American Experience: Eleanor Roosevelt  (2000)

Theatrical Release Information:
American Experience: Eleanor Roosevelt

She was the first president's wife to testify before a Congressional committee, to hold press conferences, to speak before a national party convention, to write a syndicated column, to be a radio commentator, and to earn money as a lecturer. For more than 30 years, Eleanor Roosevelt was the most powerful woman in America. To admirers, she was a woman with immense moral and physical courage, while detractors criticized her socialist leanings and her "overreaching" role as first lady. Rare home movies and the voice recordings of Eleanor Roosevelt herself are interwoven with recollections from her closest surviving friends and relatives. Civil rights leaders and leading historians examine her legacy and outline her story, from her painfully shy beginnings to the familiar rise of her political partnership with Franklin Roosevelt and her dedication to social equality, as well as lesser known aspects of her life such as her battle with depression, her contentious relationship with former Associated Press reporter Lorena Hickock, and her equally curious friendships with men. American Experience: Eleanor Roosevelt goes beyond the White House years where, after FDR's death, Eleanor remained a powerful figure in national politics. ~ Brooke Hodess, All Movie Guide