• Location: on the comfy loveseat
• Mood: geeky
• Music: Happy Days are Here Again

White House Weddings: Harry Hopkins and Louise Macy

Harry Lloyd Hopkins was an American social worker who became famous for being one of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's closest advisors. He was one of the architects of the New Deal, and served as Secretary of Commerce for almost 2 years from 1938 to 1940. In World War II, he was Roosevelt's chief diplomatic adviser and troubleshooter. He attended the major conferences of the Allied powers, including the Cairo Conference, the Tehran Conference, the Casablanca Conference, and the Yalta Conference. The relationship between FDR and Hopkins was so close that when Hopkins married his third wife, fashion journalist Louise Gill Macy, FDR allowed the wedding to take place in the White House.



In 1913, Hopkins married his first wife, Ethel Gross, a Hungarian-Jewish immigrant who was active in New York City's Progressive movement. They had three sons together: David, Robert, and Stephen. Gross divorced Hopkins in 1930 shortly before Hopkins became a public figure, but the two kept up a friendly correspondence until just before Hopkins' death in 1946. In 1931, Hopkins married Barbara Duncan, his second wife. She died of cancer six years later. They had one daughter, Diana. On July 30, 1942, Hopkins married Louise Gill Macy in the Yellow Oval Room at the White House. Macy was a divorced woman who was a former editor for Harper's Bazaar magazine.

Hopkins had lived in the White House since 1940. The wedding took place in FDR's private White House study with the president serving as Hopkins' best man. The guest list was limited to family, close friends, professional associates and several members of the mansion staff including veteran White House doorman John Mays.

The wedding was the only wedding documented to have taken place in the White House between 1918 and 1967. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt wrote in her “My Day” column: “At noon, we gathered in my husband's study for the simple wedding ceremony which made Mrs. Macy Mrs. Hopkins. I am sure that everybody in the room wished wholeheartedly that happiness and good fortune will come to both Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hopkins.” The couple lived in the White House with the Roosevelts at the President's request, until December 21, 1943, when Mrs. Hopkins convinced her husband to purchase their own home, and the two moved into a townhouse in Georgetown.

Hopkins' many accomplishments were all the more remarkable given the state of his health. In 1939, Hopkins was told that he had stomach cancer. Doctors performed an operation to removed 75% of his stomach. After the operation, doctors stated that he had only four weeks to live. At this point, Roosevelt brought in experts who transfused Hopkins with blood plasma that delayed his deterioration. Hopkins defied the prediction of an early death that the doctors had given him. Hopkins outlived the President. He died in New York City on January 29, 1946, at the age of 55.