Franklin and Lucy: President Roosevelt, Mrs. Rutherfurd, and the Other Remarkable Women in His Life

The marriage of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt has been written about by countless authors. Eleanor's discovery of a cache of love letters between FDR and Lucy Mercer changed the dynamics of the Roosevelt's entire marriage. FDR promised he would cut off all ties with Lucy, and Eleanor had no reason to doubt that promise until FDR's death, when it was revealed he and Lucy had eventually resumed their friendship, if not the physical aspect as well. Lucy had been present in Warm Springs when FDR died. Joseph E. Persico reveals the dynamics of a relationship between FDR and Lucy Mercer. Even after her marriage to a wealthy socialite, she is drawn back into FDR's orbit and eventually becomes a regular visitor of the president. Perisco draws a portrait of FDR as a lonely man who often was without company or companionship, as his wife and children moved onto lives of their own. He turned to friends and associates to fill the void of a marriage no longer alive. A series of women came into his life to act as a stand-in wife and confidant. As his burdens become heavier and his health becomes frailer he turns back to Lucy, who has always tried to buoy his sprits and seldom condemns or complains. After her husband's death she is more and more in his company bringing comfort, encouragement and admiration. This is a fair depiction of people caught up in the mores and restrictions of their time and society. It is also is a tender and unflinching look at a marriage and subsequent relationships that both partners forge to meet their needs.

Once I started to read this book, I finished it in two days. It is well written,well documented, and full of fascinating facts.

Here is the story of a remarkable man whose official circle was predominantly male, but you get that sense that it was ultimately his relationships with some amazing women that helped him to achieve his personal and political triumphs. First, let's consider the principals, Franklin and Eleanor: Although both will be recorded as extraordinary world figures, he emerges as the more likeable. Persico paints both the strengths and weaknesses of this unlikely couple, and FDR simply shines. He was raised in aristocratic circumstances by his formidable mother, Sara. She treated him as her "golden child," giving him the gift of high self-esteem, one that was to provide him his lifelong buoyant optimism and a hearty laugh and the confidence to tackle all foes, whether in the Great Depression or WWII or his fight against being an invalid. Yet his intellect and character may have been a bit "second rate," and he could be vindictive and nurse a grudge. He was expedient in his politics and in his use of people, even with Lucy when their love was sacrificed to his ambitions--and his mother's threat to disinherit him. Nonetheless, he was handsome and amusing and lively, and people loved him. Eleanor was reared differently. Although also born into comfortable circumstances, her mother died when she was eight and she was sent to live with her grandmother, a grim soul, at nine. She had protruding teeth and spent part of her youth harnessed into a back brace, making her feel ugly. She was fully orphaned just before ten, when her father died from alcoholism. Eleanor, insecure and starved for affection, gained ground when she was sent to a finishing school at fifteen. But she never really shook off her detachment from significant others. When she discovered FDR's affair, Eleanor banned him from their marital bed. She raised her five children rather indifferently, and went on to have affairs of her own with both sexes that started out well but never lasted. People said of her that she "really became interested in individuals only when they had problems" and "found it easy to give her heart to suffering millions she had never met." Words such as dispassionate, impersonal, humorless, and serious were descriptive of her. Even an admirer said, "She wasn't a hell of a lot of fun." In contrast, Lucy Mercer was a woman of great beauty, dignity, and warmth throughout her life. Descended from wealth, when her parents squandered their lot she was forced to seek employment and became Eleanor's social secretary. She performed flawlessly and caught the eye of FDR. Their affair was conducted circumspectly, but it ended up with their falling in love. A crisis ensued, which resulted in Lucy's removal from the scene--although not from his heart. Lucy eventually married Winthrop Rutherford, a wealthy widower with five children who was 29 years her senior. She quickly assumed the role of loving wife and stepmother, and went on to have a daughter with him. But L

Other bibliophiles may recognize this situation: there comes a point in some books when you just have to accept the fact that you are not going to bed until you finish. I can count on my fingers the number of times that has happened to me. Obviously different books for different people but FDR, along with Churchill, are stellar examples of leaders to me and I enjoy learning more about them. I have read several other books by Joseph Persico, most notably Roosevelt's Secret War. The content of Franklin and Lucy was almost entirely new to me. I came away with a totally different, much more intimate, portrait of Franklin and Eleanor. I have to admit I have not read much biographical information on either of them. I now await several biographies of both Roosevelts. Franklin and Lucy studies the women in his life, from his mother Sara to Eleanor, Lucy Rutherford, Missy LeHand and various other cousins and admirers. The most in-depth background information is on Eleanor, Sara and Lucy - the three women who had the most profound effect on FDR. Both Sara and Eleanor were products of the Victorian era. Sara, being older, was never able to rise above the Victorian mores of her time and social set. As both Sara and Franklin almost perished during his birth, she never had another child and Franklin was doted on as a companion, one she loathed to relinquish, and treated as her obedient son even when he occupied the White House. It seems apparent that this early pattern gave Franklin the need he always seemed to have for feminine approval and admiration. At the turn of the century the "400" more or less ruled society, industry and government. Their standards for acceptance were shallow, including good looks, inherited wealth, correct breeding etc. It was frowned upon in this group to work hard for grades in school which somewhat explains FDR's rather poor showing as a "C" student. Sara had inherited wealth as well as the standards of her time and, as FDR was an only child, she spoiled him badly. Her wealth provided him with residences beginning with a 'Gold Coast' apartment at Harvard, decorated by her, to side by side townhouses after his marriage to Eleanor. Sara appears to have been not particularly intelligent or imaginative. When she purchased the side by side housing arrangement she had doors cut between the two residences, allowing her to 'pop in' at will. Thus the stage was set for a battle of wills that Eleanor was ill-equipped to win. Apparently Sara was never able to see the wrongness of her control over both Eleanor and Franklin. She was also a bad third court of appeal when the children began to grow up. Their parents might decide one thing but they could turn to Granny who would immediately favor them with a happier outcome. Thus she undermined the parenting of both Eleanor and Franklin. Eleanor was also a product of Victorian mores albeit in a far more draconian way than Sara. She, however, was a more intelligent and curious woman than her m