Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady as Magazine Journalist

1982

r. eginning in 1986, First Lady Eleanor RooseVelt wrote an unprecedent d newspaper column that1 provided readers with a detailed recital of her daily activities. Titled "My Day," the column gave behindtheLscenes glimpses of White Hou'se life and served-'as'a platform from which the.First Lady could state her personal views, The column was a Mixture.of political,oratory, public relations for 'President Roosevelt's ,New Deal, and the,perceptions,of an individual playing °a leading role in the drama of her time. During, it's first'. ..year, "My Day'`' addressed humanitarian concerns such as poverty, unemployment, conservation,, and the role of women, but much of it could be read as ingenious political propaganda during an election year. The` column gave the Roosevelt administration'a highly flexible weapon in its political arsenal,.. and Mes..Roosevelt and the President most certaittay conferred on some of i'cg contents. Numerous columns duriig the years of World War II contained patriotic messages, descriptions,of Mrs. Roosevelt's :travels to various war areas, letters from servicemen, and advice from the Office of War Information. Beyond its political overtones, "My Day" sent a series of mixed. messageg regarding the pbsidOn of women in society. While the column failed to o4-fer't role model of*muchwmeaning to the average woman; nevertheless showed a middle7aged woman continually on the move, 'establishing a. place competitive occupation of" journalism, and 'defining a role for herself outside the customary boundaries.of her position. (HTH *

1983

Newly discovered transcriptions'of 87 of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's women-only press conferences held from 1933 to 1945 make possible #n examination of the objectives, topics, and value of thes4 conferences. By holding the conferences, Mrs. Roosevelt attributed to women an important function in the political communication process, and at the same time helped to secure the stiktus and bolster the confidence of women repofters. The topics of the conferences were political issues related to women and, legislation, and social and personal life at the White House. She also used the conferences to defuse criticism leveled at herself and her family, including the President, and to clarify statements made by,him. At the time, male journalists felt that these conferences reduced the dignity of the First Lady, provided listtle legitimate news, and,compromised reportorial objectivity. Theltranscripts reveal that Mrs. Roosevelt maintained traditional propriety, though the conferences did become a bit chatty, and that repsrters occasionally would shield the First Lady. All in all, the sex-segregated press conferences were a useful device for Mrs. Roosevelt, enabling her to establish herself as an important figure, to promote the New Deal, and to improve the status of American women. (JL)

2012

Feminist Media Studies 3:12 (2012), 389-405

"In 1932, Ladies’ Home Journal (LHJ) ran an extensive campaign, orchestrated by public relations pioneer Edward Bernays, to persuade American women to end the Great Depression through consumer purchases. Although the campaign failed, it is historically significant, illustrating how PR and magazines worked together to prescribe women’s roles—a point little explored by feminist historians. While some women read the campaign hegemonically, others resisted its message, even adapting campaign language to suggest alternative plans. Foremost among these, I argue, was Eleanor Roosevelt (ER), whose 1933 book title, It’s Up to the Women, is identical to the campaign’s slogan. Attributed to ER alone, the slogan has been reprised in twenty-first-century Democratic presidential campaigns and used elsewhere. Patriotic shopping has also reemerged in recent crises. Although less important to feminists, FDR’s (Franklin D. Roosevelt) famous “fear” line from his First Inaugural address resembles language in LHJ’s campaign. Thus, the campaign can be seen not only as a site where the contested nature of women’s roles was played out but one that illustrates how media language can be repurposed to shape changing cultural and political messages."

2016

While there has never been a female president or vice president of the United States, a comparison of First Ladies offers a good case study on how far women have progressed in American politics. Through a comparison of Edith Wilson and Hillary Rodham Clinton, this study seeks to compare the gender-based obstacles for a First Lady at the beginning of the twentieth century and the end of the twentieth century. The analysis of this study shows that despite the progression of feminism over the past one hundred years, it remains just as difficult to be a woman in politics due to decreased privacy, increased media attention, and the continued expectation to fulfill feminine gender roles. As the 2016 general election approaches with a female presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party, this study provides insight into the rationale and negative implications for continued low female representation in American

American women did not pass the second class status until the 1960s. However, for the most of the United States history, the U.S. first ladies tried to redefine their role as merely a supporter of the president. The movement, which, intentionally or unintentionally, began with Martha Washington and passed through the centuries to her successors. This paper examines the existence of such movement and determines whether or not the movement had empowered the Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1960s.

1969

From the pages of women’s magazines to the covers of drugstore magazines and features on television news and entertainment programs, the media treats coverage of the first lady as separate from the doings within the White House’s corridors of power. Why does the news media fail to take the coverage of the first lady seriously and how do the media portrayals of the first lady as “the single most visible symbol of American womanhood” (p. xix) relate to broader questions concerning gender roles and the expectations of women in American society? These issues form the basis of First Ladies and the Press: The Unfinished Partnership of the Media Age, written by Maureen Beasley for Northwestern University’s Visions of the American Press series. Beasley has written several pioneering works assessing women and the media and she is uniquely qualified to tackle this ambitious work, that investigates the interactions between individual first ladies and the press from Martha Washington to Laura B...

1986

The Women's National Press Club (WNPC) existed in Washington, D.C., from 1919 to 1971 primarily because the National Press Club (NPC) refused to admit women. The WNPC offered mutual support in the face of male hostility. Women were virtually cut off from news sources; 20 women had Capitol press gallery privileges in 1879, but they were effectively excluded in 1880 when part-time correspondents were banned. The WNPC held luncheon meetings and invited speakers who gave the women a chance to obtain news stories and meet influential people. Leadership of the club was a hard fought honor and the women who became president exemplified journalistic competence and dedication. While most women journalists were confined to the society or women's pages, the NWPC presidents of the early 1930s held their own against male competitors, writing on politics, crime, courts, public affairs, and other front-page topics. Eleanor Roosevelt became a member in 1938 on the basis of her nationally syndicated column, "My Day," though her application was pretested by some because she did not earn her living by writing. The situation for women improved in the 1950s when they were allowed to sit in the gallery of the NPC, but space was limited and they could not hear or ask questions. In the 1960s the State Department insisted that women be permitted to participate, and finally, in 1971, the NPC decided to admit women. Although the WNPC admitted men in the 1970s and changed its name to the Washington Press Club in an effort to survive, in 1985 it merged with NPC. (SRT)

1983

Unlike her energetic predecessor, Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady Bess Truman sought to remain outside the public spotlight. While Mrs. Roosevelt held weekly press conferences for women reporters, mrs. Truman held all press conferences somewhat under protest, and in absentia, with questions filtered through her social secretary. As she consequently became an unwilling party to the political communication process, reporters were forced to write stories that stressed the commonplace. With portrayal of Mrs. Truman left mainly to the press, she received more kindly treatment than she might have been expected to: instead of presenting her as noncooperative, reclusive, or even hostile, the press chose to deal with her performance in more positive terms, referring to her as independent and an individualist. Some editors found Mrs. Truman a welcome relief from Mrs. Roosevelt, and apparently without conscious design, her image was acceptable to the majority of Americans, who saw nothing wrong with a small-town matron being devoted to her husband and refusing to express her own ideas in public. (HTH)

Journalism History