Chapter Eight: A President's Wife Summary and Analysis

When Franklin took office in March of 1933, the country was in its fourth year of the Great Depression. Millions of Americans were unemployed with no prospect of work. Franklin took swift steps to help the suffering country and Eleanor shocked the country by signaling that she would not be the typical First Lady. Eleanor announced that she would hold regular press conferences that would be attended exclusively by female reporters. She ran the White House elevator herself, moved furniture around and rejected the constant shadowing of the Secret Service. Eleanor also rejected chauffeured limousines in favor of a light-blue Plymouth convertible that she drove herself.

America had never seen a First Lady like Eleanor: she made unannounced visits to struggling war veterans, Appalachian coal miners and southern sharecroppers; flew all over the country...