Roosevelt was stricken with a disease called polio and caused him to be permanently crippled in August of 1921. She then became even more loyal to him and our country having to deal with people from different nations, organizations and positions. While the President struggled to regain the use of his legs, Eleanor Roosevelt and Louis Howe joined forces to keep his political and business contacts alive. She became a powerful voice for youth employment and civil rights for blacks and women. No first lady has been more visible and outspoken than Eleanor Roosevelt. .

             Perseverance was another great quality of Eleanor Roosevelt. From the time she was a little girl she had to persevere. Both her parents were considered to be handsome and gay socialite among New York society. She was a very plain, shy insecure child, who knew that she was neither pretty nor graceful and that she was a disappointment to her beautiful mother. Although she was the apple of her father"s eye, he disapproved of her being afraid and timid. Her father was an alcoholic and was away from the family a lot as he tried to straighten out his life. Her mother died when she was only eight years old of diphtheria, and her father died when she was ten. She was raised by her maternal grandmother who was very strict and most of her education was by tutors. (In accordance to her mother"s wishes, her grandmother sent her to a private school in England when she was fifteen. It was here that Eleanor started to blossom and become a person in her own right. Upon her return to New York, she had her debut into New York Society in 1902. .

             In 1903, Eleanor became reacquainted with her distant cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt whom she knew from childhood. Eleanor and Franklin fell in love and were married in 1905, despite his mother"s opposition. Sara Delano Roosevelt was a domineering person who ran Eleanor"s household as if it were her own. She always made Eleanor feel in adequate.