Eleanor Roosevelt: Strategies for Success
Graduation Date
Spring 1998
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program Name
Humanities
First Reader
Christian Dean, PhD
Second Reader
Sue Lombardi, MA
Abstract
The thesis focuses on Eleanor Roosevelt and the feminist issues and women’s causes which she promoted and for which she set an example during the pre-war White House years. Through an examination of the causes she promoted, the issues and controversies (or lack thereof) which they engendered, the methods she used to attain her goals, and the public response to and image of Eleanor Roosevelt, as reflected in newspapers and magazines, some answers to the questions of how and why she was so successful are revealed. The thesis asserts that, although Eleanor Roosevelt’s positions and methods might have been considered radical, she was regularly able to escape criticism due to her use of classic, progressive, and unique methods of political activism.
-Thesis excerpt-