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By Root 1681 0

Jr., Roosevelt’s Dutchess County neighbor and editor of American Agriculturist, became chairman of the Agricultural Advisory Commission and later commissioner of conservation. Basil O’Connor, Franklin’s law partner, settled in as one of the governor’s political intimates while continuing to head the firm in New York City. Also remaining in New York were Jim Farley and Louis Howe. Farley, at Roosevelt’s insistence, assumed control of the state Democratic party and cleared the deck for the 1930 election. Howe continued as FDR’s political chief of staff, the only person who had access to him night and day on any problem he wished. Howe’s major responsibility was to chart Roosevelt’s course for the 1932 nomination, and this could be managed more discreetly in New York than in Albany. Howe continued to live in Roosevelt’s town house on East Sixty-fifth Street and handled whatever business the governor had in the city. He went to Albany at least once a week and, like Rosenman and Missy, had his own room in the executive mansion.13

For the Roosevelts, life in Albany set a pattern that would endure for the remainder of Franklin’s life. The executive mansion—still outfitted with furniture from Grover Cleveland’s time—took on the informality of an expansive country estate. “It looked more like a home than like the property of the State of New York,” Miss Perkins remembered.14 The nine guest rooms were continually occupied, books and papers littered every available space, while secretaries came and went with important papers for the governor to sign. Meals were uproarious affairs, with everyone talking at once. Family, secretaries, newsmen, friends, state troopers, and distinguished guests often sat elbow to elbow, with no one ever quite sure how many would be sitting down for the evening meal. “Really serious talk at the table was avoided if Roosevelt could manage it,” Rexford Tugwell recalled. “But Eleanor, so humorless and so weighted down with responsibility, made this difficult.”15

Meanwhile, the children were growing up. Anna, now twenty-two, had married and was living in Manhattan with her stockbroker husband but had deposited Chief, her German shepherd, with Eleanor and Franklin. The four Roosevelt boys were in and out of the house. James, in his last year at Harvard, was engaged to Betsey Cushing, one of three vivacious daughters of a prominent Boston surgeon.16* In future years, both Anna and Betsey would serve as White House hostess during Eleanor’s absence. Elliott (18), Franklin, Jr. (14), and John (12) were in the care of the Reverend Endicott Peabody at Groton, experiencing the usual prep school traumas. “Elliott is about to have an operation, Franklin, Jr., has a doubly broken nose and John has just had a cartilage taken out of his knee,” FDR wrote a friend in March 1929. “Eleanor is teaching school two and a half days a week in New York, and I am in one continuous, glorious fight with the Republican legislative leaders.”17

Roosevelt’s work habits rarely varied. He had breakfast in bed about eight, during which he read the papers, conferred with Missy and Rosenman (and Howe when he was in town), handled his personal correspondence, and set the schedule for the day. At ten he left for the Capitol, where he worked through until five, taking lunch at his desk. Then home for a swim, followed by tea, frequently with friends and official visitors. During the White House years, with Prohibition repealed, teatime became the “children’s hour” and the president mixed martinis for his guests. Dinner was at seven-thirty and, unlike lunch, was seldom taken alone. After dinner, Franklin was wheeled into his study, where he continued to work until bedtime. Before turning out the light, he conferred again with Missy and Rosenman and read the evening papers.18

An exception to the daily routine was on movie nights. FDR was addicted to motion pictures, but going to the theater was difficult for him. And so at least once a week an informal theater would be set up in a third-floor hallway and a new release would be shown. Bill and Caroline