First ladies library, lucinda fraley. [ applause ]. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, everyone, who is involved with the symposium. You have absolutely no idea how thrilled my colleagues and i are all to be here. Any time we get a chance to present first ladies we always put forth our mission, which is to i cant think of our mission. You can tell im really good today. It is to educate public about the lives and the activities of the first ladies in this country. And believe me, they were all wonderful. And as i was talking to somebody last night at the reception, we think all the president s were quite intelligent, every one of them. Because they were smart enough to marry the woman who became their lifes partner and the first ladies of our country. We want you to be wowed. We want you to be wowed by the first ladies. And as we are every day. So i would like to introduce friends we know very well through the years. As i introduce each one in the order of Florence Harding, followed b
And he told her a white house China Service for 200 people. Thats what she went about doing and i used the line just say no program on drugs. Mrs. Barbara bush, her promotion of childhood literacy and literacy for adults increased support for the White House Committee for preservation of the white house and the redecoration efforts throughouti the executive residence and establishing the White House Endowment fund, a 25 million fund so that private funds are available to keep the public rooms of the white house the way you see them when you go and visit. Closed and certainly mrs. Clinton was a major supporter of that effort and closed out that effort. Thor 20 million endowment which is handled c by the White House Historical association. And mrs. Clinton expanded on that idea and people who wanted to give money for specific acqu purposes, now there is a white house major acquisitions trust. N so that when major paintings or if theres a piece of furniture, people can give money for a bu
They didnt know the holocaust was coming, but it was not done. Grace throws herself into helping get ready for world war ii. During world war ii, is a real volunteer, a spotter in North Hampton and that kind of thing. She did take a more active role in her post white house years. Then even though you have rationing, she doesnt get to plymouth much during the war, she seems the homestead going in plymouth, has an interest where her husband grew up and where he was sworn in. She decides to donate it to the state of vermont, if they will buy the birthplace. She was quite active as a preservationist, i like to see it that way. She lived until 1957. She did accomplish many of her goals after being first lady. She did, i would say, be brave, coming out with that stand. I know weve had a lot to talk about, and im afraid well have to ask gary if we can get to lou. She picked up where she left off prewhite house, which was to get engaged with a lot of the organizations that she had been involve
With a parent whose health was up and down. This was not something new in her life, and she took charge like she neieded to and carried on. I want to leave some time for the audience. Then come back to let the first ladies themselves have the last word. I know that, what did they do, quickly, after the post white house years . Can you address that a bit . I can start with that because mine is really short. Yeah. Florence just lived 15 months after warren died. She didnt have much of a life after that. She was adamant that she really did not want to come back to marion, to her house, and she never came back to her house. It was just not the same place for her without her husband. She wanted to stay in washington. She liked life there. She had spent five years there as a senate wife before the white house. She wanted to travel in europe. Shed been there three times. Wanted to write her memoirs. She didnt do any of that because her Health Failed rapidly after warrens death. Her doctor who
Tuberculosis. No cure. Second of all, we left track of how severe and prevalent that illness was in a lot of different parts of the country. Lou, in her typical take charge, i got this sort of frame of mind, collects information on all the different potential sanitariums where pete with cca. They have tons of letters from wellmeaning people telling them how this can be cured. She eventually settles on the sanitarium in ashville, north carolina. They arrange for pete to go there. They thought about having him at the camp that lou and bert had built in the mountains, but they decided that pete really it was very inaccessible do they decided he needed to be where there was more attentive care and somewhere it was easily accessible. Petes wife and two children moved into the white house for the duration. Lou, her typical strong management style, take charge style. Her mother was a semiinvalid. She was accustomed to dealing with a parent whose health was up and down. This was not something