The Schlesinger Library yesterday honored former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt by throwing a 100th birthday party for her at the Radcliffe Yard.
A crowd of about 35 people, most of whom had met Mrs. Roosevelt or heard her speak, gathered to celebrate her birthday and to tell stories about her.
In her keynote address, Radcliffe visiting scholar Susan W. Ware described Roosevelt, who also worked as U.S. Delegate to the United Nations, newspaper columnist, crusader for social causes, and college lecture circuit speakers, as "the 20th century's most influential female political leader. Ware is a specialist on women's roles in the New Deal.
Ware described Roosevelt as "so ahead of her time...we are only now catching up" adding. "If we had been gathered here for Eleanor Roosevelt's 50th birthday rather than her 100th, it would have been her debating George Bush."
Ware pointed out that Rep. Geraldine Ferraro (D-Queens), the Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee, has described Roosevelt as one of her role models on several occasions.
The Schlesinger Library is now running an exhibit on the impact that Roosevelt's life has had on women of the twentieth century.
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