Transcripts For CSPAN3 Q A 20240622

Political affairs herself. She always had been. She loved to use the white house yacht, the mayflower. She found that very relaxing. Again, i dont like to keep going back to the kidney disease, but on days when she felt good, that was a good place to entertain Close Friends and relax a little bit. She also, i think, relaxed a lot because she invited different people to the white house read she was very interested in hearing your views. This was in the days when he was still leave a calling card. She would pick one at random and invite them for to you that afternoon. It could be anybody. She is described as always listening to people very intently. She always said she looked in their eyes to see their soul. That was her way of knowing if you were being genuine with her. She would always class per hands around her knees and lean forward and intently Pay Attention to what you are saying. That was even a former relaxation for her. Ngg, should like to play bridge, she loves to go horseback riding as a younger woman, but didnt get to in the white house. She loves to write in automobiles and like to go as fast as possible. Likes to go motoring, as they called it. Her tragedy, we saw a reputed again with the kennedys is husband dies in office. The ironic part always is that her health was always considered to be much worse than his. They didnt publicly know then that their president suffered from congestive Heart Failure before he took a very famous trip across the country to the western states in alaska. She had nephritis, kidney disease. She had a couple of scares during the trip, but it amazed me that she even endeavored to take the trip. I think a lot of us if we had a chronic condition like that would say i think i will stay close to home. She says we are going to alaska, lets go. She loved to travel. She had a sense of adventure and that feeling that i know i have bad health, but im going to cram as much as i can into my life. She exemplified that. Her husband dies in San Francisco of a heart attack, is reported to the press earlier that day that he died that he might be coming out of the woods and of course, he dies. Much like grace, much like jackie kennedy, she is stoic. The newspaper reporter who got on the trip, they are reporting now that this horrible change events as they go back east on the train, and they say she is never breaking down. They are worried. Shes not crying. And she says im not going to. She knows she has this responsibility of setting the stage for the country. She takes that very seriously. Privately, she is devastated. This is her whole world. You have no children to rely on her one son from a first marriage already has died, he died in 1915. Its her. We can only imagine how lonely and afraid she felt. Lucinda annette, hoover. Annette we will do the light stuff first. She was very avid horsewoman she loved to ride. She liked to motor also. Not while she was first lady but shortly after lose mother passed away, after they left the white house, she gets in the car with her father, before they get into the white house, she gets into the car with her father in california they drive all the way across the country. Its a trip for him but also a trip for her. They have large dogs. Norwegian held counts. It was either a German Shepherd were a belgian melon law, no one knows for sure. They had a couple of cats, either persian or siamese, the siamese eventually was in the hoovers apartment in the waldorfastoria in new york in their later years. Somebody had given her an irish wolfhound named patrick. He was very close to her during the white house years. They have a lot of dogs particularly in cats. The tragedy for the hoovers was not death of a child or death of a spouse, but the older of their two sons, Herbert Hoover junior who to be known as pete by the family contracted tuberculosis as an adult, married man with two children. This was in the 1930s, first of all, no cure. Second of all we lost track of how severe and prevalent that alyssa was in a lot of different parts of the country. Lou, in her typical take charge, ive got this sort of frame of mind, collects information on all the different potential sanitarium swear pete king convalesce, he gets once it get made public, they get all kinds of letters telling him how tuberculosis can be cured, quack medicine is alive and well it hasnt changed very much. She eventually settles on a sanitarium in asheville, north carolina. They range from feet to go there, they thought about having him convalesce at the camp that bloomberg had builds in the shenandoah mountains, but they decided that pete rapid and was very accessible. They decided that he needed to be first of all where there was more attentive care and also that was easily accessible. So that is where he convalesce. Petes wife and two children moved into the white house for the duration, but lou in her very typical strong management style, take charge style, it was just part of life to her. Her mother had been a semiinvalid, she was accustomed to dealing with apparent whose health was up and down, it was not anything new in her life. Shoot of charge like she needed to and then carried on. Lucinda i want to leave some time for the audience, and then come back to let the ladies have the first ladies themselves have the last word. What did they do very quickly , after the postwhite house years . Can you address that a bit . Sherry florence lived 18 months after he died. She didnt have much of a life after that. She was adamant she didnt want to come back to her house. She never came back to her house. It was not the same place for her without her husband. She wanted to stay in washington, she liked life there, she has been five years there is a center wife before the white house, she wanted to travel in europe. She had been there three times and wanted to write her memoirs. But she didnt do any of that because again, her health failed. Pretty rapidly after warns death. Her doctor, who would been here and in the white house, dr. Charles sawyer rayna sarah terrien ran a sanitary and outside of town, he busily her to come back to marion where he could keep an eye on her. And she agreed, finally not happily to live in a cottage on the sanitarium grounds. So the doctor was accessible to her. She ended her life in the sanitarium. The doc, in addition to being her doctor, was a close friend, he died of a heart attack. That seemed to take the life out of her. It was one of her last very close comrades. She died in november, had an extremely serious bout of nephritis, they were tinkering with the idea of having surgery she slips into a coma and she dies. She didnt get to accomplish what she wanted to afterwards. I wish she had had that opportunity. I think he wouldve seen the real florence really take on her own life. Lucinda thank you. I do think we did see mrs. Coolidge. Cynthia she did write several articles, she wrote his autobiography. They both had a writing adventure. Also he has syndicated column. They moved back to northampton they go into their twofamily house. You tell me how you are going to take all the gifts from the white house that youre given in those days you are allowed to keep them and for the metatwofamily house. I read a lot of the letters were she says could you please take this . And also the dogs werent too happy. So they eventually moved to the beaches, a larger estate in northampton. They are both happier. Calvin does not live to long after the white house, he dies in 1933. Embrace says well, ive got to move along an figure something out. Their son had married at 29, he and his wife had two daughters. She could take joy in them and also, as we all know, the run up to world war ii. In most people dont know this but Grace Coolidge was part of the Northampton Committee to rescue jewish children in germany. This was in 1939, she very bravely, this is a woman who didnt get into politics, she very bravely sent a telegram to the state house to encourage them to let the Northampton Committee adopt 25 jewish children very heres a first lady who would have had children , but unfortunately, her theory was rolled into the wider rogers build, and attempt to rescue 20,000 jewish children, children like anne frank, by the way, and did not want to leave germany. This was not approved by congress, it did not get through. And so we now have that story. They didnt know the horrible holocaust was coming, but still it was not done and then grace does throw herself and helping get ready for world war ii and then during world war ii was a real volunteer, spotter in northampton and that kind of thing. She did take a more active role in her postwhite house years. And even though you have rationing, she doesnt get to plymouth so much during the war. She does keep the homestead going in plymouth has an interest in the homestead. Her husband grew up there, and she decides to donate it to the state of vermont, if they will buy the birthplace. She was quite active as a preservationist, like to see it that way. She lived until 1957, she did accomplish many of her goals. She did get, i would say, rather brave coming out with active stance. Lucinda i will have to ask gary, weve got to get to lou what her story after the white house . Annette she got back where she left off. She took another stint to the National President of the girl scouts of america, she moved active to the home shed built in palo alto at the stanford campus, and there became involved with the friends of music to bring musical concerts and Quality Music to that part of the country. She was selected to be on innumerable college boards, the list is very long but to very quickly, Mills College will is a Womens College and whittier college, the alma motter of a subsequent president , richard nixon. She served on the board of that. She was active in the American Association of University Women and eventually at some point she decided she was going to have to start declining requests because she served on quite a number of boards, including the red cross and she also maintained her motoring fund, her camping out sleeping on the hard ground took her granddaughters on a camping trip where they rode horses into the remote part of the debtors out west at the early age of the 60s and she said i dont eat a sleeping bag or a tense, im looking forward to sleeping on the hard ground. She continued to have a very vibrant and active life. Lucinda we have had time. Are we love to take questions . Gary i think we can take one or two. Lucinda thank you. As a florence harding, i wondered if sherry would have any comments about mrs. Hardings being involved with mediums, which came up later in all this. She got involved in i dont is a spiritualism, but she had a medium she consulted. Sherry she was interested in spiritualism is a lot of people were doing the time in which she lived. Famously, they always made a big thing of she consulted madame marcy in washington, d. C. , all of Washington Society were going to matter mercy. Madame marcy later claimed that she predicted doom for the president , which is really easy to do after the fact. [laughter] it was done as a recreation. It was something had a fun to do, like going in somewhere and having someone read tarot card for you. It was just a fun thing to do for a lot of women in society. Kind of lucinda kind of a thing of the times. [indiscernible] did this way anything with women voting . Sherry we invented the we investigated the cox campaign, and we asked did women vote for him because he was a goodlooking guy . Is that while the women swarmed to him . They found there was no justification for that. There was no big swell of women to the republican party, they tended to vote as their husbands did, and a lot of women, even though many could vote in the 1920 election, some could not particularly in the south because of the registration requirements, they said you have to register six months before the election, they didnt get the vote until august. That wasnt going to work. Theres no real evidence that the women particularly made the difference in that election. They certainly added to the vote totals. That makes sense. Gary thank you, very much. [applause] we will be back in marion, ohio on more the warren g. Harding symposium on modern verse ladies in about 15 minutes. We join our cspan cities to her on the road as they explore the history of lexington, kentucky. Welcome to the Mary Todd Lincoln house, we have the distinction of being the first Historic Site in the nation restored to honor a first lady. We are the girls at of mary todd who went on to marry one of our greatest president s, Abraham Lincoln. Mary todd was born in lexington in 1818, the fourth of seven children. Unfortunately, when she was six years old, her mother experienced convocations after the birth of her seventh child. As happened all too often, she passed away as a result of childbirth. A year and a half later, robert who had been actively scouting for second wife to help care for his very large and family, he remarried, a woman named betsy humphries. And she became stepmother to the six young todd to children who were alive at that time. In addition to caring for them and raising them she also had nine children of her own in 14 years. This house is almost 5500 square feet, two full story brick calm, georgian style home that also has two rooms in a garret. It is quite large, originally built as an in, not a primary residence. Is appropriate that it a very large space. We are now a merry todd bedroom with a room that we interpret as her bedroom. We dont really know which room she had. We do know she did not have her own room, she shared her room over the years. Sometimes with a sister, often times with a cousin, who in addition to their children, their slaves, the todds also had family members that live with over the years. Mary todd came from a educated family, and that education wasnt only provided for the men in the family. She came from a line of educated women. Her education was really exceptional in that era. Not only because her family supported education for women but also because of the Educational Opportunities she had at that time. She began her education at worth academy, that was within walking walking distance of her birthplace. They began classes at 5 00 in the morning. She would walk to school for the morning session. And then they would have breakfast and continue after breakfast. Marys room number to being one of the brightest pupils in school. When mary todd was 13 and the family moved into this home, she was enrolled in an academy. The academy was the school here in lexington for young women, it was where they would complete their education, sort of an institution of Higher Education if you will, for women. She attended there from age 13 to 17. At the academy, she learned everything that would have been expected for women of that era dancing, theatricals, they learn french. I some accounts they were only allowed to speak french in school. They also learned higher levels of marital subject male subjects like math, literature science is. It all means the mary todd became one of the most educated women of her generation. In part again, thats because of her familys support for education for women, but also because of those opportunities here in lexington. When you contrast mrs. Lincolns education with that of her husband, its really impressive. She had at least nine years of formal schooling but Abraham Lincoln said if you had all of his normal schooling up, it might account three years area. Those who remember mary as a young girl or young woman, and their accounts are quite flattering. They were member woman who was attractive vivacious, many accounts of her being quite spirited and stories associated with that. One of those stories is that when she was 13 or so she drove or wrote her pony from here to henry clays estate. Henry claiming the most important political figure in kentucky at that time. She knocked on his door and requested an interview. He was otherwise engaged so she put her point across that she was there to see him and he needed to come out, she wanted him to give her assessment of her new horse because he was a wellknown horseman. He did so, and his assessment was that her pony seemed as spirited as its diminutive jockey. Marys home life was sometimes are numbered as having some tension. She was one of many, many children from her fathers first and second marriages. They had a very large household a lot of children. There are some views that perhaps all the children didnt receive the attention they might have wanted. One of the things that people speculate about is that marys interest in politics may have been so that she could garner some of her fathers attention amidst all this competition for attention in the household. The dining room is quite opulent, it it is set to entertain prominent guests of the era. The todd family did entertain other influential families of lexington and kentucky here. One of the most influential persons they entertained with henry clay, arguably one of the greatest statesman to come out of kentucky. He was a member of the same Political Party is marys father robert, and robert actively campaigned for clay. Other notable kentuckians who were entertained here include richard johnson, who went on to become Vice President of the martin van buren, and caches clay, who was a very wellknown emancipation this. He actually lived with the todds at some point when he was a student at transylvania university. He went on to become Abraham Lincolns ambassador to russia. The art of being a hostess was a real skill in that era. It was in this home, and in this room that mary todd learned those skills under the tutelage of her stepmother, betsy todd. Mary todds relationship with her stepmother is sometimes remembered as tense, theres a lot of drama for trade around it. Sometimes, her stepmother is rubber remembered as strict a strict disciplinary. There is also a take on her that perhaps she didnt have genuine affection for her stepchildren and favored her own children more. Within the todd family, among the siblings, they didnt notice the distinction between her stepmother, when she married robert todd to become the stepmother of six young children, she certainly wouldve known the responsibility she was taking on. And she had a very large household and a large number of children, nine children of her own in 14 years, she was experiencing a lot of physical stress due to the endless cycle of having children, and managing a large household. The room wherein right now in right now is actually the family parlor, the informal area of the home where the adults and children spend time together. We have in the room, the center table that actually belonged to the todds, a center table in the 1800s was the true representative of the center of family life. The family spent quite a bit of time here, probably playing games and cards. The family, was of course made up of mother and father and children, or in the case of the todds, their household included in sleeved africanamericans. On average, they had five enslaved men and women who provided all of the Domestic Labor and child care, with a majority of the childcare. Mary todd lincoln grew up in a slaveholding family, where she was not only exposed to slavery, but she was exposed to all of the debates raging about the topic of the day here in lexington, the topic of the day being slavery. Lexington, Fayette County had a population that was 42 enslaved africanamericans. She was surrounded by a community of enslaved persons. The topic of the day was very, located. It wasnt a simple as being either proslavery or antislavery. There were a lot of views on the spectrum with regards to slavery. Her various family members actually held some of those different views. In addition to her father being a supporter of the colonization of africanamericans back to africa, she had a stepgrandmother who was in favor of gradual emancipation. Her stepmothers mother, Mary Brown Humphrey actually chose to many minute nine slaves in her will in the 1830s. But they were to be freed over a period of decades over her death. They were individuals that were still enslaved at the time of the civil war in the 1860s. This is a conservative antislavery position. And representatives of the views of Northern Kentucky who were antislavery men are radical. Such as abolitionists. They tended to be along the lines of grandmother humphreys. When mary todd was 21 years old that was being of age, the legal age of consent, she actually made the choice to leave lexington to move to springfield, illinois. To live with a sister who actually had started to live as a second mother figure to mary and her siblings. The motivation for doing so is unknown, but theres a lot of speculation around it. Some folks speculate that choice was motivated by the desire to get away from her stepmother that the home life was difficult and i might have propelled married toward springfield. It is noteworthy that mary todd was not the only sister who chose to do this, she had an older sister had a younger sister did this as well. When they live with their older sister elizabeth, they essentially did the springfield social scene, going to all the parties and political gatherings and all of those sisters found husbands, and were married in springfield and may their homes in springfield with their husbands. Its also possible that one of the motivations for moving to springfield was the opportunity that the west provided. We are in the guest bedroom of the home, its actually the largest bedroom in the house, it is intended to have the most impressive furniture in the most oppressive wallpaper. Its common in that era. You want to have the most impressive furnishings for your guests. For our Historic Site, the most important guests were abraham and mary lincoln. They came here to lexington several times as a married couple, the most important visit for us was a threeweek stay in the fall of 1847. Abraham lincoln had been elected to congress, and they were traveling from their home in in springfield, illinois, to washington, d. C. They decided to detour to visit her family in lexington. And they were here for three weeks, it was the first opportunity for many members of her family to meet her husband. She also had the first opportunity to meet some of her own siblings, she had to siblings that were born after she had moved away to springfield. It was a very special time for them. With the lincolns were their two young sons who were born at the time robert, known as bobby edward, known as eddie. They were three years old in one years old respectfully. There are no recorded impressions from lincoln on his time in lexington. There are family stories about his visit trade most notable is the family story indicating that Abraham Lincoln really enjoyed the top library. The taunts had a very large personal library, over 350 books with all sorts of works in a, everything from politics to poetry. And he is said to have enjoyed to take a book off the shelf and go up to the secondfloor hallway and stretch out and go read. Marys upbringing here in lexington prepared her for her future because she was educated here in lexington, was a cultured environment, one where she learned of entertaining, of conversation. She began her own sort of political career. Becoming knowledgeable about Political Affairs and having interest in them. This set the stage for her future in marrying a politician and ascending to the position of first lady. We returned to live coverage from Ohio State University amerian for the warren g. Harding symposium on the modern first ladies. Gary good afternoon, welcome back for session number two this afternoon. The gap. It is my honor to present our speaker, the executive director of the National First ladies library, patricia crider. Patricia thank you very much, im very happy to be here, and on behalf of the first ladys Historic Site, we are thrilled to be part of the symposium. My job here this afternoon is to talk to you about some of the first ladies that followed lawrence and grace and lou those first ladies who started paving the way for future things to come. Im going to be talking about Eleanor Roosevelt through in. The evolution of the role of first lady has never taken a straight upward path. It has always been kind of two steps forward, one step back. The reason for that is because not all first ladies serve the role of the same way. There is no defined role. They can do with the role whatever they choose, which is a good thing because they can do whatever fits their personality whatever fits their interests. You after member that first ladies come from very, very different backgrounds, very different lifestyles. They come from all over the country, and so they dont all have the same interests and they dont all have the same causes and they dont all have the same way of doing the role. Some first ladies serve much longer than others. We have Eleanor Roosevelt who served a little over 12 years she had a lot of time to do a lot of things. We have other first ladies who get not even four years. When we look at first ladies, we have to remember that we are only seeing a small snippet of their lives. Generally, 40 years. Thats what everyone focuses on, when many of these women had an active role before they become first lady, and thereafter. What im going to do is im going to give you some brief facts on each of the first ladies im going to talk about before i start getting into their history. Eleanor roosevelt, anna comella or, roosevelt, roosevelt was born in new york city. She was born of wealthy parents. They died within two years of each other when eleanor was just under 10 years old and eleanor was raised by her maternal grandmother. Theodore roosevelt was her uncle. As for his education, she had private tutors, she went to a common school, she went to a Girls Academy in london, she had no college, and having no college was a regret she had her entire life. She married her fifth cousin. Franklin roosevelt at age 20. She had one daughter and five sons, one son died less than oneyearold. She became first lady at 48 years old. And she served like i mentioned a little more than 12 years. Unprecedented, never happened before, will never happen again. And she died at age 78, she is buried in hyde park, new york. Eleanor roosevelt was a phenomenal woman, and very difficult for any first lady to live up to eleanors a compliment. She was the eyes, ears, and legs of fdr. She took full advantage of the way that was paved by florence and by grace and my lou. And what most people dont realize is that the social activism of eleanor started well before she married fdr. Because of her position in life, she had the ability to be a volunteer, to be involved in activities. When she was a young woman, she volunteered at settlement houses in new york city. She was involved in various organizations, she became an inspector and she would go into the homes of the garment workers to see with their Living Conditions were. She promoted exercise for particularly the women in the Garment Industry because they lived in cramped quarters, they worked in cramped quarters and so she put together programs of dance and calisthenics so they could get some exercise, she supported unions at that time because they helped with bettering the working conditions and the Living Conditions, particularly of the workers in the Garment Industry. In 1920, when fdr was the Vice President ial candidate, eleanor went on a 1920s Whistle Stop Campaign tour with him. Interestingly enough, she never made any speeches at that time. If 1920, women are just getting the right to vote. She consider this to be a social boundary not yet be crossed. By the 1940s, all of this had changed. Eleanor was out there she was a tireless campaigner, she was everywhere doing everything. 1940s should becomes the first first lady to address a national convention, when fdr is nominated for his third term. Elinor supported so many causes, just innumerable number of causes. She didnt go into the white house saying this is going to be my cause. She went into the white house and she said im going to do as many things as possible by work and vide very she was involved with the red cross, both during world war i and world war ii. She became active in Democratic Party politics, she was involved with a lot of womens organizations. The womens union trades league and the league of women voters. Organizations that encourage women to become interested in an involved in politics, to kind of know what was going on politically. She was an early champion for civil rights, for africanamericans and she was always an advocate for women. She was always an advocate for american workers, for poor and young people. She supported governmentfunded programs for artists and writers. And she encouraged her husband to put more women in federal positions. She was always interested in global peace. During world war ii, she worked extensively in the war effort, she continued her work with the red cross. She wanted to bring european refugees to the united states. She promoted issues that were helpful to the american troops. She encouraged volunteerism on the home front. And she championed women who were employed in the defense industry. Eleanor she took advantage of all of the media that was available out there. She was a writer, she was a public speaker, she was a media figure. She held press conferences she had 348 press conferences in total. And she was have she would have press comforts is women reporters only. The effect of this was that the newspapers and radio stations, and the magazines who wanted to cover her press conferences were forced to continue to employ women reporters, and eleanor actually was instrumental in pushing that role of women reporters to the professional level. She was a magazine columnist. She did many many weekly and monthly magazine columns. She was a radio host. The evening of december 7, 1941 the attack on pearl harbor, she went on the radio and she made a personal call of support for all the mothers like yourself who had children who could now be called into active service. She was a lecturer in a public speaker. In her 12 years of first lady, she gave an estimated 1400 speeches. No other first lady published more books while first lady that Eleanor Roosevelt. She permitted all of her public appearances to be filmed by newsreel companies. And she got tons and tons and tons of public correspondence, and surprisingly, she answered personally a lot of those. And those that she couldnt answer she had outlived by which she would transfer those, so those people would get some kind of personal response. Her activism continued after her activism continued after fdr died. She was appointed by president truman for position at the united nations, she was the only women amongst the five american delegates, she continued to be very active in the Democratic Party, but she resisted all efforts to get her to run for herself. And she continued to be a very, very strong supporter of civil rights. Our next first lady is beth truman. For beth has to follow eleanor. Beth isnt born in new york city, shes born in independence, missouri. Her father dies when bess is 18 her mothers family was wealthy by independence, missouri standards. She attended high school and finishing school. Beth married harry at age 34, they had one daughter, margaret. She was a worker. She worked in harrys business, she worked in his senate office, she became first lady at 50 years old and then she died at age 97. She is to date the first lady who has lived the longest. She is buried at the truman president ial library in independence. Beth truman did not want to be first lady. When harry accepted the nomination on the Vice President ticket, she asked him, she said what are you going to do if the president dies . Then you will be president she was not happy, he accepted the nomination without consulting her. She doesnt look real happy. She couldnt compete with Eleanor Roosevelt, and she didnt want to. When she becomes first lady, she asks to a have to give press conferences . When she found out she didnt have to, she canceled the one that was already scheduled, and she never gave one. She never gave a press conference, no interviews, she would answer written questions and sometimes, when she was asked spontaneously question, she would answer that. Again, she is a very different woman that Eleanor Roosevelt. Even though she kind of has a wealthy family, she is a working woman. Her husband has a haberdashery in independence before he goes and politics. And she works their unpaid, the accountant. She is sales clerk when she needs to be. She didnt really have the luxury of volunteering for causes. When harry is in the senate, she actually works in his office. She is a clerk and she answers mail and she answers the phone. She had its Committee Reports shes very active in that way. Finally, during the seven years, she starts becoming in some organizations, like the congressional club, and then during world war ii, should becomes very, very involved with the uso. She doesnt want this to just be an honorary membership, she is there at the uso working in washington d. C. Very, very frequent. Family meant everything to beth. Beth and harry and margaret were known as the three musketeers, they were always together. Barbara bush, in a quote at one point in time talking about first ladys and the roles had beth took care of harry. People will say that beth truman didnt do anything as first lady, and that wasnt true, she just took a more traditional role. She reinstituted the white house formal social committee that had been interrupted during the war. And she helps in planning all of the social events from state receptions to musicals. She was very, very interested in the history of the white house. She was the honorary president or chairwoman or member in many, Many Organizations like the girl scouts, the Womens National democratic club, the washington Animal Rescue league, she was also the honorary chairman of the american red cross. She also continued Fundraising Efforts that had been started by the roosevelts for the march of dimes. She would willingly greet leaders of all different organizations and posed for photos, and let those photos be published. She would attend a charity luncheons because she knew that her presence would increase ticket sales. The end of world war ii, she signed a housewives pledge of voluntary food rationing for the white house, and she did as an example of americans, do the same so the food donations can be sent to europe, where they were so short, of simple staples. Beth, somewhat unwillingly accompanied truman on his whistle stop sure tour. No speeches, but she would waive by his side. In 1948, it was found the white house was in bad shape, structurally unsound to the point that something had to be done. There were a lot of supporters that said that the white house should be torn down and then a replica should be rebuilt. Beth strongly believed that at least the four original outer walls should be saved and then that could be used as the shell for rebuilding the white house. And thats what happened. During the time of trumans lives at the blair house just across the street from the white house. Beth was visibly thrilled to leave the white house. And returned to missouri. Jonathan daniels, the former press secretary to president roosevelt, said beth truman is a lady unchanged by the white house. And determined to remain always what she is. Next we have maybe eisenhower. She was born in boone iowa, her father was a successful businessman, he moved around a lot. Her mother was a housewife. The family moved frequently just because of her dads business. She had a high school and finishing school education. She married Ike Eisenhower when she was 19, he was already in the service, the couple moved 33 times in 37 years. They had two sons, one died under age four. She was 56 years old when she became first lady. She was first lady for about eight years. She died at age 82, and she is buried in abilene, kansas. Mamie wasnt interested in politics, but she would do anything to help her husband get elected. And so if the politics and the party people said mamie, would you post . She would pose. She was always very willing. She loved the thrills in the trials of the campaign. She always went along with ike on his campaign trips. She would wear the ike jewelry. Happily. She was energetic and enthusiastic. On the campaign trips. I could finish his speeches by saying, how would you like to meet my mamie . And that was her cue to come out and smile and wave. Mamie viewed her role as first lady as being the wife of the president and hostess of the white house. She was very, very popular. She had firsthand knowledge of womens struggles during the war. She was a military wife. In the 1950s, she represented what most middleaged middleclass women liked. Home family, entertaining, a good personal appearance. Mamie was a very good organizer. She had all those years as a military wife. She had all of those moves she had a choreographed. And so she looked at the household of the white house she took control of that and managed and she approved white house operations. And she said, of course, being mistress of the white house is a terrific responsibility. And i am truly grateful for my army wife training. She knew how to manage it large staff and she could be very demanding, but she kept a real friendly approach and treated everyone like family. Mamie loved to entertain at the white house. The eisenhowers entertained a Record Number of heads of a. But even the president had to get her approval if you wanted to use any of the rooms of the mansion because she controlled the schedule. Mamie posted the First White House performance of musical theater music, selections from hit shows that on broadway. That was one of her favorites. And then there was another side of mamie. When the president had a heart attack in 1955, she took charge. She took over the flow of work to the president. Everything had to go through her to be reviewed. Visitors meetings, she limited his schedule. Based on medical advice. She strictly managed his diet. She played a similar role when he had an operation in 1956, and in 1957, he had a mild stroke. He was supposed to attend a state dinner, and she wouldnt let him do it. She convinced Vice President in that he had to attend in his place. Because of the president s Health Issues and heart issues mamie became very aware of heart disease, and she became very ethically involved in the American Heart Association should begin at chairman on a local and national level. She remained involved for a number of years. She was credited by the head of the American Heart Association with drastically increasing the money as they came into that organization, and also drastically increasing the number of volunteers that they had. Because of her years with the military, she understood all the problems that they had, and she like to help with causes related to the military. She worked with hundreds and hundreds of army wives across the country. To raise funds for military Retirement Community in washington, d. C. Originally it was called the army dispatch home, and it was dedicated in 1962, it was called knollwood. Jackie kennedy. Jackie was born in southampton new york. Society parents who are divorced , she had a wealthy stepfather, shoot a very good education. In addition to her high school she went to college vassar, she went to france, she went to George Washington university, and she got a ba in french literature. Before marriage, she was the Washington Times herald camera girl. She was the first first lady to be born in a hospital. She married jfk at age 24, her second marriage to aristotle onassis, at age 39, she had one daughter and two sons, one son died at two days old. She was 31 years old when she became first lady. She was first lady less than three years. She died at age 64, and shes the only first lady to date that is buried in religion national cemetery. Jackie kennedy really wasnt appreciated for the things that she did. And maybe thats because of her age. 31 years old, she was much younger than any of the first lady is that we have talked about so far today. Those first ladys became first ladys at midforties late 40s, 50s, 60s. Jackie was 31 years old. She was young, she was beautiful. She was raising and bearing children, what could she possibly know . But she was very welleducated and very intelligent. She spoke spanish, italian french fluently. She wasnt really interested in politics, but she was willing to help with the campaign. What people need to realize is that when the campaign of 1960 was going on, she was pregnant and it made her active role kind of limited. But she did make calls for kennedy, and she did give speeches in spanish and italian. And she recorded campaign spots in spanish, encouraging votes for jfk. Theres jackie doing some speeches in spanish. About the 1960 election, jackie said i cast only one vote for jack. It is a rare thing to be able to vote for ones husband for president , and i didnt want to diluted by voting for anyone else. She went on many foreign trips some with jfk, some by yourself. She was always very, very popular. When she went with jfk to france, jfk said im the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to paris. She dazzled the gall with her knowledge of french history, literature, and art. And to call later said i now have more confidence in your country. She met khrushchev in vienna. The press wanted khrushchev to shake kennedys hand. He said it i want to shake her hand first. She went to goodwill ambassador trips to pakistan and india. The Prime Minister was captivated by jackie. He broke protocol and went to the airport to meet her. The president of pakistan gave her a gelding. On the motorcade from the airport, 100,000 people waved american flags, sharing the cars with rose petals. One of her biggest projects was the white house renovation. She wanted to redecorate the family rooms and wanted to historically restore the public rooms. After the renovation during the truman time, truman didnt do much to redecorate. They were on their way out. She said im going to leave that up to somebody else. Jackie kennedy took this on. She went all over trying to find pieces of furniture that had been stuck there o