Becoming Madam Secretary

As she contemplates Paul’s proposal, Frances takes him to meet her family up in Maine. Frances takes him to various spots around the property, telling him stories about her childhood. When Frances drops off Paul at the station, her mother sees her giving Paul a kiss and becomes scandalized, calling her daughter a “harlot.” In anger, Frances realizes that her parents and society at large will always view her as a child until she decides to get married.

When she returns to New York, Frances asks Paul if, when they get married, he’d be alright with her keeping her last name. Paul agrees, telling her to use whatever name she wishes. Frances agrees to marry him and also suggests that they elope immediately to avoid any fuss.

In September, the couple plans to get married at a church in a simple ceremony. However, on the morning of the wedding, Frances receives a call from a desperate woman asking for her help. The woman tells Frances that she’s the wife of a factory owner who has been convicted of criminal negligence, partially due to Frances’s efforts for increased fire safety regulations. She asks that Frances request clemency from the judge, which Frances feels uncomfortable doing. The woman plays on Frances’s empathy, and she almost gives in until she decides that her role is not to help facilitate clemency for the people she’s helping to get convicted. She hangs up the phone, upset at the situation and worried that her wedding day is ruined.

However, once the ceremony is concluded, Frances feels delighted. Paul carries her over their doorstep, and the newlyweds begin their lives together. 

Paul and Frances take an impromptu honeymoon in Maine in September 1913, with Paul promising to take Frances on an extended European vacation once the election campaign has concluded. The couple announces their marriage to their friends and supporters and moves into a redbrick home on Washington Place West.

Frances tells Paul a story of a lawmaker in Albany who burst into tears while speaking to Frances, complaining about a secret he had that he didn’t want disclosed. Afterward, the lawmaker apologized, claiming that Frances reminded him of his mother, making her feel old. Paul tells Frances that she’s beautiful to him and expresses jealousy at the way the men behave in Albany. Frances reassures him that she can handle herself. In the future, she plans to dress in a more motherly style, as she feels like it could give her power as a politician and activist.

Paul’s political campaign is successful, as he’s able to get John Purroy Mitchel elected mayor of New York City. Paul also receives a new job overseeing the city’s budget, which makes Frances feel deeply proud. The mayor becomes a regular fixture at Frances’s home, viewing it as a respite from his stressful job.

One day, Frances is accosted by reporters on the front step of her home, demanding to know why she didn’t take her husband’s last name. Frances sends them off, telling them that she is taking Paul’s last name—a white lie, as she will maintain the name Perkins in a professional capacity but will also allow herself to be addressed as Mrs. Wilson. Frances also makes another terrifying discovery: She has become pregnant.

In April 1914, Frances awakes to find “crimson blood staining [her] nightgown and bed linen” (157). At the hospital, Frances learns that she has miscarried. She worries about Paul’s reaction to her miscarriage, as he’s currently away dealing with work at city hall, eventually deciding not to contact him. Frances curls up in an armchair to await Paul’s return but is awoken by the housekeeper frantically shouting that the mayor has been shot.

Frances flings open the front door to find Paul standing there, covered in blood. He reassures her that the blood is not his own. Someone tried to assassinate the mayor but killed a lawyer standing next to Paul instead. Later, Frances tells Paul about the miscarriage and is relieved when he reacts with sympathy rather than anger. They decide to try again for another child.

Frances leans into her new life, hosting dinner parties for the mayor and his entourage. Sinclair Lewis feels skeptical about this, wondering whether Frances is abandoning her professional aspirations to support her husband’s career. Sinclair invites her to a party, but Frances wonders whether the mood will be grim, considering that a major war has just begun in Europe.

Paul and Frances buy a summer cottage on the beach as a weekend escape from their life in the city. However, Paul is forced to work long hours, as the mayor is worried that German U-boats might attack New York Harbor and he wants to be prepared. Frances, a lifelong committed pacifist, believes that the United States should not enter the war. She is again expecting a child and does not want to raise them in a world at war.

Frances quits her job at the Factory Investigating Committee to prepare for life as a housewife to Paul and mother to her future child. She begins to suffer from vision problems and spells of dizziness. She visits a doctor, who tells her that she must remain in bed for the duration of her pregnancy. The doctor also informs her that she might have to give birth via Caesarean section, which, at the time, is extremely dangerous for both mother and child.

By May 1915, Frances is heavily pregnant. Paul cannot bear to discuss the dangers of childbirth with her, fleeing the room whenever she brings the topic up. Instead, Frances writes down her wishes for her child and seals it in an envelope in the event that she does not survive the child’s birth.

However, Frances survives the Caesarian section, emerging from the chloroform fog hours later, surprised to still be alive. Unfortunately, the baby boy is stillborn. Frances is brought home, consumed by grief. She spends weeks in bed, mourning the child’s loss. Later, she tells Paul that she can’t bear to speak of what happened and that they should move on and pretend that it never occurred. He agrees but afterward seems to spend as little time at home as possible. Frances tries to be supportive, but her grief is overwhelming. She goes to visit Mary in Long Island to get a respite from the difficulties of New York City. Mary tries to get Frances to open up, but instead, Frances just shuts down. She doesn’t want to talk about her worries, as she thinks that she is now barren and that Paul will leave her because of it.

By October 1915, Frances and Paul are functionally separated, as Paul is constantly working at city hall. Frances wants to write Paul a letter to formalize their separation, but Mary accuses her of sabotaging her own life by doing so, as instead of trying to repair the damage in their relationship, she’s fleeing. Mary encourages her to accept her suffering, but Frances pushes her off, claiming that poor women have it much worse.

That autumn, Frances marches alongside Florence Kelley as part of the Women’s Suffrage Parade to encourage New York state to pass a law allowing women the vote. They feel optimistic, as President Wilson has come out in favor of passing women’s suffrage. Frances sees Mayor Mitchel cheering on the marchers, alongside Paul, whom she hasn’t seen in person in months. He chases her down to ask her to come home to him. Frances encourages Paul to start dating a pretty young woman in his stenography pool in an effort to push him away from her. She tells Paul that the woman is “probably quite fertile” (174), to which Paul reacts with anger.

Frances travels around the state, visiting with her old colleagues and friends. By Christmas, she returns to Paul’s home. He tells her that he slept with the woman from the stenography pool but that he doesn’t love her and it’s tearing him up inside. Though Frances admires Paul’s honesty, she wishes that he hadn’t told her. He tells her that he “did it to see if [she]’d care” (175), becoming frustrated at her lack of reaction. Frances admits to Paul that she won’t be able to handle becoming pregnant again and losing the child and that she also feels guilty since he wants children in his life. Paul embraces her, and they reconcile.

In February 1916, Frances and her family gather at the family estate to lay her father to rest. Though Frances had been distant from her father for years, she still feels like her grief is compounded by the recent loss of her child. However, she feels comforted by the steady presence of Paul.

Frances and Paul decide to try for another child despite the risks. Frances is given a difficult list of restrictions to abide by during her pregnancy, including avoiding coffee, sweets, riding in trolleys, and walking in high heels. One night, France wakes on the floor of her bedroom, with a shrill sound ringing in her ears. Paul helps her to her feet, telling her that there’s been an explosion. In the morning, they find out that the explosion was an accident in a munitions plant. However, Paul is convinced that it was sabotage.

Five days after Christmas 1916, Frances and Paul’s daughter is born. They name her Susanna, and Frances feels an overabundance of joy in her life. Following her birth, Frances begins to attend public events again but feels anxiety about leaving her daughter alone. Frances also meets up with Sinclair, and the two old friends discuss the possibility of the United States joining the war, which both Frances and Sinclair oppose. As Paul is busy with work, Frances decides to take Susanna on their yearly pilgrimage to Maine without him.

While Frances and Susanna are in Maine, Paul writes every day to ask about their well-being. While they’re there, Mayor Mitchel loses his re-election campaign, and Paul is now out of a job. Paul also feels pressure to enlist in the war effort, which worries Frances. He gets a job offer to manage merchant marines, and he moves to Washington, DC, for the duration of the war, saddening Frances.

The former mayor, who’d also enlisted, is killed during a flight training exercise. Paul is convinced that he killed himself, however, because he lost his re-election campaign. As a result, Paul is inconsolable with grief, blaming himself for the mayor’s election loss. He sleeps constantly, a dramatic departure from his previous habits.

Frances begins to be concerned that Paul has fallen ill with the 1918 influenza virus, known as the Spanish flu at the time, which is now sweeping through the world and claiming many lives. However, Paul attributes his symptoms to depression, which he admits he’s experienced before.

In August 1918, Frances is involved with the war effort, promoting war bonds on a hot summer’s day. She looks up from her table to see her old colleague Al Smith grinning at her. He’s currently running for governor and requests Frances’s vote. This request startles her, as women have not yet won the right to vote, and the 1920 election is the first one in which Frances expects to be able to vote.

She meets with Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom she hasn’t seen in a long time, as he’s been working as the assistant secretary of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson. They speak about the current state of politics and express surprise that they’re both working on the same side, to support Al Smith in his gubernatorial bid. Talking to him a little further, Frances discovers that she respects Franklin more than she had previously, when she dismissed him as a cynical opportunist. They have a conversation about many things, including family history, American politics, and Frances’s new life with her daughter. At the close of the conversation, Frances realizes that she might have made a friend in Franklin, despite their history.

One night in November 1918, Frances arrives home late from campaigning for Al Smith for governor to discover that Paul is nowhere to be found. When she still hasn’t heard from him by the following morning, she starts to become very concerned. At first, Frances worries that he might have the Spanish flu and has decided to quarantine himself for the family’s safety. However, she isn’t able to contact him through the authorities, as they’re overwhelmed by the number of sick people in the city.

Frances drives out to the seaside cottage that she and Paul own together. Inside, she finds that he has read the letter that she wrote for him years ago when she thought she might die in childbirth. Frances scans the ocean and sees Paul floating in the surf. She dives into the water and drags him to shore.

She takes Paul inside to get him warmed up. Paul admits that he’d been trying to kill himself and wanted to make it look like an accident so that Susanna and Frances would receive the life insurance payout. Paul admits that the family is in dire financial straits, as he’s lost their entire life savings on a gold scam. Frances reassures him that they can make their situation work and that she wants to face the future with him in it no matter what.

In January 1919, the war in Europe is over, meaning that Paul’s job at the War Shipping Board is uncertain. Frances makes the trip to Washington, DC, to plan her next move. In the hotel, Frances receives a call from the newly elected governor of New York, Al Smith. He requests Frances’s immediate presence in Albany, to which she acquiesces.

When she arrives, Al offers her a position on the Industrial Commission of New York. Frances is shocked, as this would make her a woman in public office—a nearly unheard-of position in her day and age. He offers her the job at $8,000 per year, a high enough salary to be a lifeline for her family. Frances calls Florence Kelley for advice, and Florence tells her to accept the position. Frances agrees, thus beginning her career in government.

Frances arrives at her first day of her new job in February 1919, already ready to apologize for the extent to which she’d criticized the Industrial Commission in the past. Frances is convinced of the need for institutional reform, as the commission frequently relaxes the rules for wealthy members of the community, against the stated goals of the Industrial Committee.

Paul is also back in New York City, having taken a job at an insurance company. Frances is sent to Rome, New York, to deal with a factory strike that is quickly escalating into an armed confrontation. Despite the dangers, Frances makes the trip, hoping to calm the rioters. While the owners want to call the police on the strikers, Frances refuses, hoping for a peaceful end to the confrontation. She gets the authorities to back off and manages to convince the protestors to dump their explosives and arms, thus heading off potential violence.

After settling the strike, Frances tells Al Smith about the explosives and weapons. Al reacts with anger, worried about the rash of violent incidents that have occurred across the country as a result of conflict between management and labor.

After this incident, the relationship between Frances and Al becomes frosty. Al confronts Frances about her lack of membership in the Democratic Party, to which Frances responds that she hadn’t had the opportunity to become invested in party politics since this is the first election cycle where she’ll be allowed to vote.

The Democratic Convention occurs in the summer of 1920, during which Franklin D. Roosevelt distinguishes himself as a rising star of the party. Watching his performance, Frances realizes that she’s actually begun to like Franklin rather than just tolerating his antics.

However, in a Republican wave, Al loses his re-election campaign, and Frances is suddenly out of a job. Franklin has also lost his election, which is an unexpected blow for the young politician. Frances has been offered a job on the Council on Immigrant Education, which she finds interesting. President Woodrow Wilson has “been a disaster when it c[omes] to racial equality at home” (228), as he reintroduced segregation at the federal level, instigating a rise in Ku Klux Klan activity. Frances knows that she’ll end up in a protracted battle with the Klan, but she needs to put food on the table for her family. Now, both Frances and Paul find themselves frozen out of the local political machine.

By September 1921, Paul’s depression has reared up again. At a dinner party, Frances tells her friends about the articles that Paul has been writing but struggles to pull him into the conversation. After dinner, Paul tells Frances about his recent suicidal ideation, as he currently thinks that he is nothing but a burden on his wife and daughter. Frances forces Paul to confront the fact that ending his own life would devastate herself and Susanna. Though Frances is initially frustrated, she eventually begins to believe that her husband’s mind has an illness for which she doesn’t have any immediate cure.

Frances brings Paul to the Presbyterian Hospital to get him treatment for his depression. While there, she runs into Eleanor Roosevelt. Frances tries to avoid Eleanor’s gaze, but Eleanor sweeps over and greets her and Susanna. She tells Frances that her husband has contracted polio and that they aren’t sure whether he’ll ever be able to walk again. Seeing Eleanor’s pain, Frances admits to her what’s been happening to Paul, and the women comfort each other.

Paul is released from the hospital with a diagnosis of “manic-depressive insanity” (235), or bipolar disorder. As the winter progresses, Frances compares her husband’s woes to how Eleanor must be feeling about Franklin’s paralysis. While Franklin is still able to have social visits and entertain his friends, Paul requires isolation and rest, which takes an emotional and financial toll on Frances.

In the autumn of 1922, Mary Rumsey’s husband is killed in an automobile accident. After the funeral, Frances and Eleanor visit Mary to encourage her to not withdraw from the world. However, Mary’s recovery is painful and slow. On another visit, Frances invites Mary to see Eleanor give a speech on behalf of Al Smith and the Democratic Party, to which Mary reacts with surprise given Eleanor’s well-known streak of shyness.

Al wins his election campaign, resulting in Frances’s reentry into politics. This time, she’s given a position in the inner circle, along with Al’s closest advisor, a woman named Belle Moskowitz. However, Frances worries that her new role will take her away from Susanna and Paul.

By the summer of 1924, Al has decided to run for president of the United States and has become the favorite to win the nomination. He needs Franklin D. Roosevelt to endorse his nomination, but Franklin hasn’t been seen in public since his paralysis two years previously. Franklin agrees to support Al but asks Frances to encourage him to drop his opposition to prohibition, which Al blames for the recent increase in gang violence in New York City.

The Ku Klux Klan, still resurging, gathers to help their candidate, William McAdoo, win the nomination. However, the endorsement of Franklin will help Al immensely, so his speech at the convention becomes very important to Frances. Though he’s clearly in pain as he struggles to ascend the steps of the platform, his speech is an immense success, nearly bringing down the rafters with all the cheering. After more than 15 days of debate, the convention concludes: William has lost the nomination for president, but so has Al.