Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (/ˈɛlɨnɔr ˈroʊzəvɛlt/; October 11, 1884
-- November 7, 1962) was the longest-serving First Lady of the
United States, holding the post from 1933 to 1945 during her
husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office.
President Harry S. Truman later called her the "First Lady of
the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements. A member
of the Roosevelt and Livingston families, Eleanor had an unhappy
childhood, suffering the deaths of both parents and one of her
brothers at a young age. At 15, she attended Allenwood Academy
in London, and was deeply influenced by feminist headmistress
Marie Souvestre. Returning to the US, she married her cousin
Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1905. The Roosevelts' marriage was
complicated from the beginning by Franklin's controlling mother,
Sara and after discovering Franklin's affair with Lucy Mercer in
1918, Eleanor resolved to seek fulfillment in a public life of
her own. She persuaded Franklin to stay in politics following
his partial p