"The Gatekeeper" - by fellow Rotarian, Kathryn Smith - September 9, 2016

Rotarian Kathryn Smith will be speaking at Porter Square Books in Cambridge on Friday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. about her new book “The Gatekeeper.” This is the first biography of Missy LeHand, personal secretary to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. LeHand, who worked for Roosevelt for more than 20 years, was with him all through his polio fight and helped him establish the polio rehab center at Warm Springs, Georgia in the 1920s.

 

“Missy was the one person who truly believed in FDR’s dream for a rehab center at Warm Springs,” Smith said. “She served as his hostess there, and handled all his business related to Warm Springs and his polio foundation when he was in the White House.” LeHand was the de facto chief of staff at the White House, a post that has never been held by a woman, before or since. FDR valued her as a confidante, adviser and friend.

 

Smith and her book, which is being published September 6 by Simon and Schuster’s Touchstone imprint, will be featured in an upcoming edition of The Rotarian magazine. Club members are invited to attend her talk and signing at Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge. For more information, visit www.kathrysmithwords.com