VOICE ONE:
I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Shirley Griffith with People in America in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about the woman who was the most influential wife of any American president, Eleanor Roosevelt.
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VOICE ONE:
Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife of America's thirty-second president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She helped her husband in many ways during his long political life. She also became one of the most influential people in America. She fought for equal rights for all people -- workers, women, poor people, black people. And she sought peace among nations.
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City in eighteen eighty-four. Eleanor's family had great wealth and influence. But Eleanor did not have a happy childhood. Her mother was sick and nervous. Her father did not work. He drank too much alcohol. He was not like his older brother, Theodore Roosevelt, who was later elected president. When Eleanor was eight years old, her mother died. Two years later, her father died. Eleanor's grandmother raised the Roosevelt children. Eleanor remembered that as a child, her greatest happiness came from helping others.
VOICE TWO:
In the early nineteen hundreds, many people were concerned about the problems of poor people who came to America in search of a better life. Eleanor Roosevelt could not understand how people lived in such poor conditions while she and others had so much wealth.
After she finished school, Eleanor began teaching children to read in one of the poorest areas of New York City, called "Hell's Kitchen." She investigated factories where workers were said to be badly treated. She saw little children of four and five years old working until they dropped to the floor. She became involved with other women who shared the same ideas about improving social conditions.
Franklin Roosevelt began visiting Eleanor. Franklin belonged to another part of the Roosevelt family. Franklin and Eleanor were married in nineteen-oh-five. In the next eleven years, they had six children.
VOICE ONE:
Franklin Roosevelt began his life in politics in New York. He was elected to be a state legislator. Later, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him to be assistant secretary of the Navy. The Roosevelts moved to Washington in nineteen thirteen.
It was there, after thirteen years of marriage, that Eleanor Roosevelt went through one of the hardest periods of her life. She discovered that her husband had fallen in love with another woman. She wanted to end the marriage. But her husband urged her to remain his wife. She did. Yet her relationship with her husband changed. She decided she would no longer play the part of a politician's wife. Instead, she began to build a life with interests of her own.
In nineteen twenty-one, Franklin Roosevelt was struck by the terrible disease polio. He would never walk again without help. His political life seemed over, but his wife helped him return to politics. He was elected governor of New York two times.
VOICE TWO:
Eleanor Roosevelt learned about politics and became involved in issues and groups that interested her. In nineteen twenty-two, she became part of the Women's Trade Union League. She also joined the debate about ways to stop war. In those years after World War One, she argued that America must be involved in the world to prevent another war.
"Peace is the question of the hour," she once told a group of women. "Women must work for peace to keep from losing their loved ones."
The question of war and peace was forgotten as the United States entered a severe economic depression in nineteen twenty-nine. Prices suddenly dropped on the New York stock market. Banks lost their money. People lost their jobs.
(MUSIC: "Happy Days Are Here Again")
VOICE ONE:
Franklin Roosevelt was elected president in nineteen thirty-two. He promised to end the Depression and put Americans back to work.
Missus Roosevelt helped her husband by spreading information about his new economic program. It was called the New Deal. She traveled around the country giving speeches and visiting areas that needed economic aid.
Missus Roosevelt was different from the wives of earlier presidents. She was the first to become active in political and social issues. While her husband was president, Missus Roosevelt held more than three hundred news conferences for female reporters. She wrote a daily newspaper commentary. She wrote for many magazines. These activities helped spread her ideas to all Americans and showed that women had important things to say.
VOICE TWO:
One issue Missus Roosevelt became involved in was equal rights for black Americans. She met publicly with black leaders to hear their problems. Few American politicians did this during the nineteen thirties and nineteen forties. One incident involving Missus Roosevelt became international news.
In nineteen thirty-nine, an American singer, Marian Anderson, planned a performance at Constitution Hall in Washington. But a conservative women's group refused to permit her to sing there because she was black.
VOICE ONE:
Missus Roosevelt was a member of that organization, the Daughters of the American Revolution. She publicly resigned her membership to protest the action of the group. An opinion study showed that most Americans thought she was right. Eleanor Roosevelt helped the performance to be held outdoors, around the Lincoln Memorial. More than seventy thousand people heard Marian Anderson sing. Missus Roosevelt was always considered one of its strongest supporters of the civil rights movement.
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VOICE TWO:
The United States was forced to enter World War Two when Japanese forces attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in nineteen forty-one.
Missus Roosevelt made many speeches over the radio praising the soldiers she saw on her travels. She called on people to urge their government to work for peace after the war was over.
Franklin Roosevelt died in nineteen forty-five, soon after he was elected to a fourth term as president. When his wife heard the news she said: "I am more sorry for the people of this country than I am for myself."
VOICE ONE:
Harry Truman became president after Franklin Roosevelt died. World War Two ended a few months later. The leaders of the world recognized the need for peace. So they joined together to form the United Nations. President Truman appointed Missus Roosevelt as a delegate to the first meeting of the UN. A newspaper wrote at the time: "Missus Roosevelt, better than any other person, can best represent the little people of America, or even the world."
Later, Missus Roosevelt was elected chairman of the U.N. Human Rights Commission. She helped write a resolution called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That declaration became an accepted part of international law.
VOICE TWO:
Missus Roosevelt spent the last years of her life visiting foreign countries. She became America's unofficial ambassador. She returned home troubled by what she saw. She recognized that the needs of the developing world were great. She called on Americans to help the people in developing countries.
A few years before she died, Eleanor Roosevelt spoke about what she believed in life. This is what she said.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: "This life always seems to me to be a continuing process of education and development. What we are preparing for, none of us can be sure. But, that we must do our best while we are here and develop all our capacities is absolutely certain. We face whatever we have to face in this life. And if we do it bravely and sincerely, we're probably accomplishing that growth which we were put here to accomplish."
VOICE ONE:
Eleanor Roosevelt gave the best she had all through her life. People around the world recognized their loss when she died in nineteen sixty-two.
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VOICE TWO:
This program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Shirley Griffith.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for People in America in VOA Special English.
知识补充：
埃莉诺·罗斯福———富兰克林·罗斯福总统的妻子，是位一共当了4个“任期”的第一夫人。正是埃莉诺赋予了“第一夫人”这个词汇真正光彩照人的含义，使得第一夫人成了美国政治体系中一个重要的组成部分。此外，埃莉诺还保持了一个记录：对丈夫的不忠容忍了29年！
埃莉诺长得并不漂亮，高高的颧骨、敦厚的鼻翼、突出的牙床加上180厘米的身高，使她在历来以美貌著称的美国第一夫人中显得有些特殊。毋庸置疑，她的一部分吸引力在于她是美国前总统西奥多·罗斯福的侄女。但埃莉诺最特殊的地方是她的个性魅力，她以女性少有的独立、冷静、宽容、豁达的心态辅佐了政绩显耀的罗斯福总统。
幼年时的埃莉诺内向、少语、腼腆而又十分忧郁，不愿与人沟通。15岁时，埃莉诺被祖母送到了位于英国伦敦附近的“阿伦斯伍德”女子高中就读。不久后，在祖母家的一次家庭聚会上，她见到了她的未来丈夫，也是她的远房表哥罗斯福。1905年3月17日，在叔叔西奥多·罗斯福总统的见证下，灰姑娘实现了她的梦想，嫁给了她英俊潇洒、博学多才的王子，同时也走上了美国第32任总统夫人之路。当年，埃莉诺20岁，罗斯福23岁。
在两人结婚13年后，埃莉诺发现了她的丈夫、当时的海军副部长与他的女秘书露西·默瑟的暧昧关系，两人的夫妻关系实际上就此结束了。埃莉诺提出离婚，但罗斯福不同意，因为在那时，离婚就等于“政治上的自杀”。
他们的一个儿子埃利奥特1973年披露，尽管默瑟的事没有造成罗斯福与埃莉诺离婚，但从根本上改变了他们的夫妻关系：“他们从此再也不是丈夫和妻子之间的关系了，但达成了今后互相尊重的协议，这是一种非常亲密的组合，但再也不是身体意义上的，而是精神上的了。”
打消了离婚念头的埃莉诺选择了隐忍退让，直至丈夫拉着情人的手去世，埃莉诺也没有在外人面前流露出怨言。
