Lorena Hickok - Legacy

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 Helen Keller" (1958), "The Story of Eleanor Roosevelt" (1959), and several more.

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:

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.