I would venture to guess that there have been thousands of
books written about Franklin D. Roosevelt, if not tens of thousands. In each of these books Missy LeHand, FDR’s
personal secretary, is recognized with a paragraph, more often with merely a
footnote. With The Gatekeeper by Kathryn Smith, Missy is given her much deserved
place in history.
Prior to Dwight Eisenhower there was no such title as a Chief
of Staff at the White House, though there was always someone around to
administer the administration, as it was administering the nation. This person wielded an immense amount of
power, none more important than being the gatekeeper who controlled access to
the President. To no surprise the person filling this position was always a
man; that is until Franklin Roosevelt entrusted Marguerite LeHand with the
authority. She was appointed his
personal secretary, and though she kept that title, she quickly absorbed the
role we would today call Chief of Staff.
Her standing in the Roosevelt administrations came about
because FDR trusted her personal integrity, her loyalty to him, her analytic
intelligence, and her ability to get things done. He also knew she’d tell him what he needed to
hear, whether he wanted to hear it or not. That he did this at a point in
history when women’s empowerment was a new concept, but not yet a goal, speaks
volumes.
Much is made of two other women in the Roosevelt era. One of course was FDR’s wife, the larger than
life Eleanor Roosevelt who remade the role of First Lady, and earned herself a place in
history quite independent of his. She shared
his political agenda, and had one of her own with no qualms about battling for
it, even when that meant battling him. Yet, history will always also remember “the
other woman,” Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, with whom FDR had a long-term affair. Though common knowledge the affair wasn’t publicly
discussed in an era when the personal life of a President was considered off
limits to the press. This subject, fodder for so many of the books on FDR, is
touched upon in The Gatekeeper only in that Missy, who was loved by both Eleanor
and Franklin, and treated as though a member of the family, often served as a
go between husband and wife, a role far afield from her official role in the
administration.
A few months before Pearl Harbor, Missy suffered a stroke
that left her unable to return to work. For
one who had been one of FDR’s closest confidants and operatives during his
career as Governor of New York, at his side during the Depression when as President he was a-force-of-nature enactng the New Deal, at his side as a personal friend during the
challenging and at times painful polio treatments; she now would be unable to serve during his war-time Presidency. The impact
of that change in fortune was devastating to her.
While history seems to have lost Missy, FDR knew her place
in it. The statement the White House
issued at her death was:
“Memories of
more than a score of years of devoted service enhance the sense of personal
loss which Miss LeHand’s passing brings.
Faithful and painstaking, with a charm of manner inspired by tact and
kindness of heart, she was utterly selfless in her devotion to duty. Hers was a quiet efficiency which made her a
real genius in getting things done. Her
memory will be held in affectionate remembrance and appreciation, not only by
all members of our family, but the wide circle of those whose duties brought them
into contact with her.”
By the time of Missy’s death, FDR’s health was also rapidly
fading. He would follow her in death a
few months later.
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