The Extraordinary Network of Women of the Roosevelt Family (1998)

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The Roosevelt family is a prominent American business and political family whose members include United States Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The Roosevelts were among the earliest to settle in the Dutch colonial settlement of New Amsterdam, in what would later become New York. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_family Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (/ˈɛlɨnɔr ˈroʊzəvɛlt/; October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962) was an American politician.[1] She was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, holding the post from March 1933 to April 1945 during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office.[1] President Harry S. Truman later called her the "First Lady of the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements.[2] A member of the Roosevelt and Livingston families, Eleanor had an unhappy childhood, suffering the deaths of both parents and one of her brothers at a young age. At 15, she attended Allenwood Academy in London, and was deeply influenced by its feminist headmistress Marie Souvestre. Returning to the U.S., she married her fifth cousin once removed, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1905. The Roosevelts' marriage was complicated from the beginning by Franklin's controlling mother, Sara, and after discovering Franklin's affair with Lucy Mercer in 1918, Eleanor resolved to seek fulfillment in a public life of her own. She persuaded Franklin to stay in politics following his partial paralysis from polio, and began to give speeches and campaign in his place. After Franklin's election as Governor of New York, Eleanor regularly made public appearances on his behalf. She also shaped the role of First Lady during her tenure and beyond. Though widely respected in her later years, Roosevelt was a controversial First Lady for her outspokenness, particularly her stance on racial issues. She was the first presidential spouse to hold press conferences, write a syndicated newspaper column, and speak at a national convention. On a few occasions, she publicly disagreed with her husband's policies. She launched an experimental community at Arthurdale, West Virginia, for the families of unemployed miners, later widely regarded as a failure. She advocated for expanded roles for women in the workplace, the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans, and the rights of World War II refugees. Following her husband's death, Eleanor remained active in politics for the rest of her life. She pressed the US to join and support the United Nations and became one of its first delegates. She served as the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, and oversaw the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Later she chaired the John F. Kennedy administration's Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. By the time of her death, she was regarded as "one of the most esteemed women in the world" and "the object of almost universal respect".[3] In 1999, she was ranked in the top ten of Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century.[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth (February 12, 1884 – February 20, 1980) was an American writer and prominent socialite. She was the oldest child of U.S. President Theodore "T.R." Roosevelt, Jr. (1858–1919). She was the only child of Roosevelt and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee (1861–84). Alice led an unconventional and controversial life. Her marriage to Representative Nicholas Longworth III (Republican-Ohio), a party leader and 43rd Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was shaky, and her only child Paulina was a result of her affair with Senator William Edgar Borah of Idaho. She temporarily became a Democrat during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and jokingly boasted in a 60 Minutes interview with Eric Sevareid, televised on February 17, 1974, that she was a "hedonist". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Roosevelt_Longworth Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt (July 29, 1861 – February 14, 1884) was an American socialite. She was the first wife of President Theodore Roosevelt. They had one child, Alice Lee Roosevelt. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Hathaway_Lee_Roosevelt