October 11
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt s Birthday
 

Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and possibly the most politically active presidential spouse of all time. Shortly after her marriage when Franklin contracted polio, Eleanor began serving as a stand-in for him making public appearances on his behalf. She also started working with the Women's Trade Union League  raising funds in support of the union's goals: a 48-hour work week, minimum wage, and the abolition of child labor, Throughout the 1920s, Eleanor was influential as a leader in the New York State Democratic Party and helped secure Franklin's nomination as the Democratic Party's candidate for governor of New York which eventually helped propel him into the presidency.

Eleanor was a delegate to the UN General Assembly from 1945 and 1952, during the time which she also chaired the committee that drafted and approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She also chaired the John F. Kennedy administration's committee which helped start second-wave feminism, the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. In 1999, she was ranked in the top ten of Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century.

Eleanor in many ways paved the ways for Hilary Clinton with whom she also shared the challenge of an unfaithful husband who had an affair with Eleanor's social secretary Lucy Mercer. Eleanor also paved the way for Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer Rachel Maddow, and other female journalists. At that time, women faced significant discrimination within the profession. Eleanor held 348 press conferences over the span of her husband’s twelve-year presidency. Men were not welcome into these meetings because female journalists were so heavily discriminated against. Her  popular newspaper column “My Day,” ran from 1936 to 1962.and often addressed  same issues as those of her press conferences.

Regardless of her hectic schedule, Eleanor always found time to entertain at home (including the White House) and even occasionally would bake cookies to serve to gatherings of close friends at afternoon teas. Her most popular cookie recipe was
called Honey Drops which is also an appropriate sweet tribute for her birthday. We suggest tasting a few of these sweet treats while watching the documentary The Eleanor Roosevelt Story (1965).

Ingredients