Summary

In the chapter “The Show is Not the Show” (130), Eleanor asks Hick for clarification regarding the content of Parker Fiske's letter, and Hick recalls meeting with Fiske at a diner in 1934. Fiske, an employee at the State Department, had threatened to tell Franklin about Hick and Eleanor's affair. When Hick told Fiske that Franklin already knew, he tried to get her to pass information about the comings and goings at the White House to him so he could keep a “very powerful friend” (133) informed. She refused.

In the next chapter, “Heaven Is What I Cannot Reach” (135), Hick recalls trips to Hyde Park in New York where Franklin and Eleanor would retire to separate cottages for vacation, Franklin with his mistress du jour, and Eleanor with Hick. In the 1945 timeline, she tells Eleanor that...