PASSIONATE MOTHERS, POWERFUL SONS

A portrait of the mothers who nurtured two prominent politicians.

Canadian historian Gray, author of Mrs. King and Sisters in the Wilderness, draws on abundant sources to create an engaging dual biography of Jennie Jerome Churchill (1854-1921), mother of Winston, and Sara Delano Roosevelt (1854-1941), mother of Franklin. The two had markedly different personalities, but “the examples of resilience, acumen, and loyalty that Jennie and Sara set, the initiatives they took, the impressive support that they provided, and the networks they built, helped mold their sons’ characters and careers.” Gray recounts each woman’s family background, childhood, and young adulthood, when each met her husband. Jennie, 19, “shapely and coquettish,” met 24-year-old Lord Randolph Churchill on a yacht where they were guests of the Prince and Princess of Wales; Sara was 26 when she married James Roosevelt, a widower twice her age, whom she had met at a small dinner party. For Jennie, the marriage meant entry into British aristocracy; for Sara, it meant alliance with a prestigious Knickerbocker family, though one not as wealthy as her own. Jennie’s first son was born seven months after the wedding; Sara’s only child—she was advised, after a difficult delivery, to have no more—was born in 1882. “Knowing there would be no more babies, she dedicated herself to protecting the one she had,” writes Gray. “From the day of his birth, her son would be the center of her attention.” Jennie’s marriage, like her husband’s political career, was stormy. The couple was always in debt, due in part to Jennie’s expensive tastes. “Her zest in spending was one of her charms,” a friend commented. Both were widowed in their 40s. While Jennie’s flirtatiousness and three marriages led gossips to call her a “wicked seductress,” Sara’s imperiousness made her daughter-in-law, Eleanor, portray her as “snobbish, domineering, and unkind.” Gray sees those stereotypes as ill-fitting, convincingly portraying her subjects as ambitious, astute, and determined.

A sympathetic portrait of formidable women.