“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt, in her book "You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life."
Eleanor Roosevelt was perhaps our most significant and impactful First Lady, and her service later continued as a delegate to the U.N. General Assembly, the first U.S. representative to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, and the first chair of the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. As we note the anniversary of her birth today, she opened up opportunities for women, becoming the first First Lady to hold press conferences and to host a weekly radio show, as well as being an early champion of civil rights for African-Americans, which infuriated Southern Dixiecrats.
