What role did Eleanor Roosevelt play in politics?

Answer 1

If you asked her, she would have said she played no role in politics, but that wasn't entirely true. As the wife of a president in an era that was still very traditional about women's roles, Eleanor still managed to do some things no previous First Lady had done, including talking about current events issues. She had a radio program of her own, and she also wrote a newspaper column; and though most of the time, she tried to keep her topics light and non-controversial, sometimes she would express an opinion about a topic in the news that she cared about, such as when black vocalist Marian Anderson was denied use of a venue in Washington DC because the venue (and Washington itself) was segregated. Eleanor found the snub of Anderson appalling and she said so. She also spoke out about how few women reporters there were, and she demanded that newspapers send women to cover her activities. Thanks to her, a number of women got jobs in journalism. But if you are asking whether she went out and gave political speeches about the issues or played an active role in her husband's campaign, the society was very different back then and she had to stay within certain cultural expectations. But she managed to find ways to push against them, and sometimes her advocacy even led to some social change.