Becoming Madam Secretary

Susanna and Frances arrive in Washington, DC, in March 1933. The Great Depression is in full swing, and people are going hungry on the streets of the city. The two dress up in their fanciest outfits for Franklin’s inauguration. Insecure about her position, Frances is already imagining the headlines criticizing her for her appearance and demeanor. During his speech, Franklin speaks his famous line, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” swelling Frances’s heart with pride.

Franklin swears in his cabinet immediately to deal with the immediate crisis. Frances is officially sworn in as the Secretary of Labor during a makeshift ceremony in the White House.

Just as Frances is getting settled in in Washington, she receives a call from her housekeeper telling her that the family dog, Balto, has run away. Although the dog is found almost immediately, Frances still waits far too long to accept a call from the outgoing Secretary of Labor to give her instructions about how to approach the office. Instead, Frances calls him to keep him from avoiding her.

Frances meets the outgoing secretary and then has his office cleared so that her employees can set up. Her plan is to focus on the social insurance plan, which Franklin is still skeptical about. She also discovers that the office is filthy, so her first order of business is to get it deep cleaned. She also finds out that the office has been segregated by race, which Frances promises to rectify.

At her first cabinet meeting, Frances decides to stay quiet and watch the proceedings to see who might turn out to be an ally. She notices Henry Wallace, the Secretary of Agriculture, who seems like he might be on the same page. However, she isn’t sure about the combative Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes.

Frances’s first order of business is to eliminate the jobs of the agents of Section 24, who are charged with enforcing immigration laws but are known to be corrupt, taking bribes in exchange for allowing undocumented immigrants to stay in the country. After leaving the office briefly, Frances returns to find the agents rifling through the files, taking the paperwork of the people they’d accepted bribes from before. Frances chastises them, and after some grumbling, the agents leave the papers behind.

Frances’s first official policy is to create the Civilian Conservation Corps, a brainchild of Franklin’s. The idea is to send unemployed men into the forests to help with cutting, creating dams, and building roads. Because the men lack training, Franklin authorizes the Army to help with training and equipment.

As part of her new job, Frances holds press conferences regularly. However, she becomes annoyed with the reporters’ questions, which are generally about matters related to her gender rather than her job, asking about her clothing, hobbies, and social life.

As she begins her work, Frances realizes that “entrenched moneyed interests” in the government, who oppose government spending on principle, are arrayed against her (355). She hears through the grapevine that an important meeting is happening and that she has been excluded. Frances finds the location and time and decides to attend anyway. The meeting is headed up by a former brigadier general named Hugh S. “Iron Pants” Johnson. Frances listens quietly and discovers that rather than pursuing the New Deal, the attendees of the meeting are planning to create a price-fixing and employment-quota scheme, which would violate existing anti-trust laws.

Frances reports the meeting back to the White House, and, intrigued, Franklin asks to meet with the men in his office. Franklin, wanting a quick win, decides to sign on to the plan and asks Frances to become the go-between for the two parties. Reluctantly, Frances agrees.

Since she distrusts the lawyers at the Department of Labor, Frances decides to bring in some new blood in the form of a young lawyer from Boston named Charlie Wyzanski. She brings the young lawyer to the White House for a meeting between Hugh, Franklin, and the architects of the recent plan. Charlie meets the president, who offers him a job as the Solicitor of Labor.

Charlie writes a draft proposal of the new bill being pushed by Hugh. He expresses his reservations to Frances, who agrees with him. However, they send the bill to Franklin and Hugh anyway, as they’ve tried to compose it to be as fair and sensible as possible.

One day in May 1933, Frances comes downstairs to encounter her roommate, Mary Rumsey, organizing a dinner party. When she overhears Mary inviting Sinclair Lewis to the party, she reacts with shock. Sinclair has recently published a novel titled Ann Vickers, which contains scandalous passages clearly based on his prior infatuation with Frances.

At the dinner party, Sinclair tells the story of his courtship to his second wife, the journalist Dorothy Thompson, which sounds suspiciously close to the way in which he harassed and hounded Frances a couple decades before. Dorothy talks about her interview with Adolf Hitler, who has recently come to power in Germany. Frances, shocked by the stories of repression and violence coming out of Germany, has encouraged Franklin to denounce the Nazis, but he has been warned against doing so by the Secretary of State.

Moved by the crisis in Germany, Frances encourages Franklin to fully fill the quota for German immigration for the following year, with particular regard to German Jews. However, Frances receives a call the following day from an undersecretary at the State Department, who chastises her for her recommendation. Furious, Frances talks to Charlie Wyzanski in order to find legal loopholes to get around the State Department. He promises to help.

By May 1933, Frances hasn’t seen her husband for more than eight months, as he’s still in the sanitarium. Paul claims that he’s mentally well, but Frances and the doctors can tell that he still hasn’t recovered from the most recent bout of his illness. She refuses his request to be released on his own recognizance.

During a speech, Frances makes a remark that is interpreted as a joke at the expense of Southerners. This causes a national scandal, particularly encouraged by political actors who were already upset that Franklin had a woman in his cabinet. Frances confers with Eleanor for guidance, and Eleanor tells her to deny, dismiss, and diminish the allegations with laughter.

Frances is also feeling jilted and pushed to the side by the Roosevelt administration, despite the president’s promises to her when he entered office. Frances invites Hugh Johnson to dinner in order to schmooze and hopefully make friends now that they’re working together on the general’s economic plan. She also invites Charlie Wyzanski, who takes an immediate dislike to Hugh. Charlie tells Frances that he worries that Hugh desires to become a dictator in the United States, like Mussolini in Italy. However, Frances reassures him that she’ll be able to sideline the general once the bill has been passed.

Susanna is now 16 years old. Frances invites her to visit in Washington, DC, as she feels that she’s not getting enough time with her family. During a visit to Frances’s office, Susanna suggests that they hire unemployed people to reconstruct the shabby old government buildings, which Frances thinks is a good idea. She promises to bring the idea to Franklin.

Charlie Wyzanski manages to find a legal authority for the State Department to start accepting refugees from Nazi Germany. The plan involves the Department of Labor issuing the refugees bonds, which will give the refugees the legal pretext to stay. However, when presenting the plan to the State Department, the opposing lawyers become so embarrassed that they resort to making antisemitic remarks to Charlie. Afterward, Charlie attempts to tender his resignation, but Frances manages to convince him to stay in the role.

By June, Frances has managed to get the Civilian Conservation Corps running and has passed more than 70 laws. Despite her successes, Frances is still focused on her ultimate goal, creating a national social insurance program.

Frances tries to push the program onto Franklin, who thinks that the program should be called “social security” instead of “social insurance.” The two friends discuss how to head off the inevitable criticisms from Hugh Johnson, who is sure to oppose the plan. Mary Rumsey, close friends with Hugh, tells Frances that he’s about to appoint her to the Consumer Advisory Board, which Frances supports.

Franklin calls Frances into an emergency meeting at the White House. Hugh has been accused of having an affair with his secretary, which won’t look good at the upcoming parade that they’re both planning to attend in New York City. Franklin tells Frances that she needs to be the one to inform Hugh’s secretary that she is no longer welcome at the parade, which Frances believes to be a cowardly decision, avoiding confrontation himself. Upset at the request, Frances considers resigning, as she thinks that Franklin no longer respects her. However, Mary convinces her to stay at her job. In subsequent weeks, Frances travels by train across the country, encountering the misery of the Depression, which forces her to reconsider her importance in the recovery process.

In December, Frances hosts several parties for the wives of other cabinet members, a role that she finds insulting. However, the other facets of Frances’s work are going well, as the programs are putting people back to work. She also celebrates a victory in court: The Department of Labor is allowed to accept refugees despite the protests of the State Department.

Franklin gives a speech, written partially by Hugh Johnson, which includes passages that make him seem authoritarian. The speech goes over poorly, and the businessmen in attendance rail against the New Deal plans, embarrassing Hugh and Franklin. Franklin admits to Frances that Hugh’s plan, Blue Eagle, is losing support among the American people. He turns to Frances’s social insurance plan instead.

By May 1934, Frances and her programs are being blamed for the rise in crime, particularly the sprees by famous criminals like Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, and John Dillinger. Frances has made enemies among the extreme right wing, who hold rallies denouncing her personally. However, Franklin tells Frances to wear their hatred like a badge of honor.

The president and his cabinet attend a ceremony on the USS Indianapolis, which is anchored in New York City as a show of strength against the Nazis in Europe. Franklin greets Susanna, who confidently tries to sell him on the idea of public funding for artistic projects. Franklin reacts positively, delighting Susanna.

On the boat, Franklin unexpectedly gives Frances the go-ahead for her Social Security initiative. They plan to have the bill in front of Congress by January, which means that Frances needs to have it ready for him to look at by December. Frances finds Franklin’s confidence in her encouraging, and she forgives their previous conflicts.

One day while Franklin is on the cruise, a major strike happens in San Francisco. The Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, desires to send federal troops into the city to break it up. However, Frances, unwilling to let the strikers get killed over this, forces him to wire Franklin to ask for final authorization. Frances calls Franklin’s transport and tells them to deliver her message to him first, telling Franklin that authorizing federal troops to fire on American protestors is a terrible idea. Franklin listens to Frances, and the strike is resolved without bloodshed.

When Franklin returns from the cruise in August 1934, he tells Frances that she deserves a vacation from her work. Franklin feels as if the proposal to use federal troops would have resulted in a bloody travesty and blames Hugh Johnson for supporting Cordell Hull’s decision. Franklin decides to send Hugh on a fact-finding mission to Europe, thus sidelining him in the administration. However, Hugh refuses the trip, forcing Franklin to fire him publicly.

Just then, Frances decides to take a trip to the White Mountains with Susanna. The first morning of the trip, she sees a newspaper headline announcing that Franklin has decided not to fire Hugh, angering Frances, who feels like she has been misled. The White House calls Frances, telling her that Franklin expects her back in Washington by the morning, which upsets Susanna. Frances believes that she is about to be fired for advocating that Hugh be let go. She tells Susanna that she’s very sorry but that she needs to return to Washington.

However, Franklin doesn’t fire Frances. Instead, he fires Hugh, with Frances as a witness. The night before, Franklin tried to fire Hugh, but instead, the general got drunk and told the press that the opposite had happened. Frances’s presence is intended as security in case Hugh tries to deny the firing again. Soon afterward, Frances hits the campaign trail to advocate for Social Security.

In September 1934, Frances is involved in a car accident on the way from Maine to Boston to deliver a campaign speech. Even though she’s shaken up, she decides to deliver the speech anyway since the date coincides with Labor Day.

Following the speech, Frances sees Susanna off for her first year at college. In Susanna’s dorm room, they discuss whether Paul will ever be allowed home from the hospital. Though Frances is hopeful that he might soon be moved to a lower-supervision facility, he still is exhibiting symptoms of his illness, which she’s also protected Susanna from witnessing personally. Susanna blames her mother for her father’s absence, and she makes a remark that Mary Rumsey is more of a mother than Frances, deeply wounding Frances. They finish unpacking the room, and Frances wonders whether her relationship with her daughter will ever be the same again.

One day, while busy on the campaign trail for the midterm elections, Mary calls Frances to tell her that Susanna has come down with a serious case of whooping cough. The school has decided to quarantine her for three weeks, and she’s decided to come home to Washington for the duration. Frances rushes home to tend to her, and she finds her being looked after by Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary.

Susanna is alarmingly thin and tries to refuse food throughout her recovery. However, her thinness has been an issue for a long time, and Frances has noticed other symptoms, such as mood swings. Susanna tells her that she wants to leave college, as she feels lonely and is struggling to make friends. Frances is terrified that bipolar disorder might be afflicting her daughter, passed down to her from Paul.

As Frances cares for Susanna, she ignores increasingly irritated calls from the White House, as they have much campaign work for her to finish. Even Susanna becomes worried about Frances ignoring her work to take care of her. Eventually, Susanna manages to convince Frances that she’s well enough for her to return to the campaign trail.

After traveling the country for a while, Frances returns to New York to cast her own vote for the midterms. The election turns out to be a landslide for the Democrats, giving them two thirds of Congress and signaling that the American people support Franklin’s New Deal. Frances returns to work, realizing that her Social Security plan might be possible after all.

Frances’s refugee resettlement plan has resulted in more than 250 Jewish children entering the US, saved from the Nazis. Her opponents have declared that she is secretly Jewish as well as a communist, trying to smear her work as anti-American. Franklin has also backed off his support for Frances’s Social Security plan, infuriating her.

Franklin claims that his public distancing from the plan was a scheme to get the public riled up in support of it. Though Frances feels mollified by this explanation, she still wishes that the president had warned her before he went through with it. However, Frances warns him that his reversal on the issue will make him seem indecisive and weak.

One day, Frances receives a call from Susanna telling her that Mary has been injured in a hunting accident and is recovering at the hospital. Mary has a broken leg and collarbone, as well as a fractured hip, necessitating a months-long recovery in the hospital. Frances visits her frequently over the following weeks, along with the rest of Mary’s extensive friend list. The women grow closer and admit how much they mean to each other.

In December 1934, Eleanor invites Frances to a masquerade ball. Frances doesn’t wear a mask, to avoid uncomfortable questions from the press, but has a great time at the party anyway. A week later, Frances visits Mary in her hospital room only to be informed by her upset brother that Mary has contracted pneumonia. A few hours later, Mary dies of her infection.

Frances attends the funeral and mourns her oldest and dearest friend. She wonders how she’ll function in Washington moving forward without her and rejects the idea of getting another roommate, feeling as if no one will ever replace Mary.

The following night, Frances hosts a party for Susanna, which proves exceedingly difficult due to her grief. At the party, Frances networks with various political figures to try to get her agenda some further support. Returning home, Frances finds that her lights have been shut off. Mary had paid the bills for the home, and her estate has decided to no longer fund Frances.

Charlie Wyzanski drops by Frances’s home to give her a tin of rugelach, an Ashkenazi Jewish cookie, made by his mother. During his visit, Frances informs him that she plans to quit, as she feels that people don’t think she’s good at her job. Charlie also threatens to quit if Frances does. Charlie convinces Frances not to quit, and they sit down to hammer out the final details of the Social Security bill together.

A year later, Frances’s Social Security plan is dying in front of Congress. Legislators, backed up by business interests, are lining up against Frances’s reforms. She receives a call from Sinclair Lewis, who tells her that he’s working on a new novel exploring the dangers of the far-right wing winning the presidential election in 1936.

Franklin calls Frances into his office. They discuss her recent battles with the press, who blamed her for the ouster of Hugh Johnson. Franklin also mentions Mary Rumsey to Frances, encouraging her to go to church for her grief.

The American people contact their legislators in droves, demanding that they pass the Social Security bill. As a result, the bill passes the House of Representatives but stalls in the Senate. The new demand is that Frances be removed from the oversight of Social Security, a petty revenge for their years of disagreements. However, Franklin refuses to let Frances resign, instead deciding to fight for her before Congress. Frances warns him that the courts might strike the bill down, but Franklin promises to fight through that as well.

By the summer of 1935, the Social Security bill finally passes the Senate and heads to the conference committee for review. After passing the final hurdle, Franklin signs it into law. He speaks to reporters, telling them that Frances’s Social Security bill is the cornerstone of his popular New Deal reforms.

Simultaneously, Frances gets a call telling her that Paul has gone missing from the sanitarium. Franklin lets her leave the signing to go look for him, giving her the official signatory pen as a commemorative token of the event.

Paul is found at a restaurant in New York City’s Chinatown. He asks Frances to get dinner with him before she takes him back to the sanitarium, and they share a dish of egg foo yong. She tells Paul about her success with Social Security, and they reminisce about the earlier and easier days of their marriage.

Now, Frances sits back and lets the lawyers handle the legal wrangling to create the Social Security Administration. Charlie Wyzanski hands Frances a resignation letter, informing her that he’s decided to take a job at the Department of Justice so that he can defend Franklin’s New Deal before the Supreme Court. Though reluctant, Frances accepts his resignation.

In March 1963, an elderly Frances rereads her notes for the speech she’ll be delivering at the 50th anniversary celebration of the creation of the Department of Labor. She reminisces about all the changes in the world since Franklin D. Roosevelt asked her to be a member of his cabinet, including WWII, Franklin’s death, the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan, and the rise of Elvis Presley.

She leaves her home at Cornell University to travel to Washington to give her remarks. She thinks back on all the people she’s lost, which now include Paul and Sinclair Lewis, both of whom have died in the intervening years. Susanna has also developed bipolar disorder and has had a difficult life, including adultery and alcohol addiction. Susanna also has a child, to whom Frances devotes herself as a doting grandmother.

At the event, she greets Charlie Wyzanski, who has become a judge. She also receives a greeting from the new president, John F. Kennedy, whom Frances finds charming. He asks her about Franklin, a personal hero of his. Frances relates stories about Franklin and tells John that she’s currently writing a book about Al Smith.

The president gives his speech, where he introduces Frances and thanks her for her contributions to the country. Frances takes the podium, happy at her life’s work and the battles she’s fought to support American workers.