The Untold Story of Eleanor Roosevelt That History Never Taught You
The Untold Story of Eleanor Roosevelt That History Never Taught You
In the fall of 1918, Eleanor Roosevelt was unpacking one of her husband’s suitcases when she came across a bundle of letters. Curious, she opened them and they changed her life forever. A marriage poisoned by secrets, a lesbian love affair, and a first lady dogged by controversy right to the bitter end, Eleanor Roosevelt transformed the White House into a den of scandal, and her story is as empowering as it is twisted. Born to wealthy socialites Anna Hall and Elliot Roosevelt, Eleanor made her grand entrance on October 11, 1884. Growing up smack dab in the middle of New York high society, young Eleanor was the picture of privilege. But although her life seemed enviable, her childhood was not a fairy tale. From the very beginning, her mother resented her, and for one heartbreaking reason: in the eyes of her mother, Eleanor’s plainness was shameful. Her looks inspired a coldness in the one person she looked to for unconditional love. When she was only two years old, Eleanor and her family were traveling aboard the SS Britannic on a doomed voyage.
On May 19, 1887, the ship crashed into the SS Celtic. The ensuing chaos swept little Eleanor up in a dramatic evacuation, her family escaping on lifeboats back to the safety of New York. After this formative trauma, she carried a phobia with her for the rest of her days. She was deathly afraid of ships and the sea. In 1892, she suffered her first real loss when her mother succumbed to diphtheria. It was the first crack in her family’s foundation, and it only spiraled from there. A year later, Eleanor’s little brother Elliot Jr. fell ill with the same illness. He too did not survive. With two family members gone, Eleanor had only her father to look to for guidance, but to her horror, she watched helplessly as he fell off the deep end, literally. As a heavy drinker, Elliot Roosevelt ended up in a sanitarium, and during a fit of delirium brought on by withdrawal, he flung himself out of a window. Although he managed to survive the fall, he died from a seizure not long after. However, before the end came, the troubled man looked to his daughter Eleanor and made one last request: that she look after her little brother Hall. She took this responsibility to heart and supported him throughout her life. Still at only 14 years old, Eleanor still had a lot of growing up to do, and as she grew into a woman, her early tragedies became both her burden and the source of her strength. Passed into the care of her grandmother, Eleanor continued to grapple with dark thoughts about her self-worth. She still considered herself an ugly duckling, but even at a young age, she was bright and inquisitive, and it led her to an enlightened understanding of beauty. At 14, she wrote, “No matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and loyalty are stamped upon her face, all will be attracted to her.” In her teens, her confidence grew. Sent to a private finishing school, she broke out of her shell and captured the hearts of her peers. One of her cousins, Corinne, who also attended Allen’s Wood Academy, described Eleanor as everything at the school; she was beloved by everybody. Like any wealthy socialite, Eleanor had to face her debut ball, but she did so with apprehension. Little did she know this was both the end of her troubled childhood and the beginning of her romantic life, one that would go down in history. In 1902, the same year of her debut, Eleanor met her future husband Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but he wasn’t exactly a stranger. He just happened to be her fifth cousin. After running into one another on a train ride, they embarked on a secret romance, keeping their correspondence as hush-hush as possible, and probably for good reason. When Franklin’s mother, Sarah, learned about her son’s love for Eleanor the following year, she was not enthused. In fact, she opposed the union so much she tried everything in her power to squash it for good. The couple managed to defy Sarah’s wishes for the time being, but sadly, Eleanor’s nightmare had only just begun.
Eleanor Roosevelt’s wedding was a magnificent occasion. After all, her uncle Theodore, the American president no less, walked her down the aisle in place of her late father. He even gave the couple his stamp of approval, saying, “It’s a good thing to keep the name in the family.” The nuptials made the front page of the New York Times, and by all accounts, Eleanor seemed like the perfect blushing bride. But after the dust settled, Eleanor’s tumultuous relationship with Franklin’s mother only intensified over time. Eleanor had a whopping six children with Franklin, but she never truly felt like their mother. Once babies entered the picture, her mother-in-law descended with full force and raised them how she saw fit. Eleanor’s oldest son, James, even remembered how his grandmother once told him, “Your mother only bore you. I am more your mother than your mother is.” Despite having so many children, Eleanor hated sexual intimacy, so much so that she even confessed to her daughter Anna that it was an ordeal. Evidently, there were many soul-crushing aspects of marriage that she hadn’t foreseen. It didn’t seem like things could get any more miserable, but then in 1921, while on vacation with Franklin in New Brunswick, disaster struck. He fell terrifyingly ill, and the diagnosis was bleak: he had a paralytic illness that at the time was thought to be polio. Despite Eleanor’s attentive nursing, Franklin’s legs became paralyzed forever, and his disability wreaked havoc. While Eleanor persuaded him to stay in politics, her iron rail against his mother’s wishes. Sarah wanted her son to bow out and retire. Eleanor’s strength during this trying time was a turning point. For the first time, she asserted her dominance over her mother-in-law and gained some much-needed independence. After staying so long in the shadows, it was finally her time to shine. She began standing in for her husband because of his disability, making countless public appearances and becoming an increasingly influential presence. The 1930s marked a huge shift in Eleanor Roosevelt’s life, both professionally and romantically. As devoted as she was to her husband and his upcoming presidential campaign, their marriage wasn’t exactly passionate. She had to look for closeness elsewhere. Enter Lorena Hickok, a reporter for the Associated Press. Lorena fell madly in love with Eleanor while covering the presidential campaign. It was an old-school romance, with Eleanor writing 10- to 15-page letters to Lorena stating scandalous affection for her.
Their burning adoration for each other was clear even on the day of Franklin’s 1933 inauguration. Through every dark hour of our national life and leadership during this historic moment, Eleanor wore a telltale sapphire ring, a present from Lorena herself. Considering the gravity of Eleanor’s new position as first lady, if the secret was to get out, the resulting scandal could destroy her. Eleanor wasn’t without her enemies. In fact, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover kept a massive file on the first lady, which eventually grew to 3,000 pages. He hated her with a passion for criticizing his surveillance tactics and for her prevailing liberalism. Reportedly, he had evidence of her forbidden relationship with Lorena, which he hoped to use as blackmail. On top of this first affair, it seems as though Eleanor Roosevelt entertained another dalliance behind closed doors, this time with a man. After meeting in 1929, she forged a strong friendship with her bodyguard, Earl Miller. The two became close and corresponded every single day. But if it seems like Eleanor consistently betrayed her husband behind his back, don’t worry, the president wasn’t exactly innocent himself. While Eleanor was busy with her own secret romances, Franklin had a rumored affair with his secretary, Marguerite Missy LeHand. With infidelity on both sides, the president and his first lady seemed to tread the road to ruin. But surprisingly, that wasn’t the case. They still cared for one another deeply and acknowledged that they’d never be able to satisfy each other in an intimate way. For better or worse, they shared a partnership, and it was the president’s encouragement that allowed Eleanor to soar to new heights. When she first stepped into her role as the first lady, she was terrified of becoming a power housewife, so she set out to break the rules in the best ways possible, quickly making her an immensely controversial figure. To begin with, she didn’t disappear into the background. She continued with her public speaking agenda, and in 1940, she was the first to make a speech at the national party convention. And once she got the ball rolling, it just didn’t stop. Little by little, Eleanor broke down every boundary that the previous first ladies had faced.
She wrote a widely syndicated newspaper column called “My Day” and hosted a weekly radio program. But let’s not forget her ultimate power move: she wanted to make as much money as the president himself. During her first year as the first lady, she made $75,000 and then gave most of it to charity. On top of that, there was her voice, her opinion, her decision to speak out about the most divisive causes. She was a staunch supporter of the civil rights movement. In fact, on one infamous occasion, she broke a long-standing tradition and invited hundreds of Black Americans to the White House. She was also one of the few members of the administration to advocate for equal benefits for all races. Her opinions were non-negotiable, even when they threatened her own husband’s position. Eleanor never shied away from rocking the boat. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution barred a Black performer, Marian Anderson, from singing at Washington’s Constitution Hall. Scandalized, the first lady protested by resigning from the group altogether. Then she took it one step further. Upon refusal of the venue to let her use their space, she organized another concert at the Lincoln Memorial where Anderson could perform freely. By giving such strong support to the Black community, Eleanor Roosevelt made herself public enemy number one in the eyes of Southern white citizens, and she willingly paid the price. In June 1943, critics turned their fiery gaze to the first lady, blaming her for the race riots in Detroit. Her detractors were out for blood, but even so, she managed to turn the tables in one respect: her popularity soared amongst Black Americans, turning many Republican voters into Democrats. Eleanor toed a dangerous line, and things were about to get worse. Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. On December 7, 1941, a tragedy rocked the entire nation. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, effectively dragging the US into World War II. Suddenly, Japanese Americans found themselves under fire, and Eleanor was outraged. Ahead of her time in every way, she railed against Japanese American prejudice. And here’s where Eleanor and her husband began to butt heads in earnest. To her horror, Eleanor’s husband decided to place many Japanese citizens in internment camps, an order that she privately despised. In fact, her support of the Japanese population was so criticized the Los Angeles Times even put out a call to have her forced to retire from public life.
But this didn’t intimidate the first lady in any way. As the war raged on, she was more than ready to get her hands dirty. Eleanor Roosevelt’s focus turned toward war refugees. More than anything, she wanted FDR to invite more immigration groups into the country, especially those who were being targeted by the Germans. But in this respect, he failed her. Instead of welcoming refugees with open arms, the president restricted immigration. Later, Eleanor’s son James revealed some shocking behind-the-scenes insight. He confessed that her deepest regret at the end of her life was that she had not made FDR accept more refugees fleeing Hitler’s murderous regime. The inner struggle was real for Eleanor, and then tragedy struck in her personal life. Over at the White House, the flag is at half-mast. It was just 10 minutes to 6 tonight when the news was given to the world. The first reaction among troops was complete disbelief. Everywhere, there was the silent tribute to the passing of a great leader, a war casualty as certainly as any soldier killed in battle. On April 12, 1945, the president suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died, and his sudden departure unleashed fresh drama in Eleanor Roosevelt’s life. An old ghost came back to haunt her.
Her name was Lucy Mercer, Roosevelt’s social secretary. To understand the gravity of Lucy’s importance in Eleanor’s life, we have to take a trip down memory lane, all the way back to the shocking events of September 1918. In the fall of that year, Eleanor was unpacking one of her husband’s suitcases when she came across a bundle of letters. Curious, she opened them. They were love letters sent from FDR to Lucy Mercer. The relationship was so intense, Franklin had even considered leaving his wife to be with his mistress. But that’s not all. Politically speaking, FDR couldn’t leave Eleanor without risking his career, and both his advisers and his mother forbade him from seeking a divorce. And so, Eleanor and Franklin remained married, and their relationship suffered. As impressive as her fight for civil rights was, her past boasted one unsavory truth. Back in 1918, she harbored her own prejudices against rich Jews. Once, she told her mother-in-law that the Jewish party was appalling. As a co-owner of the Todd Hunter School in New York City, she expressed how she didn’t want too many Jews to enroll because they were very unlike ourselves. As horrifying as these views undoubtedly were, Eleanor proved that she was open to change. As she grew older and wiser, her anti-Semitism declined. By the time World War II hit and beyond, her perspective had shifted for the better. In 1960, shortly after being hit by a car in New York City, doctors diagnosed her with aplastic anemia. From then on, her health drastically declined. Two years later, her dormant tuberculosis became active in her bone marrow, and it spelled the end. On November 7, 1962, Eleanor Roosevelt died from cardiac failure at the age of 78.
