Who Is Edith Roosevelt A Hostess

Afraid that her own activities would be restricted, Roosevelt dreaded assuming the title of the first lady. From a young age, she had first-hand knowledge of what the job of the first lady was like because she had seen her aunt, Edith Roosevelt, serve as a hostess during the majority of her time in the White House (Spangenburg 60). But Edith Roosevelt was not the only example that Eleanor Roosevelt could look at. Lou Henry Hoover, the first lady before Eleanor Roosevelt, studied at Stanford University and formed her own organization to help Americans returning home from World War I. Even though she was just as successful and independent as Roosevelt, Hoover still found it hard to continue building up her own career when she moved into the white house and yielded to the pressure to adopt the role of the traditional first lady(Scharf 85). Roosevelt had all the reason to believe that she would have to compromise her own ambitions when her husband became president, but instead of accepting this type of life, Roosevelt tried her best to break from the traditional role as First Lady.
But Eleanor Roosevelt did not stop at just hosting conferences; to widen her scope further, she used different types of media.
Roosevelt went on to write, give speeches, and start her own radio broadcast. She wrote in a newspaper column called “My Day,” traveled over 300,000 miles to meet and talk with American citizens from all over the country, and signed with NBC Radio in order to create her own radio show (Royal). Through these outlets, Roosevelt went beyond talking about noncontroversial topics, such as her personal stories, to even promoting the Roosevelt administration’s New Deal, addressing current news, and pushing for social policy reforms (Spangenburg). By taking advantage of these opportunities, Eleanor Roosevelt was able to reach a large number of people and earn her own income that allowed her to remain
independent.
Although some accused Eleanor Roosevelt of profiting from her position, Roosevelt was not deterred and her actions resulting from these accusations made people admire her more. In response to the money issues, Roosevelt did the same as when she was not the first lady. She paid tax incomes on everything and then donated most of it to charities (Scharf). By doing this, she not only defended her financial affairs but also proved that women were capable of earning their own money. Her charitable donations led people to praise her, but most of all, the fact that she was able to flaunt to the entire world that she was making her own money instead of relying on her husband’s earnings made her a role model for many other women (Royal). Citizens respected and adored her so much that at the some of the conventions her husband attended, the crowds would also demand for her to appear. As the journalist Ruth Finney wrote, “If [Eleanor Roosevelt] failed to appear on the platform, they shouted for her until she did appear, and they cheered her just as heartily as her husband, sometimes more heartily” (Spangenburg). Roosevelt’s actions made her stand out compared to any other first lady and helped her create her own a prominent voice in the political spectrum. The title first lady was no longer a meaningless decoration, but through Roosevelt’s unique actions, it became a title that held power and authority.