Eleanor Roosevelt helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

President Harry S. Truman appointed Eleanor as a representative to the United Nations (UN) after President Roosevelt passed away in 1945. She served as chairman of the Commission on Human Rights (1946–51) and was a key contributor to the creation and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which is one of the most interesting facts about Eleanor Roosevelt. As a result of her work in this capacity, more than 50 member states finally collaborated to create the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. She continued to participate actively in the Democratic Party throughout the last ten years of her life, trying to elect Democratic presidential contender Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956.

She was named the chair of President John F. Kennedy's Commission on the Status of Women in 1961, and she held that position up until a few months before her passing. She had opposed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) at first, claiming that it would take away the vital protective laws that women had battled to win and still required. However, she eventually came around.