MISSY AND FRANKLIN and ELEANOR and LEANORA - WERE THEY IN CAHOOTS?

Did Missy expect to go off with Franklin into private life after he finally retired the Presidency?

Page 220  EXCERPT 

"What Franklin's character needed Missy LeHand provided, which lead to occasional friction, however politely conducted, between her and Eleanor. The White House staff paid Eleanor the deference due a first lady and found her cheerful and kind. In her whirlwind crusading they also sensed a woman of budding greatness. But as Lillian Parks observed, Missy LeHand was "sunshine and laughter and all the maids loved her."

"In the beginning, she presented a mystery to the staff.  But before long they gauged Missy's significance in the President's life. As Parks put it, 'When Missy gave an order we responded as if it had come from the First lady... We really had two mistresses in the White House.' The servants concluded "that Missy was the substitute wife and we honored her for it."  

By the standard of the 1930's Missy was reasonably well rewarded for her twenty four hours a day devotion. Her salary, in the midst of the Depression, was $3,100 a year.

In actuality there was a four way domestic living arrangement in the White House as Eleanor had Lorena Hickcock, who was called 'Hicks,' there in the evenings and Missy went in and out of the Presidential suite in nightgown and robe.

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Reference for this post book Franklin and Lucy from the book by Joseph E. Persico, also quoted from last month. 




Missy here. What's implied in reference to Hicks is that Hicks was lesbian.  Did we have a lesbian or bisexual First Lady?