Lorena Hickok often accompanied Eleanor Roosevelt on trips, including one to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Virgin Islands March 7-17, 1934. Here Eleanor Roosevelt is pictured with, from left to right, James Bourne, unknown, and Lorena Hickok on that trip, March 7, 1934.

Lorena Hickok (1893-1968) was a journalist, writer, and friend to Eleanor Roosevelt. Closest between 1932 and 1936, they met when Hickok was assigned by the Associated Press (AP) to cover Mrs. Roosevelt’s activities during FDR’s first presidential campaign. “Hick,” as she was called by ER, resigned her post with the AP after the election to avoid a conflict of interest.

After leaving the AP, Hickok worked as a field reporter for the Works Progress Administration, traveling the country and reporting back to Harry Hopkins and the Roosevelts. She also accompanied Mrs. Roosevelt on inspection trips and several vacations during the early part of the New Deal. Some historians and writers believe that Hick and Mrs. Roosevelt’s relationship was romantic in nature, but this view is controversial. The two drifted apart during the later years of the Roosevelt administration but remained friends until Mrs. Roosevelt’s death in 1962.  Hickok died in 1968 and is buried in Rhinebeck, NY.