Hyde Park on Hudson

Margaret Suckley - more commonly known as Daisy - recollects her relationship with her more famous distant cousin, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Her recollections focus primarily on the year they were reacquainted as adults, 1939. With Daisy living in Hyde Park, New York, that reacquaintance was when Roosevelt more often visited Hyde Park to stay at his mother's house there, Mrs. Roosevelt who was looking for people to keep her son company to take his mind off politics. Daisy was able to take his mind off of his political life, while he opened her up to new experiences, even of places within Hyde Park's general environs about which she never knew. Their relationship became more than just cousins or even just friends. Daisy became an unquestioned figure at the Roosevelts home along with a multitude of other women, including occasionally the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, most specifically when there were official events taking place. One such event was the first ever visit by a sitting British monarch to the United States, King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, the meeting to take place in Hyde Park. George and Elizabeth were reluctant heads of the monarchy, that only recently bestowed upon them with the abdication of the throne of George's brother, Edward VIII. The Windsors' visit was largely to shore support from the Americans for what would be the imminent second great war. Within the delicate balancing act on both the Roosevelts and the Windsors' side, among which included the menu for the picnic on the final day to honor the Windsors, Daisy was in her own conundrum about what to do about her relationship with the President considering her treatment during the Windsors' visit and revelations about Roosevelt's relationship with the other women hanging about the house.