White House Glamour

Glamour and excitement...dashing about Washington behind four white horses, picnicking in the woods around Rock Creek, and presiding over an abundance of luncheons, dinners and elegant social occasions in the White House. This was the beautiful - and young - Julia Gardiner Tyler, second wife of President John Tyler. Julia, the daughter of Senator David Gardiner, was twenty-two when she met the newly widowed John Tyler, who was fifty-three. John was immediately taken with her breathless beauty and managed to kiss her on her second visit to the White House. Two weeks later he proposed! Julia responded in the fashion of the day, by crying "No,No,No", which really meant, it would be scandalous to say yes this early in our relationship...but don't stop asking.

The President continued his pursuit with flowery love letters. And then fate stepped in. Tyler invited Julia and her father to join other guests for a cruise on the Potomac River aboard the U.S. Navy's new steam frigate, Princeton. The frigate was equipped with a new cannon called the Peacemaker. The male guests gathered on the deck to watch a demonstration of the new cannon. It exploded, killing eight people, including Julia's father, as well as the secretaries of the Navy and State. Julia collapsed and John carried her ashore. A few months later, the couple slipped into a church in New York City and were married.

The new Mrs. Tyler recovered and became a popular Washington figure. She became interested in politics and frequently could be seen in the gallery at the House of Representatives. At a White House ball, she introduced the polka - considered a racy dance and previously forbidden in the White House. She solved the problem of having to wear mourning clothes due to the death of her father, by wearing black only in the daytime and white at night. Or she would combine the two colors by covering white with black lace. She loved ropes of pearls and a jewel on her forehead. Quite the flamboyant lady in 1844.

"Gentle" Lady

Lucy Webb Hayes, wife of Rutherford B. Hayes, became First Lady in 1877. She was thought to have a gentle and winning face compared by one writer of the era to a "Madonna". The writer wasn't too far off as Lucy gave birth to eight children, five of whom survived. Lucy swam with the sharks as Washington was at the time full of critics who focused on the pretensions and extravagances of Washington society. But she kept her simple ways about her and was praised for her quiet dignity and ladylike simplicity. She did not dress ostentatiously, nor did she frizz her hair or powder her face, as was in fashion at the time. Still, Lucy had her critics.

The wife of Maine Senator James G. Blaine, Harriet Blaine, directed her frustrations with President Hayes toward Lucy. It seems the President was not taking Senator Blaine's advice and Mrs. Blaine resented him for it. So she took up a campaign of ugly rumors against Mrs. Hayes. She told everyone who would listen that the White House was dirty and that Lucy traveled with the President to keep people from insulting him.



As only luck would have it, Mrs. Hayes was inadvertently seated next to Mrs. Blaine at a concert. Mrs. Blaine huffed and puffed and moved to another seat. Lucy turned to a friend who had accompanied her, and said in a loud whisper, "Who was that stout old woman in purple?" So much for Mrs. Blaine. Right on, LUCY.

On their inaugural evening, the President and Mrs. Hayes were faced with a large number of overnight guests, all of whom were distinquished, some even royalty. Lucy had them draw straws for who got the State bedroom, considered the best. Lucy's tact was more noticed than the fancy furnishings of the White House on that occasion.

President Grover Cleveland was a bachelor when he took office in 1884. His sister, Libbie Cleveland, acted as his hostess. Libbie invited Mrs. Oscar Folsom and her twenty-one-year-old daughter, Frances, to the White House. President Cleveland fell for young Frances, and after she finished school and while the gossips were still focusing on her mother as a potential First Lady, Frances won the President's heart.
Some years later, young Mrs. Cleveland visited an island off Maine, where she became enchanted by the antique furniture available there. Upon her return to the White House, a van filled with antiques pulled up to the White house. "What the hell have you got there?" asked the President. "Old furniture for Mrs. Cleveland from somewhere in Maine," said the mover. Cleveland inspected the pile of old chairs, bureaus, desks and beds and said to the mover, "You turn around and take that damn kindling pile back downtown." The mover left with the load of old furniture and the President forgot about it.

Two weeks later the President was gone from the White House for the day and upon his return he noticed a chair that looked familiar. He asked his wife, "where'd you get that" Where'd it come from?" "That?" she said, "why, we've always had that. We've had that for years." Cleveland grumbled and dismissed it.

A few days later, the President was again gone for the day and upon his return another new "old" chair appeared. "Where'd that come from?" he asked his wife once again. "Oh," said Frances, "that old chair? we got it out of the attic, we've had that for a long time." In the spare bedroom, the President saw a "new" bed, shiny and polished. And then he remembered where he had seen these pieces before - on the kindling pile he sent away a few weeks earlier. Within six months, Mrs. Cleveland managed to slip every single piece of her treasured antiques from Maine into the White House without tipping her hand to the President.

Jackie Kennedy was known for refurbishing the White House with furnishings which had been there in previous administrations. Having been shocked by the poverty in the coal-mining areas, she set about to buy new White House crystal from the Morgantown Glassware Guild, Inc. in West Virginia. Later, a well-known manufacturer of glassware offered to donate a complete set of crystal to the White House, but Mrs. Kennedy refused saying that she would continue to purchase glassware from West Virginia until they weren't poor anymore. I saw her stemware at the JFK Library in Boston. It is beautifully simple and clean. Classic in the most elegant way, as was Mrs. Kennedy.

Some Things Never Change

Recently a school district in my state was considering giving students 40% credit for work not done. The idea was to encourage kids to stay in school by giving them a second chance at getting the work done. Of course, there has been some public outcry about the dangers of getting credit for work not completed. Will they get paid by employers for work not done? We all have worked with those who do little and take home big checks – it happens. Doesn’t mean we want to reward kids for being slackers.

Some of us are old enough to remember when you got one chance to do your school work and if it wasn’t done on time you lost out. And when you didn’t get what you wanted just because you wanted it. Remember Margaret Truman, Harry’s daughter. Margaret, who parents paid dearly for years of music lessons, made her singing debut in 1947. She received pay for her performance of $1,500.
While shopping with her mother, First Lady Bess Truman, Margaret decided to treat herself and buy a mink scarf. Picking out the best one in the store, she told the saleslady to charge it to her mother, whereupon Bess firmly said “Oh no you don’t, you bought it, you pay for it. You’re working now.” *

First Ladies through the ages have had the same problems keeping their children on the straight path as we do today, but they had stronger cultural and religious values to help them out. Abigail Adams had trouble with her son, Thomas, who was a good student and made his parents very proud by becoming a lawyer in the family tradition. His first case, however, was to defend the owners of the local brothel. Abigail must have wrung her hands over Thomas’ decision to make this his first case. In addition, Thomas flatly refused to wear a wig or powdered hair, as required by the “Establishment”. Sort of reminiscent of the hair wars of the sixties, isn’t it? Some things never change.**

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*Boller, Paul F., Jr., Presidential Wives, 1988, page 326

**Truman, Margaret, First Ladies, 1995, page 94

Stock the White House Kitchen Well

Happy 233rd birthday, America! Fourth of July is here with its hamburgers, potato salad and fireworks.
But some towns have eliminated the fireworks this year due to the tough financial times. Mary Todd Lincoln ran into the same problem when she was planning to entertain the Count de Paris and the Count de Chambord at the White House in 1862. Mrs. Lincoln was trying to economize at the time and insisted the government pay for the dinner. But Secretary of State Seward refused to agree. A mountain of manure for the White House lawn had just been delivered, so Mrs. Lincoln simply sold it and used the proceeds to pay for the dinner. *

While we are talking about food (excluding the manure) , it seems on the first day the Nixons occupied the White House, the dinner order for the President, Tricia, Julie and David (Julie’s husband) was steak. And for Mrs. Nixon a bowl of cottage cheese. Now the staff, ever anxious to please, had researched the Nixon’s preferences and stocked the kitchen with absolutely everything EXCEPT cottage cheese. It being Inauguration Day in Washington DC few stores were open. Chief Usher J.B.West jumped in a limousine and scoured the town until he found a delicatessen that was open and had plenty of cottage cheese. From then on, cottage cheese became a staple in the White House kitchen. **

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*Boller, Paul F. Jr., Presidential Wives, an Anecdotal History, 1988, page 123

***Boller, Paul F. Jr., Presidential Wives, an Anecdotal History, 1988, page 415

Gov. Sanford and Mrs. Coolidge

These past few days we have been bombarded with news stories about the Governor of SC, Mark Sanford, whose disappearance for several days caused havoc in his home state – to say the least. I am reminded of the similar case of the disappearance in 1927 of Grace Coolidge, wife of President Calvin Coolidge. That summer the President moved his headquarters to the Black Hills of South Dakota, where he lived in a game lodge up in the hills. There was a young Secret Serviceman, James Haley, who served as a guide. Mrs. Coolidge liked long walks or hikes through the hills where she would stop to pick wild flowers. She frequently took these walks in the early morning hours with young Mr. Haley serving as a guide.

When one day in June, Mrs. Coolidge had not returned from her walk by 1:00 PM, the President became concerned. He became increasingly upset when she was still absent at 2:15 Pm. He was about to form a search party when an obviously fatigued Mrs. Coolidge appeared and cheerfully greeted her husband. The President did not return her happy chatter, however, and ushered her at once into the house where their conversation remains unknown.

Just as today, the newspapers had a field day with this incident. “WIFE’S LONG HIKE VEXES COOLIDGE: PRESIDENT PACES PORCH AS FIRST LADY HITS 15-MILE TRAIL” blazed across the Boston Herald. “FIRST LADY ALMOST LOST; PRESIDENT WORRIED, ON POINT OF FORMING SEARCH PARTY JUST AS MRS. COOLIDGE RETURNS” sang the Boston Post. “ WIFE’S DELAY TAXES COOLIDGE’S PATIENCE, SHE GOES OFF ON LONG HIKE AND LUNCHEON GETS COLD, PRESIDENT SITS ON PORCH AN HOUR WAITING FOR HER TO EXPLAIN” graced the front page of the Boston Globe.

Another headline ran in the Boston Globe a few days later. “HALEY OUT AS MRS. COOLIDGE’S ESCORT”*
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*Boller, Paul F. Jr., Presidential Wives, an Anecdotal History, 1988, page 269

The Woman Behind the Man

We have always heard that behind every successful man is a woman. This was never more true than in the case of our First Ladies. Women who were thrust into a role most of them never expected and in many cases, were unprepared to assume. Some were more successful than others. All have stories and lessons that we can learn from today. Join me here to laugh with them - cry with them – and to see that the struggles of wives and mothers today aren’t really so different from those of ten years or two hundred years ago. And then again, maybe they are. Let’s look into the hearts and the homes of these special women. Bring them to life once again to learn from, to enjoy and love.

George Washington, who was actually a few years younger than his wife, Martha, was chastised by David Burns, a blunt Scotsman, who refused to sell Washington some land he wanted. Burns prudently told him, “What would you have been, if you hadn’t married the Widow Custis?” Yeh, where George???

How deeply did Abigail Adams’ admonition to her husband that “How could America produce heroes, statesmen and philosophers if it didn’t also produce learned women” go to influence her husband? She never doubted that women were men’s intellectual equals and she fought the battle for women’s rights long before it became the fashion to do so.

Everyone of these ladies contributed to the success or failure of her President husband. Some of their advice was heeded, some not. We saw Edith Bolling Wilson’s fierce efforts to protect her husband when he was seriously ill and the impact she had on his presidency. Eleanor Roosevelt‘s active role countered the limitations her husband’s handicap forced upon him. Jackie Kennedy’s grace and poise enhanced her husband’s impact on the influential of the world. The stories are endless and entertaining. Like Abigail Adams waiting for John to leave home on one of his lengthy political trips - at which time she enlarged the house by adding a new living room and study. She spent a considerable sum at the time, but felt she was entitled since John had spent $16,000 (a tidy sum for those days) on a new barn, which Abigail felt was totally unreasonable and unnecessary. Join me here for more of these delightful tales.