(Roosevelt, 1958).
In the White House ER's charm, kindness and down to earth manner made her well liked and admired. She often answered the front door herself, treated the servants as friends and made a new effort to have the White House and its occupants accessible to the people. .
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Eleanor was especially active in the women's movement, having been impressed early on in her political career by social feminism and the unbridled power of women voters. In 1919, ER was still a political bystander, (Weisen, 1992) but her growing interest in improving conditions for American women caused her to quickly involve herself in the feminist movement.
ER was impressed in her initial contact with the feminist movement when she attended The First International Congress for Working Women. Carrie Chapman Catt introduced ER to a whole new group of women that differed drastically from her affluent privileged circle. (Lash, 1984). ER moved beyond what was familiar and engaged herself in every aspect of the political women's movement after 1921. .
ER was a member of the New York State of Women Voters, League of Women Voters and Women's Trade Union League. She was also proud of, and actively involved in the Daughters of the American Revolution, but would later sever her ties with the DAR when they barred black singer Marion Anderson from their auditorium. (Goodwin, 1998).
While involved with post-suffrage feminism, ER expanded her energies in reformist organizations to include the effort to pass new legislation. She was dedicated to the abolition of child labor, the establishment of minimum wage, and the passage of legislation to protect workers. (Lash, 1984).
She encouraged women to educate themselves, cautioned the young not to marry too hastily and organized massive voter registration drives for women in New York, urging them to make their opinions heard by the government.
ER raised money for the state to match funds with the Sheppard-Towner Act that established maternity and pediatric clinics.
