No one ever accused Eleanor Roosevelt of messing around, doing things halfway. When her husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumed office to try to medicate the Great Depression , Eleanor set herself upon the task of expanding the role of the First Lady. She did things first ladies hadn't done before: she put together her own staff, wrote magazines, and began holding her own press conferences. This last involved a stinging dart into the state of gender relations, since she rarely invited male journalists. This was, of course, a protest against the under-representation of female correspondents at presidential press conferences. At the end of the dramatic and wildly-effective first term, Eleanor launched her own radio program, which, owing to a fondness for literalness, was named Mrs. Roosevelt's Own Program . This twice-weekly dispatch was themed around women's issues and aired by NBC. Good for her, we say! She was born on this day in 1884.