Eleanor Roosevelt played a key in the formation of National Youth Administration

Eleanor Roosevelt famously declared in 1934 that she frequently experienced "moments of true terror when we might be losing this generation." During the Great Depression, American youth faced a variety of issues, including unemployment and the inability to afford an education. Mrs. Roosevelt founded the National Youth Administration and served as its adviser, planner, investigator, and publicist. Roosevelt had mixed feelings about the NYA halfway through the depression, owing to the shift in tides caused by World War II. Roosevelt believed that the majority of these workers should be sent to fight in the war. This resulted in FDR beginning to lean toward Congress to shut it down. Due to Eleanor Roosevelt's intuition regarding the decline of progress within the American youth, she urged her husband to allow her to "act as an extension of the presidency by moving in new directions or in areas where it was politically difficult for the President to operate directly." These "difficult areas" in which it was difficult for FDR to operate directly pointed toward the youth in America. Eleanor Roosevelt's efforts and contributions gave the American youth various opportunities including education, jobs, recreation, and counseling for male and female youth between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five.

Eleanor Roosevelt played a key in the formation of National Youth Administration. From 1935 to 1943, NYA assisted over 4.5 million American youths in finding jobs, receiving vocational training, and affording higher education. It was critical in allowing American youth to contribute to the war effort and boost the American war economy.