named one of "The Ten Most Powerful People in
Washington"
Sixty-seven percent of Americans approve of her conduct
Writes "Keepers of Democracy" |
|