Although she was never elected to office and seldom held an official position of any kind, Eleanor Roosevelt made a huge impact on a wide range of public issues. Today, nearly forty years after her death and almost seventy years after she first appeared on the American scene as the nation's First Lady, Roosevelt's life and activities are still the subject of intense interest. Critical Lives: Eleanor Roosevelt will cover her childhood, early adulthood and her involvement with the League of Women Voters, the United Nations and the Women's Trade Union League. Discussion of how she kept FDR's career alive after his bout with polio, her published works and her support for civil rights and her founding of the Americans for Democratic Action group.