Sexy Miss Mercer vs. Plain Jane Eleanor

Who were the women of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's life? They were his mother (of course), his wife, and his mistress? He was such an outstanding figure in history that things could be overlooked, so I was extremely shocked when I came across two pictures side by side, one of his wife Eleanor and the other of his mistress Lucy Mercer who had began a romance with FDR that would span 30 years (Historical). It made me want to know who was this mystery woman, how did FDR and her meet, and how did Eleanor take it when she found out that FDR hadn't stopped seeing his mistress?

In the two pictures one can clearly see the differences in the two women. While one is quite homely and has "regal posture", the other is "stooped with a receding chin" (Baird). If one looks closer at the pictures, there appears to be a tree in both pictures. The tree behind Lucy is bare while the tree behind Eleanor has leaves. She is wearing a simple jacket over a simple dress of matching print. On the other hand, Eleanor is not even looking at the camera. One can't see the wall behind Lucy, but the brick wall behind Eleanor is quite visible. One historian noted that the most pleasing thing about Lucy Mercer was that she allowed Eleanor the freedom to find herself (Baird).

The two pictures were chosen to show Lucy's obvious beauty against a plain picture of Eleanor (Baird). In the picture of Lucy, it looks to me as though she is smiling over an inside joke. Eleanor, however, looks subdued in her picture. I think these two pictures were chosen specifically to show what Lucy has and what Eleanor does not have. I feel that Eleanor is in deep thought in this picture, while Lucy obviously posed for hers. Lucy to me appears rather curvaceous, but Eleanor seems rather like a poorly drawn stick figure. The brick wall behind Eleanor makes me think that she is perhaps in an outside garden where she likes to do her thinking. Whereas Lucy's background seems almost unnatural, like she had it done in a studio. I think this picture of Eleanor was taken before "her shyness had worn off" (MacLeish, page 23).

In both photographs there is a sense of balance. Each woman is the center of their photograph. Both of them are wearing a lighter color than the background, so they seem to stand out just a bit more than they would have if they had been wearing darker colors. Lucy's hair contrasts nicely with her skin tone, while Eleanor looks a little washed out with her fair hair and light clothes and skin tone. The photo of Lucy is a close up, while the photo of Eleanor is a body shot.

I have yet to find out how FDR met Miss Lucy Mercer, but I did find out how Eleanor reacted upon hearing that her social secretary was in love with her husband. She found out by finding several love letters from Miss Mercer to her husband. She felt as though the bottom of her world had just fallen out (Baird). I am looking forward to learning about FDR and his women in even more detail.

Works Cited

Baird, Julia. "The Women the President Loved." Newsweek 5 May. 2008. Web. 19 Jan. 2010

MacLeish, Archibald. The Eleanor Roosevelt Story. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1965. Print.

"Historical Notes: A Great Romance" Times 19 Aug. 1966. Web. 30 Jan. 2010

Research question: Who were the women in Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s life? Were they strong, weak, smart, pretty, or ugly? What was the greatest quality about each of the women? How might having these women in his life affect his decisions on important issues?

I chose the topic of women in Franklin’s life because it was still a time where women didn’t really speak out all that often, and he had some amazing women in his life, like his wife Eleanor. Women weren’t as outspoken, and I feel that those who were should be given thanks by the women of today. What if we didn’t have women like Eleanor Roosevelt to have led the way for great American women? Would we be as far as we are today? I’m also in a group of all boys, so I figured I would focus on the feminine aspect of Franklin’s presidency. He was a great president but the saying goes “Behind every strong man is a strong woman.”

I know that he had a mistress named Lucy. Apparently, Eleanor knew about Lucy as well. His mother was also a major influence in his life. Although his mother and Eleanor didn’t really get along, Franklin respected his mother’s wishes and ideas sometimes even over Eleanor’s. Franklin was in a wheel chair from polio but even though he had polio he could still get an erection. I also know that Eleanor had more independence than most women of the time, and this is basically what I know about the women in his life.

I hope to discover foul play because who doesn’t love a little scandal in the White House. I want to know what Eleanor thought of his mistress Lucy. I want to know what each woman was like what morals they held dear and how Franklin treated them. I want to learn how this great president in a wheel chair got around to see his mistress. Did she simply come to the white house? Did he go see her? And if so where? I would love to know what happened when Eleanor found out about Lucy. Being a lady, I doubt it was a cat fight like nowadays.

I did some research on these women in his life. I’ve found a few like one named Daisy mentioned, but then I could not find anything else mentioned about her. I found a few newspaper articles and a few books, but I’m going to have to look a little harder to find information on some of the women in his life because they are hardly mentioned. I’m sure if I search the internet, I am sure I could find something that is interesting about each women and how they were involved with Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

I think this is going to be an interesting assignment. I’ve never blogged before now. My group is all guys which is why we ended up doing a World War Two. I wanted to do the trail of tears because I have a little Indian in me. I didn’t really know very much about World War Two leaders. I think this will be a good learning experience as well as entertaining. I can’t wait to see what other people say about my blogs, and I can’t wait to read other people’s blogs.

Working bibliography

Baird, Julia. “The Women the President Loved.” Newsweek 5 May. 2008. Web. 19 Jan. 2010

Barry, Dan. “From New Deal to New Hard Times, Eleanor Endures.” New York Times 25 Dec. 2009: 1. Academic Search Complete. Ebsco. Web. 19 Jan. 2010.

Feldman, Ellen. “FDR and His Women.” American Heritage Magazine 54.1 (2003). Web. 19 Jan. 2010

MacLeish, Archibald. The Eleanor Roosevelt Story. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1965. Print.

“Franklin D. Roosevelt (President of United States).” Encyclopedia Britannica 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Web. 19 Jan. 2010

First Post

This is my first blog post! I've never really done anything like this before, but I'm open to the idea of blogging. It seems like a very good way to get ideas out into the community.