Eleanor's background in politics goes back to her Uncle Teddy who was once the President of the U.S. Eleanor married a young amiable Harvard student by the name of Franklin Roosevelt. But soon Franklin became bored with Business Law and Eleanor pushed him to go into politics. Aided by a Democratic landslide and his mom's money he won State Senator from the Hyde Park District. But Eleanor hated Albany and was soon very happy to leave. Franklin liked his newfound success in politics and his career prospered swiftly. He soon became an early backer of Woodrow Wilson as he ran for president, for his efforts he was

In 1928 at the Democratic National Convention Governor Al Smith asked Eleanor to run the entire national Women's activities in his national campaign for president. Smith soon requested more as he asked Franklin to run for Governor of New York. Eleanor now was exerting more force into Smith's campaign than her husband's and even though her husband won she seemed more disappointed that Smith lost.

Mrs. Roosevelt battled on, asking the Secretary of the U.S. Navy why the U.S. Navy would enlist Negroes only as kitchen help? The answer she received was that the blacks may work their way up from infantry and become petty officers and be placed in authority over whites. Eleanor never touched that issue after that answer but did help to console the Negroes.

It soon became clear that Franklin was ready to take the next step and run for president, as he was the leading candidate for the Democratic Party. When the dust had settled Franklin had won the election and Eleanor was heading for the White House. Just before her husband's inauguration Eleanor published the book It's up to the Women and also accepted an offer to edit a magazine called Babies-Just Babies.

She did not forget the farm laborers either. In Arkansas many sharecroppers were run off their land and pushed to relocate. Eleanor tried to use the acquaintance of Senator Joseph Robinson as an ally in the situation, telling him the story just as she heard it, but was denied the help she wanted. So she dropped the correspondence and began working behind the scenes to get immediate relief payments for the evicted farmers. Eleanor had become a major political asset to her husband.

"Eleanor Roosevelt", Eleanor Roosevelt Letter, March, 1996, National Archives and Records Administration, 21 November 2000,

In early 1939 Mrs. Roosevelt was allowed to show how serious she was when the DAR barred the use of Washington's Constitutional Hall to Marian Anderson, a prominent black singer at the time. Elaeanor decided to break tradition she liked the idea of resignation so protest but this was an exception, the DAR would not budge. In April of that year Miss Ander son gave a triumphant open-air concert on federal property near the Lincoln Memorial. A few months later Eleanor presented her with Springarn Medal, the NAACP's medal for achievement.

Eleanor not only tried to get government assistance for the blacks but she also identified herself with their problem. She helped the Negroes get to the head of many New Deal agencies and for the first time since the days of Woodrow Wilson a small but noticeable number of blacks maintained mid-level government jobs. Eleanor worked hard on the issue and refused to give up. She often had discussions with Walter White, head of the NAACP, and even arranged a meeting between FDR and White over the anti-lynching bill.

The president regularly sent "his wife" to many strange places as she continued her random inspections as she showed up alone and unexpected. She often visited the poorest parts of the country and tried to do something about the slums of Washington. One time she took carloads of cabinet wives to the tenements trying to awaken their interest in the city (Weinstein 761).

Eleanor was well known as a first lady who cared about people and received nearly 300,000 in the first year; she, her secretary and her staff read each and every one of them. If the problem was in a federal agency she did what needed to be done to fix it, and if it was a personal problem she attempted to counsel the person or seek assistance, us

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