When former First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt completed her term as a US Representative to the UN General Assembly in 1953, she walked into the association's New York office and volunteered to help. This was the quiet beginning of a major campaign in which Mrs. Roosevelt carried the message of UN across the country through personal appearances, recruitment speeches, and fundraising efforts. Mrs. Roosevelt was instrumental in building the association's national network of chapters on college campuses and in communities across the US, an effort that continue until her death in 1962.