WEBVTT - Vanderbilt v. Vanderbilt 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:04.800 You are listening to History on Trial, a production of 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:14.680 iHeart Podcasts. Listener Discretion advised this must have been how 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:20.759 King Solomon felt. Justice John Francis Carew thought that ancient 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:24.400 king had once confronted a similar problem to the one 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:29.560 Carew faced. Now. Two women had come to Solomon, each 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:33.879 claiming that a baby was theirs. The king watched the 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:38.280 woman argue back and forth, and then he spoke, saying, 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:43.560 bring me a sword. Once the sword was at hand, 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:48.239 the King said, divide the living child in two, and 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.000 give half to the one and half to the other. 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:56.280 One woman, horrified, said she would rather the other woman 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:59.840 kept the baby so that it could live. The other 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:05.200 told the king to go ahead. King Solomon knew at 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:09.160 once that the first woman must be the child's mother. 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:13.800 In some ways, the custody case in front of Justice 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:17.760 Carew was even harder than Solomon's. As a justice of 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:21.440 the New York State Supreme Court, Carew was not allowed 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:25.360 to use a sword to render judgment. Instead, he would 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:28.640 have to listen to weeks of testimony and to carefully 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:34.080 weigh his options. And things only got more complicated from there. 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:39.000 When Solomon administered his test the Book of King's records, 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:42.759 his subjects saw that the wisdom of God was in 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:46.959 him to do judgment. Justice Carew could not hope for 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:51.280 such a positive reception. No matter what he decided, people 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:55.840 would be furious, not just the parties involved, but the 0:01:55.880 --> 0:02:00.400 crowds gathered outside the courthouse and the millions of people 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:05.560 who followed the case avidly in newspapers. For this was 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:10.080 not an ordinary custody case. The women fighting in front 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.040 of Justice Carew for custody of a ten year old 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:17.880 girl were not ordinary women. They were members of one 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:22.480 of the wealthiest and most powerful families in American history, 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:26.240 and in their battle for custody of this girl, they 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:29.400 would bring the full force of their names and connections 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:35.079 to bear, stopping at nothing, from hiring spies to destroying 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:40.880 reputations to get what they wanted. After all, they were 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:44.560 used to the world bending to their whims. It often 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:49.680 does when your last name is Vanderbilt. On the one hand, 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:54.519 there was the girl's mother, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, a defining 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:58.680 beauty of her generation, a friend to royalty and Hollywood, 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:03.440 a regular feet in the society columns. On the other hand, 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:08.280 there was Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Gloria's sister in law, the 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.639 enormously wealthy patron of the arts who had founded her 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:16.920 own museum. Between them was the girl also named Gloria, 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:21.160 ten years old, with a sleek cap, of thick dark 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:25.560 hair and a strange, nervous manner. What was she so 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.359 frightened of? The Justice wondered, was one of the women 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:33.839 the source of her fear? Could one of them cure it? 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:38.280 There was much to consider, and that was before the 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:43.120 high priced lawyers, and the interfering grandmother and the hysterical nanny. 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:48.840 Justice carew shook his head. Perhaps he needed a sword 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:54.960 after all. Welcome to History on Trial. I'm your host, 0:03:55.320 --> 0:04:04.640 Mira Hayward this week the matter of Vanderbilt. For a brief, 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:09.000 beautiful period in the early nineteen twenties, it seemed that 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:14.640 all of New York society loved the magnificent Morgans. That's 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:18.680 what the newspapers called the Morgan twins, Gloria and Telma, 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:24.279 and the name fit. They were stunningly beautiful, intriguingly foreign, 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:28.960 and ever present. The twins had exploded onto the social 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:33.560 scene in nineteen twenty one, aged seventeen and made a 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:37.919 strong impression. No one minded that their pedigree was not 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:42.880 entirely blue blooded. Their father, Harry Hayes Morgan, was a 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:49.640 career diplomat and not related to the JP Morgans. Their mother, Laura, 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:52.479 was the daughter of a Civil war general and a 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:57.080 Chilean aristocrat. The twins had grown up abroad with their 0:04:57.120 --> 0:05:01.840 two older siblings, a brother Hair and a sister Consuelo. 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.719 Their lifestyle had been nomadic and they had picked up 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.520 a number of languages as a result. At seventeen, after 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:13.400 sporadic schooling, the twins had been left alone in New 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:17.359 York City. Their mission, their mother, Laura, made it clear, 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:24.240 was to find husbands. Laura Morgan was a domineering, status 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:29.120 and money obsessed women, as her granddaughter would later reflect, quote, 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:34.040 Laura Morgan did not believe in married love, in friendship 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:37.800 between women, or that women could ever achieve positions of 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:42.599 power except through the men they married. The twins knew 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.560 that for their financial security they would need to make 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:50.080 good matches. Still, they were going to enjoy their independence 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.840 while they could. They showed up to parties in stunning 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:58.360 dresses they had sown themselves dancing until the wee hours 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:04.080 charming the social columnists. The photographer Cecil Beaten was one 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:07.400 of many who found himself drawn to Gloria and Telma. 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:12.520 They are alike as two magnolias, Beaten wrote, and with 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:18.120 their marble complexions, raven tresses and flowing dresses, with their 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:22.960 slight lisps and foreign accents, they diffuse an atmosphere of 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:29.039 hot house elegance and lacy femininity. Soon enough, Telma caught 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:33.159 the eye of Junior Converse, scion of a wealthy family, 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:38.280 and in February nineteen twenty two, the couple eloped. Upon 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.040 their return to New York, they hosted a dinner party, 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.000 and it was there that Gloria met the man whose 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:48.919 family would shape her life. He was unprepossessing, this man 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:54.440 nearly twenty five years older than Gloria, with a bushy mustache, 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:58.800 graying hair, and the flush complexion and bulging belly of 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:02.880 the heavy drinker he was. Despite all of this, the 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:06.160 man was considered the most eligible bachelor in New York, 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:12.560 all because his name was Reggie Vanderbilt. Wealth did not 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:17.040 serve Reggie Vanderbilt well born in eighteen eighty, he was 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:20.720 the youngest son of Alice and Cornelius Vanderbilt, the second 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:25.160 the couple who built the famous or infamous one hundred 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:30.400 and thirty eight thousand square foot Newport vacation home known 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:36.160 as the Breakers. Raised in luxury, Reggie wanted for nothing 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:41.560 and never faced consequences. On his twenty first birthday, he 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:46.960 inherited several trusts worth approximately fifteen point five million dollars. 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:51.840 That night, to celebrate his windfall, he went gambling and 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:56.800 lost seventy thousand dollars. By nineteen fifteen, as part of 0:07:56.880 --> 0:08:01.520 an investigation into Reggie for tax fraud, authorities discovered that 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:04.600 all he had left was the income off of the 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:10.000 one trust, whose principle he could not touch. In fourteen years, 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:15.080 Reggie had spent nearly twenty five or in today's money, 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:22.480 nine hundred and twenty three million dollars. Four years later, 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:26.920 Reggie's first wife, Kathleen, divorced him. The couple had married 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:30.600 in nineteen oh three and had one daughter, also named Kathleen, 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:35.319 who in nineteen twenty two was almost exactly the same 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:40.640 age as her father's new love interest, Gloria Morgan. Kathleen 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.040 and Gloria were close for a while until Reggie told 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:47.400 his daughter of his plan to propose to her good friend, Gloria. 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:52.400 Kathleen fled to her mother's house in Florida. Reggie bought 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:58.480 a sixteen carrot heart shaped diamond engagement ring. Gloria Morgan 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:02.240 knew who she was married, wrying Reggie had told her 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:06.240 about his financial difficulties. He had explained his health problems 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:11.079 to her too. Reggie's drinking was quickly killing him, but 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:15.360 still Gloria wished to marry him. She seemed to see 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:19.000 Reggie as something of a father figure. Her own father 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:22.720 had often been absent, and she liked how Reggie took 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:27.040 care of her. After winning over Reggie's mother, Alice with 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:31.960 her bold personality, Gloria married Reggie on March sixth, nineteen 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:38.480 twenty three. Eleven months later, on February twentieth, nineteen twenty four, 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.400 Gloria gave birth to a baby who the couple named 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:47.559 Gloria Laura Vanderbilt. To keep the Glorias apart, I'll call 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:51.920 the child Little Gloria, as her mother's family did. The 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:56.840 couple designated Reggie's older sister, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney as Little 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:01.520 Gloria as godmother. Laura Morgan Glory, Loria's mother, helped her 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:06.000 daughter with the difficult early days of parenthood. Soon as 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:11.319 was her way, Laura had completely taken charge. She was 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.880 the one who selected and hired the baby's nanny, Emma 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:18.880 Sullivan Keislich. The thirty three year old nanny was well 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:22.400 trained and had worked with a number of other wealthy families. 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:27.400 But most importantly to Laura's mind, Nurse Keeslick had the 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:31.960 same view of little Gloria that she did. To their minds, 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:37.000 little Gloria was not an ordinary baby. She was special. 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:44.440 She was a Vanderbilt, practically American royalty. Laura and Nurse 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.800 Keeslick treated the baby like she was made of glass. 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:52.880 As author Barbara Goldsmith writes in Little Gloria Happy at Last, 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:57.400 her account of the trial, quote, the child was the 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:01.840 main concern of their lives and their justification for being 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:06.400 in Gloria's household. Their obsessive focus on the baby would 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:12.360 one day have devastating consequences for the entire family. On 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:17.600 September fourth, nineteen twenty five, Reggie Vanderbilt died from alcoholic cirrhosis, 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:22.160 aged forty five. Gloria barely had time to mourn her 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:25.720 husband before the bill collectors came knocking on her door. 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:31.199 The extent of Reggie's debts soon revealed itself. He owed 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:36.040 hundreds of thousands of dollars. He had left Gloria with 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:41.800 almost nothing of her own. However, their daughter, Little Gloria, 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:47.480 inherited her father's one remaining asset, the inviolable trust, whose 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:50.800 principle he was never able to touch. She and her 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:55.120 older sister Kathleen, each received half of this money, two 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:58.120 and a half million dollars each, to be held in 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:02.480 trust until they were twenty one. Laura Morgan suggested that 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:06.600 Gloria reach out to a family friend, the lawyer George Wickersham, 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:11.760 for financial and legal advice. Wickersham sent over an associate, 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:16.280 Thomas Gilchrist, to help the thirty nine year old. Gilchrist 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:19.480 advised Gloria that her daughter would need a legal and 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:24.040 financial guardian. Gloria, who was only twenty at the time, 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:27.320 was not old enough to serve in these roles. The 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:31.400 law said you had to be twenty one. Wickersham agreed 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.360 to take on the guardian ships, with Gilchrist acting as 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:40.840 his representative. Eventually, Gilchrist would become an official guardian Gilchrist 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:44.920 and Wickersham helped Gloria prepare a petition asking that money 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:48.560 be withdrawn from Little Gloria's Trust to support herself and 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:53.240 her child. Justice James Foley of the Surrogate's Court, the 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:57.520 legal body which administered estates in New York, approved Gloria's 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:01.360 request for four thousand dollars into day money seventy one 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:06.560 thousand dollars a month. That is an enormous sum to 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:10.160 most of us, but within Gloria's circles, this was a 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:15.559 paltry amount, especially considering that Gloria soon began financially supporting 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:19.360 her parents. It should also be noted that this amount 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:23.160 was well within the income the trust generated each year. 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:27.480 In nineteen twenty six, Gloria decided to move to Paris. 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:33.560 Little Gloria's guardian, Thomas Gilchrist, objected to this plan, believing 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:35.720 that it was better for the child to be raised 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:40.800 in America. He threatened Gloria, telling her that Justice Foley 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:44.520 would cut her income off, but Justice Foley had no 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:49.080 such plans. He told Gloria to enjoy life abroad, but 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:51.440 said that she ought to bring the child home when 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:56.319 it was school aged. Gloria happily agreed and set off 0:13:56.440 --> 0:14:02.320 for Paris. These years in Europe were happy ones. Mostly, 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:07.080 Gloria lived the life of a beautiful young society widow, 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.080 staying out late, taking trips to the south of France, 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:16.320 throwing cocktail parties. Like nearly all wealthy women of her generation, 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:20.920 Gloria left the child care to the nanny. Nurse Keislich 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:25.520 and Laura Morgan created a loving, if over protective atmosphere 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:30.440 for the toddler, but beneath the surface, trouble was stirring. 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:35.520 In October nineteen twenty six, Gloria met Gutfried, Prince of 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:39.880 ho and Loah Landenberg on a ship. Friedel, as friends 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:43.320 called him, was close to Gloria's age, and the two 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:47.880 bonded as they crossed the Atlantic. Within months they were 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:52.640 in love. In March nineteen twenty seven, they announced their engagement. 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:58.160 There were two problems though. First, Friedel had no money 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.000 you would not have any until the death of his father, 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:05.440 Thomas Gilchrist told Gloria that her daughter's money could not 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:10.560 be used to support a new husband. Secondly, there was 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:15.840 the problem of Laura Morgan, Gloria's mother, Always tightly wound 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:22.080 and prone to hysteria had become increasingly unhinged. She was 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:26.800 obsessed with Little Gloria's safety. She saw Friedel as a 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:30.440 threat to her granddaughter's well being, and this threat was 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:35.760 not metaphorical. She believed, on the basis of no evidence, 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:41.000 that Friedel would murder Little Gloria for her money. Soon 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:47.240 this year expanded, Laura began openly claiming that Friedel and 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:52.000 Gloria were trying to kill the child. Nurse Keieslich, who 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:55.720 had become obsessed with the child, refusing to ever leave 0:15:55.760 --> 0:16:01.760 her side, fell into step with Laura's paranoid fantasy. Little Gloria, 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:06.040 who loved her grandmother and her nanny fiercely, could not 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:11.720 help but absorb their anxieties. After a year of stress 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:15.720 from all sides, Gloria and Friedol decided to call off 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:19.840 their engagement. Gloria kicked her mother out of her house 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:24.280 in Paris. Laura moved into a hotel ten blocks away. 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:29.600 Nurse Keislick took Little Gloria to visit her regularly. Gloria 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:33.000 began spending more time in England, where her twin sister 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:37.440 Telma was living. Telma had by now divorced her first husband, 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:41.640 married a wealthy English viscount and started an affair with 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:46.360 the Prince of Wales. Life was a whirlwind of parties 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:50.960 and hunts, and even a presentation at court, but by 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:55.320 nineteen thirty Gloria was receiving increasing pressure from Gilchrist to 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:59.760 return to America. He held her financial position over her head, 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:05.320 constantly threatening to cut her off. To Gloria, the arrangement 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:12.400 was unbearable. She later wrote, quote, everything was under constant surveillance. 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.639 I was never able to do anything on my own 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:19.520 initiative when it came to expenditures without first consulting my 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:26.399 child's guardians. Gilchrist's desire to control Gloria's life is at 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:31.080 times difficult to understand. There are several factors that might 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:35.919 explain it. A genuine desire to serve the child's financial interests, 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:43.639 Gilchrist's condescending paternalistic feelings towards the elder Gloria, and most importantly, 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.720 the fact that he was receiving regular letters from Laura 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:54.000 Morgan claiming that Gloria was an unfit mother. Eventually, Gilchrist 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:58.879 and Wickersham issued an ultimatum. If Gloria and seven year 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.359 old little Gloria did not return to America in nineteen 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:08.840 thirty two, they would be cut off financially. Reluctantly, Gloria 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:14.159 made reservations on an ocean liner. The America that the 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:18.000 Vanderbilts returned to was a much bleaker country than the 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:22.720 one they had left. The Great Depression had ravaged the nation. 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:27.440 Kidnappings for ransom were on the rise, and wealthy families 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:31.760 were hiring bodyguards to protect their children. Nurse Kislich was 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:36.520 terrified of Little Gloria being kidnapped and spoke constantly of 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:41.200 the danger. This annoyed Gloria Vanderbilt, who did not believe 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:45.080 that her daughter was at risk. But she was wrong. 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:49.639 Already plans were being put in place to take Little 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:53.680 Gloria away from her. It was not anonymous criminals who 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:58.800 were planning the kidnapping, though, it was the child's own family. 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:06.960 For all the conflict that would define Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:11.240 and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney's relationship, the two women had a 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:15.160 surprising amount in common. They had both been raised by 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:19.960 status ofsessed mothers, were both bound by strict social conventions, 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:24.600 and both had a taste for pleasure. The biggest difference 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:30.480 between the two ultimately was money. Gloria, despite her lifestyle, 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.520 did not have any money of her own. Gertrude, on 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:38.679 the other hand, controlled one of the largest fortunes in 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:44.160 the world. Gertrude was born on January ninth, eighteen seventy five, 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:48.280 the second daughter of Alice and Cornelius Vanderbilt. The second 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:52.240 She was five years older than her brother Reggie, making 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:55.200 her thirty years older than her sister in law Gloria. 0:19:56.240 --> 0:20:00.480 From childhood, Gertrude had had an overwhelming a waywareness of 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:04.240 her social status and the expectations for a woman in 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:09.399 her position. She consciously developed a chilly, impenetrable shell of 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:15.119 perfect manners which concealed her inner desires, perhaps because she 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:20.399 knew that those desires would shock society. As a teenager, 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:24.840 Gertrude fell in love with another woman. The two began 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.879 a passionate three year relationship that lasted until Gertrude was 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:33.359 twenty one. By eighteen ninety six, Gertrude's feelings for her 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:36.880 girlfriend had begun to fade, and she turned her attention 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:41.280 to Harry Payne Whitney, the dashing, handsome air to a 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:46.240 prestigious family In eighteen ninety six, she married Harry in 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:49.840 the social event of the season. The couple would have 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:53.920 three children. Like Gloria, they left the raising of these 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:58.760 children to Nanny's. Though their life was filled with luxury, 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:02.400 the marriage was not a happy one. The Whitneys had 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:08.119 little in common, and Harry was frequently unfaithful. To occupy herself, 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:11.679 Gertrude began to explore the art world. She took up 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:16.000 sculpting and then collecting. By the nineteen twenties, she had 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:19.880 established herself as one of the foremost patrons of American art. 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:25.400 She had also established a hidden private life, playing out 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:30.040 beneath her public role as a respectable society matron. In 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:34.600 the second life, she was a bohemian, throwing wild parties 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:38.239 in her downtown art studio for her artist friends and 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:43.320 having affairs of her own. In both lives, public and private, 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:47.800 she was a force to be reckoned with. My ways 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:51.919 are deep, Gertrude wrote of herself, and I cover my 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:57.199 tracks with discretion, but nonetheless, when I want something, it 0:21:57.320 --> 0:22:03.639 often happens. In nineteen twenty nine, the Metropolitan Museum of 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:08.680 Art declined Gertrude's donation of her entire collection of American art. 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:12.200 Gertrude wanted to keep her collection together, and she wanted 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:15.760 it to be displayed. So she did what any passionate 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:19.800 collector with a mind boggling fortune would do. She created 0:22:19.840 --> 0:22:24.040 a museum of her own. The Whitney Museum of American 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:27.440 Art opened in New York City in nineteen thirty one 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:31.880 and today attracts more than seven hundred thousand visitors a year. 0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:38.040 In nineteen thirty Harry Whitney died, bequeathing Gertrude his five 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:43.840 thousand acre of Long Island estate, Wheatley Hills. It was 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:48.280 at Wheatley Hills that the true trouble with Little Gloria began. 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:52.359 In the summer of nineteen thirty two, after the two 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:57.080 Glorias returned from their years abroad, a doctor informed Gloria 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:00.480 that her daughter needed to have her tonsils removed. The 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:04.320 surgery went smoothly, but a week after the night before 0:23:04.320 --> 0:23:07.200 Gloria planned to take a trip to Europe, the child 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:12.200 had a hysterical fit, screaming that she was going to die. 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:16.920 Gloria pushed back her trip. The next day, Gertrude stopped by. 0:23:17.800 --> 0:23:20.359 She asked Gloria if she could take the child to 0:23:20.400 --> 0:23:23.280 Wheatley Hills for the summer so she could recover from 0:23:23.280 --> 0:23:28.919 her surgery in a peaceful environment. Gloria readily accepted. At 0:23:28.920 --> 0:23:33.439 Wheatley Hills, little Gloria's troubles continued. She seemed to be 0:23:33.640 --> 0:23:38.320 in constant pain, but none of the eight physicians that 0:23:38.480 --> 0:23:41.960 Nurse Keeslick was constantly summoning to the house could find 0:23:42.040 --> 0:23:46.760 anything physically wrong with her. Little Gloria had night terrors 0:23:46.800 --> 0:23:53.400 and emotional outbursts. Gertrude Whitney was concerned. She had received 0:23:53.560 --> 0:23:56.639 letters from Laura Morgan and Nurse Keeslick while they had 0:23:56.680 --> 0:24:00.800 been abroad, letters full of concerns over the environment that 0:24:00.840 --> 0:24:04.320 Little Gloria was growing up in. They had portrayed the 0:24:04.400 --> 0:24:09.520 elder Gloria as an immoral pleasure seeker. Laura had also 0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:15.200 expressed darker concerns, fears that Gloria might harm the child. 0:24:16.200 --> 0:24:20.199 Gertrude had thought these concerns far fetched, but now that 0:24:20.280 --> 0:24:24.400 she spent more time with Little Gloria witnessed her panic 0:24:24.480 --> 0:24:31.040 and instability, she began to believe, especially as the child's 0:24:31.040 --> 0:24:35.240 conditions seemed to improve while away from her mother. By 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:39.960 the fall, little Gloria seemed happier and healthier, and even 0:24:40.040 --> 0:24:45.120 began school on Long Island. In September, Gertrude telegrammed Gloria 0:24:45.160 --> 0:24:48.879 in Europe and asked if little Gloria could stay through Christmas. 0:24:49.560 --> 0:24:55.200 Gloria said yes. In January, Gloria returned to New York, 0:24:55.720 --> 0:24:58.720 but after her return, Telma wrote to her that their 0:24:58.800 --> 0:25:03.280 father was dying. Gloria quickly headed to Europe, but did 0:25:03.320 --> 0:25:08.280 not tell Gertrude or Thomas Gilchrist why. Gertrude and Gilchrist 0:25:08.320 --> 0:25:13.200 were concerned. How could Gloria so casually leave her child. 0:25:13.720 --> 0:25:17.280 Gilchrist wrote a sternly worded letter to Gloria demanding that 0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:20.600 she returned to New York or be cut off, But 0:25:20.640 --> 0:25:23.600 when Gloria met with Gilchrist, he informed her that her 0:25:23.680 --> 0:25:28.400 daughter would be staying at Wheatley Hill's. Gloria was confused. 0:25:29.280 --> 0:25:31.960 On the one hand, Gilchrist was telling her that she 0:25:32.080 --> 0:25:34.119 needed to have her daughter with her in order to 0:25:34.160 --> 0:25:37.520 receive money, but he was also saying that she could 0:25:37.520 --> 0:25:41.800 not have her daughter back. Gilchrist also decided to alter 0:25:41.920 --> 0:25:46.280 the financial arrangements. Instead of Gloria receiving four thousand dollars 0:25:46.359 --> 0:25:49.639 a month to cover all expenses. He would pay household 0:25:49.640 --> 0:25:53.159 expenses straight from the trust, and Gloria would receive a 0:25:53.200 --> 0:25:56.080 reduced income of seven hundred and fifty dollars a month, 0:25:56.680 --> 0:25:59.640 plus two hundred and fifty dollars to give to Laura Morgan, 0:25:59.680 --> 0:26:04.720 who was supporting. Unbeknownst to Gloria, Gilchris used his new 0:26:04.760 --> 0:26:08.560 power to hire household servants that spied on Gloria and 0:26:08.640 --> 0:26:14.040 reported on her lifestyle to him. This uneasy situation continued 0:26:14.080 --> 0:26:18.320 through nineteen thirty three. Gloria visited her daughter occasionally at 0:26:18.320 --> 0:26:23.440 Wheatley Hills, but spent most of the year abroad. In September, 0:26:23.520 --> 0:26:27.240 she met with Gertrude to discuss Little Gloria. It was 0:26:27.280 --> 0:26:33.120 an unproductive conversation, as Barbara Goldsmith writes, quote, neither woman 0:26:33.240 --> 0:26:37.600 would speak of her true concerns. Gloria would say nothing 0:26:37.760 --> 0:26:40.800 of what she felt to be the punitive financial measures 0:26:40.840 --> 0:26:44.200 that were being enacted against her because of the child's absence. 0:26:45.080 --> 0:26:49.120 Gertrude would not speak of her apprehension regarding the atmosphere, 0:26:49.520 --> 0:26:52.800 which she had come to consider both morally and physically 0:26:52.880 --> 0:26:57.000 dangerous to her niece. There existed between these two women 0:26:57.560 --> 0:27:02.720 an exquisite non communication that avoided all the ugly realities 0:27:02.720 --> 0:27:07.960 of their relationship. Concerned that things were progressing beyond her control, 0:27:08.560 --> 0:27:14.040 Gloria contacted a lawyer named Nathan Berkin. Berkin, of Romanian 0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:17.199 born jew had immigrated to New York as a child 0:27:17.680 --> 0:27:21.080 and grown up in the tenements of the Lower East Side. 0:27:21.280 --> 0:27:24.680 Like Max Stoyer, the defense lawyer in the Triangle firecase 0:27:24.800 --> 0:27:28.360 covered in episode six of History on Trial, Berkin had 0:27:28.480 --> 0:27:31.439 used his intelligence and work ethic to rise to the 0:27:31.480 --> 0:27:35.600 top of the legal profession. He represented many show business 0:27:35.600 --> 0:27:39.680 clients and to help found the American Society of Composers, 0:27:39.800 --> 0:27:44.240 Authors and Publishers to help musicians protect their intellectual property. 0:27:45.040 --> 0:27:48.480 Now fifty four, Berkin had a long Island mansion of 0:27:48.480 --> 0:27:53.240 his own and a thriving law practice. He quickly agreed 0:27:53.280 --> 0:27:58.600 to help Gloria Vanderbilt. Berkin's hiring was seen by Laura, 0:27:58.840 --> 0:28:02.480 Gertrude and Nurse gos Keislick as another sign that Gloria 0:28:02.600 --> 0:28:05.639 was unfit to raise her child, not because she was 0:28:05.680 --> 0:28:09.760 getting a lawyer involved, but because that lawyer was Jewish. 0:28:10.960 --> 0:28:14.520 Berkin suggested that Gloria apply to become the sole guardian 0:28:14.520 --> 0:28:18.560 of little Gloria and the co guardian of Little Gloria's property. 0:28:19.400 --> 0:28:22.399 Gloria liked the idea, but was concerned that it was 0:28:22.520 --> 0:28:27.800 too bold. She was worried about alienating Alice Vanderbilt, Reggie, 0:28:27.880 --> 0:28:30.760 and Gertrude's mother, who she had always had a good 0:28:30.800 --> 0:28:34.960 relationship with. Gloria also didn't have enough money to pay 0:28:34.960 --> 0:28:39.640 Burkin's legal fees. But in April nineteen thirty four, Alice 0:28:39.720 --> 0:28:44.640 Vanderbilt died, aged eighty eight. She left Gloria one hundred 0:28:44.640 --> 0:28:49.360 thousand dollars in her will. Gloria told Burkin to move 0:28:49.440 --> 0:28:52.640 forward with the petition. He submitted the petition to the 0:28:52.680 --> 0:28:57.400 Surrogate's Court on June eighteenth. Thomas Gilchrist, as the existing 0:28:57.400 --> 0:29:01.160 guardian of Little Gloria's property, received notice of the petition, 0:29:02.080 --> 0:29:07.760 and he quickly notified Gertrude Whitney. Gertrude was concerned over 0:29:07.800 --> 0:29:11.120 the past two years, Little Gloria had grown strong and 0:29:11.280 --> 0:29:15.560 happy at Wheatly Hill's All that progress might be undone 0:29:15.600 --> 0:29:18.920 if she had to return to her mother. Gertrude began 0:29:19.040 --> 0:29:24.280 to hatch a plan. On July third, Justice James Foley 0:29:24.320 --> 0:29:28.160 of the Surrogate's Court heard Gloria's application for guardianship. It 0:29:28.200 --> 0:29:31.440 should have been a routine hearing, but once Nathan Burkin 0:29:31.600 --> 0:29:35.240 finished reading the application aloud, a man at the back 0:29:35.280 --> 0:29:39.880 of the courtroom declared, I object to the petition. Fully 0:29:39.920 --> 0:29:42.520 summoned the man to the bench and asked on what 0:29:42.680 --> 0:29:47.080 grounds he objected. On the grounds the man replied, of 0:29:47.400 --> 0:29:51.840 unfit guardianship, Foley said he would hear more in his 0:29:51.920 --> 0:29:57.560 chambers after lunch. Gloria was horrified, and her shock only 0:29:57.640 --> 0:30:01.000 increased after lunch, when it was real that the man 0:30:01.080 --> 0:30:04.640 who had objected had done so on behalf of her 0:30:04.720 --> 0:30:09.880 own mother, Laura Morgan. Gloria didn't know it then, but 0:30:10.000 --> 0:30:13.720 Gertrude and Laura had worked together, deciding that it would 0:30:13.720 --> 0:30:16.800 look best if the child's grandmother was the public face 0:30:16.800 --> 0:30:21.000