What New Deal Policies did Eleanor Roosevelt influence?
Although she worried at first that her life as first lady would end her freedom to speak out and act for the causes she cared so deeply about, ER soon found ways of exerting her influence in her new role. She began holding press conferences open only to women reporters. She worked successfully with Molly Dewson to increase the number of women appointments in the Roosevelt administration. She argued that women should be able to hold their jobs even if their husbands were employed, and made sure there were relief programs for women (“She-She-She Camps”), as well as for men. She pressed for the creation of youth programs, encouraging the establishment of the National Youth Administration. She befriended black leaders Mary McLeod Bethune and Walter White, became a champion of civil rights, lobbied against the poll tax, supported the Southern Tenant Farmer’s Union, and pushed for the inclusion of blacks in government programs. Housing became one of her special concerns and she worked with t
