Lorena Hickok
Encyclopedia
Lorena Alice Hickok was an American
journalist and confidante of Eleanor Roosevelt
. Her relationship with Roosevelt has been the subject of research.
in Walworth County, Wisconsin
, the daughter of Anna Adelsa (née Waite) and Addison Hickok. During childhood, Hickok experienced a troubled family life, characterized by abuse, unemployment, and repeated moves. She left home at the age of fourteen to work as a maid until her mother's cousin, Ella Ellis, took her in. While living with Ellis, Hickok finished high school and enrolled at Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Hickok never adjusted to college and dropped out after one year. She was then hired to cover train arrivals and departures and write personal interest stories at The Battle Creek Evening News. To attempt to follow in the footsteps of her role model, novelist Edna Ferber
, she eventually joined the Milwaukee Sentinel as its society editor, but moved on to the city beat, where she developed a knack as an interviewer. Hickok then worked in Minneapolis
and New York
, but was unsuccessful in such a big city and was fired after just a month. She returned to Minneapolis to work for the Minneapolis Tribune and enrolled at the University of Minnesota, but ended up leaving upon being forced to live in a women's dormitory. She stayed with the Minneapolis Tribune, where she was given opportunities unusual for a female reporter. She had a by-line and was the paper's chief reporter, covering politics and football and preparing editorials. She left the Minneapolis Tribune in 1926. After a period of travel, and ill health, she went to New York. After working for "The Mirror" for about a year, Hickok landed a job with the Associated Press
in 1928, where she became one of the wire service's most valued correspondents. She reported in a prominent way on such huge events as the Lindbergh kidnapping
. Her specialty was campaign reporting, often sharing campaign trails with her male colleagues.
Because she felt she could no longer be objective in covering the Roosevelts, Hickok left the Associated Press in 1933. Eleanor Roosevelt then helped her obtain the position as a Chief Investigator for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration
(FERA), where she conducted some fact-finding missions. During this time, she also provided public relations advice to the first lady. She is credited with pushing Roosevelt to write her own newspaper column, "My Day", and to hold weekly press conferences specifically for female journalists.
During her time with FERA, Hickok developed a dislike of reporters. In one report to Hopkins in 1934, she wrote, “Believe me, the next state administrator who lets out any publicity on me is going to get his head cracked...” Hickok had also vented to Hopkins's secretary, Kathryn Godwin, about how she was “fed-up with publicity”. She said, “I want to kick every reporter I see. Which is a state for me to get into, since I’ll probably be back in business myself after I get through with this.” Two weeks after writing the letter to Hopkins, Hickok saw an article in Time Magazine, which referred to her in some not–so-ladylike terms. Referring to that article, Hickok had said to the Godwin, “I suppose I am a ‘rotund lady with a husky voice’ and ‘baggy clothes,’ [Times words], but honestly don’t believe my manner is ‘peremptory.’” Hickok went on to say that, if they felt that way about her then, “Why the Hell CAN’T they leave me alone?” In a letter (February, 1934) to Godwin Hickok admitted that the Time article had upset her: “… that damned article in Time Magazine, has made something of a wreck out of me … as I came in, they handed me, with beaming smiles, a copy of Time. I read the thing and wanted to curse until the air was blue.”
March through July 1934 was marked by highs and lows in Hickok’s life. In several letters between the women, Eleanor spoke of “longing to kiss and hold” Lorena in her arms. Yet, in another letter from Eleanor, in May 1934, Eleanor implied that she did not like the instability of Lorena’s life, and found it discomforting, “saying that she was tired of the ‘bad things’ that Lorena’s temperamental nature did to her (her being Hickok).” Eleanor even told Hickok that she thought Hickok was in a mental and emotional depression.
in DC, where she met most people. Also during this time, she formed an intense friendship with the Honorable Marion Janet Harron
, a United States Tax Court
judge who was ten years younger than her and almost the only person to visit her at the White House.
When Hickok's diabetes worsened in 1945, she was forced to leave her position with the DNC. Two years later, Eleanor Roosevelt helped her obtain a position with the New York State Democratic Committee. When Hickok's health continued to decline to the point where she became frail and partially blind, she moved to Hyde Park to be closer to Mrs. Roosevelt. She lived in a cottage on the Roosevelt estate
, where she died in 1968.
Hickok willed her personal papers to the FDR Library
, in Hyde Park, New York
, part of the US National Archives
. Her donation was contained in 18 filing boxes that, according to the provisions of her will, were to be sealed until 10 years after her death.
In early May, 1978, Doris Faber, as part of research for a projected short biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, became perhaps the first person outside the National Archives to open these boxes, and was astounded to discover that they contained 2336 letters from Mrs. Roosevelt to Lorena, most of them dated in the 1930s, and continuing right up to Mrs. Roosevelt's death in 1962.
A key passage from just one early 12-page handwritten missive to Lorena from Eleanor sheds light on their relationship:
It is not universally accepted by historians that the two were romantically connected.
Hickok's papers remain at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Museum, where they are available to the public.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist and confidante of Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
. Her relationship with Roosevelt has been the subject of research.
Early life
Lorena Hickok, popularly known as "Hick", was born in East TroyEast Troy, Wisconsin
East Troy is a village in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,564 at the 2000 census. The village is located southeast of the Town of East Troy. A small portion extends into the adjacent Town of Troy...
in Walworth County, Wisconsin
Walworth County, Wisconsin
Walworth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of 2010, the population was 102,228. Its county seat is Elkhorn.-Geography:According to the U.S...
, the daughter of Anna Adelsa (née Waite) and Addison Hickok. During childhood, Hickok experienced a troubled family life, characterized by abuse, unemployment, and repeated moves. She left home at the age of fourteen to work as a maid until her mother's cousin, Ella Ellis, took her in. While living with Ellis, Hickok finished high school and enrolled at Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Hickok never adjusted to college and dropped out after one year. She was then hired to cover train arrivals and departures and write personal interest stories at The Battle Creek Evening News. To attempt to follow in the footsteps of her role model, novelist Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big , Show Boat , and Giant .-Early years:Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan,...
, she eventually joined the Milwaukee Sentinel as its society editor, but moved on to the city beat, where she developed a knack as an interviewer. Hickok then worked in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
and New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, but was unsuccessful in such a big city and was fired after just a month. She returned to Minneapolis to work for the Minneapolis Tribune and enrolled at the University of Minnesota, but ended up leaving upon being forced to live in a women's dormitory. She stayed with the Minneapolis Tribune, where she was given opportunities unusual for a female reporter. She had a by-line and was the paper's chief reporter, covering politics and football and preparing editorials. She left the Minneapolis Tribune in 1926. After a period of travel, and ill health, she went to New York. After working for "The Mirror" for about a year, Hickok landed a job with the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
in 1928, where she became one of the wire service's most valued correspondents. She reported in a prominent way on such huge events as the Lindbergh kidnapping
Lindbergh kidnapping
The kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., was the abduction of the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The toddler, 18 months old at the time, was abducted from his family home in East Amwell, New Jersey, near the town of Hopewell, New Jersey, on the evening of...
. Her specialty was campaign reporting, often sharing campaign trails with her male colleagues.
Coverage of Eleanor Roosevelt
Hickok first met Eleanor Roosevelt in the summer of 1928, at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in New York City. In 1932, she convinced her editors to allow her to cover Eleanor Roosevelt during the presidential campaign and for the four month interregnum period. Through that experience, she and Mrs. Roosevelt developed a close relationship.Because she felt she could no longer be objective in covering the Roosevelts, Hickok left the Associated Press in 1933. Eleanor Roosevelt then helped her obtain the position as a Chief Investigator for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration
Federal Emergency Relief Administration
Federal Emergency Relief Administration was the new name given by the Roosevelt Administration to the Emergency Relief Administration which President Herbert Hoover had created in 1932...
(FERA), where she conducted some fact-finding missions. During this time, she also provided public relations advice to the first lady. She is credited with pushing Roosevelt to write her own newspaper column, "My Day", and to hold weekly press conferences specifically for female journalists.
During her time with FERA, Hickok developed a dislike of reporters. In one report to Hopkins in 1934, she wrote, “Believe me, the next state administrator who lets out any publicity on me is going to get his head cracked...” Hickok had also vented to Hopkins's secretary, Kathryn Godwin, about how she was “fed-up with publicity”. She said, “I want to kick every reporter I see. Which is a state for me to get into, since I’ll probably be back in business myself after I get through with this.” Two weeks after writing the letter to Hopkins, Hickok saw an article in Time Magazine, which referred to her in some not–so-ladylike terms. Referring to that article, Hickok had said to the Godwin, “I suppose I am a ‘rotund lady with a husky voice’ and ‘baggy clothes,’ [Times words], but honestly don’t believe my manner is ‘peremptory.’” Hickok went on to say that, if they felt that way about her then, “Why the Hell CAN’T they leave me alone?” In a letter (February, 1934) to Godwin Hickok admitted that the Time article had upset her: “… that damned article in Time Magazine, has made something of a wreck out of me … as I came in, they handed me, with beaming smiles, a copy of Time. I read the thing and wanted to curse until the air was blue.”
March through July 1934 was marked by highs and lows in Hickok’s life. In several letters between the women, Eleanor spoke of “longing to kiss and hold” Lorena in her arms. Yet, in another letter from Eleanor, in May 1934, Eleanor implied that she did not like the instability of Lorena’s life, and found it discomforting, “saying that she was tired of the ‘bad things’ that Lorena’s temperamental nature did to her (her being Hickok).” Eleanor even told Hickok that she thought Hickok was in a mental and emotional depression.
Democratic National Committee
Hickok became the executive secretary of the Women's Division of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 1940, and from early January, 1941 until shortly after FDR's fourth inauguration in 1945, she lived at the White House. During her time there, Hickok's nominal address was at the Mayflower HotelMayflower Hotel
The Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, known locally as simply The Mayflower, is a historic hotel in downtown Washington, DC located on Connecticut Avenue NW, two blocks north of Farragut Square . It is the largest luxury hotel in the U.S. capital and the longest continuously operating hotel in the...
in DC, where she met most people. Also during this time, she formed an intense friendship with the Honorable Marion Janet Harron
Marion Janet Harron
Marion Janet Harron was a United States Tax Court judge , and best known for having an affair with Lorena Hickok. Hickock was reputed to be involved with Eleanor Roosevelt at the time this affair started and Harron became a frequent visitor at the White House. Harron died of cancer in...
, a United States Tax Court
United States Tax Court
The United States Tax Court is a federal trial court of record established by Congress under Article I of the U.S. Constitution, section 8 of which provides that the Congress has the power to "constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court"...
judge who was ten years younger than her and almost the only person to visit her at the White House.
When Hickok's diabetes worsened in 1945, she was forced to leave her position with the DNC. Two years later, Eleanor Roosevelt helped her obtain a position with the New York State Democratic Committee. When Hickok's health continued to decline to the point where she became frail and partially blind, she moved to Hyde Park to be closer to Mrs. Roosevelt. She lived in a cottage on the Roosevelt estate
Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site
The Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site preserves the Springwood estate in Hyde Park, New York, United States of America. Springwood was the birthplace, lifelong home, and burial place of the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
, where she died in 1968.
Legacy
Hickok wrote several books, co-authoring "Ladies of Courage" with Eleanor Roosevelt in 1954, and following that with "The Story of Franklin D. Roosevelt," (1956), "The Story of Hellen Keller" (1958), "The Story of Eleanor Roosevelt" (1959), and several more.Hickok willed her personal papers to the FDR Library
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York is the first presidential library built in the United States. It was conceived and built under the direction of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt from 1939 to 1940.- History :...
, in Hyde Park, New York
Hyde Park, New York
Hyde Park is a town located in the northwest part of Dutchess County, New York, United States, just north of the city of Poughkeepsie. The town is most famous for being the hometown of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt....
, part of the US National Archives
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents, which comprise the National Archives...
. Her donation was contained in 18 filing boxes that, according to the provisions of her will, were to be sealed until 10 years after her death.
In early May, 1978, Doris Faber, as part of research for a projected short biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, became perhaps the first person outside the National Archives to open these boxes, and was astounded to discover that they contained 2336 letters from Mrs. Roosevelt to Lorena, most of them dated in the 1930s, and continuing right up to Mrs. Roosevelt's death in 1962.
A key passage from just one early 12-page handwritten missive to Lorena from Eleanor sheds light on their relationship:
- Goodnight, dear one. I want to put my arms around you and kiss you at the corner of your mouth. And in a little more than a week now — I shall!
It is not universally accepted by historians that the two were romantically connected.
Hickok's papers remain at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Museum, where they are available to the public.
External links
- Lorena Alice Hickok at the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site
- Beasley, Maurine. "Lorena A. Hickok: Woman Journalist" Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism (64th, East Lansing, MI, August 8–11, 1981).
- Hill, Michael. "The Rediscovery Of Lorena Hickok ; Eleanor Roosevelt's Friend Finally Getting Recognition", Seattle Times, December 23, 1999.
- Lorena Hickok & Eleanor Roosevelt: A Love StoryProvincetown, MassachusettsProvincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,431 at the 2000 census, with an estimated 2007 population of 3,174...
has been performed in Provincetown, MassachusettsProvincetown, MassachusettsProvincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,431 at the 2000 census, with an estimated 2007 population of 3,174...
every year since 1994. - "Hurdy Gurdy Man, Already Deep in Despair, Told Wife Is Dying", a Minneapolis Tribune story written by Hickok in January 1922