Eleanor and Hick
Page 40
On March 10, 1943: Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, 422–23.
“Never get into an argument”: Hick. Reluctant First Lady, 148.
box of “lovely handkerchiefs”: Hick to ER, December 23, 1942, FDRL.
“It is a pleasant thing”: “My Day,” December 26, 1942, FDRL.
“the most overwhelming disaster”: The meeting was not FDR’s finest hour. He began with a friendly joke about Governor Herbert Lehman (presumably because he was Jewish), was silent long enough to hear a blessing from the Orthodox rabbi in the group, then held forth for twenty-three of the twenty-nine minutes of the meeting. He said he knew from neutral country reports that the slaughter was happening, and said Hitler was a madman but that it would not do to alienate the entire German population by calling them murderers, then went on with some irrelevancies about the U.S. experience with Jews and Muslims in North Africa. He agreed to endorse the statement the delegation came up with.
Hardie Robbins took: Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, 398. Hick also wrote about this in her tribute to Eleanor in the Democratic Digest, June 1945.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: A FIGHT FOR LOVE AND GLORY
“The screen was so placed”: Unpublished autobiography, Hickok papers, FDRL.
As one of Churchill’s aides: Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, 402.
“If anything happened”: Ibid., 408.
“the sole occupant”: Unpublished autobiography, Hickok papers, FDRL.
visit “your island”: Lash, World of Love, 49.
“the one happy and personal thing”: Ibid., 61.
“a journey undertaken”: Ibid., 30.
had been “brutal”: ER to Hick, July 9, 1943, ibid., 39.
“I wish so”: Lash, World of Love, 56.
a “queer feeling”: Ibid., 55.
“I marveled most”: Ward and Burns, The Roosevelts, 419.
“When you get home”: “My Day,” September 2, 1943.
“These boys break”: ER to Hick, September 1, 1943, FDRL.
Some of them told her: Democratic Digest, October 1943.
“I do camps”: ER to Hick, September 12, 1943, FDRL.
“I’m surrounded by Generals”: Lash, World of Love, 67.
“I have all the pomp”: Ibid., 66.
“coolly and graciously”: GI’s letter of October 1943, sent to Harry Hopkins by Florence Kerr, Hopkins archive, FDRL.
“Happy tonight for we”: Lash, World of Love, 70.
“The little white crosses”: “My Day,” September 22, 1943.
Very soon after Eleanor’s return: Hick to ER, November 1, 1943, FDRL. “My dear: Word has come through that we still may win and get Mrs. Conkey and Ellen Woodward to that conference as delegates or alternates. I suspect you of having accomplished this, and I’m deeply grateful.”
“We have reached”: Democratic Digest, 1943.
“X marks the spot”: Marion Harron to Hick, December 1943, FDRL.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: WINNING WITH THE WOMEN
“Have a good trip dear”: Hick to ER, March 5, 1944, FDRL.
“I too have thought”: Hick to ER, March 7, 1944, FDRL.
At fifty-two, she was: There was some doubt about Hick’s age. She thought she was fifty-two, but Aunt Ella insisted she was a year younger.
“Almighty or Franklin D. Roosevelt”: Hick to Democratic Women’s Committee office, October 4, 1942, University of North Carolina, Tillett archive.
“bright as sunshine, and as warm”: Marion Harron to Hick, January 16, 1944, FDRL.
“those huge God-awful affairs”: Hick to ER, March 5, 1944, FDRL.
“Your letters are short”: Marion Harron to Hick, February 2, 1944, FDRL.
was a “little dog”: Marion Harron to Hick, January 5, 1944, FDRL.
“We don’t know when”: “My Day,” April 10, 1944.
“There’s quite a boom”: Hick to Eleanor, March 23, 1944, in Lash, World of Love, 127–28.
“Hard position when”: ER to Hick, July 20, 1944, FDRL.
“every possible method”: New York Times, July 20, 1944.
was the “final exam”: Democratic Digest, August 1944, Library of Congress.
“true conservative” party: New York Times, July 20, 1944.
“Helen’s speech was superb”: Marion Harron to Hick, July 21, 1944, FDRL.
“praying to the gods”: Marion Harron to Hick, July 30, 1944, FDRL.
“A perfect vacation”: Marion Harron to Hick, August 20, 1944, FDRL.
“great comfort and joy”: Marion Harron to Hick, August 25, 1944, FDRL.
“You see,” Marion wrote poignantly: Marion Harron to Hick, August 30, 1944, FDRL.
“I’ll be spending”: Hick to ER, September 14, 1944, FDRL.
an elaborate analogy: Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, 482.
“The President,” Eleanor reported: “My Day,” April 7, 1944.
“His whole face”: Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, 489.
“for a man of 62”: Ibid., 494–97.
“Darling . . . I don’t like to think”: Hick to Eleanor, November 10, 1944, FDRL.
Chapter Twenty-three: There Is Only One President
“There are a lot of things”: ER to Hick, November 1944, in Lash, World of Love, 151.
“I have a feeling”: Wallace to Morgenthau, ibid.
“There is no fundamental love”: ER to Esther Lape, November 15 and 19, 1944, ibid., 150.
“so I won’t have to go”: ER to Hick, November 1944, ibid., 151.
“He got more”: Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, 563.
James recalled coming home: James Roosevelt, My Parents, 68.
“Were you ever right!”: Hick to ER, December 23, 1944, FDRL.
“fuss and feathers”: William D. Hassett, Off the Record with FDR, 1942–1945 (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1960), 312.
“Many thanks dear”: Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, 583.
“the necessity of matching”: ER, This I Remember, 340.
“At this stage”: Kennedy, Freedom from Fear, 802.
“accepted a certain degree”: ER, This I Remember, 342.
“I wish I could”: Hick to ER, March 21, 1945, FDRL.
“I guess I did not”: Dewson to Hick, October 23, 1941, FDRL.
“our friend ‘Hick’”: Democratic Digest, January 1942, Library of Congress.
“a gifted writer”: Democratic Digest, April 1945, Library of Congress.
On April 11: Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, 600–603.
“Here is a flash”: New York Herald Tribune, European edition, Paris, April 13, 1945.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: THE GREATEST CATASTROPHE FOR THE WORLD
Early on the fateful day: Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, 604.
“Darlings. Pa slept”: Ward and Burns, The Roosevelts, 452.
“Harry,” she told him: Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, 604.
“Boys,” he told a group: David McCullough, Truman (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), 353.
“almost impersonal feeling”: ER, This I Remember, 348–49.
“It seems sure”: Democratic Digest, June, 1945.
“At midnight last night”: My father, Robert Emmet Quinn, writing from Paris on April 13, 1945.
“dazed and incoherent letter”: Hick to ER, April 13, 1945, FDRL.
“I’ll bet there are darned few”: Hick to Molly Dewson, May 3, 1945, FDRL.
“Darling . . . sometime I may”: Hick to ER, April 14, 1945, FDRL.
taking a trip together: Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, 596.
“It is empty”: ER to Hick, April 19, 1945, FDRL.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: SLIDING ON MARBLE FLOORS
“Eleanor Roosevelt . . . First Lady”: Democratic Digest, June 1945, Library of Congress.
“For the first time”: Ward a
nd Burns, The Roosevelts, 459.
“active and important place”: Hick to ER, April 13, 1945, FDRL.
“arms and legs”: Lorena Hickok, unpublished essay, 1946, FDRL.
“No matter who”: Tommy to Esther Lape, July 1945, FDRL.
“blowing soap bubbles”: Tommy to Hick, January 1, 1946, FDRL.
“for persuasion and enlightenment”: Esther Lape to ER, election day 1944, in Lash, World of Love, 149.
“You spoke of”: ER to Esther Lape, November 15, 1944, ibid., 150.
“Somehow my family”: ER to Hick, June 11, 1945, FDRL.
“I am quite shocked”: Tommy to Esther Lape, July 1945, FDRL.
“She has the heart”: Tommy to Hick, January 1, 1946, FDRL.
“the weight of suffering”: “My Day,” August 15, 1945.
she missed “Pa’s voice”: Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, 622.
she came to appreciate: Ibid., 619.
“get along with Congress”: Hick to ER, April 13, 1945, FDRL.
“the loneliest man”: ER to Hick, June 11, 1945, FDRL.
“I’ve been sorry for them”: Hick to ER, June 13, 1945, FDRL.
“When I come home”: ER to Hick, January 22, 1946, FDRL.
“good to work with”: Eleanor Roosevelt, On My Own (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958), 53.
“I take back everything”: Joseph P. Lash, The Years Alone (New York: W. W. Norton, 1972), 56.
“more sick than she knows”: Tommy to Esther Lape, July 1945, FDRL.
“good common sense”: Gladys Tillett, April 30, 1947, FDRL.
“God I’m favored”: Hick to ER, April 21, 1946, FDRL.
“that Mother dame”: Faber, Life of Lorena Hickok, 297. This proved more true than Mary Norton knew. Marion lived with her mother until her mother’s death, one year before her own. Ernst, “Marion Janet Harron (1903–1972),” Legal History Blog.
“I look at your slippers”: Marion Harron to Hick, May 7, 1945.
“Marion has gone”: Hick to ER, August 30, 1945, FDRL.
“an old, loyal”: Hick to ER, July 3, 1943, FDRL.
like a bouncing cornflake: Faber, Life of Lorena Hickok, 297.
“iron her dishtowels”: Ibid., 310.
“Now I shall have”: “My Day,” August 16, 1946.
“It was so much”: Lash, World of Love, 259.
“At first,” Eleanor wrote Gurewitsch: ER to David Gurewitsch, December 18, 1947, in Lash, Years Alone, 72.
took a few running steps: Lash, Years Alone, 72.
“It really isn’t necessary”: “My Day,” July 14, 1948.
William O. Douglas turned him down: McCullough, Truman, 637. This account of the convention comes from 629–46.
“Gosh, my hat is off”: Hick to Bess Furman, July 29, 1948, Library of Congress.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: THE OPINION OF MANKIND
“telling us what dogs we are”: Lash, Years Alone, 78.
“In spite of the fact”: Edna P. Gurewitsch, Kindred Souls: The Friendship of Eleanor Roosevelt and David Gurewitsch (New York: St. Martin’s, 2002), 36.
“be on the same side”: ER to David Gurewitsch, October 25, 1948, in Lash, World of Love, 288.
“The work is hard”: ER to Hick, November 28, 1948, FDRL.
“You have written this”: Lash, Years Alone, 187–88.
“It is almost shockingly delightful”: Ibid., 189.
“a nice, tame pet”: Hick to Tommy, July 23, 1949, FDRL.
“the breath of life”: Faber, Life of Lorena Hickok, 313.
“Both my husband”: ER, This I Remember, 78.
“The Years Alone”: E. J. Kahn, New Yorker, June 12 and 19, 1948.
praised her “unaffected approach”: Lash, Years Alone, 185–86.
“The other afternoon”: Ibid., 156–65.
“It was an emotional moment”: Gurewitsch, Kindred Souls, 61.
She was in Allahabad: Lash, Years Alone, 200–201.
“I think on Election Day”: “My Day,” October 6, 1952.
would be a “big seller”: Nannine Joseph to Hick, August 16, 1951, Joseph papers, University of Oregon archives.
“Thanks for helping”: Mary Norton to Hick, December 19, 1951, FDRL.
“A big part”: Mary Norton to Hick, August 16, 1952, FDRL.
“both our names”: ER to Hick, July 26, 1952, FDRL.
they were “simply swell”: ER to Hick, August 19, 1953, FDRL.
“He seems happy”: ER to Hick, July 19, 1954, FDRL.
“How nearly are you”: ER to Hick, May 19, 1955, FDRL.
“I will think of you”: ER to Hick, July 31, 1955, FDRL.
“who remain with you”: “My Day,” April 14, 1953.
“My children would be”: Lash, Years Alone, 182.
“I love you”: Lash, World of Love, 440.
“I’m going to cling”: Gurewitsch, Kindred Souls, 27.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: A NEW WAY TO BE USEFUL
“an educational volunteer”: Lash, Years Alone, 220.
“deep lines of experience”: ER, On My Own, 150–51.
“sit down with anyone”: Lash, Years Alone, 234.
“the time has come”: Ibid., 235.
On one occasion: “She sent Hick out!” Lash, World of Love, diary entry, June 12, 1957, 464.
“She didn’t talk down to you”: This and subsequent quotes from Eleanor Seagraves come from personal communications with the author.
She liked being near Eleanor: Hick to Jeannette Brice, September 9, 1957, FDRL.
“In my innocence”: Hick to Helen Douglas, September 9, 1957, University of Oklahoma archive.
an investigative trip to Russia: The first plan was a trip to China, but Eleanor couldn’t obtain visas.
“write as a newspaper woman”: “My Day,” April 19, 1945.
“Can I tell our papers”: Lash, Years Alone, 270–71.
“we have to face”: Ibid., 273.
vehemently, “Don’t worry”: Gurewitsch, Kindred Souls, 130.
the Upper East Side of Manhattan: Eleanor kept the apartment on Washington Square in the Village until 1950, when she rented suites at the Park Sheraton Hotel in midtown. She rented an apartment on 62nd Street for a time, but was living at the Park Sheraton in 1958 when she moved into the town house she purchased with David and Edna Gurewitsch at 55 East 74th Street.
“Thanks for the check”: The check was for $745, more than twice what she had received in royalties before. After that, there seemed to be checks almost monthly from the Helen Keller book, from Ladies of Courage, and from the other young adult books she was turning out.
“way over my head”: Hick to Nannine Joseph, October 1, 1959, Joseph papers, University of Oregon archives.
“A case that comes”: Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960), 82–83.
“She is by no means”: Hick to Helen Douglas, December 27, 1961, Helen Douglas papers, University of Oklahoma.
“It’s as though”: Hick to Nannine Joseph, May 25, 1962, Joseph papers, University of Oregon archives.
“It can be awkward”: Lash, Years Alone, 321.
“oodles of money”: Ibid., 280.
“the slim young figure”: “My Day,” August 16, 1960.
“I will be surer”: Lash, Years Alone, 298.
JFK was “absolutely smitten”: Ibid., 297.
“I thought the speech magnificent”: ER to Hick, January 23, 1961. FDRL.
“I think she knew”: Hick to Esther Lape, November 21, 1962, FDRL.
“That time she stayed”: Ibid.
“Apparently that virus”: Hick to ER, September 13, 1962, FDRL.
muttered, “Utter nonsense”: Lash, Years Alone, 331.
following a stroke
: Ibid., and Edna Gurewitsch interview, “Remembering Mrs. Roosevelt: An Intimate Memoir,” conducted by Geoffrey Ward, American Heritage, 1981.
Hick staged her own: These details come from Doris Faber, who interviewed Gordon Kidd.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: LIVING ON
“I’m getting out of here”: Hick to Helen Douglas, December 5, 1962, Helen Douglas papers, University of Oklahoma.
“A year from now”: Hick to Helen and Melvyn Douglas, January 4, 1963, ibid.
“Grief can be”: Hick to Jeannette Brice, April 3, 1963, Doris Faber papers, FDRL.
“I cannot forget”: Hick to Esther Lape, November 21, 1962, FDRL.
“All of the boys”: Hick to Helen Douglas, November 30, 1961, Helen Douglas papers, University of Oklahoma.
“I don’t know”: Hick to Helen Douglas, December 27, 1961, ibid.
“as though I were trapped”: Hick to Helen Douglas, July 22, 1966, ibid.
“a fine mind”: Hick to Helen Douglas, November 26, 1963, ibid.
“was just an intelligent”: Hick to Melvyn Douglas, July 26, 1966, ibid.
“remarkable political savvy”: Hick to Helen Douglas, November 24, 1964, ibid.
“Now almost blind”: Hick, Reluctant First Lady, xvii, xviii.
“to avoid any sort”: Memorandum attached to last will and testament, Doris Faber papers, FDRL.
“a fascinating book”: New York Times, July 30, 1972.
Hick would have been pleased: Personal communication with the author.
POSTSCRIPT
Eleanor sometimes visited: Richard Peck, who had an apartment in the same house and was also one of the bank executors at the time of Hick’s death. Personal communication with the author.
Linda went to work: Personal communications with both Patsy Costello and Linda Kavars. The fund-raising effort was so successful that it had been used to endow scholarships for women going into journalism or women’s studies at Vassar College, Marist College, and SUNY New Paltz.
Dr. JoAnne Myers: They have since married.
INDEX
The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. The link provided will take you to the beginning of that print page. You may need to scroll forward from that location to find the corresponding reference on your e-reader.
Adams, Clover, 45
African Americans, 134, 172, 207
see also racism; segregation