LETTER: ALS to Frances Perkins.
Roosevelt, Eleanor. Autograph letter signed, “E.R .,” to Frances Perkins, n.d.; White House stationery and envelope, both with gilt eagle design; the envelope is addressed to Hon. Frances Perkins in Eleanor’s hand; others (probably booksellers) have written notes above and below. Encased in plastic, nicely bound in cream paper, tied with blue string; together with a typed transcription.
Text of the letter (dated only “Wed.” “Aug.”):
Frances dear
I want these few flowers to meet you on your return as a symbol of the real depth of feeling which so many of us and I in particular have for you. It has been a long hard strain & will be harder these next few weeks I fear & if there is anything I can do please let me help --- would you care to come to [here?] on Sunday or could I go & see you about 4 p.m. if you are home? I get home Sunday noon ---.
My loyalty & friendship are at your disposal always, devotedly,
E.R.
Frances Perkins, who was a member of FDR’s cabinet and later wrote a book about him (The Roosevelt I Knew, NY: Viking, 1946), was a longtime friend and political ally of the Roosevelts. In 1942, all the cabinet members gave a dinner for FDR, which was held at the White House instead of a hotel on the advice of the secret service. According to Eleanor in This I Remember, the president was somewhat amused by all the safety precautions and said “What a wonderful opportunity this would be for Hitler if he could just drop a bomb on the White House and catch so many important people at one gathering. If all of us except Frances (Perkins) were killed we would have a woman president” (p. 249).
Looking back on her time in the White House in This I Remember, Eleanor wrote:
It is curious to realize that out of my years in Washington, though I met many people and learned much about the country and its people, I made very few new friends...Frances Perkins I had known before and liked and I grew to know her better and to count her as a friend....On the whole, however, I think I lived those years very impersonally. It was almost as though I had erected someone a little outside of myself who was the president’s wife. I was lost somewhere deep down inside myself. That is the way I felt and worked until I left the White House. (pp. 350-351)
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