Kati Marton by Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History

liked. “The turmoil in my heart and mindwas rather great ….” Once again, Eleanor was about to demonstrate she could take a situation and bend it to suit her needs without betraying her sense of duty. Hoping to shed the ceremonial aspects of her new position, she told reporters there would be no first lady, just plain old Mrs. Roosevelt.
    Franklin’s way of dealing with his wife’s fears was characteristic. He made light of them and penned this verse:
    Did my Eleanor relate

all the sad and awful fate

of the miserable lives

lived by Washington wives ….
    The Roosevelts succeeded three undistinguished, unremarkable presidential couples who broke little social or political ground and are primarily remembered as the bridge between their predecessors and successors. The brief tenure of Warren and Florence Harding was notable for its mediocrity and corruption. Harding, best remembered as a reckless philanderer, called his cold, imperious wife “the Duchess.” They were a loveless, childless couple. “Silent Cal” Coolidge and his wife, Grace Ann, followed, without leaving much of a social or political imprint. The third of this transitional trio were the Hoovers, Herbert and Lou. Lou, a graduate of Stanford University, was both intelligent and independent, but her husband’s rigid, insensitive response to the economic and humanitarian crisis of the Depression determined their legacy.
    Sometime between FDR’s election and his first inauguration, Eleanor reached out to him, in her way. She asked her husband for a specific responsibility in his office, one that included handling part of his mail. Missy would consider that interference, Franklin told her. “I knew he was right,” Eleanor wrote, “but it was a last effort to keep in close touch, and to feel I had a real job to do.”
    Eleanor found emotional sustenance elsewhere. Lorena Hickock, a short, feisty woman, was assigned by the Associated Press to cover the first lady. During an overnight train ride, Eleanor shared with Hickockthe story of her lonely childhood and her disappointing marriage. Hick, as Eleanor would soon call her, revealed her own traumatic history, which included being raped by her father. The reporter and the first lady formed a relationship of need and trust. It was Hick, who eventually left her job to work for the Roosevelt administration, who persuaded Eleanor to hold weekly news conferences for women reporters. Hick also suggested that Eleanor write a daily newspaper column about her activities. Her writing and speaking and her growing self-assurance transformed the role Eleanor dreaded into something substantial. Hick acted as Eleanor’s public relations adviser, editor and confidante. The streetwise reporter provided the first lady a safe outlet for her exasperation with her husband. “I know I’ve got to stick,” she wrote Hick, “I know I’ll never make an open break and I never tell FDR how I feel … I blow off to you, but never to F!”
    The intensity of the Lorena-Eleanor correspondence has fueled rumors of a relationship deeper than friendship between the two women. “Hick darling,” Eleanor wrote her friend following the first inauguration, “I want to put my arms around you …to hold you close. Your ring is a great comfort. I look at it and I think she does love me.” Eleanor expressed feelings she withheld from her husband. “Remember one thing,” Eleanor wrote Hick during her first week in the White House. “No one is just what you are to me. I’d rather be with you this minute than anyone else ….” Eleanor’s intense need to connect was expressed through her correspondence. This was a passionate friendship, but how far their embraces went seems beside the point. They loved each other, and for a few years, Hickock played a vital role in Eleanor’s life. The dynamic of the relationship shifted once Eleanor gained self-confidence and the love of thousands of people whose lives she touched. Then Hick became