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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | September 17, 2014 02:56 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Michael P. McGeehan |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Resolution Honoring Eleanor Roosevelt |
| October 11, 2014 will mark the 130th birthday of Anna Eleanor Hall Roosevelt. In the near future, I intend to introduce a resolution honoring the wife of our 32nd United States President. The niece of President Teddy Roosevelt, Eleanor was born into a wealthy New York family but was orphaned by the age of ten. Her early years and subsequent courtship and marriage to Franklin D. Roosevelt have been well-documented…most recently in the PBS series which airs this week. Never has the adage “Behind every great man is a great woman” been more appropriate as in the case of Eleanor Roosevelt. Following her marriage to Franklin, she spent the next ten years raising their children and supporting her husband in his career. But Mrs. Roosevelt was a leader in her own right and was actively involved in party politics, lobbying for working condition of children and she belonged to numerous social reform organizations. In the White House, Mrs. Roosevelt redefined the role of First Lady…holding her own press conferences, writing a syndicated column and helping her husband maintain his focus on New Deal and social initiatives while facing upcoming economic and military challenges. Following FDR’s death, Eleanor was appointed by President Harry Truman to the U.S. delegation to the United Nations and helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In later years she was reappointed by President John F. Kennedy to the U.N. and the Peace Corps National Advisory Committee and she chaired the President’s Commission on the Status of Women. Eleanor Roosevelt was a prolific writer and worked tirelessly for political, racial and social justice right up until her death at the age of 78 on November 7, 1962. Please join me in honoring the longest serving First Lady of the United States. |
Introduced as HR1077