That Moment When Eleanor Roosevelt Made the ‘Most Fateful Decision of Her Life’
Historian Allida Black talks to the American FLOTUS podcast about the former first lady’s post-World War II legacy.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio in 1921, years before his presidency, it profoundly impacted his wife, Eleanor. Not only because of the devastating diagnosis, but because she had just “come to grips with his affection for Lucy Mercer,” a secretary to Mrs. Roosevelt with whom he sustained a long affair.
In that moment, Allida Black, editor emeritus of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers project at George Washington University, tells American FLOTUS host Alan Lowe that Eleanor Roosevelt was faced with making the “most fateful decision of her life.”
“Does she give up who she is, who she struggled so hard to become to care for him? Or, is there a way that they can continue together?” Black asks rhetorically.
That’s where the conversation on American FLOTUS began, setting the stage for a deeper discussion of Eleanor Roosevelt based on the book Casting Her Own Shadow: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Shaping of Postwar Liberalism that Black authored. The podcast focuses on First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s immense impact on the nation and the world that did not end when she left the White House. Those after years were a time period where she was relentless in her fight for a more just and peaceful world until her death in 1962.
This is the seventh American FLOTUS podcast and its release also marks the one-year anniversary of the FLARE FLOTUS podcasts series, said Nancy Kegan Smith, president of the First Ladies Association for Research and Education (FLARE) in a statement.
The series launched in October of 2024. Subjects have included the impact of first ladies Dolley Madison, Jacqueline Kennedy, Michelle Obama, Melania Trump and now Eleanor Roosevelt. Other podcast themes have examined envisioning the role of the first, first gentleman and first ladies in the media. Each episode also includes access to its transcript.
“The podcasts have developed a robust group of users and have become a key tool for scholars, students and the public interested in first ladies,” Smith said. “FLARE is proud to offer the FLOTUS podcast series in keeping with our mission of promoting research and education on the importance and lasting legacy of U.S. first ladies.”
Listen to the full podcast: Eleanor Roosevelt and Her Post-War Legacy
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