Tully, Grace, 1900-1984

Title:

Tully, Grace, 1900-1984

Description:

Bio: Grace Tully was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, on August 9, 1900. She went to work for the Democratic National Committee in 1928, and her first assignment was to assist Eleanor Roosevelt in organizing support for presidential candidate Al Smith. With Franklin D. Roosevelt's nomination for the New York governorship, she transferred to the Roosevelt campaign and, after his successful election, served as assistant to his personal secretary, Marguerite "Missy" LeHand. Tully’s primary White House duties included dictation, typing of speech drafts, the President’s mail and oversight of the President’s speech files. In 1941, she assumed the role of principal personal secretary to the President when Missy LeHand was incapacitated by a stroke. That same year, the President appointed Tully to a three person committee to act as steward over his personal papers in preparation for their opening to researchers. She was present at the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, when Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. She served as Executive Secretary of the FDR Memorial Foundation and in 1949 published her memoirs, FDR: My Boss. From 1955 to 1965, she served with the staff of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, working closely with then-Senate Majority leader Lyndon B. Johnson. She died in Washington, D.C., on June 15, 1984.

Relation:

LBJ Connection: Secretary to Franklin D. Roosevelt; Member, LBJ's Senate Staff