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Shannon McKenna Schmidt

Shannon McKenna Schmidt Profile Photo

Shannon McKenna Schmidt is the author of The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt's Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back (Sourcebooks/May 2023). She is also the co-author of Novel Destinations: A Travel Guide to Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen’s Bath to Ernest Hemingway’s Key West, 2nd ed. (National Geographic) and Writers Between the Covers: The Scandalous Romantic Lives of Legendary Literary Casanovas, Coquettes, and Cads (Plume/Penguin Random House).


In addition, Shannon has written for National Geographic Traveler, Shelf Awareness, NPR.org, and other websites and publications, including an Arrive magazine cover story featuring President Bill Clinton. She has been a guest on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Studio 2/WHYY, and the Travel Show with Arthur & Pauline Frommer, and has spoken at the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, the National World War II Museum, and other venues, including bookstores, libraries, museums, and historic sites.

From 2010 through 2017, Shannon traveled full-time—first in the United States by RV and then backpacking around the globe. She now lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.

March 25, 2024

Eleanor Roosevelt's Visit to the Pacific Theatre during World War II

In August 1943, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt set off in secrecy from San Francisco on a military transport plane, flying across the Pacific Ocean. It wasn’t until she showed up in New Zealand 10 days later that the public le…