White House Weddings: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt
The wedding of Franklin Delano Roosevelt to his cousin Eleanor Roosevelt did not take place in the White House. It is noteworthy nonetheless because it is the only time that a President of the United States gave away the bride to a groom who would himself one day become President. Eleanor's parents had died over a decade before her wedding day, and she looked to her Uncle Theodore to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day.
Eleanor's mother had died from diphtheria on December 7, 1892. Her father Elliott was an alcoholic who had been confined to a sanitarium, at the time of his death on August 14, 1894. He died after jumping from a window during an episode of delirium tremens. He survived the fall but died from a seizure. Eleanor's childhood loss of her parents and of one of her brothers, Elliott Jr., left her prone to depression throughout her life. Her brother Hall also suffered from alcoholism and she felt an obligation to care for him. When Hall enrolled at Groton School in 1907, she accompanied him as a chaperone and she wrote him almost daily.
After the deaths of her parents, Eleanor was raised in the household of her maternal grandmother, Mary Livingston Ludlow of the Livingston family in Tivoli, New York. In the summer of 1902, Roosevelt shared the company of her father's fifth cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, on a train to Tivoli. The two felt an attraction to one another and began a secret correspondence and romance. They became engaged on November 22, 1903. Franklin's mother, Sara Ann Delano, opposed the union and made him promise that the engagement would not be officially announced for a year. Franklin wrote, in a letter to Eleanor, "I know what pain I must have caused you, but I know my own mind, and known it for a long time, and know that I could never think otherwise." Sara took Franklin on a Caribbean cruise in 1904, hoping that a separation would end the romance. She was wrong and Franklin remained determined to marry Eleanor. They set their wedding date for March 17, 1905. The date was picked to accommodate the schedule of Eleanor's uncle, President Theodore Roosevelt, who was scheduled to be in New York City for the St. Patrick's Day parade. The President agreed to give the bride away.
The couple were married on March 17, 1905, in a wedding officiated by Endicott Peabody, the groom's headmaster at Groton School. The ceremony took place at the home of Eleanor’s grandmother on East 76th Street. The bride was twenty-one and the groom twenty-three. Her cousin Corinne Douglas Robinson was a bridesmaid. Their wedding vows were drowned out by the Ancient Order of Hibernians bellowing ‘The Wearing of the Green’ as they paraded by outside of the home.
Eleanor's cousin Alice once quipped that her father had to be "the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral." His presence garnered more attention than that received by the couple themselves. Theodore Roosevelt's attendance at the ceremony was front-page news in The New York Times and other newspapers. When asked for his thoughts on the Roosevelt–Roosevelt union, the president said, "It is a good thing to keep the name in the family." Alice, the president’s daughter, read the Old Testament ‘begat’ passages aloud to her newlywed cousin, hinting that this was what was expected of her.
The couple spent a preliminary honeymoon of one week at Hyde Park, before setting up housekeeping in an apartment in New York. That summer they went on their formal honeymoon, a three-month tour of Europe. When they returned to the U.S., the newlyweds settled in a New York City house that was provided by Franklin's mother, as well as in a second residence at the family's estate overlooking the Hudson River in Hyde Park, New York.
From the beginning, Eleanor Roosevelt had a contentious relationship with her controlling mother-in-law. The townhouse that Sara gave to Eleanor and Franklin was connected to her own residence by sliding doors, and Sara ran both households. Eleanor complained to Franklin that "I did not like to live in a house which was not in any way mine, one that I had done nothing about and which did not represent the way I wanted to live". Her husband remained devoted to his mother. Sara also clashed with her mother-in-law over control the raising of her children. She later said "Franklin's children were more my mother-in-law's children than they were mine".] Roosevelt's eldest son James remembered Sara telling her grandchildren, "Your mother only bore you, I am more your mother than your mother is."
In September 1918, Eleanor was unpacking one of Franklin's suitcases when she discovered a bundle of love letters to him from her social secretary, Lucy Mercer. In the letters, Franklin had said that he was considering leaving Eleanor for Lucy. He did not do so because of pressure from his political advisor, Louis Howe, and from his mother, who threatened to disinherit Franklin if he went ahead with a divorce. Despite Eleanor's knowledge of her husband's infidelity. the couple remained married. Their union from then on was more of a political partnership. Eleanor became active in public life, and focused increasingly on her social work.
In August 1921, the family was vacationing at Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, when Franklin was diagnosed with a paralytic illness, at the time believed to be polio. His legs remained permanently paralyzed. When the extent of his disability became clear, Eleanor Roosevelt fought with her mother-in-law over Franklin's future, persuading him to stay in politics despite Sara's urgings that he retire and become a country gentleman.
In 1924, Eleanor's relations with much of her family became strained when she campaigned for Democrat Alfred E. Smith in his successful re-election bid as governor of New York State against the Republican nominee, her first cousin Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. Following Franklin's election as Governor of New York in 1928, and throughout the remainder of Franklin's public career in government, Eleanor regularly made public appearances on his behalf. She went on to become a controversial First Lady at the time, noted for her outspokenness, particularly on civil rights for African-Americans. She was the first presidential spouse to hold regular press conferences, write a daily newspaper column, write a monthly magazine column, host a weekly radio show, and speak at a national party convention. She advocated for expanded roles for women in the workplace, the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans, and the rights of World War II refugees.
Following her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt remained active in politics for the remaining 17 years of her life. She pressed the United States to join and support the United Nations and became its first delegate. She served as the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and oversaw the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Later she chaired the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. At the time of her death, The New York Times her called "the object of almost universal respect" in an obituary. In 1999, she was ranked ninth in the top ten of Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century.
Eleanor's mother had died from diphtheria on December 7, 1892. Her father Elliott was an alcoholic who had been confined to a sanitarium, at the time of his death on August 14, 1894. He died after jumping from a window during an episode of delirium tremens. He survived the fall but died from a seizure. Eleanor's childhood loss of her parents and of one of her brothers, Elliott Jr., left her prone to depression throughout her life. Her brother Hall also suffered from alcoholism and she felt an obligation to care for him. When Hall enrolled at Groton School in 1907, she accompanied him as a chaperone and she wrote him almost daily.
After the deaths of her parents, Eleanor was raised in the household of her maternal grandmother, Mary Livingston Ludlow of the Livingston family in Tivoli, New York. In the summer of 1902, Roosevelt shared the company of her father's fifth cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, on a train to Tivoli. The two felt an attraction to one another and began a secret correspondence and romance. They became engaged on November 22, 1903. Franklin's mother, Sara Ann Delano, opposed the union and made him promise that the engagement would not be officially announced for a year. Franklin wrote, in a letter to Eleanor, "I know what pain I must have caused you, but I know my own mind, and known it for a long time, and know that I could never think otherwise." Sara took Franklin on a Caribbean cruise in 1904, hoping that a separation would end the romance. She was wrong and Franklin remained determined to marry Eleanor. They set their wedding date for March 17, 1905. The date was picked to accommodate the schedule of Eleanor's uncle, President Theodore Roosevelt, who was scheduled to be in New York City for the St. Patrick's Day parade. The President agreed to give the bride away.
The couple were married on March 17, 1905, in a wedding officiated by Endicott Peabody, the groom's headmaster at Groton School. The ceremony took place at the home of Eleanor’s grandmother on East 76th Street. The bride was twenty-one and the groom twenty-three. Her cousin Corinne Douglas Robinson was a bridesmaid. Their wedding vows were drowned out by the Ancient Order of Hibernians bellowing ‘The Wearing of the Green’ as they paraded by outside of the home.
Eleanor's cousin Alice once quipped that her father had to be "the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral." His presence garnered more attention than that received by the couple themselves. Theodore Roosevelt's attendance at the ceremony was front-page news in The New York Times and other newspapers. When asked for his thoughts on the Roosevelt–Roosevelt union, the president said, "It is a good thing to keep the name in the family." Alice, the president’s daughter, read the Old Testament ‘begat’ passages aloud to her newlywed cousin, hinting that this was what was expected of her.
The couple spent a preliminary honeymoon of one week at Hyde Park, before setting up housekeeping in an apartment in New York. That summer they went on their formal honeymoon, a three-month tour of Europe. When they returned to the U.S., the newlyweds settled in a New York City house that was provided by Franklin's mother, as well as in a second residence at the family's estate overlooking the Hudson River in Hyde Park, New York.
From the beginning, Eleanor Roosevelt had a contentious relationship with her controlling mother-in-law. The townhouse that Sara gave to Eleanor and Franklin was connected to her own residence by sliding doors, and Sara ran both households. Eleanor complained to Franklin that "I did not like to live in a house which was not in any way mine, one that I had done nothing about and which did not represent the way I wanted to live". Her husband remained devoted to his mother. Sara also clashed with her mother-in-law over control the raising of her children. She later said "Franklin's children were more my mother-in-law's children than they were mine".] Roosevelt's eldest son James remembered Sara telling her grandchildren, "Your mother only bore you, I am more your mother than your mother is."
In September 1918, Eleanor was unpacking one of Franklin's suitcases when she discovered a bundle of love letters to him from her social secretary, Lucy Mercer. In the letters, Franklin had said that he was considering leaving Eleanor for Lucy. He did not do so because of pressure from his political advisor, Louis Howe, and from his mother, who threatened to disinherit Franklin if he went ahead with a divorce. Despite Eleanor's knowledge of her husband's infidelity. the couple remained married. Their union from then on was more of a political partnership. Eleanor became active in public life, and focused increasingly on her social work.
In August 1921, the family was vacationing at Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, when Franklin was diagnosed with a paralytic illness, at the time believed to be polio. His legs remained permanently paralyzed. When the extent of his disability became clear, Eleanor Roosevelt fought with her mother-in-law over Franklin's future, persuading him to stay in politics despite Sara's urgings that he retire and become a country gentleman.
In 1924, Eleanor's relations with much of her family became strained when she campaigned for Democrat Alfred E. Smith in his successful re-election bid as governor of New York State against the Republican nominee, her first cousin Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. Following Franklin's election as Governor of New York in 1928, and throughout the remainder of Franklin's public career in government, Eleanor regularly made public appearances on his behalf. She went on to become a controversial First Lady at the time, noted for her outspokenness, particularly on civil rights for African-Americans. She was the first presidential spouse to hold regular press conferences, write a daily newspaper column, write a monthly magazine column, host a weekly radio show, and speak at a national party convention. She advocated for expanded roles for women in the workplace, the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans, and the rights of World War II refugees.
Following her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt remained active in politics for the remaining 17 years of her life. She pressed the United States to join and support the United Nations and became its first delegate. She served as the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and oversaw the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Later she chaired the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. At the time of her death, The New York Times her called "the object of almost universal respect" in an obituary. In 1999, she was ranked ninth in the top ten of Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century.