When Franklin Delano Roosevelt took the oath of office on March 4, 1933, unemployment was 25 percent; homes and farms were lost to foreclosure, and people were hungry. Hobos rode the rails looking for work. Farmers from the Great Plains migrated to California, a journey described by John Steinbeck in the Grapes of Wrath. 

Incumbent President Hoover urged voters to reject Franklin Roosevelt’s strategy to use  government intervention to end the Depression. Roosevelt promised them a New Deal. Hoover lost by a landslide.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt became an entirely new First Lady, a full political partner in her husband’s political career as well as a campaigner for social reform.

Eleanor met Franklin on a train in the summer of 1902. The couple began a secret correspondence, and became engaged the following year. Franklin’s mother opposed the match, but her son was determined to have his way. On March 17, 1905, former president Teddy Roosevelt gave the bride away.

In September 1918 while unpacking her husband’s suitcase, Eleanor discovered love letters written to her husband by Lucy Mercer, her social secretary. Franklin thought about leaving his wife to marry his new love, but was persuaded against it by his political advisor, and by his mother who told him that if he divorced his wife, she would disinherit him. From that time forward, the Roosevelt marriage was rooted in Franklin’s political career.

The partnership became firmer after Franklin contracted a paralytic disease that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Franklin’s mother thought he should retire from politics; Eleanor urged him to continue his career. From that time, Eleanor stood in for Franklin at public events, and became his eyes and ears among his colleagues and constituents. In so doing, Eleanor gained influence in the New York Democratic Party. She also became active in the Women’s Trade Union League.

When Roosevelt became president, Eleanor was ready for the challenge. She continue her speaking agenda, donating her earnings to charity. Eleanor earned $75,000 during her first year as First Lady. Her speaking fee rose to $1000 in 1941.

As a way to help female journalists keep their jobs, Eleanor didn’t allow male reporters to cover her weekly press conferences. And, because the Gridiron Club didn’t allow women to attend the annual Gridiron Dinner, Eleanor hosted a competing event she called the Gridiron Widows.

Eleanor openly supported civil rights and anti-lynching legislation. One of her more public acts was in 1936 when she arranged for Marian Anderson to sing in concert at the Lincoln Memorial after the Daughters of the American Revolution denied Anderson the use of their Constitution Hall.

When the United States entered World War II, Eleanor threw herself into the war effort. Like Edith Wilson, she set an example of food rationing. Eleanor also embraced gas rationing, participated in air raid training (including learning how to use a gas mask), and established a Victory Garden on the South Lawn of the White House.

Eleanor ramped up her travel schedule. In 1942, she visited American servicemen in England. The following year, she flew to Australia and New Zealand as a representative of the Red Cross. When there were complaints that the First Lady wore the Red Cross uniform without receiving proper training, she dispensed with the uniform. In 1944, Eleanor visited American bases in the Caribbean Basin and Central and South America.

While the First Lady traveled, her daughter Anna fulfilled her duties. One unhappy result of this arrangement was when Franklin decided to take his daughter to the Yalta Conference in 1945, rather than his wife.

Neither woman was present at Warm Springs, Georgia on April 12, 1945 when Franklin died of a cerebral hemorrhage. However, Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd was in attendance. 

After Franklin died, Eleanor Roosevelt continued her life of public service and was a key member of discussions resulting in the 1948 United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

Bess Truman

When Bess Truman became First Lady in 1945, Americans were tired of war and deprivation. Allied troops declared Victory in Europe Day on May 8, 1945. In August, American planes dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On September 2^nd, Japan surrendered.

Americans were both euphoric that the war was over and apprehensive about what the postwar world would bring. They looked forward to the end of rationing and hoped for a strong economy. It was an uncertain time, a moment when many Americans wanted to turn away from social activism in favor of secure expectations. It was time for a new sort of First Lady, one who represented stability amidst uncertaintty. Bess Truman filled the bill.

Born in Independence, Missouri, Bess married a young man she’d known since the fifth grade. When Harry Truman became a Senator in 1935, she served as his advisor, speech writer and office manager. When Harry chaired the Committee of Military Affairs, he hired Bess as his office clerk.

In 1944, Franklin Roosevelt prepared to run for a fourth term as president. Looking at the possibility of a vice-presidential succession, Roosevelt’s advisors looked for a vice-presidential candidate acceptable to Democrat party leaders. They chose Truman, who became president in April 1945. Truman ran for election to his own term in 1948, embarking on a “whistle stop” campaign in which he introduced his wife as The Boss and his daughter Margaret as The Boss’s Boss.

As First Lady, Bess Trumen was almost a complete opposite to Eleanor Roosevelt. She never held a press conference or granted an interview, though she would respond to written questions from the press.

Bess presided over an active social life at the White House. She revived the tradition of a “social season,” sponsoring a schedule of dinners and receptions in winter and spring to honor members of the different branches of government. The schedule of state dinners also increased. Bess planned menus of plain American food, with a particular emphasis on ham and corn dishes popular in the Midwest.

In her personal life, Bess paid a weekly visit to a hair salon to have her “poodle cut” styled, ate her supper on what she called the “porch,” also known as the White House South Portico, and hand-wrote her correspondence. Bess spent much of the summer at her home in Independence, Missouri where she cultivated her flower garden.

Shortly after Truman’s re-election in 1948, it was discovered that the White House was in danger of collapse – to the extent that the Trumans had to vacate the premises while contractors went to work. Some thought it would be more cost effective to tear down the structure,  but Bess thought it was important to preserve at least four of the original walls to serve as a shell for a modern mansion. When the Trumans returned to the White House in 1952, air conditioning had been installed.

Harry Truman declined to run for re-election in 1952. The new President, Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower, was a retired five-star general who had commanded Allied forces in Europe. Bess invited Mamie Eisenhower to tour her new home, establishing a presidential transition custom.

Mamie Eisenhower

Mamie met her future husband in 1915 when he was stationed at Ft. Sam Houston for his first tour of duty. Ike later said Mamie immediately drew his attention; she was “a vivacious and attractive girl, smaller than average, saucy in the look about her face and in her whole attitude.” Mamie returned the compliment, later saying that he was “the spiffiest looking man I’d ever talked to in all my born life.” When the couple married in July 1916, Mamie began her career as an Army wife. By the time the Eisenhowers left the White House, the family had moved 28 times.

Mamie’s preference for a specific shade of pink that became known as First Lady or Mamie Pink launched a national trend for pink clothing, housewares, and bathrooms. I suppose that’s why my childhood bedroom was painted a shade of pink that I still dislike.

Mamie wore a notable pink gown to the 1953 inaugural balls. The peau de soie gown was embroidered with more than 2,000 rhinestones, and paired with matching gloves and a beaded purse. The New York Dress Institute named Mamie one of the best dressed women in the country, and the Mamie Look of a full-skirted dress, little hats, charm bracelets, pearls and a hairstyle that featured bangs swept the country.

Reflecting the values of most middle-aged, middle class American women, Mamie defined the role of First Lady as being the president’s wife, and Hostess of White House events.

Like many American women, Mamie clipped coupons and pinched pennies. To keep costs down, Mamie scanned newspapers to see what bulk items were on sale, and encouraged the kitchen staff to use boxed cake mixes, and also to serve Jell-O.

In addition to organizing receptions and state dinners, Mamie served as Ike’s ceremonial substitute by meeting with large groups visiting the White House. During the tourist season, Mamie shook hands and waved as groups traveled through the state rooms.

On Sept 24, 1955, Ike suffered a heart attack while on a visit with Mamie’s family. While he recuperated, Mamie limited his schedule  and answered his mail. In November 1957, when Ike suffered a mild stroke, Mamie insisted that Vice-President Nixon attend a state dinner in his place.

In an article Mamie wrote for Today’s Woman, Mamie advised women that “Your independence depend[s] on you…[the only way] to avoid debt…is for the husband to give his wife the paycheck and let her be responsible for it…If he sets up charge accounts and pays the bills…things are almost certain to get out of hand…” Mamie also thought married women should not pursue careers outside the home. ?

???

I hope you found this 5-part blog series on First Ladies from 1789-1961 interesting. I’m struck by the efforts these women made to enhance the office of First Lady, and the effect their personal preferences have had on the nation as well as the office. More insights into American First Ladies can be found in this video from The National Portrait Gallery.

Illustrations

Charger Plate, Eisenhower Presidential China.

*Mamie Eisenhower augmented the Truman Presidential China Service by purchasing 120 “charger” plates. these plates remain in front of the diner during the main meal. Other plates, such as salad plates or dinner plates, are placed on top of the charger plate.

Eleanor Roosevelt in her wedding dress, 1905.

Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt, November 1935.

Eleanor Roosevelt & Marion Anderson in Japan, 1953.

Victory Garden Poster, 1945.

Eleanor Roosevelt with Jean Marie MacArthur in Queensland, Australia, 1943.

Bess Truman.

Victory over Japan. Photo by Victor Jorgenson, August 14, 1945.

Portrait of Bess Truman.

Northeast view of State Dining Room during White House Renovation, 1952.

Digging the Basement under the North Portico during White House Renovation, 1952.

Bess Truman with incoming First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, December 1, 1952.

Mamie & Dwight D. Eisenhower, San Antonio, 1916.

Portrait of Mamie Eisenhower.

Jello cranberry salad by Shadle

Mamie Eisenhower, 1954.

J Y Smith. “Mamie Eisenhower Dies at 82.” The Washington Post. Nov 2, 1979.

National First Ladies Library.

The White House.

National Museum of American History: First Ladies.

First Ladies of the United States. National Portrait Gallery.

The post First Ladies Move into a Post-War World first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

For various reasons, we are more aware of some First Ladies than others. Last week, I skipped over Edith Roosevelt and Helen Taft in favor of closing the blog with Edith Wilson. This week, I intended to begin with Lou Hoover, but I started thinking about 1920 as a pivotal year. 

The United States had emerged from World War I without ratifying the 1919 Versailles Treaty with its stipulation for a League of Nations. Woodrow Wilson’s international agenda was in tatters. Due to President Wilson’s illness, the White House was a closed monument. In 1920, Americans were ready for a change. The American economy, though in a post-war recession, would soon boom. American women had the right to vote. Anything seemed possible. Would the office of First Lady reflect these changes?

Florence Kling Harding

As a teenager in Marion, Ohio, Florence worked in her father’s hardware store where she clerked, kept the books, and even rode her horse to collect rent from farmers working land owned by her father. 

In 1880, independently minded Florence eloped with Pete DeWolfe in what may have been a common law marriage. The couple had a son before DeWolfe left his family in 1882. Four years later Florence divorced her husband, a bold move in 1886. In later years when Florence’s second husband, Warren Harding, entered politics, Florence encouraged the press to assume her first marriage ended in widowhood, a more respectable status than divorcee.

In 1891, Florence married Warren Harding, owner of the Marion Star. During the course of their marriage, Harding called his wife “The Boss,” and she referred to her husband as “Sonny.” Harding was five years younger than his wife.

In 1894 Florence became the business manager of her husband’s paper. Though she didn’t write articles, Florence hired the paper’s first woman reporter, recruited newsboys to deliver the paper, and subscribed to a news wire service that brought her Marion, Ohio readers global news with 24 hours.

Florence supported her husband’s political career, even selecting his clothing, as he rose in state politics. In 1905, Florence took time off to recuperate from emergency surgery for nephritis. While she convalesced in the hospital, Harding began an affair with a close friend. Though he promised to end it, the affair continued.

Harding became a U.S. Senator in 1914, and the family moved to Washington D.C. In 1920, Harding ran for president from their home in Marian via what was called a Front Porch Campaign. The venue allowed Florence to control who met with her husband, and also to embark on her own campaign to prove Harding understood people’s concerns. For example, one day she might wear an apron while she pared apples with farmer’s wives – a play for the traditional female vote. Another day, Florence explained she didn’t wear a wedding ring because it symbolized bondage – an effort to reach educated female reformers.

Voters elected Harding, and turned away from progressive, international politics. An anecdotal conversation between the new president and his wife after his first address to the Senate illustrates their partnership.

Florence asks: “Well, Warren Harding, I have got you the presidency. What are you going to do with it?”

To which he replies: “May God help me, for I need it.”

With his wife’s approval, Warren Harding opened the White House to the public. On many occasions, Florence personally acted as tour guide. In response to a mild economic depression in 1921, Florence set an example of economizing measures at the White House. She shut off exterior water fountains and any rooms not in use. But she continued to entertain, often inviting several thousand guests.  Florence and her husband also held poker parties in the White House Library where they ignored Prohibition and served liquor.

In 1923 the Hardings embarked on a cross-country tour, including the territory of Alaska. The president became ill and was rushed to San Francisco where he died of a heart-related illness on August 2, 1923. A year later, Florence died from renal failure.

Grace Coolidge

The Coolidges were on vacation in Vermont when they learned of the president’s death, Grace Coolidge held a kerosene lamp while her father-in-law, a notary public, administered the oath of office to her husband.

Grace was a popular White House hostess, but she wasn’t privy to her husband’s work or plans. When Coolidge decided not to run for re-election in 1928, he announced his decision to the press before mentioned it to her.

Lou Henry Hoover

Lou Hoover was well-educated, well-traveled, and accustomed to working for public causes. She met her husband when she was a first year geology student at Stanford University, and he was a senior. She finished her degree while Hoover went to Australia as a mining engineer in the gold mines. As soon as she graduated, Hoover cabled Lou a marriage proposal – which she accepted by return cable.

After the marriage ceremony, the Hoovers sailed for Shanghai where Hoover worked for the Department of Mines. Lou learned Mandarin Chinese, and in later years the couple spoke in Mandarin if they wanted to have a private conversation in a pubilc place. The Hoovers were in Tientsin, China during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion. Lou helped build barricades, and served her shifts of guard duty.

When World War I broke out in 1914, the Hoovers were in London where Herbert Hoover had founded his own firm. Lou chaired the American Women’s War Relief Fund and Hospital to raise immediate funds for refugees. At the request of the American ambassador, Lou also led the Commission for Relief in Belgium. 

When the U. S. entered the war in 1917, President Wilson named Hoover as chief of the Food Administration. Lou’s Hoovering Guidelines, which included recipes, publicized how Americans could conserve food by going one day without meat, and another without wheat. 

From 1921 to 1928, Hoover served as Commercy Secretary. Lou became active during the founding years of the Girls Scouts of America, supported other women’s organizations, and engaged in public lectures. 

When she became First Lady in March 1929, Lou curtailed her public activities, but continued official entertainments, one of which was a series of teas for congressional spouses. The representative from Chicago, Oscar Stanton DePriest, was the first African American elected to Congress in the 20^th century. In order to treat congressional wives equally, Lou decided to hold 5 separate teas and invited Jessie DePriest to the final tea on June 12, 1929.

There was an immediate backlash from segregationists, including formal votes in the state legislatures of Texas, Florida, and Georgia to censure Lou Hoover. The First Lady didn’t respond to their criticism.

The greatest single event to affect the Hoover Administration was the Stock Market Crash of 1929, followed by what would become the Great Depression. Lou Hoover’s most notable response was to organize a volunteer effort, encouraging Girl Scouts to see who was struggling in their respective communities, and make plans for sending relief where it was most needed.

Lou responded to threats to the cotton textile industry by wearing a cotton evening gown, rather than silk, to a White House reception. The Hoovers also decided they would personally fund White House entertainments, but never publicized their contributions, thus giving the impression that while Americans suffered food shortages, presidential life was untouched by the crisis.

~ * ~

Illustrations

President Coolidge with members of American Chemical Society on White House Lawn, 1924. Scaffolding shows White House again under repair.

Warren and Florence Harding in their garden.

Mrs. Harding and the Girl Scouts, 1922.

Warren and Florence Harding at the White House, c.1921

Portrait of Florence Harding, 1923.

Portrait of Grace Coolidge, 1926.

Lou Hoover in Tientsin, China, c.1900.

Lou Hoover on cover of Time Magazine, 1924.

Jessie DePriest. Photo by Addison N Scurlock, 1929.

Portrait of Lou Hoover by Richard Marsden Brown, 1950.

National First Ladies Library

The White House

National Museum of American History: First Ladies

First Ladies of the United States. National Portrait Gallery

The post First Ladies in the “Roaring Twenties” first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

After the civil war, American First Ladies were women with direct experience in the social movements of their time. As young women, none had any expectation of the office they would hold, but their role as presidential spouses continued to bring change to the White House.

The Election of 1876

After eight years in the White House, President Grant declined to run for a third term. The Republican Party nominated Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio. The Democrats put Governor Samuel J. Tildon of New York on the ballot.

The first voter tally showed Tilden with 184 electoral votes and Hayes with 165. However, twenty electoral votes from four states were disputed. The issue was hotly debated until politicians worked out what is called the Compromise of 1877. Democrats agreed to give the 20 electoral votes to Hayes, in exchange for the Republican promise to withdraw Federal troops from the southern states, effectively ending Reconstruction.

Lucy Ware Webb Hayes aka Lemonade Lucy

Lucy Hayes was the first presidential spouse with a college degree. Prior to the civil war, she supported abolition, temperance, and women’s rights, stating that a woman was man’s “equal in all things and his superior in some.”

Lucy first met her husband when she was a 14-year-old student at Ohio Weslyan University. They met again when she was 19. The couple married in 1852 and had eight children. During the war, Hayes commanded the 23^rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Like Julia Grant, Lucy joined her husband in camp, nursing men and helping in other ways, earning her the title Mother of the Regiment.

After the war, Hayes served a term in Congress and was elected governor of Ohio for three terms before assuming the presidency. To keep down expenses, Lucy retrieved furniture stored in the White House attic and arranged it in a way that hid holes in the carpet and drapes. In place of furnishings, Lucy requested a new set of White House china designed by Theodore Davis with scenes depicting American flora and fauna.

The White House received two major improvements during Lucy’s tenure: bathrooms with running water and a wall telephone. Progress! Another innovation Lucy introduced was the now annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn the Monday after Easter.

At President Hayes’ first official dinner, Lucy served wine with the meal. However, the six wine glasses at each place setting angered Temperance supporters. The president knew the Republican party needed the temperance vote, and banned all alcoholic beverages from future White House functions. Many mistakenly thought he made the decision under Lucy’s teetotal influence. Despite the “dry” White House, Lucy was a popular hostess, later referred to as Lemonade Lucy.

Lucy was the first presidential spouse to publicly support causes such as adequate funds for mental health care and encouraging women to pursue higher education. She did not, however, support women’s suffrage.

Rose Elizabeth Cleveland

Grover Cleveland was a bachelor when he entered the White House in 1885, though he had fathered a child out-of-wedlock. Necessity and  scandalous baggage made Grover’s sister Rose a good choice for the office of First Lady.

Rose, nicknamed Libby, was a teacher and freelance lecturer who was bored by small talk and known for conjugating Greek and Roman verbs in her head while attending public White House receptions. But though she thought women paid too much attention to fashion, Libby’s fashion choices were less than demure. According to The New York Times Libby attended a March 1885 reception wearing “a dress of black satin, with entire overdress of Spanish lace. The satin bodice was low cut and sleeveless and the transparent lace revealed the shoulders and arms.”

Libby’s clothing led to an 1886 public exchange of letters in the New York World. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a leader in the women’s suffrage movement, wrote “the custom of partially denuding innocent girls in public is carried to the verge of immorality.” To which Libby responded “I approve of evening dress which shows the neck and arms. I do not approve of any dress which shows the bust. Between the neck and bust there is a line always to be drawn and it is as clear to the most frivolous society woman as to the anatomist.”

In 1886, Grover married his 21-year-old ward Frances who became the youngest wife of a sitting president, and Libby returned home to Massachusetts. About 1889, Rose met Evangeline Simpson. The couple began a correspondence and spent time in each other’s homes. In 1901, after Evangline’s second husband died, Libby and Evangeline took up residence in Bagni de Lucca in Tuscany.

Edith Galt Wilson

In March 1915 Edith Galt, a widow, met President Woodrow Wilson, a lonely widower whose wife died of Bright’s Disease in July 1914. Edith and Woodrow married in December 1915. As First Lady, Edith remained by her husband’s side as he worked at his desk in the family quarters and sat in on his meetings. After the U.S. entered World War I, Edith had access to classified information.

As First Lady, Edith threw herself into the war effort, observing Gasless Sundays, Meatless Mondays, and Wheatless Wednesdays. She even decided to save money on mowing the White House lawn by grazing sheep and auctioning their wool, with the proceeds going the Red Cross. Edith joined her husband when he went to Europe to visit American troops in 1918 and later to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

Shortly after returning to the United States, Presient Wilson embarked on a national campaign to gain support for the League of Nations and the Versailles Treaty. While on tour, Wilson collapsed from exhaustion and returned to the White House in late September. On October 2, Edith discovered her husband unconscious on the bathroom floor. He had suffered a massive stroke.

Edith decided to act as her husband’s steward. She and his doctors hid the extent of Wilson’s disability from Congress and the public, stating he suffered from exhaustion, needed to rest, and was working from his bedroom.  Edith guarded all access to the president. She screened his communications and only took matters she considered important to the president.

Edith continued her stewardship for the remainder of her husband’s term of office. In this 1921 picture, Edith holds down the document for the president’s signature. Woodrow’s left side remained partially paralyzed from his stroke.

? ? ?

Illustrations

Drawing of White House published in 1891 in Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography.

Hayes-Wheeler Campaign Poster 1876.

Lucy Hayes. Portrait by Daniel Huntington, 1881.

Hayes Presidential China Plate.

Lucy Hayes Reception Gown. Smithsonian Institute. Photo by Jeff Kubina.

Rose Cleveland.

Fashion Plate, 1888. Peterson’s Magazine.

Edith Wilson assists President Wilson signing a document 1921

Gillian Brockell. “A Gay First Lady?” Washington Post. June 29, 2019.

Rob Hardy. “The Passion of Rose Elizabeth Cleveland.” New England Review. Vol. 28. No. 1. pp 180-193.

National First Ladies’ Library

The White House

National Museum of American History: First Ladies

First Ladies of the United States. National Portrait Gallery.

The post First Ladies in Unusual Circumstances first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

During the course of the nineteenth century, First Ladies emerged from behind their husband’s careers to become separate personalities. Though these women were still identified most broadly as wives and mothers, social expectations changed. This second installment in my series about First Ladies profiles a selection of nineteenth century First Ladies who caught my interest: political wives, a teacher, an army wife, and a young presidential niece.

Sarah Polk, aka, Sahara Sarah

In many ways, Sarah Childress Polk reflects early nineteenth century social reform, particularly the Temperance Movement. Without children to take up her time, Sarah devoted herself to her husband’s political career.

Beginning in 1826, when James Polk began his Congressional career, until the end of his presidency, Sarah engaged in social interactions with her husband’s colleagues, handled all his incoming and outgoing correspondence, coordinated his speaking engagements and press coverage, and advised him on his speeches.

Sarah was a devout Presbyterian. No business of any kind took place on a Sunday. In her role of First Lady, Sarah banned dancing, card games, and hard liquor. Sarah’s entertainments were so sober, she was sometimes called Sahara Sarah. However, guests present at dinner parties were served the appropriate wine for each course. A congressman’s wife, described a four-hour dinner party with forty guests. At each place setting, glassware held wines ranging from pink champagne to ruby port, essentially forming “a rainbow around each plate.“

Like her husband, Sarah suppored slavery and manifest destiny.

Abigail Fillmore ~The First Teacher in the White House

In 1819 Abigail Powers Fillmore accepted a teaching position at the New Hope Academy in upstate New York. She was 21 years old. Her oldest student, Millard Fillmore, was nineteen. A shared love of learning brought teacher and student closer together. In 1826 after a long courtship, the couple married. Abigail continued her teaching career until the first of her two children was born in 1828, the same year her husband launched his political career and joined the New York Assembly. In 1849 when her husband became vice-president under Zachary Taylor, Abigail probably thought this would be his highest office. But in July 1850, the president died.

When the official mourning period was over, Abigail received visitors on Tuesday mornings, held public receptions on Friday nights, organized formal dinners on Thursdays, and smaller dinners on Saturdays. Receptions were particularly difficult for Abigail, because after she broke her ankle in 1842, she could not comfortably stand for hours greeting guests.

Abigail gained a reputation for her support of the White House library, though the story may be apocyrphal. She did preside over a literary salon to which she invited visiting writers.

Abigail was the first presidential spouse known for her with a former teaching career and ongoing interest in education. She was also the first presidential spouse to have her full-length portrait reproduced on paper cards, called carte de visites, that were widely sold in 1853.

Harriet Lane: Presidential Niece

James Buchanan was a life-long bachelor, the only president who never married. After his younger sister and her husband died, Buchanan assumed the role of guardian to Harriet and her older sister. Over the years, Harriet became her uncle’s political partner.

In 1854 during the Pierce Administration, Buchanan was the American Ambassador to Great Britain. At age 24, Harriet joined her uncle in London where she became a favorite of Queen Victoria, who gave her the protocol status equal to a spousal ministerial consort.

Buchanan became president in 1857 with Harriet as his hostess.

During a time of increasing sectional strife, Harriet had the delicate task of working out seating arrangements for her weekly formal dinner parties. Harriet had to seat guests appropriately for their status, while keeping political enemies apart. Otherwise, both verbal and physical disagreements could break out. Harriet’s task became increasingly difficult as sectional frictions increased. By the time Buchanan left office, seven states had seceded from the Union.

Other social duties were more enjoyable. In 1860 Edward, Prince of Wales, visited America, and became the first member of a European royal family to stay at the White House.

Harriet pushed social boundaries when she and Edward played a game of kingpins, a type of lawn bowling. The event caused a stir because women weren’t supposed to display any physical abilities, especially in company with a man.

“Miss Todd, I want to dance with you in the worst way.” – Attributed to A. Lincoln.

According to Todd family tradition, Mary met Abraham Lincoln at a ball when he asked her to dance. Mary came from a wealthy, slave-holding political family based in Kentucky. She was highly educated for a woman and very interested in politics. One of her suitors was Stephen Douglas, the Senator from Illinois. The man she married became president in 1861. The couple had four sons. Eddie died in 1850 from tuberculosis. Willie died of typhoid while the family lived at the White House. The illustration above depicts the youngest son Tad who died in 1871, and oldest son Robert, who lived until 1926.

In 1860 Abraham Lincoln won enough electoral votes to become president, despite the fact that he wasn’t on the ballot in any of the southern states. Shots were fired at Ft. Sumpter, and the nation broke apart.

When the Lincoln family moved to Washington, Mary had no connections or mentors. Many criticized Mary’s coarse manners and said she was pretentious. She definately had her moments.

For example, Congress appropriated $20,000 to redecorate the public and private White House rooms, including the purchase of new china. Mary overspent by $6000. Congress passed two separate appropriation bills to cover the cost. 

Mary thought decorating and entertainment expenses were justified in order to create a respectable image as the legitimate government of the United States. Mary’s critics saw a vain and selfish woman, an image not improved by her extravagant fashion purchases.

And yet, even these had a purpose. Mary’s fashion consultant was Elizabeth Keckley, a woman who purchased her freedom in 1855, moved Washington and established a dressmaking business that employed 20 seamstresses. Mary met Elizabeth the day of Lincoln’s inauguration. The two women became friends, and Elizabeth guided Mary to a more sophisticated style of clothing than the lace and flowers Mary previously wore.

Julia Grant: Army Wife

While a student at West Point, Hiram Ulysses Grant became friends with Fred Dent, who introduced Grant to his family, particularly his sister Julia. The couple married in 1848 and raised a family of three sons and a daughter. Unwilling to continue the family separations of army life, Grant resigned his commission and held a number of jobs before being named a general in the Union army.

On the campaign trail, Grant missed his wife, so Julia left her children with relatives and joined Grant during his campaigns in Memphis, Vicksburg, Nashville, and Virgina. Sometimes the children traveled with her.

Julia thought her husband had a duty to serve as president and threw herself into his 1868 presidential campaign. When delegations came to their home in Galena, Illinois, she welcomed them and served refreshments. After his inauguration, Ulysses turned to his wife and asked, “And now, my dear, I hope you’re satisfied?” Presumably, she was.

Dressed in a gown of white satin accessorized with diamonds and pearls at her first Inaugural Ball, Julia represented a new type of first lady, one who would be a figure of public interest. Dolley Madison, the last First Lady to serve eight years, created a formal platform for the presidency. Julia brought Americans into the White House family by sharing images of her family life.

When the Grants moved into the White House, Congress appropriated $25,000 for the first family’s renovations. Julia used the funds on the family rooms in the western end of the second floor, and the executive offices in the eastern wing.

When the Grants entered their second term, Congress appropriated $100,000 to update the public rooms on the first floor. Julia brought in a decorating firm from New York, and work was completed in 1874.

In May of that year, daughter Nellie became the first White House bride. The wedding took place in the newly redecorated East Room. The French chandeliers had thousands of glass pieces attached to a nickel-plated framework with multiple shaded glass globes for gaslights.

During the course of the nineteenth century, First Ladies became women with families and professional aspirations, as well as representing their office. As the twentieth century approached, their sphere continued to expand.

* ~ *

Illustrations

Sarah Childress Polk by George Dury after an 1846 portrait by George Peter Alexander Healy.

Abigail Powers Fillmore. Photograph.

White House Library.

Harriet Lane. 1860 Photograph.

Lincoln Family 1867. Currier and Ives Lithograph.

Mary Todd Lincoln. Photo by Matthew Brady.

Elizabeth Keckley. Unknown Date.

Dress for Mary Lincoln designed by Elizabeth Keckley, 1861.

Julia Grant. Photo by Matthew Brady, between 1875 and 1880.

Julia Grant with her father and her children son Jessie, daughter, Nellie. Between 1865 & 1880. by Mathew Brady.

East Room as designed by Stephane Boudin during the Kennedy Administration.

National First Ladies’ Library.

The White House.

National Museum of American History: First Ladies

First Ladies of the United States. National Portrait Gallery.

The post First Ladies: Expanding the Role first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.