Before Reading

Eleanor Roosevelt Video link at

thinkcentral.com

Biography by William Jay Jacobs

What is your
DUTY to others?
There are probably times when you wish you didn’t owe anything
to anyone. However, like most people, you have responsibilities to
RI 1 Cite textual evidence to
support analysis of what the text
many different people. Family members, teachers, classmates, and
says explicitly. RI 3 Analyze the the teams and other groups you belong to all need you in one way or
interactions between individuals,
events, and ideas in a text. another. In “Eleanor Roosevelt,” you’ll learn how a famous first lady’s
RI 5 Analyze the structure an commitment to her duties changed history.
author uses to organize a text.

QUICKWRITE Make a list of your duties to others. Which

of these do you think will most influence the adult you will
become? Explore that question in a journal entry, considering
career possibilities and other life choices you will be making.

784

784-785_NA_L07PE-u07s1-brElea.indd 784 1/8/11 3:27:36 AM

 Meet the Author
text analysis: biography
A biography is the story of a person’s life told by another William Jay Jacobs
person, a biographer. Biographers often reveal their personal 1933–2004
opinions of their subject. However, they also balance their The Biographer As an author who
opinions with facts and details that wrote more than 30 biographies,
William Jay Jacobs said that he was
• provide information about the person’s life
“able to reach a very special audience:
• reveal important aspects of his or her personality young people searching for models. . . .”
• show us what others thought of the person
A Strong Role Model Jacobs admired
• explain the importance of his or her life and work Eleanor Roosevelt for her strength
As you read “Eleanor Roosevelt,” think about the purpose of character. He noted, “The more I
and characteristics of a biography about a historical figure. learned about Eleanor Roosevelt, the
more I saw her as a woman of courage.
reading skill: identify chronological order She turned her pain to strength.”
A biography usually presents events in chronological order, or background to the
the order in which they happened. Words and phrases such as biography
then, next, within 18 months, meanwhile, by spring, and the first Hard Times Eleanor Roosevelt was
few years may signal the order of events in this type of work. first lady of the United States from
A timeline can help you to summarize events or actions 1933 to 1945. Her husband, Franklin
by presenting the important details of a written work at a D. Roosevelt, took office during
glance. As you read “Eleanor Roosevelt,” keep track of the the Great Depression, a worldwide
order of events on a timeline like the one shown. economic crisis that lasted through
most of the 1930s. Millions of
October 11, 1884 Eleanor is 6.
Americans were unemployed,
Eleanor Eleanor’s father penniless, and suffering.
Elliott and
Roosevelt is born. Hall are born. enters sanitarium. Help on the Way To encourage
recovery, the Roosevelt administration
introduced programs—such as Social
vocabulary in context Security and a minimum wage—that
These headlines describe important moments in still provide relief today. Many of the
Eleanor Roosevelt’s life. Use context clues to figure out First Lady’s ideas were incorporated
the meaning of each boldfaced word. into her husband’s New Deal programs.
1. Woman from Prominent Family Leads by Example
2. First Lady Is Compassionate Toward Others
3. Impoverished Families Going Hungry in America
Author
4. Migrant Workers Search for Jobs Online
5. Roosevelt Feels Grave Obligation to Help Go to thinkcentral.
thinkcentral.com.
6. Women Dominate at Home-Front Meeting KEYWORD: HML7-785

7. Wavering Members Convinced to Support War Effort

8. Country Brooding at Death of President

Complete the activities in your Reader/Writer Notebook.

785

784-785_NA_L07PE-u07s1-brElea.indd 785 1/8/11 3:27:40 AM

 William Jay Jacobs

E leanor Roosevelt was the wife of President Franklin Delano

Roosevelt. But Eleanor was much more than just a president’s
wife, an echo of her husband’s career. What can you infer about
Eleanor Roosevelt from
Sad and lonely as a child, Eleanor was called “Granny” by her this 1957 photograph
mother because of her seriousness. People teased her about her looks taken at her home?
and called her the “ugly duckling.”. . .
Yet despite all of the disappointments, the bitterness, the misery she
experienced, Eleanor Roosevelt refused to give up. Instead she turned
her unhappiness and pain to strength. She devoted her life to helping
10 others. Today she is remembered as one of America’s greatest women. a a BIOGRAPHY
Eleanor was born in a fine townhouse in Manhattan. Her family Why might Jacobs have
chosen to begin with
also owned an elegant mansion along the Hudson River, where they
an overview of Mrs.
spent weekends and summers. As a child Eleanor went to fashionable Roosevelt’s life?
parties. A servant took care of her and taught her to speak French.
Her mother, the beautiful Anna Hall Roosevelt, wore magnificent jewels
and fine clothing. Her father, Elliott Roosevelt, had his own hunting
lodge and liked to sail and to play tennis and polo. Elliott, who loved
Eleanor dearly, was the younger brother of Theodore Roosevelt, who
in 1901 became president of the United States. The Roosevelt family,
20 one of America’s oldest, wealthiest families, was respected and admired.

786 unit 7: biography and autobiography

786-797_NA_L07PE-u07s1-Eleano.indd 786 1/8/11 3:36:04 AM

 eleanor roosevelt 787

786-797_NA_L07PE-u07s1-Eleano.indd 787 1/8/11 3:36:11 AM

 To the outside world it might have seemed that Eleanor had everything
that any child could want—everything that could make her happy. But
she was not happy. Instead her childhood was very sad.
Almost from the day of her birth, October 11, 1884, people noticed
that she was an unattractive child. As she grew older, she could not help
but notice her mother’s extraordinary beauty, as well as the beauty of her
aunts and cousins. Eleanor was plain looking, ordinary, even, as some
called her, homely. For a time she had to wear a bulky brace on her back
to straighten her crooked spine. b b CHRONOLOGICAL
30 When Eleanor was born, her parents had wanted a boy. They were ORDER
Jacobs begins his
scarcely able to hide their disappointment. Later, with the arrival of two use of chronological
boys, Elliott and Hall, Eleanor watched her mother hold the boys on her order with Eleanor’s
lap and lovingly stroke their hair, while for Eleanor there seemed only birth date. Start adding
coolness, distance. events to your timeline.
Feeling unwanted, Eleanor became shy and withdrawn. She also
developed many fears. She was afraid of the dark, afraid of animals, afraid
of other children, afraid of being scolded, afraid of strangers, afraid that
people would not like her. She was a frightened, lonely little girl.
The one joy in the early years of her life was her father, who always
40 seemed to care for her, love her. He used to dance with her, to pick her
up and throw her into the air while she laughed and laughed. He called
her “little golden hair” or “darling little Nell.”
Then, when she was six, her father left. An alcoholic, he went to live
in a sanitarium1 in Virginia in an attempt to deal with his drinking
problem. Eleanor missed him greatly.
Next her mother became ill with painful headaches. Sometimes for
hours at a time Eleanor would sit holding her mother’s head in her lap
and stroking her forehead. Nothing else seemed to relieve the pain. At
those times Eleanor often remembered how her mother had teased her
50 about her looks and called her “Granny.” But even at the age of seven
Eleanor was glad to be helping someone, glad to be needed—and noticed.
The next year, when Eleanor was eight, her mother, the beautiful c CHRONOLOGICAL
Anna, died. Afterward her brother Elliott suddenly caught diphtheria2 ORDER
and he, too, died. Eleanor and her baby brother, Hall, were taken to live Reread lines 52–58.
with their grandmother in Manhattan. What words and phrases
in these paragraphs
A few months later another tragedy struck. Elliott Roosevelt, Eleanor’s help you understand the
father, also died. Within eighteen months Eleanor had lost her mother, order of events and the
a brother, and her dear father. c passage of time?

1. sanitarium (sBnQG-târPC-Em): an institution for the care of people with a specific disease or with other
health problems.
2. diphtheria (dGf-thîrPC-E): a serious infectious disease.

788 unit 7: biography and autobiography

786-797_NA_L07PE-u07s1-Eleano.indd 788 1/8/11 3:36:12 AM

 Eleanor Roosevelt with her father, Elliott Roosevelt

For the rest of her life Eleanor carried with her the letters that her
60 father had written to her from the sanitarium. In them he had told her
to be brave, to become well educated, and to grow up into a woman
he could be proud of, a woman who helped people who were suffering.
Only ten years old when her father died, Eleanor decided even then
RI 3
to live the kind of life he had described—a life that would have made
him proud of her. d d BIOGRAPHY
In a biography, the story
of a person’s life, the

F ew things in life came easily for Eleanor, but the first few years after
her father’s death proved exceptionally hard. Grandmother Hall’s
dark and gloomy townhouse had no place for children to play. The family
biographer includes
facts and details that
reveal important
aspects of a subject’s
ate meals in silence. Every morning Eleanor and Hall were expected to
personality. Often, a
70 take cold baths for their health. Eleanor had to work at better posture biographer gives details
by walking with her arms behind her back, clamped over a walking stick. about a subject’s early
Instead of making new friends, Eleanor often sat alone in her room life to show the major
forces that shaped
and read. For many months after her father’s death she pretended that
what the person would
he was still alive. She made him the hero of stories she wrote for school. become. Reread lines
Sometimes, alone and unhappy, she just cried. 59–65. According to
Some of her few moments of happiness came from visiting her uncle, Jacobs, how did Eleanor’s
father influence her
Theodore Roosevelt, in Oyster Bay, Long Island. A visit with Uncle Ted meant
goals and values?
playing games and romping outdoors with the many Roosevelt children.
Once Uncle Ted threw her into the water to teach her how to swim,
80 but when she started to sink, he had to rescue her. Often he would read

eleanor roosevelt 789

786-797_NA_L07PE-u07s1-Eleano.indd 789 1/8/11 3:36:12 AM

 to the children old Norse3 tales and poetry. It was
at Sagamore Hill, Uncle Ted’s home, that Eleanor
first learned how much fun it could be to read
books aloud.
For most of the time Eleanor’s life was grim.
Although her parents had left plenty of money for
her upbringing, she had only two dresses to wear
to school. Once she spilled ink on one of them, and
since the other was in the wash, she had to wear the
90 dress with large ink stains on it to school the next
day. It was not that Grandmother Hall was stingy.
Rather, she was old and often confused. Nor did
she show much warmth or love for Eleanor and
her brother. Usually she just neglected them.

J ust before Eleanor turned fifteen,

Grandmother Hall decided to send her to
boarding school in England. The school she chose
was Allenswood, a private academy for girls located
on the outskirts of London.
100 It was at Allenswood that Eleanor, still thinking
of herself as an “ugly duckling,” first dared to
believe that one day she might be able to become
a swan.
At Allenswood she worked to toughen herself
physically. Every day she did exercises in the morning and took a
cold shower. Although she did not like competitive team sports, as What mood does this
a matter of self-discipline she tried out for field hockey. Not only did photograph of a teenage
Eleanor Roosevelt
she make the team but, because she played so hard, also won the respect convey?
of her teammates.
110 They called her by her family nickname, “Totty,” and showed their
affection for her by putting books and flowers in her room, as was the
custom at Allenswood. Never before had she experienced the pleasure
of having schoolmates actually admire her rather than tease her.
At Allenswood, too, she began to look after her health. She finally
broke the habit of chewing her fingernails. She learned to eat nutritious
foods, to get plenty of sleep, and to take a brisk walk every morning,
no matter how miserable the weather.
Under the guidance of the school’s headmistress, Mademoiselle
Souvestre (or “Sou”), she learned to ask searching questions and think
120 for herself instead of just giving back on tests what teachers had said.

3. Norse (nôrs): coming from ancient Scandinavia, the area that is now Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

790 unit 7: biography and autobiography

786-797_NA_L07PE-u07s1-Eleano.indd 790 1/8/11 3:36:15 AM

 She also learned to speak French fluently, a skill she polished by traveling
in France, living for a time with a French family. Mademoiselle Souvestre
Language Coach
arranged for her to have a new red dress. Wearing it, after all of the old,
Etymology The
worn dresses Grandmother Hall had given her, made her feel very proud. history of a word is
Eleanor was growing up, and the joy of young womanhood had begun its etymology. Many
to transform her personality. words we commonly
In 1902, nearly eighteen years old, she left Allenswood, not returning for use include affixes, or
word parts that are
her fourth year there. Grandmother Hall insisted that, instead, she must be attached either to the
introduced to society as a debutante—to go to dances and parties and begin beginning (prefix) or
130 to take her place in the social world with other wealthy young women. end (suffix) of base
Away from Allenswood, Eleanor’s old uncertainty about her looks came words to create new
words. These affixes
back again. She saw herself as too tall, too thin, too plain. She worried often come from older
about her buckteeth, which she thought made her look horselike. The languages. The Anglo-
old teasing began again, especially on the part of Uncle Ted’s daughter, Saxon suffix -hood
“Princess” Alice Roosevelt, who seemed to take pleasure in making means “state, quality,
or group.” Reread lines
Eleanor feel uncomfortable. 125–126, which include
Eleanor, as always, did as she was told. She went to all of the parties the word womanhood.
and dances. But she also began working with poor children at the In your own words,
Rivington Street Settlement House4 on New York’s Lower East Side. tell what you think
womanhood means.
140 She taught the girls gymnastic exercises. She took children to museums
and to musical performances. She tried to get the parents interested
in politics in order to get better schools and cleaner, safer streets. e e BIOGRAPHY
Reread lines 131–142.
Note that Jacobs

M eanwhile Eleanor’s life reached a turning point. She fell in love!

The young man was her fifth cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Eleanor and Franklin had known each other since childhood. Franklin
chooses details that
reveal various aspects
of Eleanor’s personality.
recalled how once he had carried her piggyback in the nursery. When she What are some of
her strengths and
was fourteen, he had danced with her at a party. Then, shortly after her weaknesses?
return from Allenswood, they had met by chance on a train. They talked
and almost at once realized how much they liked each other.
150 For a time they met secretly. Then they attended parties together.
Franklin—tall, strong, handsome—saw her as a person he could trust.
He knew that she would not try to dominate him. f f CHRONOLOGICAL
But did he really love her? Would he always? She wrote to him, quoting ORDER
Reread lines 143–152.
a poem she knew: “Unless you can swear, ‘For life, for death!’ . . . Oh, What words and phrases
never call it loving!” help you understand
Franklin promised that his love was indeed “for life,” and Eleanor the order in which
agreed to marry him. It was the autumn of 1903. He was twenty-one. Eleanor and Franklin’s
relationship progressed?
She was nineteen.
On March 17, 1905, Eleanor and Franklin were married. “Uncle Ted,” dominate (dJmPE-nAtQ)
160 by then president of the United States, was there to “give the bride away.” v. to have control over

4. settlement house: a place in a poor, neglected neighborhood where services are provided for residents.

eleanor roosevelt 791

786-797_NA_L07PE-u07s1-Eleano.indd 791 1/8/11 3:36:17 AM

 It was sometimes said that the dynamic, energetic Theodore Roosevelt
had to be “the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral.”
And it was certainly true that day. Wherever the president went, the
guests followed at his heels.
Before long Eleanor and Franklin found themselves standing all alone,
deserted. Franklin seemed annoyed, but Eleanor didn’t mind. She had
found the ceremony deeply moving. And she stood next to her husband
in a glow of idealism—very serious, very grave, very much in love. grave (grAv) adj. solemn
In May 1906 the couple’s first child was born. During the next nine years and dignified
170 Eleanor gave birth to five more babies, one of whom died in infancy. Still
timid, shy, afraid of making mistakes, she found herself so busy that there
was little time to think of her own drawbacks.
Still, looking back later on the early years of her marriage, Eleanor knew
that she should have been a stronger person, especially in the handling of
Franklin’s mother, or, as they both called her, “Mammá.” Too often Mammá
made the decisions about such things as where they would live, how
their home would be furnished, how the children would be disciplined.
Eleanor and Franklin let her pay for things they could not afford—extra
servants, vacations, doctor bills, clothing. She offered, and they accepted.

180

B efore long, trouble developed in the relationship between Eleanor

and Franklin. Serious, shy, easily embarrassed, Eleanor could not
share Franklin’s interests in golf and tennis. He enjoyed light talk and brooding (brLPdGng)
adj. full of worry;
flirting with women. She could not be lighthearted. So she stayed on troubled brood v.
the sidelines. Instead of losing her temper, she bottled up her anger and
did not talk to him at all. As he used to say, she “clammed up.” Her g CHRONOLOGICAL
ORDER
silence only made things worse, because it puzzled him. Faced with her The word meanwhile
coldness, her brooding silence, he only grew angrier and more distant. indicates that
Meanwhile Franklin’s career in politics advanced rapidly. In 1910 he something else
was elected to the New York State Senate. In 1913 President Wilson happened at the same
time. In what ways are
190 appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy—a powerful position the early years of their
in the national government, which required the Roosevelts to move marriage different for
to Washington, D.C. g Eleanor and Franklin?
In 1917 the United States entered World War I as an active combatant.
Like many socially prominent women, Eleanor threw herself into the war prominent
effort. Sometimes she worked fifteen and sixteen hours a day. She made (prJmPE-nEnt) adj.
well-known; widely
sandwiches for soldiers passing through the nation’s capital. She knitted recognized
sweaters. She used Franklin’s influence to get the Red Cross to build a
recreation room for soldiers who had been shell-shocked5 in combat. . . .
In 1920 the Democratic Party chose Franklin as its candidate for
200 vice-president of the United States. Even though the Republicans won

5. shell-shocked: affected with a nervous or mental disorder resulting from the strain of battle.

792 unit 7: biography and autobiography

786-797_NA_L07PE-u07s1-Eleano.indd 792 1/8/11 3:36:17 AM

 the election, Roosevelt became a well-known figure in national politics.
All the time, Eleanor stood by his side, smiling, doing what was expected
of her as a candidate’s wife.
She did what was expected—and much more—in the summer of 1921
when disaster struck the Roosevelt family. While on vacation Franklin
suddenly fell ill with infantile paralysis—polio—the horrible disease that
each year used to kill or cripple thousands of children, and many adults
as well. When Franklin became a victim of polio, nobody knew what
caused the disease or how to cure it.
210 Franklin lived, but the lower part of his body remained paralyzed.
For the rest of his life he never again had the use of his legs. He had
to be lifted and carried from place to place. He had to wear heavy steel
braces from his waist to the heels of his shoes.
His mother, as well as many of his advisers, urged him to give up
politics, to live the life of a country gentleman on the Roosevelt estate
at Hyde Park, New York. This time, Eleanor, calm and strong, stood up
for her ideas. She argued that he should not be treated like a sick person,
tucked away in the country, inactive, just waiting for death to come.
h BIOGRAPHY
Franklin agreed. Slowly he recovered his health. His energy returned. Why was Franklin’s
220 In 1928 he was elected governor of New York. Then, just four years later, illness a turning point
he was elected president of the United States. h for Eleanor?

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, April 17, 1938

eleanor roosevelt 793

786-797_NA_L07PE-u07s1-Eleano.indd 793 1/8/11 3:36:17 AM

 By visiting places such as this school for underprivileged boys, Eleanor Roosevelt
raised public awareness of social problems.

Meanwhile Eleanor had changed. To keep Franklin in the public eye

Language Coach
while he was recovering, she had gotten involved in politics herself. It was,
Idioms An idiom
she thought, her “duty.” From childhood she had been taught “to do the is a phrase that has
thing that has to be done, the way it has to be done, when it has to be done.” a meaning that is
With the help of Franklin’s adviser Louis Howe, she made fund- different from that of
raising speeches for the Democratic Party all around New York State. its individual words.
The phrase in the public
She helped in the work of the League of Women Voters, the Consumer’s eye means “frequently
League, and the Foreign Policy Association. After becoming interested seen in public and in
230 in the problems of working women, she gave time to the Women’s Trade the media.” With that
meaning in mind, why
Union League (WTUL).6
do you think Eleanor’s
It was through the WTUL that she met a group of remarkable women— actions were so
women doing exciting work that made a difference in the world. They important?
taught Eleanor about life in the slums. They awakened her hopes that
something could be done to improve the condition of the poor. She dropped
out of the “fashionable” society of her wealthy friends and joined the world
of reform—social change.
For hours at a time Eleanor and her reformer friends talked with
Franklin. They showed him the need for new laws: laws to get children
240 out of the factories and into schools; laws to cut down the long hours
that women worked; laws to get fair wages for all workers.

6. Women’s Trade Union League: an organization founded in 1903 to promote laws to protect
the rights of women working in factories and to help establish labor unions for women.

794 unit 7: biography and autobiography

786-797_NA_L07PE-u07s1-Eleano.indd 794 1/8/11 3:36:21 AM

 B y the time that Franklin was sworn in as president, the nation
was facing its deepest depression. One out of every four Americans
was out of work, out of hope. At mealtimes people stood in lines in front
of soup kitchens for something to eat. Mrs. Roosevelt herself knew of
once-prosperous families who found themselves reduced to eating stale
bread from thrift shops or traveling to parts of town where they were not
known to beg for money from house to house.
Eleanor worked in the charity kitchens, ladling out soup. She visited
migrant (mFPgrEnt) adj.
250 slums. She crisscrossed the country learning about the suffering of coal moving from place
miners, shipyard workers, migrant farm workers, students, housewives— to place
Americans caught up in the paralysis of the Great Depression. Since
Franklin himself remained crippled, she became his eyes and ears, informing
compassionate
him of what the American people were really thinking and feeling.
(kEm-pBshPE-nGt) adj.
Eleanor also was the president’s conscience, personally urging on him wanting to help those
some of the most compassionate, forward-looking laws of his presidency, who suffer
including, for example, the National Youth Administration (NYA), which
provided money to allow impoverished young people to stay in school. impoverished
She lectured widely, wrote a regularly syndicated7 newspaper column, (Gm-pJvPEr-Gsht) adj.
very poor impoverish v.
260 “My Day,” and spoke frequently on the radio. She fought for equal pay
for women in industry. Like no other First Lady up to that time, she
became a link between the president and the American public.
Above all she fought against racial and religious prejudice. When Eleanor SOCIAL STUDIES
learned that the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) would CONNECTION
not allow the great black singer Marian Anderson to perform in their
auditorium in Washington, D.C., she resigned from the organization. Then
she arranged to have Miss Anderson sing in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
Similarly, when she entered a hall where, as often happened in those
days, blacks and whites were seated in separate sections, she made it
270 a point to sit with the blacks. Her example marked an important step
in making the rights of blacks a matter of national priority.
On December 7, 1941, Japanese forces launched a surprise attack
on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as well as on other At the Lincoln
American installations in the Pacific. The United States entered World Memorial, Marian
War II, fighting not only against Japan but against the brutal dictators Anderson performed
who then controlled Germany and Italy. in front of 75,000
people. Later, in 1943,
Eleanor helped the Red Cross raise money. She gave blood, sold war Anderson performed at
bonds. But she also did the unexpected. In 1943, for example, she visited Constitution Hall, where
barracks and hospitals on islands throughout the South Pacific. When she had been denied the
280 she visited a hospital, she stopped at every bed. To each soldier she said opportunity to sing.

something special, something that a mother might say. Often, after she
left, even battle-hardened men had tears in their eyes. Admiral Nimitz,

7. syndicated (sGnPdG-kAtQGd): sold to many newspapers for publication.

eleanor roosevelt 795

786-797_NA_L07PE-u07s1-Eleano.indd 795 1/8/11 3:36:23 AM

 who originally thought such visits would be a nuisance, became one
of her strongest admirers. Nobody else, he said, had done so much
to help raise the spirits of the men. i i BIOGRAPHY
By spring 1945 the end of the war in Europe seemed near. Then, What does Admiral
Nimitz’s change in
on April 12, a phone call brought Eleanor the news that Franklin
attitude suggest about
Roosevelt, who had gone to Warm Springs, Georgia, for a rest, was dead. the quality of the First
As Eleanor later declared, “I think that sometimes I acted as his Lady’s work?
290 conscience. I urged him to take the harder path when he would have
preferred the easier way. In that sense, I acted on occasion as a spur,
even though the spurring was not always wanted or welcome.
“Of course,” said Eleanor, “I loved him, and I miss him.”
After Franklin’s funeral, every day that Eleanor was home at Hyde Park,
without fail, she placed flowers on his grave. Then she would stand very
still beside him there.
With Franklin dead, Eleanor Roosevelt might have dropped out
of the public eye, might have been remembered in the history books only
as a footnote to the president’s program of social reforms. Instead she
300 found new strengths within herself, new ways to live a useful, interesting
life—and to help others. Now, moreover, her successes were her own,
not the result of being the president’s wife. j j BIOGRAPHY
Reread lines 297–302.
What words and phrases

I n December 1945 President Harry S. Truman invited her to be one

of the American delegates going to London to begin the work of the
United Nations. Eleanor hesitated, but the president insisted. He said
does Jacobs use that
give important details
about Eleanor?
that the nation needed her; it was her duty. After that, Eleanor agreed.
In the beginning some of her fellow delegates from the United States
considered her unqualified for the position, but after seeing her in action,
they changed their minds.
310 It was Eleanor Roosevelt who, almost single-handedly, pushed through
the United Nations General Assembly a resolution giving refugees from
World War II the right not to return to their native lands if they did not
wish to. The Russians angrily objected, but Eleanor’s reasoning convinced
wavering delegates. In a passionate speech defending the rights of the wavering (wAPvEr-Gng)
refugees she declared, “We [must] consider first the rights of man and adj. hesitating between
two choices waver v.
what makes men more free—not governments, but man!”
Next Mrs. Roosevelt helped draft the United Nations Declaration
of Human Rights. The Soviets wanted the declaration to list the duties
people owed to their countries. Again Eleanor insisted that the United
320 Nations should stand for individual freedom—the rights of people
to free speech, freedom of religion, and such human needs as health care
and education. In December 1948, with the Soviet Union and its allies
refusing to vote, the Declaration of Human Rights won approval of the
UN General Assembly by a vote of forty-eight to zero.

796 unit 7: biography and autobiography

786-797_NA_L07PE-u07s1-Eleano.indd 796 1/8/11 3:36:24 AM

 As a delegate to the United Nations, Eleanor Roosevelt
defended people’s rights and freedoms.

Even after retiring from her post at the UN, Mrs. Roosevelt continued
to travel. In places around the world she dined with presidents and kings.
But she also visited tenement slums8 in Bombay, India; factories in
Yugoslavia; farms in Lebanon and Israel. k k CHRONOLOGICAL
Everywhere she met people who were eager to greet her. Although ORDER
Reread lines
330 as a child she had been brought up to be formal and distant, she had grown 303–328. Note the
to feel at ease with people. They wanted to touch her, to hug her, to kiss her. accomplishments that
Eleanor’s doctor had been telling her to slow down, but that was hard Mrs. Roosevelt achieved
for her. She continued to write her newspaper column, “My Day,” and after her husband’s
death. What words
to appear on television. She still began working at seven-thirty in the and phrases help you
morning and often continued until well past midnight. Not only did she figure out the order
write and speak, she taught retarded children and raised money for health of the events?
care of the poor.
As author Clare Boothe Luce put it, “Mrs. Roosevelt has done more
good deeds on a bigger scale for a longer time than any woman who
340 ever appeared on our public scene. No woman has ever so comforted the
distressed or so distressed the comfortable.”
Gradually, however, she was forced to withdraw from some of her
activities, to spend more time at home.
On November 7, 1962, at the age of seventy-eight, Eleanor died
in her sleep. She was buried in the rose garden at Hyde Park, alongside l BIOGRAPHY
her husband. Reread lines 338–350.
Adlai Stevenson, the American ambassador to the United Nations, Why might Jacobs quote
two famous people and
remembered her as “the First Lady of the World,” as the person—male or their thoughts about
female—most effective in working for the cause of human rights. As Stevenson Mrs. Roosevelt in these
350 declared, “She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness.” l last paragraphs?
And perhaps, in sum, that is what the struggle for human rights
is all about. 

8. tenement (tDnPE-mEnt) slums: parts of a city where poor people live in crowded, shabby buildings.

eleanor roosevelt 797

786-797_NA_L07PE-u07s1-Eleano.indd 797 1/8/11 3:36:24 AM

 After Reading

Comprehension
1. Recall Tell how Eleanor felt about herself as a young girl. RI 1 Cite textual evidence to
support analysis of what the text
2. Summarize What are some examples of ways Mrs. Roosevelt helped society? says explicitly. RI 3 Analyze the
interactions between individuals,
3. Clarify How did Mrs. Roosevelt act as her husband’s “eyes and ears” when events, and ideas in a text.
RI 5 Analyze the structure an
he was president? author uses to organize a text.

Text Analysis
4. Examine Chronological Order Review the timeline you made. What period
do you think contains the most important events in Eleanor Roosevelt’s life?
5. Make Inferences Reread the quotation by Clare Boothe Luce in lines 338–
341. Who were the “comfortable” people, and how did Mrs. Roosevelt
“distress” them?
6. Analyze Cause and Effect Cause Effect Effect
How do you think Eleanor’s Eleanor’s father told She worked
childhood affected the choices her to help people with poor
she made later in life? Create who were suffering. children.
a chart to show the effects of
these experiences, or causes. Eleanor was teased
Some causes will have more and made fun of.
than one effect.
7. Make Judgments Adlai Stevenson referred to Mrs. Roosevelt as the “First
Lady of the World.” Do you agree with this statement? Explain.
8. Evaluate Biography Review the bulleted list at the top of page 785. In your
opinion, did Jacobs achieve his purpose as a biographer? Provide examples
from the text that support your opinion.

Extension and Challenge

9. SOCIAL STUDIES CONNECTION In addition to arranging for Marian
Anderson to sing at the Lincoln Memorial, Mrs. Roosevelt supported
civil rights in other ways. Research to find two more examples of how the
First Lady promoted women’s rights or racial equality.

What is your DUTY to others?

On page 794, Jacobs writes that Eleanor Roosevelt was taught “to do the
thing that has to be done, the way it has to be done, when it has to be
done.” Think about how this view had an impact on her life. Then reread
the journal entry you wrote for page 784. Compare your generation’s
attitude toward duty to Eleanor Roosevelt’s attitude.

798 unit 7: biogr aphy and autobiogr aphy

798-799_NA_L07PE-u07s1-arElea.indd 798 1/8/11 3:36:45 AM

 Vocabulary in Context
vocabulary practice
Note the letter of the item you might associate with each boldfaced word. brooding
1. prominent: (a) an unexplored cave, (b) a well-known lawyer,
e
(c) a narrow valley compassionat
2. brooding: (a) an unhappy person, (b) a late-model car, (c) a small garden
grave dominate
3. migrant: (a) a successful business, (b) a bad headache, (c) a traveling worker
4. grave: (a) a loud party, (b) a serious illness, (c) a reunion between
impoverished
two brothers
5. impoverished: (a) a brick sidewalk, (b) a large grocery store, (c) a poor family migra nt
6. wavering: (a) a nosy neighbor, (b) a tough decision, (c) the beginning
prominent
of winter
7. dominate: (a) a poorly planned event, (b) an undefeated team,
wavering
(c) a serious drought
8. compassionate: (a) two children playing, (b) an angry crowd, (c) a kind nurse

academic vocabulary in writing

• demonstrate • goal • impact • link • undertake

In a paragraph, link Eleanor Roosevelt’s childhood traits to those she

displayed as an adult. Try to use one or more of the Academic Vocabulary
words in your paragraph.

vocabulary strategy: words with anglo-saxon roots

L 4b Use common grade-
Many word parts we use today come from the Anglo-Saxon language, an appropriate roots as clues to the
early form of English called Old English. For example, the word forecast is meaning of a word.

made up of the Anglo-Saxon word fore-, which means “in front,

before, ahead of time,” and cast, which means “to throw or castaway
calculate.” To understand the meaning of words with cast, you
forecast
can often use context clues and your knowledge of the root’s
meaning. cast
castoff
downcast
PRACTICE Choose a word from the web that best completes each
podcast
sentence. Use context clues or, if necessary, a dictionary.
1. After losing the big game, the team left the field.
2. The reality-show contestant felt like a when she was eliminated
from the competition. Interactive
3. Because of the weather , we looked forward to a snow day. Vocabulary
4. On the deserted island, the had no contact with anyone. Go to thinkcentral.com.
KEYWORD: HML7-799
5. In order to hear the concert, you must download the .

eleanor roosevelt 799

798-799_NA_L07PE-u07s1-arElea.indd 799 1/8/11 3:36:47 AM