Lorena Hickok

Lorena Hickok. An influential American journalist and author, she is best known for her intimate friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her pioneering work as a chief investigator for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration during the Great Depression. Her detailed field reports provided Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration with crucial, ground-level insights into the impact of New Deal programs. A former prominent reporter for the Associated Press, her career and legacy remain a significant, though complex, part of the historical narrative surrounding the Roosevelt family and 1930s America.

Early life and career

Born in East Troy, Wisconsin, she endured a difficult childhood marked by poverty and her mother's death, leading her to leave home as a teenager. She began her journalism career at the Battle Creek Evening News in Michigan before moving to the Milwaukee Sentinel. Her talent and drive propelled her to the Minneapolis Tribune and, by 1928, to a prestigious position as a feature writer for the Associated Press in New York City. During this period, she gained national recognition for her coverage of high-profile events, including the Lindbergh kidnapping trial and the 1932 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where she first extensively reported on Eleanor Roosevelt.

Relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt

The professional relationship that began at the 1932 Democratic National Convention rapidly evolved into a deep, lifelong personal bond. She became a constant companion and confidante to the First Lady, exchanging thousands of intimate letters and often residing at the White House and the Roosevelt family estate at Hyde Park, New York. This closeness provided her with unparalleled access but also led to professional complications, ultimately contributing to her departure from the Associated Press to avoid perceived conflicts of interest. Their correspondence, preserved in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, offers profound insight into Eleanor Roosevelt's private life and political development during the New Deal and World War II.

Journalism and writing

After leaving the Associated Press, she channeled her reporting skills into a vital role for the Roosevelt administration. Hired by Harry Hopkins, head of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, she traveled across the United States from 1933 to 1935, documenting the human toll of the Great Depression. Her stark, empathetic reports to Hopkins directly informed Franklin D. Roosevelt's policies. She later authored several books, including a collaborative biography of Eleanor Roosevelt and a series of children's books about the White House. She also served as the executive secretary of the Women's Division of the Democratic National Committee and worked in public relations for the 1939 New York World's Fair.

Later life and legacy

In her later years, failing health and financial difficulties limited her public activities, though she remained a devoted friend to Eleanor Roosevelt until the latter's death in 1962. Her historical legacy was secured posthumously with the publication of the edited collection "Empty Without You: The Intimate Letters of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok" in 1998, which brought renewed scholarly and public attention to the depth of their relationship. Historians now recognize her not only as a key figure in the First Lady's life but also as an important chronicler of the New Deal era, whose work provided a crucial link between federal policymakers in Washington, D.C. and suffering citizens in places like the Dust Bowl.

Personal life and death

She never married and maintained a wide circle of friends within political and literary circles, including author Martha Gellhorn. In her final years, she lived in Hyde Park, New York, near the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. She died of complications from diabetes on May 1, 1968, at the age of 75. Per her wishes, her ashes were interred at the Roosevelt family plot in Hyde Park, New York, a testament to the enduring personal bonds she formed. Her papers, including the famous correspondence, are held at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Category:American journalists Category:1893 births Category:1968 deaths