THE PATH TO THE PRESIDENCY: OVERCOMING PERSONAL CHALLENGES

The political partnership forged by Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt developed years before they became President and First Lady. Eleanor told a reporter during World War II, "Success in marriage depends on when you get over being in love, learning to really love. You never really know anyone until you marry them."

This advice hinted at the difficulties Franklin and Eleanor had faced as a couple. They weathered hard times and put their marriage back together in a way that would help them work together as President and First Lady.

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were married on St. Patrick's Day, 1905. President Theodore Roosevelt, Eleanor's uncle (and Franklin's distant cousin) gave Eleanor away. Eleanor enjoyed being married to Franklin, by most accounts, despite an overbearing mother-in-law. Eleanor put up with Sara Delano Roosevelt, who attempted to control the family in many ways. Sara would intervene in every aspect of their lives as a couple, including buying, decorating, and giving herself access to the couple's first house and picking out nannies for their children. Eleanor and Franklin had six children, including one who died in childhood. Eleanor supported Franklin when he decided to embark on a political career. Overall, Franklin and Eleanor appeared to be in love and to have a happy marriage.

Eleanor "got over being in love" in September of 1918. Franklin, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, returned to Hyde Park after falling ill on a Navy ship. Eleanor unpacked for him as he lay in the next room, and discovered a package of love letters. They were written to Franklin from Lucy Mercer, Eleanor's social secretary. Although history records only some of the discussion between Eleanor and Franklin that night, a few facts are clear. Eleanor offered Franklin a divorce. He refused, and they remained married.

Franklin and Eleanor would never be the same as a couple. They drifted apart in the next few years. Eleanor lost her appetite and often spent hours gazing at Peace of God, a gravestone sculpture in Rock Creek Cemetery, in northwest Washington, D.C. Commissioned by Henry Adams for his wife Marian "Clover" Hooper Adams, who committed suicide, the sculpture was informally known as Grief. Rumors suggested that Clover killed herself because her husband had an affair. Eleanor became involved in activist groups and made new friends. Franklin withdrew also to work and to the company of his friends.

In 1921, their life changed, and so did their relationship. Franklin and Eleanor both loved vacationing at their summer home on Campobello, a Canadian island north of Maine. Franklin, always active, would swim and sail and play with his children. On one of these vacations, Franklin found himself developing what he thought was a cold. He went to bed, and within a day could no longer move his legs. Three days later, a doctor diagnosed him with poliomyelitis (polio). He would never walk again.

Eleanor nursed Franklin by herself for the first few weeks. When they went home to Hyde Park, Sara suggested that Franklin abandon his political career and stay at the estate, living as a country gentleman. Already Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and planning to follow in his cousin Theodore's path to the presidency, Franklin had a difficult decision to make. He did not want to give up, yet he knew that it would be a long, rough road, and he knew the country would not support an obviously disabled President. Louis Howe, Franklin's political advisor, had kept the story out of the newspapers and was ready to support him. Yet Eleanor would be the one to tip the scales in favor of Franklin's return to politics. She stood up to her mother-in-law, and supported Franklin's wish to continue his political career. Knowing that he had Eleanor's support, Franklin persisted. Together, they would work to overcome this personal challenge.

In the 1920's, the Roosevelts faced and overcame many difficulties together. Franklin started to slowly and painfully recuperate from polio. He developed his upper body strength and bought and renovated a healing institute at Warm Springs Georgia, where he enjoyed both the therapeutic waters and the company of others with similar conditions. With the help of leg braces, and the assistance of Eleanor, his sons and others, he learned to pretend to walk by shifting his weight while they supported him. He held himself up at podiums and lecterns, and he learned to hide his disability from the general public.

Eleanor had been a wife, mother, and hostess, and now she would explore another realm: politics. Louis Howe recognized Eleanor's potential during Franklin's Vice-presidential campaign of 1920. Unhappy with the political advisors and reporters who were loud and crude and gambled and drank between stops, Eleanor spent most of the time in her room. She came out at stops and smiled, with pretended interest, at the same speeches, again and again. Franklin and his advisors did not ask her opinion on speeches or issues. Howe noticed Eleanor's silence and unhappiness, and knocked on her door with a copy of a speech. He asked for her opinion, and a close friendship began.

Howe encouraged Eleanor to overcome her fear of public speaking and to speak on behalf of her husband. He helped her appear less nervous, control her high-pitched voice, and present herself well. His advice was short and to the point: "Be prepared. Know what you want to say. Say it. And sit down. Never appear nervous."

Eleanor would use this advice again and again, as she addressed group after group on behalf of Franklin. She became an accomplished public speaker, campaigned for Franklin, and, in the process, became involved in politics herself.

During the 1920's, Eleanor, who had once said that women should stay out of politics, gained valuable skills and self-confidence. She joined groups, such as the League of Women Voters and the Women's Joint Legislative Conference, and campaigned for women's rights, better working conditions, and other social issues. She enrolled in courses and made new friends. She started the Val-Kill partnership with friends Nancy Cook, Marion Dickerman and Caroline O'Day. This partnership included the Val-Kill furniture factory, the Women's Democratic News, which Eleanor edited, and the Todhunter School, where Eleanor taught. She became widely known in both national and state Democratic Party circles. As Eleanor and Franklin worked together during his terms as Governor of New York and during his Presidential campaign, she became part of Franklin's political team.

Franklin and Eleanor were beginning to establish their individual freedom in their personal lives, and to solidify their political partnership as a couple. Perhaps, they had learned to "really love." Another challenge would present itself, however, with Franklin's successful campaign for the presidency.