14. ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE – The Ability to Communicate of Eleanor Roosevelt
Just four months earlier, Eleanor had become the First Lady after her husband Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR, was voted into office as the 32nd president of the United States. Now here she was, one of the most famous people in America, on a road trip in a convertible with her best friend – no police escort, no Secret Service protection. This is how Eleanor liked it: traveling where she wanted and talking to Americans face to face. She recorded 38,000 miles of such road travel in 1933 and tens of thousands more in each of the years that followed. Eleanor’s connection with her fellow citizens grew even more through her My Day newspaper column, which first appeared on January 1, 1936, in dozens of newspapers across the country. Astoundingly, she wrote her My Day stories six days a week for the next 25 years, authoring each one as if it were a daily letter to a dear friend. She discussed personal news and social issues that were important to her. In this way, she communicated her ideas of hope and dignity directly to millions.
Hers was a voice of reason and compassion that helped guide Americans through the most challenging events of the day: the Great Depression, in which millions were out of work, hungry, and homeless; the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that forced America into a worldwide conflict; the unexpected passing of her husband FDR after twelve years of presidency; and World War II, the deadli- est war in human history.
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