Eleanor Roosevelt
Producer – Kathryn Dietz
Producer/Director/Writer - Sue Williams
In Distribution, 2000
Eleanor Roosevelt is a two and a half-hour film examining the public and private evolution of a woman who was widely loved and admired as well as the focus of intense controversy.
Although historians and those of her generation appreciate her influence on American government and society, millions of people today, especially the young, have at best a very superficial understanding of her prominent place in history.
She was the only First Lady to hold an official position in her husband’s administration and she was actively involved in the New Deal programs that were designed to alleviate the suffering of the Great Depression. After her husband’s death, she committed her energies to fighting for human rights and world peace in the United Nations.
Drawing upon new scholarship, Eleanor Roosevelt uses archival footage, photographs, and audio recordings as well as FBI files, home movies, and speeches and interviews to complement the emerging scholarly record of her life. It uses interviews with people who knew and worked with her as well as her own personal testimonies.
Eleanor Roosevelt provides a fresh, complex, examination of an American legend.