Editor’s note: This is the 65th in a series of essays on the history and meaning of the American political tradition. Franklin Roosevelt delighted in the company of women, and when he died suddenly on April 12, 1945, he was surrounded by them. His wife Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) was not among them. She was out and about attending to her own affairs. Although she took her duties as first lady very seriously and performed them with efficiency and grace, and never failed to give her husband constant support … (read more)
