America 1933: The Great Depression, Lorena Hickok, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Shaping of the New Deal

by Michael Golay,
The Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 23, 2013

In November 1933, Lorena Hickok, a former editor of the Minneapolis Tribune, returned to Minnesota. She was crisscrossing the United States on an assignment for Harry Hopkins, head of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration FERA), the New Deal’s first welfare program. An enthusiastic supporter of Franklin Roosevelt’s policies, Hickok was also “wholly committed” to Eleanor Roosevelt. Anticipating a reunion with the first lady in the White House, Hickok wrote from Hibbing: “I want to put my arms around you and kiss you at the corner of your mouth.” One week from tomorrow, Mrs. Roosevelt replied, “I’ll be holding you.”