From
1921 until 1928, while FDR
focused on his rehabilitation from polio, ER expanded her
political networks, honed her political skills, and transformed
herself into a nationally recognized political leader. Through
the 1920s, ER worked closely with the four most powerful
women's organizations in New York State: the Women's
Division of the Democratic State Committee, the League
of Women Voters, the Women's
Trade Union League and the Women's
City Club, a group that brought together leaders from
many activist organizations. Her work not only helped keep
her husband's name in the public eye and prepared the way
for his election as governor of New York, but also made
her one of New York's leading politicians in her own right.
She helped lead the Women's Division of the State Democratic
Party, a group the party created to organize women voters
after they had achieved the right to vote in 1920. She
edited and wrote articles and editorials for the Women's
Democratic News and worked with Molly
Dewson, Marion
Dickerman, and Nancy
Cook to establish women's Democratic clubs throughout
the state. She became an effective public speaker after
working with Louis
Howe, FDR's political strategist, and soon engaged
in debates across the state and a national lecture tour. In
1925, she delivered her first radio address and in 1927,
she published her first article in the popular press, "What
I Want Most Out of Life."
ER also chaired the League of Women Voters Legislative
Affairs Committee and represented the League on the Women's
Joint Legislative Committee. Each week, she studied the
Congressional Record, examined legislation and
committee reports, interviewed members of Congress and
the
State Assembly, and met with League officers to discuss
the information she gathered. Each month she assembled
her analyses and presented a report for League members
outlining the status of bills in which the organization
was interested
and suggested strategies by which it could achieve its
legislative goals. ER also spoke out at these monthly
assemblies on
primary reform, voter registration, and party identification.
Recognizing the extensive contributions she made, the
League
elected her its vice-chairman. By 1928, she had testified
before the New York State Assembly in support of protective
labor legislation for women and children, had convinced
the state Democratic Party to appoint equal numbers of
men
and women to party committees, and testified before the
state and national party platform committees.
ER's interest in foreign affairs also blossomed during
the 1920s, preparing the groundwork for her contributions
to human rights and international understanding after World
War II. In 1923, with Esther
Lape and
Narcissa Vanderlip, she helped organize the
Bok Peace Prize competition. In 1924, when the Senate
Special Committee on Propaganda summoned Lape to testify,
ER accompanied Lape to the hearing. ER also wrote editorials
urging women to work to eliminate the causes of war, allied
herself with the leaders of the
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom,
and, in 1927, hosted a conference of four hundred women
in Hyde Park to organize a women's peace movement.
She brought enthusiasm, dedication, and a lively interest
in other people to her work. She urged coworkers and fellow
reformers to spend less time theorizing, set realistic goals,
prioritize their tasks, and delegate assignments. Her persistent
pragmatism attracted attention within the party and women's
political organizations. Soon the media publicized her clout,
treating her as an "influential woman who speaks her political
mind."(1)
In addition to all of these political activities, ER began
teaching American history and literature at the Todhunter
School, a private girls school in Manhattan where her
friend Marion Dickerman taught and served as vice-principal.
With her Val-Kill partners, she began
Val-Kill Industries.
Notes:
- Allida M. Black, Casting Her
Own Shadow: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Shaping of Postwar
Liberalism )New York: Columbia University Press,
1996), 10.
