The Roosevelts
The season of love is here! Several people will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with an assortment of chocolate, bouquet of flowers or a romantic dinner at a restaurant (if any of that is in the budget of a college student). Here at the Clocktower’s Political Column, we will be celebrating famous political couples from our own party–specifically, this column will be recognizing Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. The Roosevelts were the blueprint for the modern-day power couple. They spent more than four terms in office, which is by far the longest stay in the White House.
Franklin cemented his legacy as one of America’s most influential leaders during his presidency. He helped take the U.S. out of the Great Depression with his programs instituted within the New Deal, putting millions of Americans to work through a multitude of public work programs, and instituted financial reform to ensure that the economic abuses that led to the crash of 1929 would never happen again. After revitalizing the economy, Franklin championed monumental laws such as the Social Security Act (which provided elderly Americans with unemployment, disability and pensions for the first time) and the National Labor Relations Act (which allowed employees to organize into trade unions and engage in collective bargaining).
For all that Franklin accomplished during his time, Eleanor was one of the most influential First Ladies in history, revolutionizing the position. She was not content to stay in the backgrounds as previous First Ladies had. Instead, she publicly spoke in favor of and worked for equal rights for racial minorities and women, and worked with organizations such as the League of Women Voters. She spoke on the radio and held press conferences that only women reporters were allowed to attend, forcing organizations to hire women reporters. However, Eleanor’s work went beyond her time at the White House. She was appointed to be a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly after she left the White House, helping to craft the enduring Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Even though their personal achievements are colossal, their relationship was also special. They made a point to support each other in their personal political campaigns, and showed a united front when presenting (at that time) radical ideas for the U.S. Even outside of their public life they took care of each other: particularly, Eleanor took nursing care of Franklin for much of his public life, especially during his last years, showing exactly how much this power couple cared about each other.
Gabriel Zita is a junior studying psychology.