Was There Really An Engagement Between Harry Hopkins And Dorothy Hale Or Was It A Short-Lived Relationship? Myth Number 6

Harry Hopkins, TIME Magazine July 1938

In July 1938, TIME magazine reported that WPA Administrator Harry Hopkins said “it is nobody’s god damn business” whether he was engaged to Dorothy Donovan Hale. Popular newspapers of the day began reporting on a possible engagement in March, 1938. Even LIFE magazine ran a blurb in its May edition.

The engagement was never confirmed by Harry Hopkins nor by Dorothy Hale. However, when Dorothy died on October 21, 1938 at age thirty-three, it was rumored by her friend Clare Boothe Luce that she committed suicide because Hopkins broke off their relationship. The Donovan family strongly disagreed with Luce and were confused by the many inaccurate statements made by Luce about Dorothy. The niece of Dorothy Hale said the family never accepted Dorothy’s death as a suicide. The Donovan family believed Dorothy broke off the relationship with Harry Hopkins.