Letters to Eleanor

<P class=MsoNormal style=MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify><U>Letters</U> <U>to</U> <U>Eleanor</U>: <U>Voices</U> <U>of</U> <U>the</U> <U>Great</U> <U>Depression</U> examines how the flood of letters from ordinary Americans to the First Lady established a bond of hope and trust.<SPAN style=mso-spacerun: yes> </SPAN>Through this paper trail Eleanor Roosevelt was able to help many petitioners find jobs food housing and clothes.<SPAN style=mso-spacerun: yes> </SPAN>To others she offered the encouragement and support many needed in the bleak Thirties.</P><P class=MsoNormal style=MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify>Through it all Eleanor Roosevelt exhibited a tradionalist social outlook by her support of homemakers and opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment.<SPAN style=mso-spacerun: yes> </SPAN>But as the New Deal matured she became an ardent reformer who fought for an anti-lynching law and job opportunity for women in the federal service.</P><P class=MsoNormal style=MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify>But beneath her incessant activity to help others there was an inner Eleanor who constantly sought emotional support from female colleagues or her distant correspondents a support she did not receive form FDR or her family.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office /></P>