Baroness of Hobcaw: The Life of Belle W. Baruch

22. FDR’s Visit to South Carolina

22 Oo FDR’s Visit to South Carolina Spring had always been Belle’s favorite season at Hobcaw. As Easter approached in 1944, the woods of the barony were at their loveliest, with purple wisteria cascading from the trees and fragile dogwoods swaying in the soft breeze. Brilliant azaleas were in bud, and crocus and jonquils bloomed in glowing color. Flowing yellow jessamine gleamed amid the newly green trees. That year alien sights and sounds rang throughout the peaceful acres as the forests teemed with Secret Service men intent on “sanitizing” Hobcaw Barony in preparation for a visit from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. For weeks his doctors had been advising a sick and weary president to find a place to rest. The war was slowly turning in favor of the Allies. In January the Yanks landed at Anzio. By the end of February, General Douglas MacArthur had begun his campaign to drive the Japanese from the Pacific. U.S. planes had bombed Berlin for the first time on March 4. The president, his physicians urged, must rest. President Roosevelt first contemplated a visit to Guantánamo Bay, the U.S. naval base in Cuba, but Admiral Ross McIntyre, his physician, reminded him that he did not like flying; moreover, the high altitude was not good for his condition . Roosevelt then decided that he was going to accept Bernard Baruch’s oft-repeated invitation to visit Hobcaw Barony. Eleanor Roosevelt had always felt at home with the Baruchs and encouraged her husband to visit Hobcaw. She might not have been so eager had she realized that one of the traits Baruch and FDR shared was a fondness for pretty women and a cavalier attitude toward discreet dalliances. Baruch, in fact, previously had arranged liaisons between the president and his longtime friend, FDR’s Visit to South Carolina 135 Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, and arranged for Lucy to come to Hobcaw while Roosevelt was in residence. In any event, Eleanor encouraged Franklin to visit Hobcaw. FDR was curious about the fabulous tales he had heard from the famous and powerful people who had been guests of Baruch and his daughter Belle at their South Carolina plantation. Colonel Edwin “Pa” Watson, Roosevelt’s military aide, regaled FDR with tales of the “boys” who joined Baruch at his southern retreat and the memorable hospitality of both Bernard at Hobcaw House and Belle at Bellefield Plantation. Watson and Roosevelt shared an earthy sense of humor, and Roosevelt laughed long and hard over Pa’s mock court-martial at Hobcaw in 1935. In FDR: A Biography, Ted Morgan described it: Pa was the object of a mock court-martial proceeding for alleging that another member of the party, Admiral Cary Grayson, had shot a turkey tied to a tree. FDR issued humorous memos in the following vein: “Rather than incur the expenses of a Court Martial, it is suggested that General Baruch tie Colonel Watson and Admiral Grayson to convenient trees, distant one hundred paces, that each be armed with a bow and arrow, that each be blindfolded , that each be required to emit turkey calls and that thereafter firing shall begin.”1 Pa had also described Belle’s magnificent horses and those wild, moonlit foxhunts. It all sounded appealing, restful, and lighthearted to Roosevelt after years of war and months of sickness. Emphatically he declared that he was going to Hobcaw! Preparations began and it was not long before rumors began to fly. Every building, every person, and every acre of Hobcaw was scrutinized. Wooden ramps to accommodate Roosevelt’s wheelchair appeared at the entrances to buildings and fishing docks. A canvas chute was attached to the first-floor bedroom the president would use so that he could be evacuated quickly and safely in the event of fire. Baruch’s rule of “no telephones” certainly would not do for the president. Communication lines were brought in connecting the president to the White House and to communications centers in special railroad cars in Georgetown. Squads of armed marine guards appeared, and anyone with eyes and ears knew “something big” was happening. Belle, of course, was taken into her father’s confidence and was deep in preparation for the president’s arrival. Hobcaw Barony had hosted other illustrious men—such as Prime Minister Winston Baroness of Hobcaw 136 Churchill and President Grover Cleveland—but this had to be the most exciting visitor...