Oh, my dear—I can hardly wait to see you! Day after tomorrow, Minneapolis and letters from you. A week from now—right this minute—I’ll be with you!
Good Night, my dear. God keep you!
H
I’m sleepy. There was a mouse in my room last night, and I lay awake half the night worrying about it. I would.
H
December 9th
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington
Hick dearest, I can’t help wondering if my pencil note will reach you which I sent off last night! No letter from you to-day but I had two yesterday so I am just expressing a longing not a complaint!
I’ve really made a start in Xmas things. A huge pile of packages are actually going off all carefully marked “Do not open until Dec. 25th.”40
We had all the world to tea! Now I must get ready for dinner & I feel rather weary not a good way to begin the evening is it?
Dear, I never thought you were feeling badly from drinking, it never ever crossed my mind! I never think of that unless it is obvious, I suppose because it does not attract me. I never think of other women doing it!41
Dear one it’s getting nearer & nearer & I am half afraid to be too happy. It’s the way I felt as a child when I dreaded disappointment! A world of love,
E.R.
December 10th
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington
Hick dearest, I just sneezed all over this paper, forgive me! Well, I took the party [of White House guests] to Mt. Vernon,42 got home in time to go to church with F.D.R. taking Anna & Sisty & Buzzie & it was a circus! Buzzie wanted to know where the men went to bed, the surplices of course being night clothes to him!43 The two children were one continuous question til Anna took them out before the sermon.
The [Gridiron Widows] party last night went well. Katharine Dayton44 was excellent & I got several speeches from them which were good. Ruby [Black] & I tried but she was so embarrassed she wasn’t good.45
I have a rather pathetic letter from Elliott just here. I think the child is sad at being separated at Xmas time from us all & it makes me feel sorry for him but this is the way life teaches us certain necessary lessons & I know we have to learn them & Elliott needs them but—oh! I am unreasonable!
Only 2 more letters Hick & then I’ll hold my breath till you arrive! Oh! dearest I can hardly wait, it is lucky I have a busy week or I would die just waiting.
I love you deeply & tenderly,
E.R.
December 12th
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington
Hick darling, 2 letters, a report & a wire! this is a rich day & this is my last letter! The day after to-morrow you will be starting East, don’t fly if the weather isn’t good!46
We’ll have tea in my room as soon as you get here Friday & then we’ll decide about Sat. & Sunday—
Dearest one, it will be good to see you. All my love till Friday & God keep you safe,
E.R.
Despite Eleanor’s exuberant statements about how eager she was to see Lorena after months of separation, the first lady became so caught up in Christmas activities that, during Lorena’s first week in Washington, Eleanor barely spent any time with her. After ER promised to commit the evening of December 22 exclusively to Lorena but then spent it with Anna (in the throes of separating from her husband), Lorena blew up. She stormed out of the White House, telling Eleanor she had changed her plans and instead of spending her entire three-week holiday with the first lady she was taking the train to New York and would spend the next two weeks with friends there.
[December 23]
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington
Hick dearest, I went to sleep saying a little prayer, “God give me depth enough not to hurt Hick again.” Darling, I know I’m not up to you in many ways but I love you dearly & I do learn sometimes.
I got in on time & such for Tommy [Thompson, ER’s secretary] & she went with the kids & me to the Fox theatre to give out some things to children.47 “Sisty” objected to the smell! I’m afraid she’s going to be as fastidious as I am which is bad luck for her!
Then I saw the usual people! Lunch early as Missy [LeHand, FDR’s secretary] & Tommy were to go off. Missy left in tears, her first Xmas without her mother & I think she would rather have been here but she felt she must go [home].48 Tommy didn’t seem keen to go [to New York City to be with her family for the holidays] but she motored up. In fact no one round me is very happy except the kids & Sisty has a cold! I wonder why we bother so much about it [the Christmas holiday] anyway, tradition I suppose!
The Salvation Army party came off at 2:30 & was nice49 & then Anna began to dress the Xmas tree helped (or hindered) by Sisty & Buzzie. Anna went out at 6 & Mama arrived & F.D.R., Mama & I have just dined & I must go in & fill envelopes with money in the oval room50 till Mama goes to bed.
Dearest one bless you & forgive me & believe me you’ve brought me more & meant more to me than you know & I will be thankful Xmas eve & Xmas day & every day for your mere being in the world. I’d like to hug you.
Goodnight, sleep well, a world of love—
E.R.
After calling Lorena in New York City and apologizing on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas Day, Eleanor finally persuaded her to return to the White House the next Friday so they could spend the last week of Lorena’s holiday together.
Xmas night
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington
Hick my darling, I love all the things from you, most of all the notes! The underclothes are just right, the [automobile first aid] kit I hope I shan’t need but I should carry one, the little lemon fork will certainly be useful someday when I am in my own home again & the gun was an amusement to us all!51 I read some of the poems last night52 & I love many things you have marked, we’ll read them together sometime.
Franklin said I could ask Harry Hopkins about Puerto Rico.53 He said nothing about not flying when I said we’d go that way. I only wonder if I’ll be a nuisance for you for of course we can’t keep it quiet & there will be reporters & fuss. Would you rather I didn’t try to go with you? Be honest, I won’t be hurt!
I just talked to you!
We drank a toast to absent friends whom we would like to have with us at dinner & I thought of you dear one as I proposed it—We started with stockings, then breakfast, church & Anna the boys & I walked home. After lunch which the kids had with us we opened presents nearly all afternoon. F.D.R. read parts of the Christmas Carol & John B[oet-tiger] whispered to me it was the nicest day he’d ever had & he would never forget it! The young ones then went dancing including Fjr. who has had & still has a sore throat! John didn’t go & he went out with the dogs & with me & at last I got him to bed. I must go too. It was good to hear your voice & you shall dine in bed & sleep all you want if you’ll just stay here & be happy. Don’t think I don’t know what it is like to be jealous, or want to be alone, because I know both emotions tho’ I succeed as a rule in subduing them with laughter! When I don’t, I give you & myself a pretty bad time, don’t I? But I promise I’ll be quite reasonable & in hand before you get here Friday!
A world of love & sleep sweetly,
E.R.
[December 26]
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington
Dearest, Both your letters reached me to-day written on the 23d & 24th & I was made happy by them as I know you wished. No dear, you should not make believe to be happy for me nor like things you don’t like on my account but I should have you all alone!
We’ve just sent 60 odd children home. They were fun to watch & the entertainment very good! I told Bill [Dana]54 you’d be here Friday a.m. & were deigning to sleep here but nothing else & he looked understanding!55
Dr. McIntire will see you Friday a.m. at 9 or 9:3056 & your report is good!
Many thanks dear one for everything, a world of love,
E.R.
Three
JANUARY–FEBRUARY 1934
“A World of Love”
During the first two months of 1934, Lorena proceeded to travel the American roadways to investigate the nation’s relief programs, and Eleanor proceeded to redefine the role of the nation’s first lady. Both women committed a great deal of energy to their individual pursuits, often working twelve- and fourteen-hour days, but each still found the time to write the other—not only religiously but also lovingly, providing constant emotional support and encouragement.
The remarkable epistolary conversation also continued to include references to physical contact—Eleanor kissing Lorena’s photograph and dreaming of holding the first friend in her arms. The creamy white pages trailing after Lorena often ended with a phrase of endearment that the first lady had coined and that somehow captured the unique personality of this relentlessly generous woman whose humanity had, by this point, become legend; night after night, Eleanor sent her letter on its way with the final, and resolutely heartfelt, phrase, “A world of love.”
In this letter, Eleanor refers to the monthly newspaper articles she had begun writing, with Lorena’s encouragement, first for the North American Newspaper Alliance and later for the McNaught Syndicate. She dictated the articles to Tommy Thompson, who corrected Eleanor’s spelling, punctuation, and syntax. Most of the subjects she wrote about were routine, such as the purposes of various federal agencies, but others were highly controversial—including married women working outside the home. This letter also contains the first reference to Eleanor and Lorena hoping to meet for a long weekend together in Warm Springs, as Lorena’s investigative work had taken her to Georgia.
[January 6]
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington
Hick darling, Your letter hasn’t come to-day so I am glad I talked to you last night & shall talk to you again to-night! Gee! but it is good not to have you too far away. This has been a long day but much is done, all my mail signed, all dictation up to date. Our syndicate article done, & now after a large tea party, Tommy, Missy & I are dining with F.D.R. & we then go at nine to the Tiny & Eddie dance.1 We’ll be home early & then I’ll call you & to-night I’m going early to bed.
Dearest one, I miss you very much. I took time out trying to arrange my dates so they wouldn’t conflict with any possible time when we could be to-gether & I’ll write you fully to-morrow.
I’m going to do 2 [syndicate] articles on prison conditions & F. says I can go to the Atlanta penitentiary when I go down to you. Would you be interested? If so we must meet in Atlanta. Some-day we will do lots of work to-gether!
I love you deeply & tenderly & my arms feel very empty, but it won’t be so long.
Devotedly,
E.R.
Eleanor wanted to hear Lorena’s voice so badly late one night that she finally called her, even though she knew that Lorena had been suffering from fatigue and often did not sleep well. In this letter, the first lady apologizes for disrupting Hick’s sleep—up to a point.
[January 9]
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington
Hick darling, It was a crime to wake you last night but I was glad to hear your voice. Oh! dear one it means so much to me to talk to you for a few minutes even at 2 a.m.! We had a very long & satisfactory meeting on Arthurdale last night & this morning at 11 a.m. Mrs. [Elinor] Morgenthau & I went & visited schools.2 I had my exercises & swim too! We were late for the ladies of the cabinet lunch but there was nothing to talk about & it was brief.3 Then mail & preparation for Tommy’s tea,4 4 p.m. a Hawaiian table presented, 5 Tommy’s party & I think she enjoyed it. She had to have a car take her & the loot home! Since then I’ve greeted 5 house guests & now I must dress for one of our intimate little dinners & receptions!5
I’d like to be travelling with you! You should be reading John Brown.6 I’ll bring it, we might finish it on our week end!
The schools were interesting to-day because the colored one was so much better than the white—remind me to tell you about it! School lunches especially done with imagination in the colored school & without in the white.
I love you beyond words & long for you but I’m so tired now that I’m glad this is written for it might not have been done to-night! Dear one, I wish you were here. A world of love,
E.R.
January 10th
49 East 65th Street
New York City
Hick dearest, I have a little while before tea & I want to talk to you on paper. I can hardly wait to get home to-night & really talk to you [by telephone]! I worked on the train & after a short stop to unpack here (my folding frame with you is on my dressing table) I went to Cousin Susie for lunch.7 She looks badly & I am sorry for her but, well, she must have ten times your income even now & we spent 1 ½ hrs talking chiefly about what “she couldn’t do” because “they were so poor”! Then I walked up here & am waiting for tea to begin at 4.
Dear me, I miss you & I love you but one week from to-morrow night I will be starting on my way to you [in Georgia]! I’m trying to arrange about going through the Atlanta prison. The [Harry and Barbara] Hopkins’ & Rita Halle come to lunch on Saturday. I wonder if the latter will like me, too bad if she reverses her opinion again!8 Bless you dear, my love is yours—
Devotedly,
Eleanor
In the early 1930s, most Americans were still leery of air travel. Eleanor, however, became one of flying’s most visible advocates and provided a significant boost to the industry. American humorist Will Rogers found her air travel so noteworthy, in fact, that he wrote in the New York Times about it: “Out at every stop, standing for photographers by the hour, being interviewed, talking over the radio, no sleep. And yet they say she never shows one sign of weariness or annoyance of any kind. No maid, no secretary—just the First Lady of the land on a paid ticket on a regular passenger flight.”9 In this letter, Eleanor refers to her eagerness to go to Atlanta by air rather than train so she can spend as much time as possible with Lorena.
[January 15]
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington
Hick dear one, I find I can fly from here at night and get to Atlanta early Friday morning & if the flying [weather] is good I will do it. I’ll wire you Thursday evening & I’ll blow in on you I hope while you are still in bed!
We had a good press conference this a.m. When I had no engagements over the week end & next week’s press conference was to be Tuesday,10 they smelled a rat but were kind & didn’t press me! Gee wouldn’t I like to get away with it!11
I could cry that you won’t be here to-morrow to hear [Fritz] Kreisler.12 We have an intimate little dinner of 76 & 250 for music!
Louis seems better to-day.13
Darling, what fun we’ll have to-gether [in Warm Springs]. I don’t care whether it rains or not my sun will be high in the heavens! A world of love to you dear one & take good care of yourself,
E.R.
Eventually both the Atlanta Journal and Atlanta Constitution covered the first lady’s weekend at Warm Springs on their front pages—but only as she was returning to Washington. The stories portrayed Eleanor as an intrepid traveler, with neither making any mention whatsoever of Lorena. One stated that the first lady had come to Warm Springs for “rest and quiet”; the other quoted her as saying of the weekend, “It was all one could possibly wish.”14
January 22nd
Hotel Upson
Thomaston, Georgia
Dear You:
Got out of Atlanta late. Gay Shepperson,15 whom I found on more extensive acquaintance to be a grand person, kept me talking until 1. Then I had lunch with that nice lad, Wright Bryan, of the Atlanta Journal. I took him to lunch, thereby easing my conscience a little for the way I treated him Friday.16
Darling, I’m sending Gay Shepperson to see you. Maybe I’ll bring her myself—she doesn’t know just how soon she’ll go up to Washington. I know you’ll like her. She’s simply swell. She’s a most unusual woman, truly. Attractive and feminine, and yet she has the breadth of viewpoin
t and the impersonal attitude of a man. She’s extremely interesting about Georgia. She feels that the money we are pouring into Georgia—in the rural sections—is being wasted really—that this isn’t an emergency down here, but chronic, and she’s deeply interested in some sort of subsistence farming rehabilitation program, instead of relief.
Oh, Lord, dear—this is a fascinating job of mine! I was terribly low and felt lost this morning after I left you. I always feel that way. But Gay Shepperson and Wright Bryan—and now I’m sitting on top of the world again—even though I had a little ache when I unpacked my briefcase and realized that I was in the cottage at Warm Springs, with you, when I packed it early this morning.
Dearest, it was a lovely weekend. I shall have it to think about for a long, long time. Each time we have together that way—brings us closer, doesn’t it? And I believe those days and long pleasant hours together each time make it perhaps a little less possible for us to hurt each other. They give us better understanding of each other, give us more faith, draw us closer—
I am wound up, “nicht wahr?”17 Well, I must go to dinner.
Good night, dear, very dear! You have my gratitude and all my love—
H
In this letter, written only a few days after the Warm Springs trip, Eleanor refers to an incident that had taken place during a lunch at the Roosevelt townhouse in New York soon after the 1932 election. FDR’s haughty Aunt Kassie Collier had criticized Eleanor for having had so many newspaper articles written about her. Lorena, then still an Associated Press reporter, came to Eleanor’s defense by responding that it was difficult for someone of ER’s public stature to avoid publicity. Aunt Kassie then loudly announced: “Nonsense! I have never talked to a newspaper reporter in my entire life!” After nearly laughing out loud, Lorena remained silent for the rest of the meal, never revealing that she was, in fact, a reporter. The incident became a joke that Eleanor and Lorena shared for years to come.
[January 23]
THE WHITE HOUSE
Empty Without You Page 8
