9 Chapter 8 White House Years

Chapter 8 White House Years Eleanor Roosevelt was a different kind of first lady. Before Eleanor, first ladies did not work. They did not speak in public and share their opinions. Eleanor chose not to sit back and just be a good hostess. She had ideas. She wanted to help people. She was not content to pour tea and smile at White House parties. The staff at the White House was shocked to see Eleanor moving furniture herself her very first week as first lady. But she wanted the White House family rooms to look like a home, not a museum.

Eleanor had meetings with women reporters. She was the first first lady to hold press conferences about issues of the day. And reporters were happy to write about everything the first lady did and said. They followed her on visits to slums

near the White House. She visited the camp set up by former soldiers who were out of work. Reporters quoted her saying that it was disgraceful to have people living in poverty. Franklin Roosevelt worked hard to end the Great Depression of the 1930s. He created the New Deal. That was the name for a group of government programs created to get the economy back on its feet. Banks reopened with government help. They loaned money to farms and businesses. The loans helped save jobs and create new ones. President Roosevelt passed laws to help people while they were out of work. For example, the Social Security Act of 1935 gave money to retired people, as well as to disabled people and to

workers who had lost their jobs. By 1940, the government had provided sixteen million dollars for people in need. It was a new kind of government, a government that looked after its citizens. THE GREAT DEPRESSION IN THE 1920S, MANY PEOPLE BECAME RICH BUYING STOCKS. (STOCKS ARE SHARES OF COMPANIES.) THEN IN LATE OCTOBER, 1929, THE STOCK MARKET CRASHED. THAT MEANT MANY STOCKS BECAME WORTHLESS. THIS FORCED MANY COMPANIES THAT ISSUED STOCKS AND THE

BANKS THAT INVESTED IN THEM TO CLOSE. BY 1932, FIVE THOUSAND BANKS HAD CLOSED AND ABOUT THIRTYTWO THOUSAND COMPANIES WERE OUT OF BUSINESS. OVER TWELVE MILLION PEOPLE LOST THEIR JOBS. MANY PEOPLE LOST THEIR HOMES, TOO. WHAT COULD BE DONE TO HELP PEOPLE?

All first ladies receive letters and requests from people. But Eleanor received much more than anyone before her. In 1933, more than three-hundred thousand letters came from every part of the country—from children, mothers, and families. Eleanor and her secretary, Malvina "Tommy" Thompson, answered every single one! Eleanor also traveled all over the United States. In the days before television, this brought her in touch with the people of America. In 1933, she traveled almost forty thousand miles. Her travels earned her the nickname "Everywhere Eleanor." And the support and love that Eleanor received from the letters and her trips made Eleanor proud of who she was and what she did. During the White House years, photos of Eleanor show her smiling.