The role of the First Lady of the United States (hereafter abbreviated as FLOTUS) has undergone significant evolution in the post WWII era (Caroli, 2010; Eksterowicz & Paynter, 2000). Post-WWII years saw the international scene reconfigured around the rise of major multilateral institutions on the international level, guided by the United States, which emerged as a major world power after WWII (Ikenberry, 2012). Therefore, institutions such as the United Nations (UN) became crucial in the foreign policy calculations of post WWII presidents after Franklin Roosevelt, who, along with former President Woodrow Wilson, advocated for the reform of the failed League of Nations to promote world peace and secure social justice (Ikenberry, 2012; Urdang, 2008). Naturally, the role of the president’s spouse, the first lady, evolved with this new era of internationalism (Ikenberry, 2012; Urdang, 2008). Eleanor Roosevelt, complementing her husband’s human rights advocacy, played a crucial role in her husband’s foreign policy strategy in the establishment of the UN in 1945 and the passing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 (Ikenberry, 2012; Urdang, 2008).
I make the argument that Eleanor Roosevelt was the first FLOTUS to take on a role as an explicitly active international policy advocate, thus providing a template for future first ladies, such as Hillary Clinton, to engage effectively in foreign policy and diplomacy. First, I define an “active” FLOTUS, briefly describe the resource advantages conferred upon the modern FLOTUS, before going into a deeper examination of Eleanor Roosevelt’s extensive international career during and after her time as FLOTUS (Caroli, 2010, p. 6; NFLL, n.d.). Throughout her tenure as FLOTUS, Eleanor Roosevelt served not only to recast the role of FLOTUS as an outspoken policy activist in addition to merely a partner to their presidential husband, but demonstrated that women could participate actively within the masculine domain of international relations and foreign policy as well (Eksterowicz & Paynter, 2000; Jalalzai, 2010).
For the purposes of this post, I will utilize Betty Caroli’s definition of an “active” FLOTUS policy advocate as a baseline upon which to assess Eleanor Roosevelt’s impact on the role of the first lady as going beyond domestic influence (Caroli, 2010, p. 6). Per Caroli, an active FLOTUS is a woman who “unapologetically and unequivocally took action…advocating change through formal government policy” rather than merely serving as the “nation’s hostess” whereby bettering her husband’s political fortunes from the private sphere (Caroli, 2010, p. 6). In other words, the modern first ladies have distinguished themselves whereby providing substantive representation, which involves heavy involvement within government and the public to push certain policies, including activities like holding positions on policy committees, the lobbying of legislatures, and assembling and mobilizing issue networks (Caroli, 2010). Naturally, the latter requires extensive resource and other networks of influence (Caroli, 2010).
Next, I will give a brief overview of the advantages modern first ladies like Eleanor Roosevelt had at their disposal, contributing to a greater potential for FLOTUS policy influence, especially at the international level (Caroli 2010). With the expanding range of problems governments had to cope with internationally as well as domestically led to an increase in the size and scope of government (Ikenberry 2012). Running parallel to this was the gradual expansion of FLOTUS’s resources, began by Roosevelt and greatly expanded upon in 1977 by Rosalynn Carter, and accelerated with the demands of the modern world that necessitated more specialized staff as time constraints became more prevalent (Caroli, 2010; Eksterowicz & Paynter, 2000). Compared to Edith Wilson, the FLOTUS preceding Roosevelt, Roosevelt had a much larger resource network from which to draw upon for her policy priorities, including human rights and gender equality (Eksterowicz & Paynter, 2000). These resources included extensive social networks of her powerful and wealthy friends in Washington from various organizational backgrounds and staff from multiple White House departments before Kennedy acquired for FLOTUS more specialized staff explicitly hired to assist FLOTUS (Coreli, 2010; Eksterowicz & Paynter, 2000; NFLL, n.d.). On the other hand, Edith Wilson merely possessed a secretary merely “to meet the demands of her limited social calendar” and was largely regarded as preferring to stay out of the public eye (Miller Center, 2011). I will expand on Roosevelt’s formal and informal resource access below in expanding on her international policy advocacy.
In keeping with the Coreli’s (2010) definition of an active FLOTUS, I will now further expand on Eleanor Roosevelt’s foreign policy experience in comparison to that of Edith Wilson. Eleanor Roosevelt proved to be a textbook example of an active FLOTUS. Roosevelt’s foreign policy experience was largely an extrapolation and synthesis of issue area causes and advocacy experience that Roosevelt took with her to the international stage in the United Nations (NFLL, n.d.; Urdang, 2008). Namely, the primary issue areas Roosevelt took up were civil rights, gender equality, and human rights (Eksterowicz & Paynter, 2000; NFLL, n.d.; Urdang, 2008). Throughout the process of advocacy, Roosevelt frequently utilized a vast network of formal and informal resources to pursue her policy goals, which no doubt enabled her ascendancy to the status of international policymaker and eventual diplomatic representative during and after her tenure as FLOTUS (Caroli 2010; NFLL, n.d.).
Of the more important networks to her was the Social Bureau and her weekly press conferences with women reporters, which allowed Roosevelt greater latitude to promote her issue areas to various publics (Black, 2010). In a similar vein, Roosevelt was heavily involved with and promoted the social justice group the American Student Union, the National Youth Administration (an outgrowth of the New Deal), and the New York branch of the League of Women Voters, to name a few (NFLL, n.d.). In addition, Roosevelt took to the airwaves while serving as FLOTUS on the NBC radio show “Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt’s Own Program”, maintained a magazine and newspaper column that allowed her extensive access to the president’s constituents, and was a prolific author (GWU, n.d.; NFLL, n.d.). Compounding her informal networks of influence in various spheres and issue areas, Roosevelt also acquired political experience in campaigning for her husband for governor of New York in 1928 and for Democrat Al Smith’s unsuccessful presidential election bid in 1928 through the frequent preparation of campaign memos and occasionally, speeches (Caroli, 2010; NFLL, n.d.).
Her extensive resume on domestic issue advocacy became issues of international importance whereby the Roosevelts became heavily involved in the 1945 founding of the United Nations, as a partial outgrowth of their human rights advocacy (NFLL, n.d.). Having served as FLOTUS during WWII, Roosevelt travelled extensively to visit soldiers and refugees abroad, which impacted her greatly in terms of policy advocacy to prevent or alleviate human suffering (NFLL, n.d.). Especially critical to catalyzing her heavy involvement in the United Nations was a response to one of her many critics, Addie Frizielle, who had expressed concerns about racial integration in the United States (GLIAH, 2009; NFLL, n.d.). Roosevelt’s response foreshadowed her international human rights work and would be enshrined in key parts of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights dealing with political, social, and economic rights (Gardner, 1988):
“The only things which I have advocated are four basic rights which I believe every citizen in a democracy must enjoy. These are the right for equal education, the right to work for equal pay according to ability, the right to justice under the law, the right to participate in the making of the laws by the use of the ballot…As a matter of fact, I doubt if it does any people anywhere any harm to tell them that you believe they are entitled to certain rights and you are willing to see them obtain those rights.” (E. Roosevelt, personal communication, May 13, 1944)After the passing of her husband, Roosevelt used her experience and clout gained from her time as FLOTUS to further pursue the codification of a universal human rights document (NFLL, n.d.). This foundational work would prepare her for more extensive work in the UN (NFLL, n.d.). Appointed by President Truman, Roosevelt was one of six of an official American delegation to the UN General Assembly (GA) first in 1945 to participate in the opening session of the GA and to lobby for the GA to write and pass what became known as the UDHR (NFLL, n.d.). Assigned to chair the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1947, the former FLOTUS elevated her human rights and social justice advocacy to the international arena as foreshadowed in her “Four Basic Rights” letter (GLIAH, 2009; GWU, n.d.). As head of the Human Rights Commission, Roosevelt helped to write and edit the various articles within the document and gave her famous speech reading the officially adopted UDHR in December 1948 (NFLL, n.d.). Despite not retaining her official UN representative status after Republicans came to power in 1952, she continued her work with the UN by serving as the spokesperson of the American Association of the United Nations (NFLL, n.d.). Likewise, her international service commitment extended to her chairing the Peace Corps Advisory Board under President Kennedy and travelling extensively advocating UN humanitarian projects (GWU, n.d.; NFLL, n.d.).
While some would contest the claim that Eleanor Roosevelt was not the first internationally involved first lady, whereby pointing to previous FLOTUS Edith Wilson’s service in an unofficial capacity as president while her husband was recovering from a severe stroke, Wilson did not have the same level of domestic and international experience as Roosevelt (Miller Center, 2011; WHHA, 2014). Whereas Roosevelt possessed expansive formal and informal issue networks and other resources, Wilson limited her advocacy strictly to narrow domestic issues during WWI including serving as a model for homefront efforts (Miller Center, 2011). Meanwhile, her travels abroad limited her to Europe, where she viewed the 1919 postwar peace conference in Versailles and visited with soldiers via the Red Cross (Miller Center, 2011). Similarly, while Edith also served as a close advisor to her husband on many domestic issues, especially during her husband’s sickness, Wilson does not meet the criteria of a FLOTUS policymaker as she did not extensively lobby for the passage of policy related to her issue areas like WWI homefront policy, whereas Roosevelt was strongly involved in her husband’s efforts to establish the United Nations and later in helping to draft the UDHR (Caroli, 2010; Miller Center, 2011; NFLL, n.d.).
Going back to her acting for the president after a serious stroke, Wilson did not “initiate programs or make major decisions” but merely screened the incoming flow of paperwork for the president, which excludes her as an active FLOTUS based on Caroli’s (2010) definition (WHHA, 2014). However, this is not to dismiss her active participation as FLOTUS in primarily national rather than international affairs, as she volunteered extensively through the Red Cross and was heavily involved in fundraising for the Red Cross and other organizations and served as a close advisor to her husband (Miller Center, 2011). Additionally, Wilson’s resource networks were not as extensive as Roosevelt’s, as she usually eschewed the traditional hostess role, in which events like that give FLOTUS an avenue to network with the influential in Washington (Caroli, 2010; Miller Center, 2011; NFLL, n.d.; WHHA, 2014).
In conclusion, Eleanor Roosevelt, through her extensive informal and formal resource networks and governance experience, elevated the FLOTUS to a status of policymaker, particularly through her work at the international level (Black, 2010; NFLL, n.d.; Gardner, 1988; Urdang, 2008). Arguably, through the foundation of her domestic issue and policy advocacy activities in the areas of human rights and gender equality, Eleanor Roosevelt could become the first FLOTUS to be an active international policy maker through her contributions to and involvement in the UN and the passage of the pivotal UDHR (NFLL, n.d.; Gardner, 1988). While previous first ladies like Edith Wilson were certainly active in various ways as constrained by issues like gender role expectations and stereotypes to gain political influence for her husband in what is known as the “white glove pulpit,” Eleanor Roosevelt elevated the role of FLOTUS to a major player on the international stage through her extensive domestic and international policy advocacy (NFLL, n.d.; Watson, 2001).
Previous first ladies, such as Edith Wilson, primarily exerted their influence through traditional hostessing and championing of issue causes rather than actively promoting legislation or policy at the domestic or international level (Watson, 2001; WHHA, 2014). By providing a template for FLOTUS policy advocacy at the domestic and international levels, Eleanor Roosevelt was a critical trailblazer for future modern first ladies, such as Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, to actively participate in areas of governance previously held to be exclusively masculine (Jalalzai, 2010; NFLL, n.d.; Watson, 2001). In the end, while the durability of this trend in active, policy-advocating first ladies remains to be seen, Eleanor Roosevelt demonstrated the viability of FLOTUS policy advocacy on domestic and world stages (Caroli, 2010; NFLL, n.d.).
Works Cited:
Black, A. M. (2010). Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, (October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962). Retrieved February 7, 2017, from http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/abouteleanor/erbiography.cfm.
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The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. (2009). Eleanor Roosevelt’s Four Basic Rights, 1944 [Letter written May 13, 1944 to Addie Frizielle]. Retrieved February 8, 2017, from https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/world-war-ii/resources/eleanor-roosevelt%E2%80%99s-four-basic-rights-1944.
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