We know—human rights as an important motif in a speech called "On the Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"?

Bet you didn't see that one coming.

Eleanor Roosevelt dedicated much of her life to fighting for social reform and equality, and it all came to a head with this speech in Paris in 1948—not that it fixed all the problems, of course. But she knew that wasn't going to happen.

Roosevelt acknowledges in her speech that everyone had "much to do to fully achieve and to assure the rights set forth in the Declaration," but for her, human rights had become synonymous with human dignity—one couldn't exist without the other.

So, while the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was only the first step in a long process, the act of specifically laying out the basic human rights all people were entitled to was going to be a significant part of rebuilding after World War II and keeping the peace long term.

As far as Roosevelt and the Commission on Human Rights were concerned, defining human rights and enforcing them would prevent another atrocity like the Holocaust—and that was something everyone could agree on.