The Letters

MANNERS & MORALS

James Roosevelt has had his domestic difficulties, but they were not much to compare with the tribulations of some of the other Roosevelt children.* Last week, when his wife Romelle sued in Los Angeles for separate maintenance, Jimmy unexpectedly began to look like the Rubi of the Roosevelts.

Cheater by the Dozen? In her suit, Romelle asked $3,500 a month support, named three women as corespondents of recent vintage. She also attached two letters, signed by Jimmy in February 1945.

"I have engaged in a course of conduct involving a succession of active adultery, disloyalty and deception," said one. Then it named nine women as Jimmy's partners in passion. In the second letter, Jimmy repeated his confession and, as penance, agreed to sign over 50% of all his property, plus half of his income during the remainder of my natural life."

Jimmy and Romelle met in 1938 when he was an ulcer patient, she a nurse at the Mayo Clinic. Jimmy soon became Rommie's favorite patient, and when his first wife, Boston's Betsey Gushing Roosevelt (now Mrs. John Hay Whitney), divorced him, he married Romelle. After the war, they settled down in California and had three children. There were a few minor disturbances, such as the time Romelle went to the hospital after swallowing 15 seconal tablets, but, in general, life seemed to be tranquil indeed--for Roosevelts. A month ago Jimmy filed a separation suit against Romelle. Then, with an odd sense of political timing, he announced that he would run for Congress this year.

To the North Pole. As soon as the letters hit the tabloids some of the labeled ladies set up a wail. "If he means me, he's a liar," said Mrs. Richard Durant in Honolulu, "and I'll sue him from here to the North Pole." In Hollywood Mrs. Robert Howard (Actress Andrea Leeds) was' wide-eyed. "How could anyone think he could mean me?" she asked. "After all, there are lots of Mrs. Robert Howards . . . When my darling husband read the papers he said to me, 'But I didn't know you were a Democrat.' Actually, you know, I'm not. I'm a Republican." Jimmy's fantastic letter had to have a fantastic explanation, and this week, after three days of legal consultation, Jimmy produced it: "Each and every allegation of misconduct by the twelve persons mentioned with me is completely false," he said. "Each and every one of them is completely innocent." Jimmy admitted signing the letters, but explained that he had acted under compulsion, "in an effort to protect [the women] . . ."

"Purge My Soul." He told reporters, "I did not . . . realize the insatiable demand for material security which my wife possessed. From the very beginning there developed an unreasoning fear and jealousy of anyone with whom I had contact . . . There began a calculated campaign to transfer to her every material asset that I owned and a constant threat to accuse me of imaginary infidelities . . . This pattern reached its climax in the early part of 1945, when I was repeatedly faced with the demand that I acknowledge these imaginary happenings, and, as she put it, 'purge my soul.' She stated that if I once did this, she would forever cease these demands and begin our marital life anew. If I did not, she would proceed with a divorce, naming all individuals.

"At this time, I was entering the fifth year of my active service in the Marine Corps ... I was very much below par physically. I further was acutely conscious of the tremendous burdens which my father was then carrying as President of the United States, and the horror of adding another to these burdens seemed to me to be overwhelming. I was promised that if I would sign a letter that attorneys would prepare, it would never be made public and that in time it would be destroyed . .. That it was blackmail, I now recognize."

Roosevelt's attorney Samuel Picone pointed out that the evidence suggested by the 1945 letter is now barred by the statute of limitations, "and the only conclusion that can be drawn is that [the 1945 admissions] were incorporated therein for sensational purposes." After issuing the statement, Jimmy Roosevelt almost quit the congressional race. He said he would not seek the office. Friends said that if his statement got a favorable reaction, he might re-enter the fight.

* To date, the five children of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt have been married a total of twelve times, divorced seven times, have had 19 children. Individual scores: Anna Roosevelt Dall Boettiger Halsted, three marriages, two divorces, three children, one grandson; James, two marriages, one divorce, five children; Elliott, four marriages, three divorces, four children; Franklin Jr., two marriages, one divorce, three children; John, one marriage, no divorces, four children.

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