Eleanor in the Village by Jan Jarboe Russell

Author:Jan Jarboe Russell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 2021-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13 The Governor’s Mansion

Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.

—Eleanor Roosevelt

By the time Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected governor of New York State in 1928, Eleanor had made an independent life for herself, a life she was determined to continue. She realized she would have to carry on in public as the governor’s wife but refused to give up her three-day teaching schedule at Todhunter School in Manhattan or her apartment in Greenwich Village. She realized that her life in Albany would be difficult, but she and Franklin had made a deal; while she would be the governor’s wife, she would also pursue her own agenda—a life that served her needs as an activist.

On the tenth of November 1928, The New York Times ran an article headlined, “Mrs. Roosevelt to Keep on Filling Many Jobs Besides Being the ‘First Lady’ at Albany.” Eleanor stated that her teaching was important to her, but she did not tell the press that she was considering giving up politics. Questions were asked about how Eleanor would arrange her life to be available to her children. She explained that John, her youngest son, had joined Franklin Jr. and Elliott at Groton, and James was at Harvard. She assured the press in a motherly tone of voice that she would keep her eyes on her boys even though they were no longer living at home.

Her role as first lady at Albany was restricted to making the executive mansion into a home for her husband, her children when home from school, and guests. The statehouse was large and adorned with turrets and cupolas, its interior hallway walls covered in red paper. The first thing that Eleanor did was to provide more suitable quarters for the servants, who had previously had a small and cramped space for eating. There was also the issue of what to do with the many animals that FDR’s predecessor, Governor Alfred E. Smith, had left behind—three monkeys, one elk, one deer, one fawn, and six dogs. Eleanor removed three greenhouses, which grew beautiful flowers but cost $6,000 a year. Cautious about spending money, Eleanor replaced the greenhouses with a heated pool for Franklin’s daily exercises.

For FDR’s bedroom, Eleanor chose the “grandest sunny room” in the mansion, a corner room on the second floor. The library was downstairs and served as a family workroom. Eleanor gave Missy a room with a single bed. It made sense; after all, Missy spent more time with FDR than Eleanor did. When Franklin had official guests in the mansion and Eleanor was not there, FDR told Missy to act as mistress of the mansion. Eleanor had a small sitting room for herself, but it did not have a bed. On the days when she was in Albany, she would use the sitting room during the day and sleep in a servant’s room on the third floor at night.

Week after week, Eleanor was teacher, mother, and part-time mistress of the mansion, and went back and forth from Albany to New York City.

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