The book tells the story of the Roosevelts, focusing on the World War II period. The title originates, I believe, from Eleanor's speech at the 1940 Democratic National Convention. Franklin had already served two terms and no one had every stood for a third election. Many Democrats asked him to step aside for the good of the party; a few felt that the country needed his leadership after the German occupation of France and its threatening of Britain. He did neither; he did not even show up. He sent his wife, who was widely respected, and in her speech she recognized a third term was out of the ordinary, but also said "this is no ordinary time".
Eleanor and Franklin differed on policy matters, with Eleanor taking the liberal view and Franklin the more conservative. His heart was probably with her, but his largest goal was to bring America into the war, and bring her in prepared. The split could be observed in tax policy, race policy, and refugee policy. He decided he needed a tax code that would encourage private investment. The liberals decried the proposal as a giveaway; if the government was going to invest so much of its own money it should build and own the manufacturing plants itself. At this time the military, as much of society, was segregated. Eleanor pleaded the case for integration, but higher military officials, along with Southern congressmen, were against it, and Franklin decided he needed the votes. In the end, Franklin pushed through token changes. He would not even support a federal anti-lynching law. At this time many Europeans were attempting to flee, but Americans were largely against the accommodation of non-WASPs. Hitler was no fan of non-WASPs, either, but at this point he was willing to have them emigrate, rather than have them exterminated. The door was opened on the European side, but closed on the American side, and Franklin did not spend his political capital in support of the refugees, preferring to save it for a war effort, including, conscription, that was not necessarily popular at home.
Eleanor and Franklin had a strange marriage even by contemporary standards; by the measure of their day it was unique. Both grew up in wealth and both lost their father at an early age. Franklin was successful, outgoing, and doted on by his mother. He was an only child; his birth was difficult for his mother and she was advised against additional children. Franklin contracted polio in his 20s or 30s (?), after Eleanor had given birth to four sons and a daughter; at the least, much older than the typical child victim. Polio is often fatal; in his case it merely paralyzed him from the waist down. His struggled mightily in Warm Springs, Georgia to teach his legs to walk again (he believed the year-round 86-degree water would help).
Eleanor's father was an alcoholic; they loved each other dearly, though, and his disease, while ravaging his marriage, did not seem to have impacted her negatively. Her mother died young, too (diphtheria), and she went to live with her grandmother. She attended high school in England and excelled there academically, athletically and socially. She returned a confident and outgoing woman.
The strangeness revolved around Franklin's attraction to his secretary, Missy LeHand. Indeed, he was often smitten by attractive younger women, such as the princess of Norway, who stayed in the White House for several weeks after escaping the Nazis. It was unclear whether the attraction with Missy became physical. In any event, while many wives would not enjoy this, Eleanor made the most of the opportunity to escape from the duties of a First Lady. She was constantly travelling, meeting with and supporting progressive organizations, speaking, and volunteering. She really enjoyed those activities and thus viewed Missy's very effective assistance to the president as largely a positive thing.
FDR also fraternized with another woman, Lucy Rutherford, when his children were young. Again, the book states that whether he and she consummated the relationship is not definitively known, with most players believing yes. She was beautiful and elegant; after the courtship ended she married a man fifteen years her senior. He died at age 70, with Lucy in her 50s and still attractive, and FDR arranged for her to visit him at the White House, or at Warm Springs, when Eleanor was traveling, which was quite often. Ms. Rutherford was present when he died. Eleanor became upset when she learned of this, but she eventually forgave Lucy, and her daughter Anna, who helped arrange the secret meetings.
Their children led painful lives, in my opinion. The daughter's husband committed suicide. The four sons married a total of sixteen times.
Franklin was quite sick when he ran for his fourth term and he chose his running mate, Harry Truman, without much thought. Four different men served as Vice President for the start of each of Franklin's four terms. He died after a long decline, with periodic improvements; his doctors, who did not take his illness seriously enough, eventually prescribed digitalis. He drank several cocktails per night before the illness and reduced the count upon doctors' orders to two per day.
Upon FDR's death Harry Truman said to Eleanor, "is there anything I can do?" Eleanor replied, "is there anything we can do for your? For you are the one in trouble now."
FDR's accomplishments and actions were plainly extraordinary and mostly good: leading his country out of a depression, successfully bringing his country into a war it did not want but had to fight, improving the lots of laborers and blacks, and pursuing a successful peace with Germany. His worst decision, in my view, was his executive order to intern citizens of Japanese descent in detention camps. Her accomplishments were perhaps more extraordinary, given the customary role for women in her day. Quoting the last paragraph of the book:
[She] remained an important political figure until her death ... a leading force behind the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights ... and a founding member of Americans for Democratic Action. Mourners at her funeral included President and Mrs. Kennedy, Vice-President Johnson, former Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, [U.S. Supreme Court] Chief Justice Earl Warren, Adlai Stevenson .... She was buried next to her husband in the rose garden at the Hyde Park estate [FDR's home, a favorite resting spot of his, and since then a government park donated by Eleanor]. A plain white marble monument marks the grave. As President Roosevelt wished, it contains no decoration and no inscription except the following:
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT
1882-1945
ANNA ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
1884-1962
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