Missy, as FDRs children nicknamed her, Four years ago, when reports of presidential misbehavior convulsed the country, I found myself wanting to tell the story of three people who comported themselves with dignity and grace in the face of imminent heartbreak and of an era that allowed them to. During World War II, this couple of 40 years sometimes couldn't manage a conversation except through secretaries. Week after week I saw Martha get off the train wearing high heels and black silk stockings. Born in 1882, he was the only child of James Roosevelt and Sara Delano. To her surprise, Anna found that she liked Rutherfurd immediately, and the pair became friends. 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. 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. The noble woman was human. "[10], In 1918, Franklin went on a trip to Europe to inspect naval facilities for the war. Most historians ascribe FDRs metamorphosis from callow politician to visionary statesman to his contracting polio in the summer of 1921, but some contemporaries, such as Joseph Alsop and his mother, Corinne, who was ERs first cousin, thought that loving, and losing, Lucy Mercer was the fire that began to forge his strength and patience even before his illness. In a review for the Washington Post, Stacy Schiff details the first lady's long-term relationship with reporter Lorena Hickok. A few years later, when FDR contracted polio and was paralyzed from the waist down, their lives changed. region: "", "Your mother only bore you," she went so far as to tell young James Roosevelt. She inquired if hed answered it. FDR was convinced he had found a new form of therapy. FDR expressed a longing for white asparagus. Atlantic Crossing | Fact or Fiction: Inside Episode 6 - PBS According to Joseph Alsop, a Roosevelt cousin and political columnist, ER had a downright ghastly childhood and youth, while FDR had an immensely happy childhood and a youth altogether comfortable and if anything overprotected. Missy arrived in Washington to much fanfare and excitement. The correspondent most frequently focused on the romance angle was Walter Trohan of the Chicago Tribune. In Trohans memoir Political Animals, he describes receiving a tip in the fall of 1941 that the Crown Princess was visiting [the Presidents country home] Hyde Park every weekend without being on the guest list. Anna Roosevelt, Franklin and Eleanor's only daughter, played hostess at these dinners, and other members of the Roosevelt and Delano families were aware of the clandestine rendezvous. They brought explosives and cash and had plans that included disrupting New Yorks water supply. Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin links some of Missys increased stress to Marthas entry into Roosevelts life. 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. 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. [Press officer] Steve Early called me into his office and asked me to stop.. Mrs. Nesbitt told him it was unavailable, though when his secretaries chipped in to buy some, they managed to find it in the local stores. Later, his two doctors - called in soon after the event - said he had suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage. Missy lived in the Governors Mansion with the Roosevelts, and was part of the family in every way. 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. Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, not long after his election to an unprecedented fourth term as president. Where Franklin believed that the war effort superseded civil liberties, Eleanor argued that wartime was when belief in the Bill of Rights most counted. In conjunction with Glenn Horowitz Booksellers, we are offering the archive, intact, directly from Ms. LeHands heirs. When Franklin finally broke the news to her two years later and added that they planned to marry, Sara was aghast; besides her own wish to keep her son to herself, Franklin and Eleanor were only 22 and 20, respectively. Roosevelt's longest supposed affair was with his secretary, Missy LeHand, which some historians believe he became romantically involved with beginning in 1921, when he was serving as governor of New York. Free subscription>>, Please consider a donation to help us keep this American treasure alive. James realized even then what a cruel thing that was to say, but even Eleanor felt that the children were more Sara's than hers. Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously did his very best to control his public image. Thus was born a truly remarkable partnership. 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. LeHand, Marguerite, 1896-1944 - Library of Congress I discovered secrets I wanted to sweep under the rug. [8] Mercer and Franklin continued to see one another privately, causing widespread gossip in Washington. [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]. [14], In the end, Franklin appears to have told Mercer disingenuously that Eleanor was not willing to grant a divorce. She remained in the White House, and it was there she received the sad word of her husband's passing. Missy LeHand They provided FDR with an important escape from the pressures of the White House, and their personal bonds allowed them to speak truth, sometimes uncomfortable truths, to the Boss. Hers was the ONLY office with such a door. He was married to Eleanor. At a time when interest in their war just keeps on rising, why arent Americas World War II poets better remembered? Fact or Fiction: FDR's private secretary Missy LeHand suffered a sudden collapse at a White House dinner. Another woman close to FDR was Princess Martha of Sweden, a royal who was forced to flee Scandinavia in 1941 after the Nazi invasion. During their engagement she wrote to her future husband, Sometimes I think that a womans moods are sent her just as a mans temptations are.. [25][26], Despite Roosevelt's promise to Eleanor, he kept in contact with Lucy Rutherfurd after her marriage, corresponding with her by letter throughout the 1920s. During the same time period, Roosevelt was said to be involved with Dorothy Schiff, a former publisher of the New York Post. 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. Though he didnt mind others uneasiness, his need to charm was so great that he hated saying no to people. She expected her husband to do well. Marguerite LeHand (U.S. National Park Service) Kathryn Smiths new book goes a long way to correcting the error of omission that history has made regarding Missy LeHand. A complete collection of their correspondence can be found here:The Grace Tully Collection Finding Aid. Grace performed dictation and typing, managed the President's mail, and served as primary files manager for the White House. 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. If Lucy Mercer had been a weaker, less generous-spirited woman, FDR might not have become one of Americas greatest Presidents.) Adoring crowds made the president the center of attention, both at the wedding and the reception. Her office also had a door leading to the garden, allowing unannounced visitors direct access to FDR when he didnt want their names showing up on the official White House registry. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that she wasn't privy to the courtship between Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, begun in 1902. 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.. In the same letter, she admitted that she had been reading over some very old letters of his.. The difference of several weeks would not seem important but for who else was in the White House at the time. Eleanor Roosevelt might have been a saint, but she was a saint with a faddish bent and a powerful peasant breath. After Ambassador William Bullitt attempted to sabotage the career of Assistant Secretary of State Sumner Welles by spreading rumors of a homosexual scandal, FDR predicted that on the Day of Judgment, Welles would receive a rap on the knuckles for giving in to his human predilections but that Bullitt would burn in hell for ruining another mans life. A sexual dalliance would have risked a pregnancy that could derail Franklin's family and career and Mercer's reputation. And while she clearly had her favorites, she was widely respected for her fairness and devotion to the presidents needs. hbspt.enqueueForm({ 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. Eleanor Roosevelt, born in 1884, had the more difficult time of it. that it would be best if you answered it now? she insisted. FDR's Indispensable Right-Hand Woman Portrayed Unfairly Again. 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. Unlike a chronology of events I later unearthed, the note was not a new discovery. He always enjoyed other peoples discomfort, Averell Harriman The affair lasted 20 years, according to some, and it was cataloged in a book written by FDR's son Elliott, who said the relationship was common knowledge. In her book The Gatekeeper,Kathryn Smith describes Missys role this way: Missy was the Swiss Army Knife of the White House. The Sad Truth About Franklin And Eleanor Roosevelt's Marriage, Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage. And everyone from John D. Rockefeller to W. E. B. Eleanor Roosevelt was not with him on the trip. Now in his fifties, Rutherfurd was considered one of society's most eligible widowers. It won't rain on our parade! Warnings around that unlucky number proved apt on this occasion; this was the year, according to Biography, that Eleanor first discovered her husband's infidelity. It included Eleanor Roosevelt, Joe Kennedy, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, and 1,200 others. Whatever difficulties they had with intimacy, fidelity, and child-rearing, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were united as a political partnership. Why the Fact that Weve Never Paid Serious Attention to This eventually became the March of Dimes Foundation which funded the research that led to a polio vaccine in 1954. [citation needed], Following Roosevelt's death, his administration concealed from the press the fact that Rutherfurd had been present during his death, fearing the scandal that would ensue. After Missy LeHand suffered a stroke in 1941, Grace became FDR's primary personal secretary. Their long distance relationship proved both exhilarating and frustrating for Missy. Unlike a formerly unpublished letter from which I finally got permission to quote, it wasnt even classified. My love affair with her husband, which came later, was more personal and had to do as much with my adolescent yearnings as the great mans achievements. [33] In June 1944, Roosevelt requested of his daughter Anna, who was then managing some White House social functions and acting as hostess, that she help him arrange to meet Rutherfurd without Eleanor's knowledge. Eleanor Roosevelt was 13 years into her marriage in 1918. Fala was a gift from Margaret Suckley and FDR took the dog with him everywhere, Gifts: Roosevelt left his secretary, Missy LeHand, half of his $3 million estate, Til' death do us part: A handful of Roosevelt's alleged mistresses were with him when he died, 17:41 25 Nov 2012, updated 13:35 18 Sep 2014, Marguerite 'Missy' LaHand was FDR's secretary for more than 20 years, Legendary life revealed: Stunning behind the scenes pictures show Elizabeth Taylor as child star, blushing bride and Hollywood icon, 'I hit her in the face with the spare ribs': Frank Sinatra's loyal valet tells how he carried out singer's dirty work and broke up with lovers for the star, Franklin D. Roosevelt allegedly carried on affairs with at least five women, Lucy Mercer was Eleanor Roosevelt's social secretary, Margaret 'Daisy' Suckley was Roosevelt's sixth cousin and close confidant, Princess Martha of Sweden was forced to flee Scandinavia in 1941, Dorothy Schiff was a former publisher of the New York Post. 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. 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. Her relationship with Eleanor cooled when her mother learned Anna arranged Mercers clandestine visits, but the pair later co-hosted a radio discussion show. Mercer's friendship with Franklin Roosevelt was portrayed in the well-regarded TV mini-series Eleanor and Franklin, with Mercer portrayed by actress Linda Kelsey in the 1976 telecast, based on the best-selling biography of the same name by Eleanor's personal friend Joseph P. Lash, published in 1971. (If FDR had not fallen in love with Lucy Mercer, ER might never have become a force for peace and social justice. Ikes son, historian John Eisenhower, recalls attending meetings with the British wartime leader and reflects on his character and accomplishments. But whitewashing the weaknesses of the great is a disservice to them as well as history. LeHand dropped unconscious at the end of a late dinner with White House staff. Two weeks after the June collapse, LeHand suffered a major stroke and was never again able to speak intelligently. But their public accomplishments took a personal toll. I wrote all this in the newspaper. 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. But FDR never gave up on her. Missy had suffered from a bad heart from the time she was a little girl. She was 47 years old. With Elliott Roosevelt deceased, Eleanor was given away at the wedding by her uncle. He died on April 12, 1945 at the Little White House in Warms Spring, Georgia; the funeral took place on April 15 in Washington D.C. Her name was Marguerite Alice LeHand, but everyone knew her as Missy. When I thought about their personal flaws, I marveled at the public good to which they put them. 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. Both parents were dead by the time Eleanor was 10, leaving her and her brothers in the care of their strict grandmother. Her collapse actually occurred on June 4, 1941not on Christmas Eve and not with Martha present. When he returned in September, sick with pneumonia in both lungs, Eleanor discovered a packet of love letters from Mercer in his suitcase. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt had six children together, five of whom lived to adulthood. After two decades of cruising the Florida waters and sharing a Warm Springs cottage with FDR, sitting by his side as he sorted his stamps when she knew he needed silence, and arranging impromptu dinners and late-night poker games when she sensed hed like company, Missy, who was only 43, had suffered a stroke the night beforebrought on, some said, by her effort to keep up with FDR. Yet he often dined on Mrs. Nesbitts inedible food off a solitary tray in his study. When Germany unleashed its blitzkreig in 1939, the U.S.Army was only the 17th largest in the world. According to William E. Leuchtenburg of UVA's Miller Center, Franklin was largely isolated on the family's Hyde Park estate in New York, educated by private tutors. The film, opening December 7, stars Bill Murray as Roosevelt and Laura Linney as Miss Suckley. Web[Marguerite Alice LeHand, nicknamed "Missy" by the Roosevelt children, was the confidential private secretary of Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1920, when FDR campaigned for vice She came to work for FDR as his private secretary at age 23 and stayed for more than 20 years. Lucy Mercer had a talent, though it is not one held in high regard today. "[16] Eleanor later wrote, "I have the memory of an elephant. Lucy Mercer had a contagious genius for living joyously. 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. I naturally fell for him. formId: "5b72fde8-e7e4-4048-9244-483412ab8fe3", For her part, Eleanor Roosevelt also enjoyed the company of a woman. She was, according to Jean Edward Smith's "FDR," the president's constant companion for 21 years, his attendant on excursions where Eleanor was not present, and the only one to refer to him with the pet name "F.D." Because of her efforts, women as well as men had Civilian Conservation Corps camps, and children no longer drank tainted milk, and blacks got a share, if not a fair one, of the defense miracle that was wresting the nation out of the Depression and into World War II. FDR's love nest in the park: How president took FIVE But while the two shared a broadly liberal vision of the United States, they had areas of strong political disagreement. After discovering the relationship, she offered her husband a divorce. But the demands ER made on herself could take a fearful toll on others, especially the man with whom she had linked her destiny when she was only 20 and he had just turned 23. Although her official title as personal secretary was relatively humble, her power and influence were unparalleled. [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.

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