ABSTRACT
Eleanor Roosevelt, an iconic figure in American twentieth-century political life, has been celebrated as the far-sighted engineer that drove the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She was lauded as a model of humanitarianism and esteemed for her efforts on behalf of the disadvantaged throughout American society; and yet, in supporting Zionism, she became a bystander to Palestinian dispossession. The story reveals, that the combination of cultural, political and personal influences that surrounded her, encouraged Eleanor Roosevelt's support of Zionism in spite of Palestinian opposition. Like Eleanor Roosevelt, Truman was insecure. She identified their similar ambitions vis-a-vis Palestine and detected his need for guidance. While Eleanor Roosevelt was merely one actor in the unfolding drama, nevertheless she was an important one. Roosevelt's aspiration for a Jewish-occupied Palestine enjoyed a certain support from her husband, as it did amongst Jewish–Americans keen to keep anti-Semitism at bay.
