Eleanor Roosevelt Essay

Eleanor Roosevelt, a Progressive Liberator As Eleanor unfolds her husbands clothes, she notices something, something that is not right. Opening up his suitcase and the aroma of the perfume comes out at her, a fragrance that she has never smelled before. She then finds and unravels a bunch of letters from her own secretary, Lucy Mercer. She is speechless. Everything suddenly isn’t clear to her anymore. She ponders why do the people she loves the most, end up always deserting her. (“Franklin’s Affair with Lucy mercer”) Her heart pounds like it never has before. It was not new to her that her husband had a wandering eye for other women, but it was absolutely unfathomable that he would actually betray her. Thus it was she who hired the attractive Lucy Mercer as her secretary, without ever worrying about possible disastrous aftermaths in regards to her spouse. Eleanor was too noble and dignified a person to think about the possibility of the darker side of human nature surfacing and taking command of people so close and dear to her. She then offered her husband a divorce, which he did not accept for social and financial reasons. This bitter experience surprisingly became the spark of Eleanor’s convictions as she became more involved with politics and more dedicated to helping the civil rights movements. As a role model in her community, Eleanor did not want to let this one unpleasant incident become a dominating factor. She wanted to keep fighting for the rights she believed in, and after dedicating many years and unyielding devotion to helping people earn their rights, she had accomplished her lofty goals and was very successful throughout the rest of her carrier. Discrimination had been an issue during Eleanor’s time and it grew to become a conflict all over America, with society’s ruling class trying to maintain their dominance over African Americans and restricting women's rights. Women back in the early 1900s’ did not have any voice. They were always