Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume One, 1884-1933

Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume One, 1884-1933 Summary | Chapters 1, 2, and 3 Summary

Eleanor Roosevelt is Blanche Wiesen Cook's biography of Eleanor Roosevelt from her birth in 1884 until the time she steps into the role of First Lady of the United States in 1933. Cook captures Eleanor's troubled childhood that occurred in spite of a privileged lifestyle, her marriage and life with Franklin D. Roosevelt, and her career as a champion for women's rights and social reforms.

Eleanor Roosevelt's heritage is one of privilege and wealth, with both her parents being from socially prominent families in New York. Eleanor's mother, Anna Livingston Ludlow Hall, is, according to Eleanor, "one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen." Anna Hall marries Elliott Roosevelt in 1883 and Eleanor is born in October the following year. Anna is only twenty when Eleanor is born and unprepared to be a mother and society wife in one of the most important families in New York.

Elliott Roosevelt is the only brother of Theodore Roosevelt and the cousin of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, both of whom would one day hold the office of President of the United States. Elliot is the opposite of his rambunctious brother, preferring quiet study and solitude to outdoor activities, but the two brothers are extremely fond of each other.

Due to her delicate nature, Anna Roosevelt has a difficult time raising Eleanor, whose willfulness and independence are counter to Anna's obedient, socially compliant personality. This difference in personality would continue until Anna's death when Eleanor is only eight years old. Eleanor is her father's darling and naturally gravitates toward him for affection.

Trouble early in the marriage between Anna and Elliott brings bouts of opiate use and alcohol abuse on Elliott's part, with the couple subsequently having several separations. Ultimately, two sons are born to the couple, but Elliott's drinking and womanizing lead to a permanent estrangement with Elliot seeking help in French institutions while Anna lives with the children in New York.

Eventually, Elliott begins to master his substance abuse and emotional problems and returns to New York only to find that Anna has moved to a different house and will not allow him to see her or the children. Eleanor remembers feeling completely abandoned as her mother struggles with her own sense of loneliness and depression and her father is banished from the household. Shortly after Elliot's return to New York, Anna is stricken with diphtheria after a surgical procedure and dies. Eleanor who is only eight -years old is sent to stay with cousins, but remembers thinking that perhaps now she will be able to see her beloved father.