Mercer Continued Through the Famous Series
Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd : biography
1891 – 1948
Lucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd (April 26, 1891 – July 31, 1948) was an American woman best known for her affair with future US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Lucy Mercer was born to wealthy parents who lost most of their fortune and separated in the years following her birth. Mercer then worked briefly in a dress store before taking a position as the social secretary of Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin's wife, in 1914. Mercer and Franklin are believed to have begun an affair in mid-1916, which was discovered by Eleanor in September 1918. Though Eleanor offered Franklin a divorce and Franklin considered accepting, political, financial, and familial pressures caused him to remain in the marriage. Franklin terminated the affair and promised not to see Mercer again.
Mercer soon married wealthy socialite Winthrop Rutherfurd, a widower in his fifties, but despite her marriage and Franklin's promise, the two remained in surreptitious contact in the three decades that followed. Mercer was in Warm Springs, Georgia at the time of Roosevelt's death in April 1945, but her presence was kept secret from the public. She died of leukemia on July 31, 1948. Despite rumors, her affair with Roosevelt did not become widespread public knowledge until the publication of Jonathan W. Daniels' 1966 memoir The Time Between the Wars.
Background
Born in Washington, D.C., Lucy Page Mercer was the daughter of Carroll Mercer (1857–1917), a member of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders, and Minnie Mercer (1863–1947), an independent woman of Bohemian tastes. Lucy had one sister, Violetta Carroll Mercer (1889–1947). Though they were both from wealthy, well-connected families, Mercer's parents lost their fortune through the Panic of 1893 and their lavish spending. The pair separated shortly after Lucy's birth, and Carroll became an alcoholic. Minnie then raised the girls alone.
Marriage and continued contact with Roosevelt
Mercer left Washington after the affair and became the governess for the children of Winthrop Rutherfurd, a wealthy New York socialite. Winthrop Rutherfurd was famous for winning the heart of Consuelo Vanderbilt in 1896, only to see her social-climbing mother instead force her into marriage with Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough. Now in his fifties, Rutherfurd was considered one of society's most eligible widowers. On February 11, 1920, Mercer became his second wife. Franklin Roosevelt learned of the marriage by overhearing news of it at a party. The Rutherfurds had one child, Barbara Mercer Rutherfurd (1922–2005).
Despite Franklin's promise to Eleanor, he kept in contact with Lucy Rutherfurd after her marriage, corresponding with her by letter throughout the 1920s. Persico speculates that these letters may have been the cause of the 1927 nervous breakdown of Franklin's secretary Marguerite LeHand, as LeHand was also in love with Roosevelt and no medical cause for her breakdown was found.
In 1926, Roosevelt mailed Rutherfurd a copy of his first public lecture, privately dedicating it to her with an inscription. At his first presidential inauguration on March 4, 1933, Roosevelt made arrangements for Rutherfurd to attend and witness his swearing-in. When her husband suffered a stroke, she contacted Roosevelt to arrange for him to be cared for at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin speculated that an entry in the White House usher diary for August 1, 1941 included a code name for Lucy Rutherfurd, suggesting that she attended a private dinner with the president. Rutherfurd also arranged for her friend Elizabeth Shoumatoff to paint Roosevelt's portrait.
Winthrop Rutherfurd died in March 1944 after a long illness. Lucy continued to meet with Roosevelt in the months that followed. In June 1944, Franklin requested of his daughter Anna, who was then managing some White House social functions, that she help him arrange to meet Lucy without Eleanor's knowledge. Aware of Rutherfurd's role in her parents' marriage, Anna was at first angry that her father had put her in such a difficult position. However, she ultimately relented and set up a meeting in Georgetown. To her surprise, Anna found that she liked Lucy immediately, and the pair became friends.
Source: https://fampeople.com/cat-lucy-mercer-rutherfurd
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