A few years ago I read a new historical novel called "Lucy". It is about Lucy Mercer, the woman that FDR had an affair with when he was the assistant secrectary of the Navy....years before he was stricken with polio and became president. I came across the book while I was in Borders and went back to actually purchase the book.
My interest in Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt began when dad purchased the first of a set of videos done by HBO about them. This first set covers their earlier years and focuses mostly on Eleanor, telling the story through flashbacks after Franklin has died at the Little White House down in Warm Springs, GA. Apparantly when this series was first aired, it won 11 Emmy awards. The actor who plays Franklin is Edward Herrmann, who plays FDR in the orignial musical "Annie" and does the voice of FDR in a documentary about FDR's homes. He also does lots of voice overs for shows on the History Channel, plays the grandfather on "Gilmore Girls" and played Max the head vampire in "The Lost Boys". The second set of videos is concerned primarily with the 12 years that FDR was in the White house and those are with the same actors, etc and are also excellent, however I did not see those until several years after having viewed the first ones.
Though I haven't finished it, I do own Eleanor's autobiography and she was really an incredible person. Although she was not particularly physically attractive and she had a very sad and lonely childhood, she still managed to inspire loyalty in those around her. And let's face it people, if it hadn't been for her, Franklin would NOT have overcome polio and become one of our greatest presidents. So, I have always been on Eleanor's side, and always felt that Franklin was a real jerk for cheating on her with her own social secrectary. However, being the open-minded person that I sometimes attempt to be, I couldn't help myself. I had to pick up this book which relays the affair from Lucy's perspective. I found it to be quite interesting. The book is very well written (and not just because she leaves all of the...uh....ahem... details to our imaginations) but it is, as the Baltimore Sun put it, "Lyrical...a gem." And it is, I found it difficult to put down.
Still, Eleanor, herself sometimes gets a bad rap. She had a great mind. And she was just as determined as Franklin to make a difference in the world. And he saw that. That is what attracted him. He was fiercely ambitious to become president and he knew that he had to have the "right woman" to help him attain all of his dreams. And that woman was Eleanor. Interesting, and heartbreakingly sad, he loved that dream (to become president) so much that he was willing to risk his happiness with a woman that he had fallen in love with, in order to to reach it. He knew that he couldn't become president with Lucy by his side. Mostly, because back in the earlier part of the 20th century it wasn't a particularly good thing to be divorced, married to your ex-mistress and be running for President. But it was also so sad, that after all the years he and Eleanor had spent together as man and wife and after having 6 children (one of whom died) that the one consideration regarding whether or not he should actually go through with a divorce and marry Lucy had to do with his career and not the well being of his children, wife or even his repuation. But in the end that was the decision he made. And ultimately it was certainly the right one.
A writer back in the day, once said that "although he never regained the use of his legs, he taught a crippled nation how to walk." I think that was true. He was a great man, and a great president. He made a great many hard decisions in the White House, and all for the best. But he and Eleanor both exacted a high price from all those who were close to them...unswerving devotion and loyalty. I am sure that he never stopped loving her. Afterall she was his wife and the mother of his children. And it was partly due to her love and loyalty to him that he conquered polio and became president. And because of his handicap, she went out as his personal ambasador, representing him when he couldn't be there in person.
There is just something about Eleanor Roosevelt that I like very much...something that reminds me of my own mother. I can't quite put it into words.
After finishing this book, it has made me see the affair in a different light, and I can feel sympathy and some sadness for Lucy and President Roosevelt.
"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith."
~ The last words written by Franklin Delano Roosevelt before he died
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