Pat - FDR's mother, as i'm sure you've heard, adored her son and told him he was the most wonderful person on earth and kept him at home w/ tutors until i believe, he was in his teens. Being an only child, he spent almost all of his time w/ her. His father was in his 50's when F was born and paid little attention to him. Many of the mothers spent a lot of time w/ their sons and gave them great self-esteem, but not as strongly as Mama Roosevelt. She, of course, controlled much of his life even into his presidency. She controlled his finances until she died. One rebellion he had was getting married and especially getting married to Eleanor. He didn't tell his Mother for quite a long time that they were dating or when they got engaged. When they returned from their months long honeymoon in Europe, Mama's wedding present was a brownstone in NYC - she had also bought the brownstone next to theirs and had doors cut thru on every floor, so she was essentially living w/ them from the start and popped in whenever and wherever she pleased. Have you heard the story that the day she died a huge - seemingly healthy - oak tree fell down on the front lawn of the R estate in Hyde Park!?!................that was a powerful woman!..................jean
