Marietta Peabody Tree

Marietta Peabody Tree (April 12, 1917 – August 15, 1991) was an American socialite and political reporter, who represented the United States on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, appointed under the administration of John F. Kennedy.

Early life Peabody was the only daughter of Malcolm Endicott Peabody, the rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Mary Elizabeth Parkman, a dedicated charity volunteer, who encouraged her daughter to become involved with the community. Her paternal grandfather Rev. Endicott Peabody was founder and first headmaster of Groton School, where her four brothers Endicott, Samuel, George, and Malcolm were educated. Her maternal grandfather, Henry Parkman, was a Boston businessman and politician.

Tree attended St. Timothy's School, where she excelled in athletics. She undertook a grand tour of Europe and finishing school in Florence upon graduation to avoid college. When asked to predict her own future, she wrote down: "Parties, people, and politics." in later interviews she would exclaim: "I'll never stop being grateful to my father for forcing me to go to college. It changed my life."

Marriage to Desmond FitzGerald During college, Marietta was courted by New York City lawyer Desmond FitzGerald. The couple married on September 2, 1939. A year later, Marietta gave birth to a daughter Frances FitzGerald, who became a noted journalist and historian.

Her ardent liberal Democratic views clashed with those of her Republican husband and apparently created tensions in the marriage. After America entered the Second World War in December 1941, Marietta accepted a post as part of the American delegation assisting the British Ministry of Information.

During the war years, Marietta became romantically involved with the film director John Huston. and his butler Collins.

Politics and Adlai Stevenson Marietta Tree immediately joined the Lexington Democratic Club, and two years later was elected the county chairwoman. She was elected to the Democratic State Committee in 1954.

Tree began an affair with Adlai Stevenson in 1952, the year of his first unsuccessful presidential campaign. Tree’s husband was unfazed by the affair, perhaps due to his bisexuality,

In 1987 she appeared in the Danny Huston film Mr. North, released about a month before John Huston died of emphysema on August 28, 1987.

Death Tree died of breast cancer on August 15, 1991, in New York Hospital.

Character Isaiah Berlin characterized her political leanings as "a progressive, liberal figure who was mixed up with a lot of naive left-wing sympathizers." As the feminist movement gained momentum in the 1960s, Marietta refused to support its cause, and in 1967 she refused to sign three resolutions pertaining to women's rights.

Filmography