She Was One of Us

Although born to a life of privilege and married to the President of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt was a staunch and lifelong advocate for workers and, for more than twenty-five years, a proud member of the AFL-CIO's Newspaper Guild. She Was One of Us tells for the first time the story of her deep and lasting ties to the American labor movement. Brigid O'Farrell follows Roosevelt—one of the most admired and, in her time, controversial women in the world—from the tenements of New York City to the White House, from local union halls to the convention floor of the AFL-CIO, from coal mines to political rallies to the United Nations.Roosevelt worked with activists around the world to develop a shared vision of labor rights as human rights, which are central to democracy. In her view, everyone had the right to a decent job, fair working conditions, a living wage, and a voice at work. She Was One of Us provides a fresh and compelling account of her activities on behalf of workers, her guiding principles, her circle of friends—including Rose Schneiderman of the Women's Trade Union League and the garment unions and Walter Reuther, "the most dangerous man in Detroit"—and her adversaries, such as the influential journalist Westbrook Pegler, who attacked her as a dilettante and her labor allies as "thugs and extortioners." As O'Farrell makes clear, Roosevelt was not afraid to take on opponents of workers' rights or to criticize labor leaders if they abused their power; she never wavered in her support for the rank and file.Today, union membership has declined to levels not seen since the Great Depression, and the silencing of American workers has contributed to rising inequality. In She Was One of Us, Eleanor Roosevelt's voice can once again be heard by those still working for social justice and human rights.

A fine account of Eleanor Roosevelt's evolving philosophy and activism on behalf of organized labor. Utilizing her writings and speeches as well as pertinent labor union archives and journals, interviews with influential labor leaders, and relevant secondary sources, O'Farrell is the first to describe Roosevelt's lifelong commitment to the US labor movement.... She portrays Roosevelt convincingly as an advocate who fearlessly challenged not only anti-labor pundits like Westbrook Pegler, but also corrupt labor leaders whose power grabs tainted efforts to aid US workers. An excellent resource for those interested in better understanding Eleanor Roosevelt, New Deal and post-WWII politics, and US labor history during the 20th century. Summing up: Highly recommended., With regard to originality, Brigid O'Farrell’s She Was One of Us stands head and shoulders above [other recent biographies of Eleanor Roosevelt].... O’Farrell organizes her book around two central themes: how Eleanor Roosevelt got so smart about working-class life, and how she used what she learned.... In this book, Eleanor’s relationship to Franklin is only a small part of her story, and that analytic shift opens new vistas on her career., First, O'Farrell clearly links Roosevelt's concern for labor issues with her international work, particularly with the 1949 enactment of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Second, she demonstrates how Roosevelt used her 'My Day' columns and articles to support labor, particularly in opposing the Taft-Hartley Act and right-to-work laws. Third, the author deftly evokes the friendships between Roosevelt and labor leaders such as David Dubinsky and, most notably, the United Auto Workers president Walter Reuther. Finally, and most important, She Was One of Us also contributes to the development of one of the most significant interpretations of post-World War II feminism.... She Was One of Us is a solidly researched and well-written account that stands as an important contribution not only to further reconsiderations of Eleanor Roosevelt's career after World War II but also to studies of the development of labor feminism from the 1940s through the early 1960s.

Brigid O’Farrell is an independent scholar affiliated with Mills College, Oakland, California. She is the coauthor of Rocking the Boat: Union Women’s Voices 1915–1975 and coeditor of Work and Family: Policies for a Changing Work Force.