Thursday, February 11, 2021

First Lady of The United States: Eleanor Roosevelt

 

First Lady of The United States


Eleanor Roosevelt


Rolex Oyster Perpetual

I once heard a rumor that both U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman wore Rolex watches. Of course, I spent a zillion hours looking for examples of them wearing Rolex watches, but to date the first U.S. President I documented wearing a Rolex was Dwight Eisenhower. When Nick Gould recently shared the following images with me of former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt wearing a Rolex Oyster Perpetual, I almost fell out of my chair. Nick mentioned Charlie Dunne shared them with him.





Eleanor Roosevelt is pictured below in the White House with her husband, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) having a nice fireside chat with their dogs by their side. Speaking of President Roosevelt and watches, we know for a fact he had superb taste in watches as he gave the Dalai Lama a Patek Philippe Pocketwatch in 1943. This early gift from Rosevelt seems to have inspired the Dalai Lama to not only collect watches but to become a watchmaker—not to mention wearing different Rolex watch models.




Eleanor Roosevelt is pictured below with her husband, President Roosevelt on January 20, 1941 as they return to the White House following his third term election.




Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the most beloved First Ladies of The United States and in the photo below we see the U.S. Presidents and First Ladies attending here funeral. From left to right we see Lady Bird Johnson, Jaqueline & John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Harry Truman, as well as Mamie and Dwight Eisenhower.




The only other former First Lady I recall seeing wearing a Rolex was Hillary Clinton who is pictured below wearing her two-tone Rolex Ladies Datejust on a Jubilee bracelet.