Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt died seventeen years before her husband Theodore Roosevelt ascended to the presidency of the United States. She is the most recent of the five women who never saw their husbands reach the White House. Martha Jefferson, Hannah Van Buren, and Ellen Arthur were featured recently in...
Ellen Arthur was born in Virginia and grew up in Washington D.C. She was an only child and remained very close to her mother until the latter died. William Lewis Herndon, her father, was a U.S. Naval officer; consequently he was often away on sea duty. His notable achievement was a...
Hannah Van Buren was the wife of Martin Van Buren who became the eighth United States President eighteen yeas after her death. Both Martin and Hannah were residents of the closely knit Dutch community of Kinderhook, New York, a small town near Albany, New York. The Van Burens were members of...
Six United States Presidents entered the White House unmarried; four were widowers - Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and Chester Alan Arthur. Two others were bachelors - James Buchanan and Grover Cleveland. Martha Jefferson was the first woman to die before her husband was elected President. Popular media have linked...
Ellen Axson Wilson was the first of President Woodrow Wilson's (1913-1921) two wives. Ellen Wilson died on August 6, 1914. Her death devastated and profoundly depressed the president to the extent that he became unfocused and indecisive in the presidency, in significant contrast to his determined and brisk decision-making of...
Caroline Harrison was the wife of President Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) who in turn was the grandson of President William Henry Harrison (1841). The later Harrison has the distinction, which probably will remain unique forever, of both defeating and then losing to the same opponent, Democrat Grover Cleveland (1885-1889, 1893-1897). Mrs....
Three American First Ladies died, compared to eight US Presidents who expired while president. The three are Letitia Tyler, Caroline Harrison, and Ellen Wilson. Two died from the delayed complications of childbirth while Mrs. Harrison was a victim of pulmonary tuberculosis. Letitia Tyler was a most obscure First Lady. Little is...
Melania Trump is the 49 year old wife of the country's 45th president, Donald J. Trump Her striking appearance seems to preclude any significant medical problems. Moreover, her penchant for privacy further beclouds any significant history of illness or physical disability. It was a sudden surprise when Mrs. Trump was hospitalized in...
Dear Friends, This blog has been inactive even moribund for many months, a situation that this author is determined to correct. First an explanation - many interesting and rather long travels, to the Panama Canal, along the Danube, Vienna, and most recently a cruise from Sydney to Singapore. Another, and more than satisfying,...
Barbara Bush, the former First Lady of the United States, died on April 17, 2018. Many well-deserved tributes for this remarkable lady will appear on cable, on broadcast news, and in print over the following days. Recollections and obituaries there will be far better written and more comprehensive than anything that...
First Lady Laura Bush departed the White House nine years ago. Although far less flamboyant than Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama, her immediate predecessor and successor as First Lady, she remains active in educational and social causes. She, like Rosalynn Carter, does what she does quietly, not vociferously. She serves as...
ROSALYNN CARTER'S MANY CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES CONTINUE INTO HER TENTH DECADE At present, five former United States First Ladies are still living. Three appear often in the media: Barbara Bush, who will be ninety three in June, 2018 attracts attention because of her outspoken comments; Hillary Clinton, because of her political activities;...
From Policy Allies to Political Enemies John Quincy Adams, the sixth United States President, was succeeded in 1828 by Andrew Jackson, its seventh president. Their rivalry during both the 1824 and 1828 presidential campaigns became both politically intense and personally hateful. Jackson blamed Adams for the death of his beloved wife Rachel...
A Few Weeks Ago, the following news flash illuminated my computer screen: Former President George H.W. Bush is now the longest-living president in U.S. history at the age of 93 years and 166 days. Bush on Saturday surpassed the previous record held by Gerald Ford, who lived to be 93 years and 165...
THOMAS JEFFERSON HAD HARSH WORDS FOR JACKSON'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN IN 1824. Daniel Webster visited the aged former president in his Monticello home in 1824. Webster quoted Jefferson as saying, "I feel much alarmed at the prospect of General Jackson President. He is one of the most unfit men I know of...
[caption id="attachment_17011" align="alignleft" width="300"] Generated by IJG JPEG Library[/caption] While Melania Trump has settled into the traditional role of a First Lady, her step-daughter Ivanka Trump has assumed the policy/political profile of many recent First Ladies. This bifurcation of what many assume to be the duties and responsibilities of the wife of an...
President GH Bush celebrated his 93d birthday on June 12, 2017. His health remains fragile; he was released from Houston's Methodist Hospital in late April 2017 after treatment for bronchitis and pneumonia. Moreover, he suffers from Parkinson's Disease which confines him to a wheel chair. Fortunately, the ex-president has recovered;...
Melania Trump has moved into the White House and has assumed the traditional responsibilities of a First Lady. Her role became apparent during the Trumps' recent Mideast and Europe trip. She was prominently photographed at ceremonial dinners, during the Trumps' visit to the Vatican, and at appearances at childens' hospitals....
BARBARA BUSH, THE OLDEST FIRST LADY, STILL LIVING, WILL BE NINETY-TWO ON AUGUST 8th. Presently, the United States is fortunate to have five living former First Ladies: Barbara Bush will celebrate her ninety-second birthday on August 8, 2017. She was recently hospitalized for a week in Houston to recover from bronchitis. Her...
Ivanka Trump Kushner, the daughter of President Donald Trump, has a significant, but as yet undefined role in her father's White House. Not only is she the wife of Jared Kushner, the senior advisor to the present, but also she serves as an unpaid special assistant to her father. No doubt...
Former First Lady Hillary Clinton has reemerged in public after her 2016 election defeat. During the recent presidential campaign, she was beset my rumors of ill health. She had spasmodic coughing spell, tiredness, and a fainting episode. These symptoms together with her documented past history of deep vein thromboses (DVTs),...
EMILY DONELSON #3 THE THIRD SURROGATE FIRST LADY HER SUCCESS IN THIS ROLE DESPITE HER BANISHMENT TO TENNESSEE FOR A YEAR AND A HALF Emily Donelson, the niece of widower Andrew Jackson became this president's substitute first lady upon his inauguration in March, 1837. Jackson's devoted wife, Rachel, had died from a heart...
EMILY DONELSON II THE THIRD SURROGATE FIRST LADY HER CONLICT WITH PEGGY EATON AND THE DISRUPTION OF ANDREW JACKSON' EARLY PRESIDENCY Emily Donelson was the social hostess and Surrogate First Lady for most of her uncle's, Andrew Jackson, eight year tenure in the White House as this country's seventh president (1829-1837). Andrew Jackson...
EMILY DONELSON I. THE THIRD SURROGATE FIRST LADY ANDREW JACKSON'S NIECE, A SIGNIFICANT PARTICIPANT IN A MAJOR WASHINGTON SCANDAL President Andrew Jackson was America's second president who was a widower. Rachel Jackson, his revered wife of many decades, died from a myocardial infarct (heart attack) during the interval between his election to the presidency...
ELIZA MONROE HAY II THE FIRST DAUGHTER TO SUBSTITUTE FOR A FIRST LADY Eliza Monroe Hay, together with her husband attorney Joseph Hay, lived in the White House for the entire eight years of President Monroe's two-term presidency (1817-1825). Eliza, like Elizabeth, her mother, was a stylish and beautiful woman. Additionally, she was...
ELIZA MONROE HAY I THE FIRST DAUGHTER TO SUBSTITUTE FOR A FIRST LADY Dolley Madison so successfully established the prominent stature of an American First Lady that many successors found it difficult to match. For Elizabeth Monroe, the next claimant of the First Lady title, the position was an especial struggle to...
MELANIA TRUMP III WILL IVANKA DEPOSE MELANIA IN THE WHITE HOUSE AS A SURROGATE FIRST LADY Two most impressive women populate President Donald Trump's inner circle - Melania Trump, his wife of twelve years and Ivanka Trump Kushner, his 35 year old daughter and 'favorite child.' Mrs. Trump famously elected to remain at...
MELANIA TRUMP II IS IVANKA, HER DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, HER SURROGATE FIRST LADY? On January 20, 2017 Melania Trump became First Lady of the United States upon the inauguration of her husband Donald Trump as our forty-fifth president. Mrs. Trump is only the second American First Lady to be born overseas. She was born...
THOMAS JEFFERSON & SALLY HEMINGS Their Intimacy Is No Longer a Controversy. Sally Hemings was one of six children of white master John Wayles and his half-black slave concubine Elizabeth Hemings. Elizabeth in turn was the issue of a white sea captain and a black slave. Therefore, Sally Hemings was a quadroon...
PRESIDENT JEFFERSON: WHO WAS HIS FIRST LADY? THE THIRD US PRESIDENT, A WIDOWER WITH A BLACK CONCUBINE, ASKED DOLLEY MADISON, THE WIFE OF HIS SECRETARY OF STATE TO SERVE AS HIS SURROGATE FIRST LAD Thomas Jefferson, when he took up residence in the White House in 1801, required an accomplished woman to...
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT AND LORENA HICKOK "ELEANOR & HICK" : THEIR RELATIONSHIP EXPLORED IN A NEW BOOK Eleanor Roosevelt had a long-term relationship with reporter Lorena Hickok, one that began when she was the wife of the Governor of New York State and persisted during her tenure as First Lady. Susan Quinn's saucily...
MELANIA TRUMP The Incoming First Lady, The Wife of America's 45th President. The First Lady-designate is 46 years of age, stands five foot eleven inches in height, and is in good health. The author could discover neither significant illnesses nor chronic health problems in Melania Trump's medical history. It appears that...
WHAT ARE FIRST LADY RESPONSIBILITIES, ACCORDING TO THE PROFESSIONAL ELITES? Professor Robert Watson in his 2000 reassessment of the office of the first lady, The President's Wives, listed eleven fundamental duties of the office. The first responsibility is that of a wife and mother. A total of fourteen first families have had...
AMERICA'S FIRST LADIES - THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES (continued) The White House, which serves as the executive mansion and the home of the president, has required continual upkeep. Unfortunately, this home often has been in disrepair due to the Congress' occasional reluctance to appropriate the necessary funds. The White House was destroyed by...
First Ladies of America What Are Their Responsibilities. The United States Constitution does not establish either an office, or a role, for a First Lady of the United States. Hence, there is no established set of responsibilities or duties for her role as one of the First Ladies of America. A...
FDR's Gatekeeper: The President's Most Significant Surrogate First Lady Previous posts on the site have demonstrated that Eleanor Roosevelt was matrimonially estranged from Franklin, her husband. The breach occurred in 1918 when Eleanor accidently discovered his ongoing affair with Lucy Mercer, her social secretary. Consequently, during his 1920s convalescence for disabling...
FDR'S DAUGHTER MAY HAVE PROLONGED HER FATHER'S LIFE APRIL 1944 -- APRIL 1945. Once President Roosevelt was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and severe hypertension, his daughter Anna and Navy cardiologist Lieutenant Commander Howard Bruenn assumed his care and medical treatment. Dr. Bruenn was a constant presence and examined Roosevelt several times...
FDR'S DAUGHTER: INSTRUMENTAL IN PROLONGING HER FATHER'S LIFE, APRIL 1944 -- APRIL, 1945? Anna Roosevelt, President Roosevelt's daughter and favorite child, became a White House resident in early 1944 and was her father's closest companion until his death in April, 1945. It was at her insistence that FDR was examined by...
DID HER INTERVENTION PROLONG FDR'S LIFE THROUGH D DAY, THE 1944 PRESIDNTIAL ELECTION, AND THE YALTA CONFERENCE? Anna Roosevelt Boettiger, President Franklin, and First Lady Eleanor, Roosevelt's oldest child and only daughter, visited the White House over the 1943-44 Christmas/New Year holiday. During her four week stay, FDR quickly realized how...
A RECENT ARTICLE CLAIMS THAT PERNICIOUS ANEMIA, NOT BIPOLAR DISEASE, WAS THE CAUSE OF HER PSYCHIATRIC SYMPTOMS. Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of America's sixteenth president, was very familiar with unhappiness during the last decades of her life. Her desire for an upscale lifestyle had exceeded her material resources for most...
FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT, A VERY LONELY PRESIDENT, RELIED UPON DAISY FOR HIS COMPANIONSHIP AND COMFORT. "Margaret Suckley was Franklin Roosevelt's closest companion during the last years of his life. No one was more often with him during World War II." She was acutely and consistently concerned about Franklin's well being. (1) Daisy was...
WHEN FIRST LADY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT WAS NOT AROUND, A SURROGATE NEEDED TO 'LOOK IN' ON PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT. Daisy Suckley was a Hudson River neighbor and distant cousin of President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR). She was both intelligent and refined, but also unmarried, without a profession, and the only support for her...
MRS. ROOSEVELT EXPANDED THE PERSONA OF THE AMERICAN FIRST LADY IN REMARKABLE WAYS, BUT PARADOXICALLY LEFT UNFULFILLED ITS IMPORTANT TRADITIONAL ROLE - THE COMFORT AND PERSONAL SUPPORT OF THE PRESIDENT, HER HUSBAND. In 1918, Eleanor Roosevelt, who had borne her husband Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) five children, accidentally uncovered evidence of an...
DO THE FORMER FIRST LADY'S COUGHING SPELLS IMPERIL HER AMBITION TO BE THE COUNTRY'S FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT? It is appropriate that any consideration of the cause and significance of Ms. Hillary Clinton's cough should be proceeded by an analysis of both the character and the circumstances of the problem. First, it is...
DO THE FORMER FIRST LADY'S RECURRENT COUGHING SPASMS IMPERIL HER AMBITION TO BE AMERICA'S FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT? Mrs. Clinton's episodic cough became the stuff of scrutiny and speculation during her testimony before the Congressional Benghazi Committee hearings in October 2015. Amid her eleven-hour testimony, she broke out into a choking fit. A...
During her October 2015 testimony before the House of Representatives Select Committee on the 2012 Benghazi attack, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was convulsed by spasmodic coughing. Although she recovered to complete her testimony, videos of the event were widely viewed both on television and on social media. Since Mrs....
Helen (Nellie) Taft was the wife of President William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States (1909-1913). While a teenager Nellie and her family were White House guests of President Rutherford and First Lady Lucy Hayes during the Christmas/New Year celebrations of 1877-8. John Herron, Helen Taft's father,...
Grover Cleveland is the only United States President to serve two non-consecutive terms (1885-9; 1893-7). Cleveland, when elected the first time, was and still remains the nation's only second bachelor president. However, in contrast with his predecessor James Buchanan, he married during his time in office. Rose successfully fulfilled the social,...
Grover Cleveland is the only United States President to serve non-consecutive terms (1881-5; 1893-7). As a consequence his presidencies are counted twice, he is both our 22nd and 24th presidents. Cleveland, when elected the first time, was and still remains the nation's only second bachelor president. However, in contrast with his...
Chester Alan Arthur became America's twenty-first president (1881-1885) after the assassination of President James Garfield. Arthur's wife, Ellen, had recently died from pneumonia. Chester Arthur was the fourth U.S. President who entered the White House as a widower. Initially, he decided against the appointment of a permanent surrogate to fulfill the...