15/04/2026
“Someone once asked me what I regarded as the three most important requirements for happiness. My answer was: ‘A feeling that you have been honest with yourself and those around you; a feeling that you have done the best you could both in your personal life and in your work; and the ability to love others.’But there is another basic requirement, and I can’t understand now how I forgot it at the time: that is the feeling that you are, in some way, useful. Usefulness, whatever form it may take, is the price we should pay for the air we breathe and the food we eat and the privilege of being alive. And it is its own reward, as well, for it is the beginning of happiness, just as self-pity and withdrawal from the battle are the beginning of misery.”– Eleanor RooseveltEleanor approached the prospect of being America’s First Lady with dread rather than delight, troubled by the stories she heard about the lives of women in the role. She had also seen the experience firsthand through her uncle Theodore’s time as President from 1901 to 1909. Eleanor knew that being First Lady meant lonely hours and polite smiles, a ceremonial job meant for a woman to be seen but not heard. The thought of merely planning social gatherings brought Eleanor immense angst. This was just not how she lived life. She had become accustomed to working, earning an income, and advocating for social changes.For Eleanor, the past decade prior to 1932 had been quite busy. While she had joined numerous political groups, she also started a small furniture shop with two friends in 1926. Then, in 1927, Eleanor helped purchase the Todhunter School in New York City with the same women and began teaching there part-time. Eleanor continued the work and advocacy even when Franklin returned to politics and was elected governor of New York in 1928.But being the First Lady was different. The idea of giving all that up felt like a betrayal of everything she believed in.So she didn’t. And the role, perhaps the very meaning of a woman’s role in America, would be forever changed.-On March 6, 1933, thirty-five female reporters gathered in the Red Room of the White House’s East Wing for Eleanor’s press conference. This would be the first one ever held by a First Lady, and the first of the entire new Roosevelt administration. Franklin wouldn’t give his until two days later.Eleanor was worried as she stood at a small podium in front of them. She later wrote, “Most of the women facing me were total strangers. . . . I only hope they did not know how terrified I was in entering this untried field.” She also had in the back of her mind that “many people around my husband were doubtful whether I could handle press conferences without getting myself and him into trouble.”Yet she felt at ease once the conference got underway. “The girls were so nice and so friendly that I got over it quickly.” Eleanor said, “It really wasn’t bad. I think I’ll continue with them.”Eleanor did just that, continuing to hold press conferences nearly every week — 348 in all over the next twelve years. She made sure that the reporters were all women, so editors had a reason to keep them assigned to the White House beat. It was a form of workplace protection that was rarely offered, especially given the Great Depression. As Eleanor would later explain, “Unless women reporters could find something new to write about, the chances were that some of them would lose their jobs in a very short time.”The reaction to Eleanor was immediate and often harsh, and even began before she officially became First Lady. “Mrs. Roosevelt would do well to remember the people did not elect her President,” wrote one editorial. Other critics labeled her “meddlesome” and “improper.” Some in Washington were outraged that a First Lady would insert herself into political and social debates.But people came to her defense as well. One American-born woman who was serving in the British Parliament at the time wrote, “ Perhaps many of you do not realize what an asset it will be to have as First Lady of the Land a woman who really knows about social problems, thinks about them, cares about them, and dares to talk about them.”Eleanor herself did not back down. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent,” she quipped. In her self-disciplined style, she learned to largely ignore the negative remarks. But it was still challenging, and there were times when Eleanor felt deeply pained. She wrote a friend in 1934, “I’m so fed up with publicity...why the hell CAN’T they leave me alone?” Generally, though, she responded calmly and with kindness. When a cartoonist made fun of her teeth, instead of demanding that he be fired, as her friends wanted, she stood up for his right to draw what he liked and invited him to tea.Amidst it all, Eleanor continued to work. Along with the press conferences, she answered letters, wrote a six-day-a-week syndicated newspaper column, and began traveling extensively. For the latter, she wanted to see how people lived, what they experienced, and, perhaps most importantly, to let them know that someone in government cared about them.Eleanor traveled all over the country in her own car for these trips, having refused the limousine used by her predecessor. Sometimes she even went alone, armed with a personal pistol for protection. Eleanor traveled so much that one newspaper ran a headline in 1934: First Lady Spends Night in White House. The following was her approximate mileage traveled in her first five full years as First Lady:- 1933: 38,000- 1934: 42,000- 1935: 35,000- 1936: 42,000- 1937: 43,000As Eleanor moved through many different communities on these trips, she shared her experiences with Franklin. From one, she wrote, “Franklin, we must do something about those sharecroppers...The beneficiaries are not the men who do the work but only those who own the property.”Franklin listened to her. As one person who worked close to the President said about Eleanor’s influence, “she was his antenna, and I noticed he usually followed her advice.”Despite the criticism she had received at the start of Franklin’s presidency, people appreciated the work Eleanor was doing. Her public approval rating reached 67% in 1939, nearly ten points higher than her husband’s. She was doing meaningful work. And alongside the work, she had developed a deeply profound personal relationship with another woman. Her name was Lorena Hickok. Or Hick, as Eleanor called her.
