Franklin and Lucy or Terror at Beslan

Franklin and Lucy: President Roosevelt, Mrs. Rutherfurd, and the Other Remarkable Women in His Life

Author: Joseph E Persico

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was arguably the greatest figure of the twentieth century. While FDR’s official circle was predominantly male, it was his relationships with women–particularly with Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd–that most vividly bring to light the human being beneath this towering statesman. It is no coincidence that Rutherfurd was with Roosevelt the day he died in Warm Springs, Georgia, along with two other close women companions. In Franklin and Lucy, acclaimed author and historian Joseph E. Persico explores FDR’s romance with Lucy Rutherfurd, which was far deeper and lasted much longer than was previously acknowledged. Persico’s provocative conclusions about their relationship are informed by a revealing range of sources, including never-before-published letters and documents from Lucy Rutherfurd’s estate that attest to the intensity and scope of the affair.

FDR’s connection with Lucy also creates an opportunity for Persico to take a more penetrating look at the other women in FDR’s life. We come to see more clearly how FDR’s infidelity as a husband contributed to Eleanor’s eventual transformation from a repressed Victorian to perhaps the greatest American woman of her century; how the shaping hand of FDR’s strong-willed mother helped to imbue him with the resolve to overcome personal and public adversity throughout his life; and how other women around FDR, including his “surrogate spouse,” Missy LeHand, and his close confidante, the obscure Margaret “Daisy” Suckley, completed the world that he inhabited.

Franklin and Lucy is an extraordinary look at theprivate life of a leader who continues to fascinate scholars and the general public alike. In focusing on Lucy Rutherfurd and the myriad women who mattered to Roosevelt, Persico paints a more intimate portrait than we have heretofore had of this enigmatic giant of American history.

The Washington Post - Jonathan Yardley

Persico—a former speechwriter for W. Averell Harriman and Nelson Rockefeller who turned to writing popular histories three decades ago—is judicious in his treatment of these sensitive matters. He gives each of FDR's five leading ladies her due, but he also is attentive to the others—among them Dorothy Schiff, Grace Tully, Daisy Suckley and Alice Roosevelt Longworth—who came into his orbit at various times and for various reasons. He is commendably nonjudgmental about the relationship between the two people of his title. Like Jean Edward Smith, Roosevelt's most recent and best biographer, he understands that Lucy Mercer helped FDR awaken his capacity for love and compassion, and thus helped him become the man to whom the nation will be eternally in debt.

Publishers Weekly

Historian Persico offers a detailed look at the very colorful and expansive personal life of one of the most memorable and beloved presidents in American history. Len Cariou's reading is firm and authoritative, commanding an air of respect from the listener and in turn relating Persico's findings with absolute believability. Cariou's tone is unwavering, his voice well-defined and perfectly pronounced. The result is a story so thoroughly engaging that listening becomes compulsive. The result is endlessly informative, offering juicy tidbits about otherwise unknown occurrences in FDR's existence. Persico has clearly done his homework and unearthed some fascinating information, and Cariou succeeds in bringing the tales to life without editorializing. A Random House hardcover (Reviews, Jan. 21). (May)

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Publishers Weekly

Persico (Roosevelt's Secret War) engagingly and eloquently narrates the tangled relationships between Franklin and the various women to whom he became close, including his mother; his wife; Lucy Mercer (the young Eleanor Roosevelt's social secretary during WWI and later Mrs. Winthrop Rutherford); his longtime secretary, Missy LeHand; and his distant cousin Margaret (Daisy) Suckley. These relationships have been examined before; the major revelation of the volume-backed up by documents recently discovered by Mercer's descendants-is that her relationship with FDR continued throughout his life, even after it was supposedly ended by Franklin at the demand of his mother, who threatened to cut off both his income and his inheritance were he to leave his wife and family. (Previously, it was believed that FDR's relationship with Mercer only rekindled once Franklin's mother died, at the very end of his own life.) Another intriguing aspect of the book is Persico's informed speculation on how Franklin's frequently nonchalant womanizing affected Eleanor, who appears, quite possibly, to have pursued several relationships of her own, both hetero- and homosexual. In sum, Persico offers what will prove an important, lasting addition to the literature of the Roosevelts. (Apr. 29)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

William D. Pederson - Library Journal

A more sensational title for this latest book from Persico (Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage) might have been "All the President's Women," for it discusses not only the relationship between FDR and Lucy Mercer (later Rutherfurd) but, as its subtitle indicates, "the other remarkable women in his life." Instead of sensationalizing these characters' lives, however, Persico seeks to understand them. The first and foremost woman in FDR's life was his doting mother, Sara. The second, of course, was his wife, Eleanor. Unfortunately, she faced the classic problems of both a headstrong mother-in-law and an unfaithful husband. Almost as in a novel, in 1918 Eleanor accidentally discovered her husband's affair with Lucy Mercer, Eleanor's social secretary, then offered him a divorce he could not grant her owing to the era, his financial dependence on his mother, and his political ambition. As the author of ten books, Persico is well equipped to tell this story, and his primary achievement here is in putting these women in the context of their own lives and the life of FDR. This sensitive narrative will leave readers with an even greater appreciation of FDR, Eleanor, and those they knew. Highly recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ1/08.]

Interesting book: CCNA or Texas Holdem on the Net

Terror at Beslan: A Russian Tragedy with Lessons for America's Schools

Author: John Giduck

This book tells the untold story about the victims, the soldiers who were there and the history of the events leading up to this tragic incident. But more than just the story, this book highlights the lessons America's schools must learn from this tragedy to protect themselves from terrorism.