Anna E. Roosevelt

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Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Dall Boettiger Halsted (May 3, 1906December 1, 1975) was the first child of Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt. She was named for her mother and grandmother, Anna Roosevelt and was usually called Anna.

Anna was born at 125 East 36th Street in New York City, New York. Caught in an triad of three strong willed persons--her father FDR; her mother; and her grandmother, the domineering Sara Roosevelt--young Anna Eleanor had to grow up quickly.

Anna's father later became the 32nd U.S. president, her mother the famous first lady. She was married 3 times: to Curtis Bean Dall in 1926; to John Boettiger, Jr. in 1935; and to James Addison Halsted in 1952. She had three children, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt III on March 25, 1927, Curtis Roosevelt on April 19, 1930 and another son, John Roosevelt Boettiger in 1939 during her second marriage.

In 1944, at her father's request, Anna moved into the White House to serve as an assistant to the President and as White House hostess during her mother's frequent absences. Anna, who accompanied her father on the trip to Yalta, was a witness to many historic moments, but she also carried the burden of dealing with some of the most intimate and painful decisions of her parents during their dysfunctional marriage.

Anna was active as a writer and journalist, and she served as editor of the woman's page of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for several years. Anna devoted much of her later life to problems of education and to carrying on many of her mother's interests and philanthropies. She was an active supporter of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.

She died of throat cancer at the age of 69, in New York City, NY and is interred at Hyde Park, NY

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