 Eleanor later called Howe one of the most influential people in her life.Franklin Roosevelt biographer Jean Edward Smith called Howe "a backroom man without equal in Democratic politics", and Roosevelt publicly credited Howe and James Farley for his first election to the presidency in 1932.Howe was born in 1871 in Indianapolis, Indiana, to wealthy parents, Eliza and Edward P. Howe, who owned a store and part of a wholesale business.