Eleanor Roosevelt's Life of Soul Searching and Self Discovery

By Ann Atkins

From a childhood plagued with drunks and drama queens, Eleanor discards her dependency on Franklin and faces off with her grand dame mother-in-law. Refusing to cave in to society’s rules, Eleanor’s exuberant style, wavering voice and lack of Hollywood beauty are fodder for the media.

First Lady for thirteen years, Eleanor redefines and exploits this role to a position of power. Using her influence she champions for Jews, African Americans and women.

Living through two world wars Eleanor witnesses thousands of graves, broken bodies and grieving families. After visiting troops in the Pacific she says:

“If we don’t make this a more decent world to live in
I don’t see how we can look these boys in the eyes.”

She defies a post war return to status quo and establishes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights within the UN. She earns her way to being named “First Lady of the World.”

The audacity of this woman to live out her own destiny challenges us to do the same. After all, it’s not about Eleanor. Her story is history. Her life shows us how to live.

‘Context and Commentary’ at the start of each segment gives a brief look at the social/political status quos of the day that tested Eleanor’s integrity and challenged her perseverance.

‘Reflections for the Reader’ at the end of each segment are observations and analogies using Eleanor’s life as a ‘how to’ guide for our own personal growth.

Table of Contents
Part I: A Bitter Beginning
Context and Comments
Chapter 1 - Childhood
Chapter 2 - Adolescence
Chapter 3 - Marriage
Chapter 4 - Crisis
Reflections for the Reader

Part II: Awakening
Context and Comments
Chapter 5 - Emancipation
Chapter 6 – Compassion
Chapter 7 - Causes
Chapter 8 - War
Reflections for the Reader

Part III: Political, Public and Personal Storms
Context and Comments
Chapter 9 - Critics
Chapter 10 - Refuge
Chapter 11 - Blindsided By Family
Reflections for the Reader

Part IV: Life After Death
Context and Comments
Chapter12 - Pragmatic Plans For Peace
Chapter 13 - United Nations – An Oxymoron
Chapter 14 - Elanor aka Eleanor

Included in the book are:
Photos from the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ann Atkins
• Release date: Nov 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9780983478447

Ann Atkins

As a college instructor, community director, counselor, mother and wife –I use the stories and struggles of historical figures to give guidance and inner strength to classes, clients, kids and myself. In this concise delivery of "Eleanor Roosevelt’s Life of Soul Searching and Self Discovery" readers are given relevant information to enlighten their own journey. Relaying the essence – Power in the Stories of Authentic People – has been accomplished. Taking the information from the pages to our personal life is the challenge. After all, it’s not about Eleanor's story, that’s history. It’s about us.

Book preview

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT’S LIFE OF SOUL SEARCHING AND SELF DISCOVERY

From Depression and Betrayal to First Lady of the World

by

Ann Atkins

Smashwords Edition

* * * * *

Published on Smashwords by:

Flash History Press, LLC

P.O. Box 184

Paoli, PA 19301

Eleanor Roosevelt’s Life of Soul Searching and Self Discovery

Copyright 2011 by Ann Atkins

www.AnnAtkins.com

Photos from Franklin D. Roosevelt, Presidential Library and Museum

Cover Design by Lindsey Mottola with Argus Printing and Invitation Studio, Wayne, Pennsylvania

Technical support by Amy Kate Amer

Author Photo by Dave Campli – Campli Photography, Malvern, Pennsylvania

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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* * * * *

DEDICATION

to

Edward J. Atkins, Colonel, USAF (retired)

My husband, my friend—thank you

for your gift of love,

endless support and

the thesaurus.

Your dedication to excellence is my standard.

* * * * *

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The art of writing expands past the singular experience at the keyboard. Keeping a vibrant flow of creativity is possible because of the rejuvenating love from those around me.

Cory,

Blaine,

Amanda,

the beauty of your lives, your brave and bold spirits—

it is my honor to be your mother

Thank you—Aunt Birdie, who for all my life has been

The Listener

Thank you—Colleen for giving me the book,

Women Who Run With the Wolves

Thank you—Amy Kate—your creative ideas and

technical support—priceless

Victoria, Josee, Riley, Dawn, Asi and Lynn—my pack

of fierce women who will not let me settle for less

Thank you—to those who took the time to read

and critique the evolving manuscript:

Pat, Ed, Birdie, Nick, Mom, Colleen,

Vicki, Riley and Emily

* * * * *

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART ONE

A BITTER BEGINNING

Flash Context and Comments

Chapter 1 Childhood

Chapter 2 Adolescence

Chapter 3 Marriage

Chapter 4 Crisis

Reflections for the Reader

PART TWO

AWAKENING

Flash Context and Comments

Chapter 5 Emancipation

Chapter 6 Compassion

Chapter 7 Causes

Chapter 8 War

Reflections for the Reader

PART THREE

POLITICAL, PUBLIC & PERSONAL STORMS

Flash Context and Comments

Chapter 9 Critics

Chapter 10 Refuge

Chapter 11 Blindsided By Family

Reflections for the Reader

PART FOUR

LIFE AFTER DEATH

Flash Context and Comments

Chapter 12 Pragmatic Plans For Peace

Chapter 13 United Nations—An Oxymoron

Chapter 14 Elanor

Reflections for the Reader

Bibliography

Endnotes

* * * * *

PART ONE

A BITTER BEGINNING

Flash

Context and Comments

Knowing the context of Eleanor’s era deepens the value of her accomplishments.

Through the span of Eleanor’s life, from 1884 - 1962, the laws of science make quantum leaps forward. She will read newspaper headlines of an aircraft flying a few hundred feet, to jets breaking the sound barrier and man going to outer space. It’s the end of boiling water on a wood stove and the beginning of popcorn in the microwave. And the science of war excels as the details of strapping a gas mask on a war horse is exchanged for a diagram of strapping an atomic bomb on an airplane.

Liberty and justice for all, is far from being realized.

The veterans of the North and South gather at Gettysburg for the 50 Year Reunion of the Civil War. At this time it is much easier to plan if the ‘Negroes’ are not invited.

Women won’t be given the right to vote until 1920, which is a glaring irony considering Queen Victoria has been capable of ruling the whole British Empire from 1837-1901—64 years.

For the young, their lives read like gruesome chapters in a Charles Dickens novel. Two million children provide cheap labor in coal mines, canneries and steel mills. There are no laws protecting children, but there are laws to protect animals.¹ In the late 1800s the first recorded successful case to protect an abused child is won by declaring the child as part of the animal kingdom. It will not be until 1938 when a minimum age and work hours are federally regulated.

Are these the the good old days if life expectancy is a brief forty-five years? Millions die each year of infectious diseases and thirty-five thousand die every year in industrial accidents. There is no workers’ compensation, no unemployment pay and no insurance. Severance pay is given because something at work got severed—a hand or a foot.

In any arena Eleanor fights injustice and perseveres against overwhelming odds and chilling cruelties. Like Wonder Woman in support hose, she will win battles on the local, the national and the global scale. Her life is an example of moral courage and she becomes internationally known as First Lady of the World.

First, she must survive her childhood.

* * * * *

1

CHILDHOOD

Baby Eleanor is born into the ostentatious display of upper class opulence known as the Gilded Age.

Eleanor’s mother, Anna Livingston Ludlow Hall, is the belle of the ball for New York City. Basking in self-assurance, she can thumb her nose at guest lists that include the Vanderbilts and Astors. Anna also knows that within her lineage is a signer of the Declaration of Independence. This gives her self-esteem a dash of superiority. Now she just needs a husband.

Eleanor’s future father, Elliott Roosevelt, has a checkered past that would land anyone else in a jail cell, rehab or the morgue. Elliott’s excuses include sibling rivalry with his overachieving brother, the future President Theodore Roosevelt. Avoiding his brother’s shadow, Elliott enjoys adventurous hunting trips in India, China and Ceylon. Health problems are exacerbated in a struggle with sexual identity, alcohol and shame. His misery is exposed in his letters to home.²

In 1881, Elliott returns from his latest trip. He is in New York City and meets Anna. Having these two characters in place, the stage is set for a tragic play of which Shakespeare would be proud.

With all the passion and commitment of a charming alcoholic, Elliott writes about Anna, a Sweet Hearted, a true, loving Earnest Woman....Womanly in all purity, holiness and beauty, an angel in tolerance, in forgiveness and in faith… [sic]³ This list reflects Elliott’s romantic ideals, not Anna’s character. Anna, equally unrealistic, is flattered with the attention of the most eligible bachelor in New York City.

Like media coverage of movie stars, Anna and Elliott’s daily affairs are frequently featured in the newspapers. Anna marries Elliott and this couple has the smug security of knowing they ‘belong.’

Eleanor is born, and Anna is disappointed that her first born child is not a boy. Adding to this frustration, Anna describes her daughter as, a more wrinkled and less attractive baby than the average.⁴ As Eleanor grows, it is obvious that her character is as somber as her physical appearance is plain.

Eleanor, Long Island, New York, 1887

Eleanor’s habit of waiting quietly in the doorway, waiting and wanting to be acknowledged, and waiting to be asked in have been deemed ‘shy.’ Anna intensifies Eleanor’s insecurities by belittling her. Eleanor remembers her mother saying to any company in the room, She’s such a funny child, so old-fashioned, that we always call her ‘Granny.’ Eleanor says of those times, I wanted to sink through the floor in shame...⁵

I would sit at the head of her bed and stroke her head. The feeling that I was useful was perhaps the greatest joy I had experienced.

—Eleanor’s childhood memory of being with her mother⁶

It will be at least twenty-five years until Eleanor learns to boldly walk in or walk out of any door she wants. But now a child, she is starving for attention and acceptance. One light in her life is her father. Here she is needed.

Elliott has not been successful in any of the lucrative jobs that are put in place for him. His life is a constant cycle of mishaps from foolish accidents, drugs, drinking, hostile episodes at home, and then, absence away from the family. When Elliott returns, he can withstand Anna’s harsh rebukes only by going to Eleanor for unquestioning acceptance. In exchange for this adulation, Elliott dotes on his ‘dear little Nell.’ Eleanor glories in the attention and it gives her some feeling of worth.

Eleanor Roosevelt and her father Elliott in New York City

Anna has a second child and is pleased to have produced a son, but the good news doesn’t halt the gradual disintegration between her and Elliott. In an effort to stop the downward spiral, Anna decides to pack up the family and tour Europe. Any happy moments are distorted with the dread that Elliott will start drinking or is already drunk.

The visit to Paris coincides with Anna’s due date for a third child. Eleanor is shunted off to a convent to live until after the baby is born. Eleanor is not even six.

Alone in a foreign country, Eleanor feels cast aside by her family and could use some reassurance from the nuns. Seeing another little girl comforted because she swallowed a coin, Eleanor tells the nuns she too has swallowed a coin. The nuns are suspicious and discover Eleanor has lied.

Anna, disgraced by Eleanor’s actions, comes to retrieve her daughter. Eleanor recalls, I remember the drive home as one of utter misery, for I could bear swift punishment far better than long scoldings.⁷

The strain of keeping the family intact is taking a toll on Anna. Elliott threatens suicide and is now living with a mistress in Paris. When his estate is signed over to Anna, he promises to get better. Not convinced, Anna packs up the children and heads back to

Reviews for Eleanor Roosevelt's Life of Soul Searching and Self Discovery

[nolabelsunleashed · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Full review can be found on The Review Board.I can't do too much complaining about this work from a visual perspective. There were little to no hiccups in spelling, grammar, or punctuation.Brownie Points for Documentation--The author demonstrated she knows the proper way to cite references. That, and the bibliography page were definite advantages. Oh, kudos to the pictures, too.Yet this is where all the pros end for me. It appears that present tense is a surging wave in the writing world. On some works, it is even passable. Not on a work that's a nonfictional account of a person's life who is already dead. When I first started reading this, I believed it was simply a tense error. All the history books I've ever read have been in past tense. Why? Because the events happened in the past. But then I noticed throughout the read (with the exception of slip ups in sections 13 and 14), it stayed in present tense.In addition, if this book is used as any type of reference guide or teaching tool, it causes way too much confusion because of the tense. It definitely was one of the deterrents that kept me from fully engaging in this story. It also didn't make sense to me for this biography to be written when so much of Eleanor Roosevelt's autobiography was quoted in this work.For me, I didn't gain any new knowledge about this incredible woman that I didn't already know--with the exception of one or two things.Another thing that made me scratch my head in disbelief was the "Reflections of the Reader" segment at the end of each part. The author took modern-day scenarios and used them to illustrate points she made about Eleanor's life.I have a few questions:(1) If these are supposed to be "Reflections of the Reader" why is so much of the "author's opinions" in it? Shouldn't the reader be able to come up with his or her own conclusions without the author's persuasive input?(2) Why were there such absurd comparisons being placed at the end of each part? One in particular spoke of Rocky's bond with Adrian to measure the level of betrayal Eleanor felt in regards to Franklin's infidelity. Also, at the end where Star Trek was quoted and how the journey into space mirrored Eleanor's achievements in the United Nations. Then the author wondered how famous or productive Eleanor would be if she had a Facebook, comparing her to the current First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama.When I'm reading something that is nonfiction, I like a level of objectivity while being able to convey the facts. This read more like a love letter or worship of Eleanor Roosevelt.I'm not condoning Franklin Roosevelt's treatment of Eleanor nor trying to downplay what Eleanor went through. All I am trying to say is: must Eleanor Roosevelt be romanticized and Franklin Roosevelt be the low down dirty dog? Although I am appreciative that so many people have taken an interest in the Roosevelt family, they have been written about to death. In some works the authors are taking sides and passing it off as accurate representations of history. This author did the same thing, It really does a great disservice to the memory of the Roosevelt legacy.If the author wants to do this type of stance on Eleanor Roosevelt, it would have made more sense to write it as a work of fiction or in the form of a persuasive essay. This felt like certain portions were taken out that fitted the author's viewpoint of Eleanor. After they were extracted, she put them together to create this book.In its current presentation, I could not fully support the conveyance. My respect for Eleanor Roosevelt's struggle through life should come from my own interpretation not from the idea of empathy to be sold to me through the author.Despite the near perfection in grammar and punctuation, it was not strong enough to override the other elements. The author tried too hard to modernize Eleanor's struggles to the readers. In her attempts to garner more support, this approach distracted (and took away) from the richness of Eleanor's character. The marketing of this in present tense crippled the potential success of this work.

[silversreviews · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Just in time for Eleanor’s birthday on October 11. :)A childhood of neglect and a feeling of inadequacy is how Eleanor Roosevelt grew up. Her marriage to her fifth cousin was no better for her self-esteem....Franklin Delanor Roosevelt was a womanizer with a mother who had control over him and also Eleanor. Eleanor was a woman of the era in which she lived, and she live it well and the way a woman was expected to live even at her expense. She was a powerful woman despite the way she had to live, and then she realized she could make a difference and came out of her shell to do remarkable things in history. She thankfully is our history. The book was very well researched....I learned many facts I was not aware of. It was a splendid re-living of history for me. I didn't know Eleanor was at the heart of the New Deal and many other programs....I must not have been paying attention in history class. The beautiful photos also enhanced the story.

[meadowmist_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Just in time for Eleanor’s birthday on October 11. :)A childhood of neglect and a feeling of inadequacy is how Eleanor Roosevelt grew up. Her marriage to her fifth cousin was no better for her self-esteem....Franklin Delanor Roosevelt was a womanizer with a mother who had control over him and also Eleanor. Eleanor was a woman of the era in which she lived, and she live it well and the way a woman was expected to live even at her expense. She was a powerful woman despite the way she had to live, and then she realized she could make a difference and came out of her shell to do remarkable things in history. She thankfully is our history. The book was very well researched....I learned many facts I was not aware of. It was a splendid re-living of history for me. I didn't know Eleanor was at the heart of the New Deal and many other programs....I must not have been paying attention in history class. The beautiful photos also enhanced the story.