Eleanor Butler Alexander Roosevelt (December 26, 1888 – May 29, 1960) was an American philanthropist. She was the wife of General

Theodore Roosevelt III Theodore Roosevelt IV ( ) (June 14, 1914 – May 2, 2001), also known as Theodore III, was an American banker, government official, and veteran of World War II. He was a grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt through his father, Brig. Gen. The ...

, and a daughter-in-law of

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

, the 26th

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

Early life

Eleanor Butler Alexander was born on December 26, 1888 in New York City, the only daughter of Henry Addison Alexander, a prominent

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

lawyer, and Grace Green. She was a great-granddaughter of the late Theron Rudd Butler. Her great aunt was

Eleanor Butler Sanders Eleanor "Ella" Butler Sanders (1849 – 1905) was an American suffragist, and socialite. She founded the League for Political Education. Vassar College has a building named after her. Biography She was born with the name Eleanor Rudd Butler, o ...

Career

Throughout her life, Roosevelt not only supported her husband's career but also proved a highly organized, socially conscious person in her own right. From July 1917 to December 1918, she was heavily involved in YMCA canteen work in France and was described by her fellow canteen worker Marian Baldwin as "working like a horse." She helped improve the conditions of Puerto Rican women while her husband was governor of the island (1929–31); she organized the first American women's committee for China Relief (1937); and she directed the American Red Cross Club in England (1942). Roosevelt received citations and commendations from, among others, the French government, Gen. John J. Pershing, and the U.S. War Department. She also wrote an account of her life in her memoirs, ''Day Before Yesterday.''

Photography

Roosevelt was also a keen photographer. In 1986, her daughter Grace presented 25 of her albums to the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

together with some 5,000 of her own photographs, including images of presidents and international dignitaries. In later life, Roosevelt and Grace studied with photographer J. Ghislain Lootens. She used a Voigtländer Superb from 1935, developing her own film and making her own prints. Her travel photographs of Europe, Mexico and Asia are of a particularly high quality.Beverly W. Brannan, "Eleanor Butler Roosevelt (1889-1960): Biographical Essay"
The Library of Congress. Retrieved 18 March 2013.

Personal life

Theodore-Roosevelt-Jr-Medal-of-Honor-1944

On June 29, 1910, she married Theodore "Ted" Roosevelt III, the eldest son of President Theodore "T.R." Roosevelt Jr. and Edith Kermit Carow, in New York City at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church on 55th Street and Fifth Avenue (Manhattan). Ted was the only general officer to land in the first wave on

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

and was awarded the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of val ...

. Ted and Eleanor had four children: * Grace Green Roosevelt McMillan (1911–1994) *

Theodore Roosevelt IV Theodore Roosevelt V ( ) (born November 27, 1942), also called Theodore IV, is an American investment banker and managing director at Barclays Investment Bank. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, an ...

(1914–2001) * Cornelius Van Schaack Roosevelt III (1915–1991) *

Quentin Roosevelt II Quentin Roosevelt II (November 4, 1919 – December 21, 1948) was the fourth child and youngest son of Theodore "Ted" Roosevelt III and Eleanor Butler Alexander. He was the namesake of his uncle Quentin Roosevelt I, who was killed in acti ...

(1919–1948) She died on May 29, 1960, at Oyster Bay, Nassau Co., Long Island, NY, sixteen years after her husband, who had died of a heart attack shortly after the

Invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...

(1944).

Notes

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