Betsey Cushing
| Betsey Cushing Roosevelt Whitney | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Betsey Maria Cushing May 18, 1908 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Died | March 25, 1998 (aged 89) Manhasset, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse(s) |
James Roosevelt II (m. 1930; div. 1940) John Hay Whitney (m. 1942; d. 1982) |
Betsey Maria Cushing Roosevelt Whitney (May 18, 1908 – March 25, 1998) was an American philanthropist, the former daughter-in-law of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and later wife of millionaire and U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, John Hay Whitney.
She was the middle daughter of prominent neurosurgeon Dr. Harvey Williams Cushing and Katharine Stone Crowell, who hailed from a socially prominent Cleveland family. Dr. Cushing was descended from Matthew Cushing, an early settler of Hingham, Massachusetts. Dr. Cushing served as professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins, Harvard and Yale Universities, and the family established itself in Boston.
Though Betsey had two brothers, she and her two sisters became known in the social world as the "Cushing Sisters", heralded for their charm and beauty. All three sisters were schooled by their social-climbing mother to pursue husbands of wealth and prominence, and coached to become socially acceptable to important men. As a result of their mother's coaching to marry well, all three Cushing sisters married into wealth and prominence: Betsey's older sister, Mary, married Vincent Astor, the heir of a $200 million fortune, in 1940, and her younger sister Barbara "Babe" was married to Standard Oil heir Stanley Mortimer, Jr., and to CBS founder William S. Paley. Both of Betsey's sisters died of cancer within months of each other in 1978.
Betsey married James Roosevelt II in 1930, the eldest son of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. They had two daughters, Sara Delano Roosevelt and Kate Roosevelt. After her father-in-law became President, Betsey was reportedly FDR's favorite daughter-in-law, though she and Eleanor did not care for one another.
...
Wikipedia