The Gatekeeper

May 23, 2016
Journalist Smith (A Necessary War) grants readers an unusual insider’s view of F.D.R.’s political career by profiling his longtime private secretary. Marguerite “Missy” LeHand, a young woman with a modest background, an agile intellect, a pleasant personality, and remarkable stenographer’s skills, began working for F.D.R. in 1920, when he ran for vice president. Smith writes particularly well about F.D.R.’s struggle to bounce back from being struck with polio in 1921, explaining the disease and the origins of the Warm Springs, Ga., health spa that he frequented. LeHand was F.D.R.’s most constant companion during the 1920s, sparking rumors—convincingly dismissed by Smith—that they were lovers. The real core of the story is the White House years from 1933 until 1942, when LeHand helped create the vast New Deal bureaucracy. She decided who would see the president and when; today her title would be chief of staff. LeHand worked long hours but took time to enjoy the perks of the job, including a barrage of social invitations and fawning press coverage. Though Smith overstates her claim about LeHand’s importance to F.D.R. and his work as president, she delivers a fascinating account of one woman’s involvement in an important administration. Illus.

July 1, 2016

Smith (A Necessary War) has written the first full biography of Marguerite "Missy" LeHand (1898-1944), Franklin D. Roosevelt's longtime secretary and close adviser. During World War I, she accepted a job with the U.S. Navy in Washington, DC, which led to a position with Roosevelt during his campaign for vice president in 1920. As a trusted confidant and sometimes nursemaid for Roosevelt while he battled polio, LeHand began living with the Roosevelts to be able to serve the politican around the clock. Although the evidence is scant, Roosevelt's son Elliott claimed his father and LeHand had an affair. When Roosevelt was elected president, he chose LeHand to be his head secretary, and she became the first woman to serve in this position. Living at the White House, she often filled in as hostess while the first lady was traveling and became widely known in the press for her political savvy, humor, and glamorous fashion. Although Smith is an engaging writer, this feels like another biography of Roosevelt himself and underscores the difficulties of discussing a figure who orbited such a famous leader. VERDICT Recommended for readers interested in the Roosevelt family.--Kate Stewart, American Folklife Ctr., Washington, DC

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Starred review from July 1, 2016
Franklin Roosevelt's longtime loyal personal secretary earns a much-needed, balanced portrait.Although the boss and his devoted factotum were often thrown together intimately over 20 years to tackle his correspondence and brainstorm on speeches and personnel, they were probably not lovers, asserts FDR historian, journalist, and native Georgian Smith (A Necessary War, 2013) in her lively study. A daughter of working-class Boston Catholic parents, Missy LeHand (1898-1944) was an ambitious, high school-educated, trained secretary when, in 1920, FDR's campaign chairman, Charles McCarthy, brought her into his circle. Even before his first election to New York State governor in 1928, LeHand proved her skill and devotion as FDR's law secretary and right arm during the years "adrift" after he was stricken by polio. Moreover, while his wife, Eleanor, detested the role of hostess, LeHand was adept and polished, even garnering publicity as the president's "Super-Secretary" and best dressed among the capital's women. Through thick and thin, uncomplaining about being on call in his residence for late-night working (whether in Georgia or the White House), LeHand became part of the indispensable White House "secretariat," including other core members Louis Howe, Steve Early, and Marvin McIntyre. Smith describes LeHand's job for FDR as chief of staff, when the term was not yet used. Yet with so few women in such high-end jobs, LeHand suffered the inevitable sexism and presumed blurring of duties, as Smith makes very clear. She noted the eclipse of her reputation after her death, thanks to disparaging portraits by the president's son Elliott in his memoir, An Untold Story (1973), among others. The effects of childhood rheumatic fever and the untold stress of these hardworking years eventually caught up with her in 1941, when she was struck by a massive stroke and removed from the lofty heights of power. A marvelous portrait of a professional woman ahead of her time whose relationship with FDR sheds new light on his personality and decisions.

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