Loving Eleanor
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In terms of the plot, the most significant fictional creation is what Hick describes as “FDR’s left hook.” Its several manifestations are based on the assessment of the president as “manipulative” and “deceptive” by many historians and on contemporary speculation. At the time, some viewed Earl Miller’s September 1932 wedding to the seventeen-year-old cousin of his first wife as a staged distraction from his continuing relationship with FDR’s wife. A decade later, Joseph Lash believed that his military orders to the Pacific in 1943 came directly from the White House, following Army Intelligence’s bugging of the Chicago hotel room that he and the First Lady shared. Louis Howe’s role in assigning Hick to Hopkins at FERA is nowhere documented, but logically fits with the strategies that may have been used to deal with Miller and Lash.
In the end, Loving Eleanor is a novel, not a history or a biography, and Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt, like everyone else in the book, are fictional characters. However, I agree with Norman Mailer, who wrote that novelists who work with historical events and real people have a “unique opportunity—they can create superior histories out of an enhancement of the real, the unverified, and the wholly fictional.” I confess to enhancements of various kinds in this book, in the hope that they may lead to a deeper understanding of who Lorena Hickok really was and what might have happened in those off-the-record moments when she and Eleanor were alone together.
I owe thanks to all those scholars whose work has helped me in the research for this book, but most especially to Blanche Wiesen Cook, upon whose outstanding biographical study of the life of Eleanor Roosevelt I have relied, and to Maurine Beasley, for her work on Hickok’s influence on ER’s use of the media. I very much appreciate the kindness of the staff at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, and Nancy Roosevelt Ireland’s generous permission to quote from her grandmother’s letters. I am grateful to the group of readers who read and reacted to an early draft of the manuscript: Betty Walston, Robert Goodfellow, Harriette Andreadis, Cindy Huyser, Neena Husid, and Candyce Rusk. Thanks are also due to my writing sisters @WorkInProgress of the Story Circle Network for their nurturing friendship, to Kerry Sparks and Michele Karlsberg for their unflagging enthusiasm, and to my husband Bill Albert, for his steadfast love and constant support, always.
THE PEOPLE OF LOVING ELEANOR
Names within quotation marks are fictional characters; all others are real persons.
Ruby Black, reporter for the United Press news agency
Emma Bugbee, reporter for the New York Herald Tribune
George Bye, ER’s literary agent in the 1930s and 1940s
Bill Chapin, city editor, New York City Bureau, Associated Press news agency
Winston Churchill, prime minister of the United Kingdom and visitor to the White House
Nancy Cook, ER’s friend and coworker in the Women’s Division of the New York State Democratic Committee; with ER and her life partner, Marion Dickerman, co-owner of the Todhunter School and partner in the Val-Kill Industries
Bill and Ella Dana, friends of ER and Hick, who hosted them at the Arrowhead D Ranch (Pyramid Lake, NV) in the summer of 1933 and rented the Long Island “Little House” to Hick, 1938–1955
“Reggie Davis,” AP stringer in Albany
Marion Dickerman, ER’s friend and (with her life partner, Nancy Cook) co-owner of the Todhunter School and partner in the Val-Kill Industries
Ella (Ellie) Morse Dickinson, intimate friend of Hick from Minneapolis
Thomas Dillon, editor-in-chief of the Minneapolis Tribune and Hick’s mentor
Dorothy Ducas, reporter for the International News Service
Amelia Earhart, famous female aviator, friend of ER and Hick
Stephen T. Early, UP and AP reporter, White House press secretary, 1933–1945
James Farley, long-serving chairman of the Democratic National Committee, helped to ensure FDR’s third-term bid
Elton Fay, Albany, New York bureau chief for the AP
Bess Furman, reporter for the AP Washington Bureau, assigned to cover the First Lady
Martha Gellhorn, journalist, war correspondent, and novelist; Hick’s coworker at FERA (1934–1935); friend of ER and frequent White House guest
David Gurewitsch, ER’s physician after 1945; after 1947, her friend and travel companion; her housemate, after his marriage to Edna (1958–1962)
Mabel Haley, ER’s personal maid in the White House, also during the years when FDR was assistant secretary of the Navy
Marion Harron, U.S. Board of Tax Appeals judge; Hick’s intimate friend (1940–1945)
Howard Haycraft, writer (Murder for Pleasure) and publishing executive; shared the Little House with Hick (1938–1941)
Ruby Hickok, Hick’s younger sister; burned a packet of letters after Hick’s death
Harry Hopkins, administrator of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, Hick’s employer (1933–1936)
Alicent (Alix) Holt, Hick’s teacher at Battle Creek High School; a romantic friend (1935–1937)
Louis McHenry Howe, FDR’s devoted friend and advisor; ER’s political mentor
Nannine Joseph, ER’s literary agent, 1947–1962
Esther Lape, progressive activist; close friend of ER (1920–1962); ER rented an apartment in a house owned by Lape and her life partner Elizabeth Read at 20 East Eleventh Street in New York City
Joseph Lash, close friend of ER, later her biographer; their friendship created difficulties for both
Alice Roosevelt Longworth, eldest daughter of Theodore Roosevelt and ER’s first cousin, with whom she had a conflicted relationship
Marguerite (Missy) LeHand, FDR’s devoted personal secretary (1920–1941)
Irvin (Mac) and Lizzie McDuffie, FDR’s valet (1927–1939) and White House maid
Charles Michelson, publicity director of the Democratic National Committee and Hick’s supervisor,1940–1942
Earl Miller, ER’s bodyguard during FDR’s governorship (1928–1932), close friend, confidant, champion, and correspondent. His two children (with his third wife, Simone) were named Eleanor and Earl. ER’s letters to Earl have not been found
Bill Moran, chief of the U.S. Secret Service during the first two years of the Roosevelt administration. His tenure began in 1917; he served under five presidents
Henrietta Nesbitt, cook and housekeeper at the White House during the Roosevelt years
Lillian Rogers Parks, White House seamstress, maid
Clarence Pickett, executive secretary of the American Friends Service Committee; Hick’s guide at Scotts Run, supporter of ER’s efforts at Arthurdale
Byron Price, chief of the AP Washington Bureau during the first Roosevelt administration. Director of the U.S. Office of Censorship during World War II
George Putnam, Amelia Earhart’s husband, publisher, and promoter
Elizabeth Read, ER’s personal attorney and close friend; ER rented an apartment in a house owned by Read and her life partner Esther Lape at 20 East Eleventh Street in New York City
Clarence and Annie Ross, caretakers at the Dana estate, Hick’s close friends
“Mark Sainsbury,” AP correspondent in Ethiopia
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Halsted, the Roosevelts’ daughter
Eleanor Roosevelt, Hick’s intimate friend
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, ER’s husband, 32nd president of the United States
Sara Delano Roosevelt, ER’s mother-in-law and a dominant force in the young ER’s marriage
Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, FDR’s lover (1916?–1918) and later friend; she was with him at his death at Warm Springs
Malvina (Tommy) Thompson, ER’s personal secretary, confidant, and close friend from 1923 to her death in 1953
“Angelina Walton,” bath maid in the White House residence
WORKS CONSULTED
Readers who are interested in learning more about the background of this novel will find details about people and places on the book’s website: www.LovingEleanor.com.
; Asbell, Bernard. Mother and Daughter: The Letters of Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt
Beasley, Maurine H. Eleanor Roosevelt: Transformative First Lady
Beasley, Maurine Hoffman. The Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia
Brinkley, David. Washington Goes to War
Conn, Marjorie. Lost Lesbian Lives: Three Plays
Cook, Blanche Wiesen. Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol. 1: 1884–1933
Cook, Blanche Wiesen. Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol. 2: The Defining Years, 1933–1938
Davis, Kenneth Sydney. Invincible Summer: An Intimate Portrait of the Roosevelts, based on the recollections of Marion Dickerman
Faber, Doris. The Life of Lorena Hickok: E. R.’s Friend
Faderman, Lillian. Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love between Women from the Renaissance to the Present
Furman, Bess. Washington By-Line: The Personal History of a Newspaperwoman
Goodwin, Doris Kearns. No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II
Gurewitsch, Edna. Kindred Souls: The Devoted Friendship of Eleanor Roosevelt and Dr. David Gurewitsch
Hickok, Lorena A. Eleanor Roosevelt, Reluctant First Lady
Hickok, Lorena. One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickok Reports on the Great Depression
Hickok, Lorena A. The Road to the White House: FDR, The Pre-Presidential Years
Hickok, Lorena A. The Story of Eleanor Roosevelt
Hickok, Lorena A. The Story of Helen Keller
Hickok, Lorena A. The Touch of Magic: The Story of Helen Keller’s Great Teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy
Lash, Joseph L. Love, Eleanor: Eleanor Roosevelt and Her Friends
Lash, Joseph. Eleanor and Franklin
Mills, Kay. A Place in the News: From the Women’s Pages to the Front Page
Parks, Lillian Rogers. The Roosevelts: A Family in Turmoil
Persico, Joseph E. Franklin and Lucy: Mrs. Rutherfurd and the Other Remarkable Women in Roosevelt’s Life
Roosevelt, Eleanor. On My Own
Roosevelt, Eleanor. This I Remember
Roosevelt, Eleanor. This Is My Story
Roosevelt, Eleanor, and Lorena Hickok. Ladies of Courage
Roosevelt, James. My Parents: A Differing View
Rowley, Hazel. Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage
Rupp, Leila J. “‘Imagine My Surprise’: Women’s Relationships in Historical Perspective,” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 5 (Fall 1980): 61–70.
St. John, Robert. This Was My World
Streitmatter, Rodger. Empty Without You: The Intimate Letters Of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok
Tully, Grace. F.D.R., My Boss
West, J. B., and Mary Lynn Kotz. Upstairs at the White House: My Life With the First Ladies
ABOUT SUSAN WITTIG ALBERT
Growing up on a farm on the Illinois prairie, Susan learned that books could take her anywhere, and reading became a passion that has accompanied her throughout her life. She earned an undergraduate degree in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana and a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from the University of California at Berkeley, then turned to teaching. After faculty and administrative appointments at the University of Texas, Tulane University, and Texas State University, she left her academic career and began writing fulltime. Her bestselling and prize-winning work includes mysteries, historical fiction, memoir, nonfiction, and anthologies. She is the founder of the Story Circle Network, a nonprofit organization for women writers, and a member of the Texas Institute of Letters. She and her husband Bill live on thirty-one acres in the Texas Hill Country. Her website:
www.susanalbert.com.
Books by Susan Wittig Albert
Loving Eleanor
A Wilder Rose
An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days
Together, Alone: A Memoir of Marriage and Place
The China Bayles Mysteries
The Darling Dahlias Mysteries
The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter
Writing From Life: Telling the Soul’s Story
Work of Her Own
With Bill Albert
The Robin Paige Victorian-Edwardian Mysteries
Edited Anthologies
What Wildness is This: Women Write about the Southwest
With Courage and Common Sense: Memoirs from
the Older Women’s Legacy Circle
www.susanalbert.com
Contents
Prologue
PART ONE
Chapter One
PART TWO
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
PART THREE
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
PART FOUR
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
A Biographical Afterword
The People of Loving Eleanor
Works Consulted
About Susan Wittig Albert
Books by Susan Wittig Albert