The future First Lady learned at an early age that one’s prospects in life were not totally dependent on physical beauty
Prominent American
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York in 1884, the daughter of Anna Hall Roosevelt and Elliott Roosevelt, the younger brother of future president Theodore Roosevelt.Hulton / Getty
A Lonely Time
In 1918, Eleanor discovered that Franklin had been having an affair with her personal secretary Lucy Page Mercer. She offered to divorce him, but the possible fall-out — damage to his political career, not to mention the well-being of their children — led them to maintain the marriage in name, but not in spirit. When this photograph was taken in 1920, Eleanor was summering at Campobello Island, in New Brunswick, Canada, while Franklin was out campaigning for the vice presidency.Bettmann / Corbis
Washington
FDR owes a great deal of his political success to Eleanor. It was she who convinced him to re-enter politics after he was stricken with polio. She mastered public speaking (no small feat for a girl known for her shyness) and represented her husband until he could resume normal activity. During the 1932 election, she organized the Women's Division of the Democratic National Committee, mobilizing thousands of female precinct workers. In this photo, and her son James help FDR as he enters the White House shortly after his inauguration in 1933.Bettmann / Corbis
Childhood
Though she was born into a family of wealth and privilege, Eleanor's young life was not easy. Her father was an alcoholic and her mother, whom she regarded as "the most beautiful woman (she had) ever seen" was disappointed in her daughter's looks. Both parents died before Eleanor was ten, and she was raised by her maternal grandmother.Hulton / Getty
American Abroad
In 1899, just around the time that this photograph was taken, Eleanor was dispatched by her grandmother to a finishing school in England, where all classes were conducted in French. For three years, she studied languages and literature and sojourned periodically on the Continent.Corbis
Debut
During her time abroad, Eleanor blossomed. When she returned to the United States, she was, like most affluent girls of her day, presented to society, but felt the life of a debutante to be too stifling. She involved herself in the Rivington Street Settlement, where she taught dancing, literature and calisthenics. She visited needy children in the slums and investigated working conditions in garment factories and department stores.Corbis
Franklin
The future president, her fifth cousin, 23 at the time, proposed to Eleanor when she was twenty. Of their meeting, she said later, "He was young and gay and good-looking, and I was shy and awkward and thrilled when he asked me to dance."Corbis
The Young Couple
Franklin's mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, thought Eleanor and Franklin too young to marry and insisted that they keep their engagement secret for a year.Corbis
The Wedding
Despite the objections of Sara Roosevelt, Franklin and Eleanor were married in March 1905. Uncle Theodore gave away the bride.Popperfoto / Getty
The Honeymoon
Franklin snapped this photo of his young bride reading a newspaper in Venice four months after their wedding.Corbis
Family
From 1906 to 1916, the Roosevelts had six children, one of whom, a boy, died in infancy. Eleanor herself, having not had much of a childhood of her own, felt inadequate as a mother. She didn't know how to play with her children and struggled with FDR's mother Sara, who lived next door and dominated the life of the young family, even calling herself the kids' "real mother."AP
