Hyde Park on Hudson (Series No. 2): Why was the relationship hidden so well?

The relationship (not a conventional affair) between FDR and Margaret (Daisy) Suckley [FDR called her Margaret, not Daisy, though] went on for at least 12 years.  We do not know when it began, but her diary, revealing the intimate relationship, began in 1933.

 Like FDR, Suckley came from the American ‘aristocratic’ family on Hudson River/Valley, although her family fortune collapsed along with the Great Depression.  When FDR went to his mother’s home at Hyde Park to recuperate/rehabilitate from his polio in early 1920s.  The ever busy Eleanor Roosevelt left behind at Washington, D.C.  FDR’s mother invited many young people from the neighbor (FDR and Suckley were neighbors) and many distant cousins to visit and cheer FDR.  Margaret Suckley was among the ones invited.  We know little between early 1920s and 1933.

Their being cousins, distant though they might be, and Margaret Suckley was the first archivist of FDR Library (the very first one for any Presidential Library) made her being around FDR every so often expected or unsuspected, as she was one of the ‘family’ and the ‘office staff’.

We read an FDR’s letter to her (3/6/1935),

“Why is it that our River and our countryside seem so to be a part of us? Perhaps it’s the “common” Beekman ancestry!” (William Beekman was a Hudson River pioneer).

Daisy (I’ll call Margaret Suckley ‘Daisy’ as that seems to be how she was called in the movie) also wrote in her letter to FDR (6/12/1935),

“What fun it was yesterday — I loved it, and you’re so nice to give up an afternoon to being so kind to a Beekman cousin!”

We read in her diary (6/11/35 — the day before the letter),

“A perfect afternoon driving with FDR on back roads, . . . At the gate when I arrived, the trooper told me the Pres. was going out at any moment —, “Yes,” I said, “I am going out with him!” A sheepish grin, an apology, & I sailed up to the house.”

(This photo was taken on 12/20/1941—two weeks after Pearl Harbor—on her fiftieth birthday.  Daisy was sitting on a lion skin—a gift to FDR from Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. Photo credit: Closest Companion)

Daisy was a salaried care taker of her rich aunt.  She became unemployed when her aunt died and FDR came to the rescue by appointing her archivist of FDR President Library.  This was a brilliant move on the part of FDR.  I can only imagine his motive.  We read a letter of Suckley writing to FDR (11/7/1941—a month before the Pearl Harbor),

“Dear Franklin —

. . . What ‘headaches’ you are having — I wish I could help — you know I do, with thoughts, and understanding —

I do so love my job — every minute of it.

                                                             Affec —

                                                                   YM

In one letter FDR wrote “MM” and Margaret asked in her letter, “What does “M.M.” mean? Honestly, I haven’t had an idea!”  FDR said it was “My Margaret”, so Suckley began to sign YM (Your Margaret).