Eleanor Lives!

It’s terrific that President Biden has a bust of Eleanor Roosevelt in the Oval Office. When her husband, President Franklin Roosevelt, died, Eleanor said “great leaders can show the way, but others must come along and do the building.” This quote applies equally to her.

Eleanor was a champion for democracy. In her 1940 book, The Moral Basis of Democracy, she explained her intent “to stimulate the thoughts of many people so that they will force themselves to decide what Democracy means to them – whether they can believe in it as fervently as they can in their personal religion; whether it is worth a sacrifice to them, and what they consider that sacrifice must be.”

Her work on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) enshrined democracy in Article 21.

December 10, 2023 is the 75th anniversary of the UDHR. Too often anniversary celebrations are last minute affairs that look back, mostly reminiscing. The goal of Eleanor Lives!, a California nonprofit, is to look back and also act to carry her plan forward. Too this end, Eleanor Lives! is facilitating a celebration/reaffirmation of the UDHR during the two years prior to the 75th anniversary, from December 10, 2021 to December 10, 2023.

There is a spinning globe on the homepage of the Eleanor Lives! Whenever a person, nonprofit or for-profit business enters their name and country, a light ignites on the globe wherever they are: white for an individual; green for a nonprofit and blue for a for-profit business. The goal is to have 1% of people, nonprofits and businesses become lights on the globe by the 75th anniversary, December 10, 2023.

It is fitting that a Democracy Summit have a program that is a tribute to the legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt.