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