Debate over America's involvement in World War II came to a head in July 1941 as the Senate argued over a draft extension bill. Dont you think . I knew her father had died of alcoholism, and her uncles had drunkenly fired hunting rifles at her from the windows of her grandmothers house. Profiles in History: Missy LeHand: FDRs Right Hand Anna Roosevelt left Missy half of his $3 million estate. Dasch and his partner Ernst Burger (lower right) received prison sentences; the others were sentenced to death. After his reelection and the Yalta Conference the following February, Franklin retreated to a favorite residence in Warm Springs, Georgia, for rest. A soldier-historian looks at how the world has changed in the past decade and finds that America is both hostage to history and likely to be saved by it. She functioned as FranklinRoosvelt's de facto chief-of-staff, yet Missy LeHand's role has beenmisrepresented and overlooked by historians. The Gatekeeper: Missy LeHand, FDR, and the Untold Story [12] Eleanor Roosevelt biographer Blanche Wiesen Cook expressed skepticism that this had been a serious obstacle, noting the depth of Mercer's feelings. The difference of several weeks would not seem important but for who else was in the White House at the time. FDR's mother definitely wanted to keep her son a mother's boy, notes theNew York Review. She advocated unsuccessfully against the internment policy; when it went through, she kept up a pragmatic front in public speeches and mitigated and challenged interment where she could in private. Missy suffered a terrible stroke in 1941 and left the White House, so her assistant Grace Tully took over for her. 'Everyone in the close-knit inner circle of father's friends accepted it as a matter of course,' he wrote. She already resented having the timeline and circumstances of their engagement dictated by her future mother-in-law; with a lengthy cruise separating them, she wondered if Franklin might not return her affections afterwards. The Gatekeeper: Missy LeHand, FDR, and the Untold Story of the Partnership That Defined a Presidency by Kathryn Smith finally gives Missy LeHand her due. [3] The pair separated shortly after Lucy's birth, and Carroll became an alcoholic. Sara insisted that the couple delay their marriage by one year. Several of them actually lived in the White House at one time or another. Daisy Bonner, who cooked for Franklin Roosevelt for twenty years in the Georgia White House, recalled his favorite dish. It won't rain on our parade! She was an exquisitely sensitive and engaging companion and later a constant and competent nurse to a husband who doted on her. Throughout their lives together, ER never stopped casting a pall over the short cocktail hour that gave FDR enormous pleasure. Doris Kearn Goodwin counters in"No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt" that Franklin doted on his children when he could give them his time. But when the book was published, she denied the affair, even though Potter claimed she had reviewed the manuscript and never asked to have that information retracted. Nonetheless, FDR had his standards of conduct. She quickly became an established part of the Roosevelt household, and good friends with Eleanor. She had emerged from a tragic, if gilded, childhood to embrace the underdog, speak up for the disenfranchised, and battle tirelessly for human dignity. According to the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, Franklin and Eleanor were acquainted as children but came to romance and courtship as young adults in 1902. They insisted every man she met fell in love with her. One such instance was over the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. UVA's Miller Center speculated that Sara Delano Roosevelt would likely have disapproved of any possible match for her son. Another woman close to FDR was Princess Martha of Sweden, a royal who was forced to flee Scandinavia in 1941 after the Nazi invasion. Now in his fifties, Rutherfurd was considered one of society's most eligible widowers. James Cox was the democratic candidate for President, and it was widely assumed he would lose to the Republican candidate Senator Warren Harding. FACT: The American press wrote openly about the amount of time FDR spent with Martha, says series creator, director, co-writer and executive producer, Alexander Eik. Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day": Family 17:41 25 Nov 2012, updated 13:35 18 Sep 2014. That was a given. WebThe exact nature of FDR's relationship with LeHand's is debated by historians, but it is generally accepted that there was an element of romance. In March 1942 Missy returned to the White House, a shadow of her former self, and moved back into her apartment on the third floor. Already getting in the party mood! Only a sliding door separated 49 East 65th Street (Franklin and Eleanor's residence) from Sara's next door. During the four years I spent with Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt, I never stopped wondering at the imaginations of those two children of privilege who came to intuit hardship they had never endured. As a young Assistant Secretary of the Navy, FDR returned home each evening to a high-minded wife who was continually reminding him that he hadnt mailed the $50 hed blithely pledged to a hospital for immigrant children or that the story he told about his conversion to woman suffrage was more vivid than accurate. That glimpse of a vigorous ambulatory self was not the only reason he returned to her at the end, but surely it was a happy side effect. But whitewashing the weaknesses of the great is a disservice to them as well as history. FDR A military tribunal later found all eight men guilty. According toHistory Today, Eleanor came to the marriage with little to no education in sex. My discovery of Lucy Mercer, FDRs great love, complicated the story and humanized the characters. [45] Well-known historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (19172007) stated of the affair that if Rutherfurd "in any way helped Franklin Roosevelt sustain the frightful burdens of leadership in the second world war, the nation has good reason to be grateful to her."[46]. Missys role as Gatekeeper gave her enormous influence in who the president spent time with. ER relied upon the kindness and sustenance of her friends, especially her women friends. After a major White House renovation in 1934 Missy was moved into a prime office with a view of the rose garden, and a door that opened directly into the new and improved Oval Office. A Vermont Farmer Preserved the Worlds Most Ephemeral Art for Posterity. But the siren call of political life drew FDR back into the arena and in 1928 he ran for Governor of New York and won. His health had declined throughout World War II. Rutherfurd is portrayed by Maria Dizzia. Per Hazel Rowley's "Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage," the four-time first lady went so far as to tell her grown daughter, Anna Roosevelt Halsted, that sex was "an ordeal to be borne.". The decision would have profound consequences for the nation. Throughout his life, Franklin Roosevelt was surrounded by remarkable women. Missy grew to love this special place, and between the cruisesaboard the Larooco and the rehabilitation work at Warm Springs, Missy had become a critical part ofFDRs recovery efforts. Eleanor did not enjoy or entirely approve of the bohemian lifestyle FDR was engaging in, fishing and drinking and frivolous pastimes, and so she spent little time onboard. The year 1924 also introduced FDR to Warm Spring Georgia, where he would focus his efforts on findingan effective cure for polio and provide a world class rehabilitation clinic for its victims. WebBeing obsessed with all things Roosevelt, I was thrilled to see a biography about Marguerite Missy LeHand, President Franklin D. Roosevelts personal secretary. . When FDR looked into Lucys eyes, he saw himself striding down Connecticut Avenue to the old State, War, and Navy Building, and loping across the sun-washed greens where hed played 18 holes of golf in the morning and another 18 in the afternoon, and doing a hundred things hed never given a thought to in the years before he was stricken. Everybody wants something, ER replied. As I came to know Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, I began to shed my predilections and prejudices and admire the strength of her convictions, the delicacy of her principles, and the size of her heart. Joseph Lash was a faithful intimate during ERs life and an excellent friend in the books he wrote about her after her death. He bought an old boat with his friend John Lawrence and christened it the Larooco (Lawrence, Roosevelt Co.) and in the winter of 1924, FDR, Missy, and Leroy set sail for the warm Caribbean waters near Florida. portalId: 20973928, Yet after more than 10 years of marriage to a wife whom he would always respect and revere, he broke the rules of God and man and fell in love with another woman. A complete collection of their correspondence can be found here:The Grace Tully Collection Finding Aid. FDR and ER, in contrast, battled endlessly to make America a more inclusive society at home and a force for democracy abroad. What should have been their day alone ended up with the two of them practically ignored. By the time of his final campaign in 1944, many noted his gaunt appearance and declining faculties, according to UVA's Miller Center. While there has been speculation that FDR and Missy had an affair during this time, there is no evidence to support it, and her long and warm relationship with Eleanor and the children casts serious doubts on it. ", Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt shared a mutual respect and affection. After 65 years, the archives of FDRs personal secretary are now open to the public, The world-shaping relationship between these two giants got off to a rocky start. [1] Lucy had one sister, Violetta Carroll Mercer (18891947). She speaks of how much you have given . FDR's Secretary of Labor the first female Cabinet member also helpedcreatethe minimum wage, 40-hour work week, and first tough child labor laws. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Getting to know FDR, ER, and Lucy Mercer was not an unalloyed pleasure. Per the Washington Post, Eleanor burned the love letters she uncovered from Mercer to Franklin. Missy *Based on a series of articles(in Norwegian) written by Mari Aftret Mrtvedt and Ola Nymo Trulsen for NRK, the Norwegian Broadcasting Company. The princess called Roosevelt by the nickname 'Dear Godfather,' and friends said they were very flirtatious towards one another. Both parents were dead by the time Eleanor was 10, leaving her and her brothers in the care of their strict grandmother. But in 1960, when ER refused to come to the telephone because she suspected the caller wanted something from her, her surprised secretary asked if she didnt believe people could like her for herself. He hated to be alone. Aware of Rutherfurd's role in her parents' early marriage, Anna was at first angry that her father had put her in such a difficult position. Find out about new shows, get updates on your favorite dramas and mysteries, enjoy exclusive content and more! The Sad Truth About Franklin And Eleanor Roosevelt's Historian/author Persico speculates that these letters may have been the cause of the 1927 nervous breakdown of Roosevelt's long-time unmarried first secretary Marguerite "Missy" LeHand (18981944), as LeHand was also reputedly in love with Roosevelt and no medical cause for her breakdown was found. [28] During the same time period, Roosevelt was said to be involved with Dorothy Schiff, a former publisher of the New York Post. Marguerite LeHand, Personal Secretary to President "[17] The incident marked a turning point in her life; disillusioned with her marriage, she became active in public life, and focused increasingly on her social work rather than her role as a wife.[18][19]. I never wish to hear money, jewels, or labels mentioned again. In 1917, on an official trip to Haiti, FDRs behavior to his hosts was as unfailingly courteous as his enjoyment of his colleagues racist jokes was hearty. My fascination with Eleanor Roosevelt dates back to my childhood. From March 1933 until May 1941 Missy assisted FDR and the family in every imaginable way. The annual parade was a fixture of New York even then, and the festivities outside reportedly drowned out the exchange of marriage vows. Such infamously bad food was not the oversight of a woman too busy filling the stomachs of millions to worry about pleasing the palates of a few, or the result of an inbred disapproval of indulgence and aversion to pleasure. She spent time in Warm Springs getting FDRs new cottage ready for him. Unlike a formerly unpublished letter from which I finally got permission to quote, it wasnt even classified. Funding for MASTERPIECE is provided by Viking and Raymond James, with additional support from public television viewers and contributors to The Masterpiece Trust, created to help ensure the series' future. "Attention and admiration were the things through all my childhood which I wanted," Eleanor later remarked, "because I was made to feel that nothing about me would attract attention or bring me admiration.". The Virginia Quarterly Reviewdescribes her as feeling rejected by her mother Anna Hall Roosevelt, who once told her that she must be good, as she was too plain to be anything else. But their public accomplishments took a personal toll. Eleanor Roosevelt might have been a saint, but she was a saint with a faddish bent and a powerful peasant breath. In doing so, he hoped to receive clemency and resume his life in America. She remained in the White House, and it was there she received the sad word of her husband's passing. It was a wifes revenge on her husband, for betraying her love, for falling short of her standards. FDR and Eleanor Roosevelts Children: Who Were They? . Even during the terrible years when he was battling to walk again, he delighted in company. FDR would visit her for short periods of time while he fought a global war, and the old Childrens Hour gang kept her company. Together they saw the White House through the Great Depression and World War II, and their separate and joint efforts to combat both issues reshaped the office of the presidency and the role of the first lady. Although her official title as personal secretary was relatively humble, her power and influence were unparalleled. The loneliness of leadership is a truism. Her parents squandered a fortune with stunning panache, and one morning she and her sister awakened to find they were stranded penniless at their convent school in Austria. Throughout her life, ER blamed her early inadequacy as a mother for her childrens unhappiness and took on radio engagements, writing assignments, and other endeavors to further their careers and shore up their finances. After the election, Eleanor asked Missy to come to her home in Hyde Park and help finish up the correspondence. She was also romantically involved with the dashing and daring William Bullitt who served as FDRs secret spy and later as Ambassador to Russia and France. The wife of his aide Edwin ("Pa") Watson called him the loneliest man in the world. In 1943 FDR told his distant cousin and close companion Margaret Suckley, Im either Exhibit A or left completely alone.. Franklin's response was to tell his wife gently, she would say that she was upset now but would feel differently later and so excused himself from the conversation. Franklin Roosevelt had been conducting an affair with his wife's own secretary, Lucy Mercer. But many women worshiped FDRthe spunky Missy LeHand, the willfully spinsterish Daisy Suckley, the flirtatious Princess Martha of Norway, whose sexy high heels and stillunrationed black silk stockings the press gleefully reported. His wife turned the White House over to a kitchen moralist who believed in plain food plainly prepared. Admirers sent the President wild game, of which he was particularly fond. As Lucy realizes in my book, if you cannot accept imperfections, you cannot loveor, I would add, write history, biography, or fiction. In 1941 she re-entered the paralyzed Presidents life bearing an additional gift. Franklin Delano Roosevelt WebMissy LeHand was private secretary to Franklin D. Roosevelt (32nd US President of the United States) for over two decades. FDR confidant and Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter regarded her as the "fifth most powerful person in the country" at the time. I am not talking about giving up a career to stay home and raise children, or nursing an aging parent, or other instances of worthy self-sacrifice. They speak of her need to make surroundings beautiful, and days bright, and loved ones glad to be alive. Her stress was a trigger for heart problems, say the series co-writers, adding that the medication LeHand took gave her mood swings, depression and anxiety. [2] Though they were both from wealthy, well-connected families, Mercer's parents lost their fortune through the Financial Panic of 1893 and subsequent great recession/depression which curtailed their lavish spending. [8], In June 1917, Mercer quit or was fired from her job with Eleanor and enlisted in the US Navy, which was then mobilizing for World War I. Miss LeHand: FDR's Influential and Largely Forgotten Assistant, Missy LeHand: FDR's Influential but Largely Forgotten Assistant. He loved to gather a group around him while he mixed cocktails, told stories, and traded gossip and jokes. There were supposedly several dinners in the White House's second-floor private quarters during Roosevelt's last year which were attended by Rutherfurd in a group with Anna's presence and obvious acceptance. In the first decade of their marriage, Eleanor was pregnant five times, four within the first four years. This photo is from Jan. 20, 1936, Love nest: FDR took many of his close female friends whom he was rumored to be involved with romantically to his Hyde Park home in upsate New York. Just as I was discovering a darker side of ERs character, so a more melancholy aspect of FDRs life began to emerge. Polio struck without warning on August 10, 1921, while he was vacationing at his home on Campobello Island in Canada. She later commented, "He deserved a good time. Schiff's biographer, Jeffrey Potter, claimed in his 1976 book, 'Men, Money and Magic: The Story of Dorothy Schiff,' that she admitted to having an affair with FDR between 1936 and 1943. Eleanor Roosevelt was the greatest obstacle I faced when I started the research for Lucy, a novel about the love affair that altered and almost derailed twentieth-century history. The next four years in Albany provided FDR with a powerful platform to re-establish his national profile. WebMissy LeHand expresses her feelings to Martha. One afternoon while I was touring Val-Kill, the cottage in Hyde Park that ER set up for herself after she had given up the house shed originally built with her friends Nancy Cook and Marion Dickerman, I asked a noted Roosevelt scholar if he knew the reason for the rupture. Olav confronts his wife about rumors of an affair. Though he didnt mind others uneasiness, his need to charm was so great that he hated saying no to people. Lucy Page Mercer was born on April 26, 1891, in Washington, D.C., to Carroll Mercer (18571917), a member of Theodore Roosevelt's "Rough Riders" cavalry military unit in the campaigns in Cuba, on the south shore of the island near Santiago during the brief SpanishAmerican War in 1898, and Minna Leigh (Minnie) Tunis (18631947), an independent woman of "Bohemian" exotic, free-spirited tastes. He made no attempt to conceal his feelings about Missy.'. In her autobiographies she admitted to a tendency, when hurt or angry, to withdraw into a punishing silenceher Griselda mood, she called it. Her relationship with Eleanor cooled when her mother learned Anna arranged Mercers clandestine visits, but the pair later co-hosted a radio discussion show. FDR was the most convivial of men. In a short period of time she became the most famous secretary in America. (If FDR had not fallen in love with Lucy Mercer, ER might never have become a force for peace and social justice. Franklin and Eleanor were acquainted as children but came to romance and courtship as young adults in 1902. They brought explosives and cash and had plans that included disrupting New Yorks water supply. Her relationship with her mother-in-law was not one of constant hostility, but her patience with Sara was often tried. But this was FDRs first shot at national political office and he went at it with his trademark gusto. [36] The two women, Mercer and Shoumatoff, immediately packed and left the cottage. LeHand dropped unconscious at the end of a late dinner with White House staff. Per NPR's review of the book "Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage," she engineered a cruise with herself, Franklin, and Franklin's best friend that winter, a move that left Eleanor worried. If FDR was incapable of giving love, as many close to him believed, perhaps ER was equally incapable of receiving it. Missy was part of FDRs most inner circle, those few people who crossed over from the political to the personal worlds of the Roosevelts. [20] Winthrop Rutherfurd had proposed to socialite Consuelo Vanderbilt (18771964) in 1896, only to see her social-climbing mother instead force her into marriage with Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough (18711934) (cousin to later British prime minister Winston Churchill). She traveled with them and paid their bills, acted as hostess when Eleanor was away, provided advice on personnel, personal and political matters, and kept the White House secretarial staff operating at a remarkably high level of effectiveness under constant stress. Alice Roosevelt Longworthdaughter of Theodore Roosevelt, and a cousin of Eleanor'sencouraged the affair, inviting Mercer and Franklin to dinner together several times. She made a point to be photographed with Japanese-Americans when she traveled to California after the attack. I can forgive, but never forget. In "Roosevelt in Retrospect," John Gunther claimsthat Franklin was often unaware when Eleanor was in the White House, and that he did not see the New York apartments his wife maintained until late in 1944. All three lingered in my consciousness long after the need for adolescent mutiny faded. FDR himself was suffering from a range of medical problems during the spring of 1941 the pressure of the war in Europe was taking a toll. In this quiet domestic scene as the two had just been smiling at each other, Roosevelt suddenly placed his hand up on his forehead and temple, saying "I have a terrific headache," then slumped over losing consciousness. [30] When her husband later suffered a stroke, she contacted Roosevelt to arrange for him to be cared for at well-regarded Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.[31] Historian/author Doris Kearns Goodwin speculated that an entry in the White House ushers diary for August 1, 1941 included a code name for Lucy Rutherfurd, suggesting that she attended a private dinner with the president then. [8] Mercer and Franklin continued to see one another privately, causing widespread gossip in Washington. And every day they would gather for Childrens Hour and FDR would mix martinis or some other cocktail and they would drop the worlds woes and spend time gossiping, chatting, and generally having fun. FDR's affinity for the company of women was always well known and some historians dispute stories of his alleged affairs, saying his friendships never grew to FDR's affinity for the company of women was always well known and some historians dispute stories of his alleged affairs, saying his friendships never grew to become romances. On the other hand, her son James Roosevelt (quoted by Rowley) thought that his mother may have had an affair with her young bodyguard, the New York state trooper Earl Miller. The Roosevelts' son James later described the state of the marriage after the incident as "an armed truce that endured until the day he died. WebWidely considered the first female presidential chief of staff, Marguerite "Missy" LeHand was the right-hand woman to Franklin Delano Roosevelt - both personally and professionally - for more than 20 years. His removal from friends and peers was made up for by the love and support of his family, particularly his mother. ], FACT: Yes, its known as Operation Pastorius, says series co-writer and historian, Linda May Kallestein. At the time, Theodore Roosevelt was still president of the United States and at the height of his popularity. From initial encounters during the 1932 presidential campaign, Hickok would eventually take up residence in the White House near Eleanor's rooms. When I looked at their early prejudices, I saw signposts indicating how far they had traveled. Harvey Shapiro, himself one of our most distinguished poets, examines a powerful and undervalued legacy. [22] The Rutherfurds had one child, Barbara Mercer Rutherfurd (June 14, 1922November 6, 2005),[23][24] who married Robert Winthrop "Bobby" Knowles, Jr. in 1946. It included Eleanor Roosevelt, Joe Kennedy, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, and 1,200 others. the grandniece of Marguerite A. A formidable, multitalented multitasker.. When his daughter Anna was grown and newly divorced, she took up residence in the White House and became her father's confidante. Many cabinet secretaries, congressmen, senators and ambassadors courted favor with Missy in an attempt to gain access to the president. A nationwide gene-purity movement promoted methods that eventually were adopted by the Third Reich. Eleanor also had to contend with her mother-in-law Sara Delano Roosevelt. She showed no hesitation in using the sliding door to come and go as she pleased. Missy had suffered from a bad heart from the time she was a little girl. Goodwin writes in No Ordinary Time that it was disturbing for Missy to be replaced by another woman.. [42] Roosevelt's second private secretary Grace Tully (19001984), who had also been at Warm Springs at the time of his death, did briefly mention Rutherfurd's presence in F.D.R., My Boss, her 1949 memoir, but gave no further hint of the relationship.