Anyone who has studied Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt know that their personal relationships were anything but traditional. Originally many of these stories were unknown or suppressed due to a certain decorum in society and an abhorrence of gossip about the private lives of public individuals. This has long ceased to be the case and in a particularly ugly election year where accusations of personal misconduct are commonplace it is perhaps fitting that we continue to get new revelations about the intimate relationships of our most highly respected political figures.
In Susan Quinn’s Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady we learn about Eleanor’s intimate friend and lover Lorena Hickok. This is not the first time historians have delved into an issue that was buried for years – that one of the most respected and famous women in American history had a serious same-sex relationship. Yet this excellent book is not in any way a tabloid style expose.
Quinn, like Doris Kearns Goodwin in her book on the Roosevelts No Ordinary Time is rightfully careful to not label historical figures with terms that they themselves would not have used. However she does not shy away from exposing the attempt by past historians to downplay or denigrate what was clearly and intimate love affair between Eleanor and Hick.
Eleanor and Hick is at times painful story of the intimate and loving relationship that sustained both of them at important points in their lives. Hick was Eleanor’s support and admirer when she was at her lowest points and Eleanor provided Hick with the blush of excitement and young love that never really faded for her. Quinn’s research rehabilitates a historical Hick from a false version of her who was supposedly love sick lesbian whose unrequited love for Eleanor was embarrassing for all involved – in effect a charity case.
When told in a more honest light what becomes clear is that Eleanor loved Hick dearly and deeply and Hick likewise did the same. They had an intimate relationship that eventually faded but they remained close and far from being a useless hanger-on Hick was one of the most, if not the most brilliant woman journalist of her time. Her articles and human interest stories about the Great Depression are legendary and helped to spur the First Lady into action on behalf of the dispossessed. Born into an abusive home and grinding poverty Hick dug herself out of a hole with her gift for writing. Her story is endearingly American: making the unlikely possible through sheer willpower, talent and determination. At the peak of her success she had the luck and also the misfortune to fall head over heels in love with the woman she was covering on the road, Eleanor. She gave up her job as an AP reporter as a result of becoming too attached to the subject and never really went back to full time reporting, despite that being her gift.
Eleanor met Hick during a difficult time as she was not at all certain about her place in the world as the new First Lady. Eleanor was socially awkward like Hick. The two got on almost immediately. The Roosevelts had long since stopped having an intimate relationship and she was lonely. Hick’s admiration and love gave her self confidence and self esteem when she needed it most. This began an exchange of what can only be described as love letters for a number of years before they grew apart and the letters became more friendly and formal.
Eleanor seemed drawn to nontraditional, feminist women who were anything but refined like herself. In fact another striking feature of the book is the realization that many women around the Democratic Party in the 1930s and 1940s had long term relationships with one another even if it wasn’t spoken of in that manner. One couple, Marion Dickerman & Nancy Cook, lived with Eleanor at her Val Kill cottage on the Hyde Park estate. While a number of her peers looked down upon these women, Eleanor was proud to be counted among them and was a frequent visitor to her own apartment and rich social scene in Greenwich Village while she was in NY for various events. FDR only visited the apartment once.
Eleanor wasn’t the only Roosevelt to find comfort in an intelligent, gifted companion after the end of intimacy and companionship in their marriage. Kathryn Smith’s book The Gatekeeper looks at FDR’s secretary Marguerite “Missy” LeHand, an Irish-American Catholic and secretary of FDR’s from his time as NY governor through his third term as president and until her death. One of the original “Cuff Links Gang” – a group known for socializing and joking with FDR – LeHand was not only a devoted official but a highly adept political operator who became so good at knowing how her boss (or “EffDee” as she affectionately called him) would respond that she could write letters in his voice simply to be signed off by the Boss.
Unlike Hick, and despite rumors to the contrary from FDR’s son James Roosevelt, Missy was not romantically involved with FDR though their surviving correspondence does show a great deal of affection between them. This is hardly surprising given her level of duty and devotion to serving FDR. What she did provide him with was steady companionship.
There is no doubt that Eleanor shied away from the traditional first lady role of a hostess, something which Missy was happy to do. Likely this came down to much of FDR’s relaxing activities involving alcohol and drunkenness, something Eleanor abhorred growing up with an alcoholic father and later brother. Eleanor not only tolerated Missy in her role but supported and encouraged her and, as Smith points out, Eleanor felt affection for Missy as a mother would to a child. Smith brings to light the “silliness” that FDR and Missy were enable to engage in that was different from the serious relationship he had with his wife.
Rather surprisingly Smith’s book is the first of its kind to look specifically at one of the most influential members of Roosevelt’s inner circle. It is astonishing that only in 2016 do we have a book dedicated to this historically important woman.
With both Eleanor & Hick and FDR & Missy experienced was a distancing of their relationships as time went on. In both cases the beginning of the war in September 1939 meant that responsibilities increased exponentially for both Franklin and Eleanor. While the days of the New Deal and responsibilities for pulling the United States out of the Great Depression consumed a lot of time, nothing was as emotionally draining and stressful as the outbreak of world war.
Hick saw less and less of Eleanor as she became needed to fly to Europe to visit the troops and perhaps came to realize that the world that she and Eleanor entertained early on in their relationship was unlikely to ever be a reality. She became acutely aware of this on a road trip meant to be just her and Eleanor that turned into somewhat of a media circus. Hick realized that the fantasy of one day having time alone together was just that. Eleanor also began to develop other love interests and nontraditional intimate relationships with many others including one of her security guards. They remained friends for life and while Hick never really did get over Eleanor the latter was able to move on after the war and after her husband’s death.
Missy was struck down with a massively debilitating stroke in 1941 not long before Pearl Harbor when the US officially entered the war. She saw less and less of FDR and though he still sent her gifts and letters promising he would visit, in the end he only stayed for a very short time and then didn’t visit at all. What seems harsh in retrospect is understandable when one knows the vast responsibilities he dealt with on a daily basis, including travelling around the world to meet with Churchill, Stalin and other world leaders. What is clear is how much he did care for her, he allocated a considerable amount in his will to be given to her care, though tragically she may have fully realized just how much before she died of another stroke in 1944.
Both of these excellent books continue to contribute to our knowledge of the personal lives of some of the most interesting characters during the Second World War. Smith rightly points out that Missy was a “war casualty” like FDR himself – both dedicated servants of the country who died due in some part to stress. Eleanor and Hick both lived longer lives but were changed forever by the war and its aftermath and in their own ways the war and times certainly took their toll. We may never know all of the intimate details of the personal lives of these historical figures but even these small glimpses can help us better understand the complex lives at the center of the storm.
