returning to the table. norton smith, and karl anthony. tonight, we will start our program with some film. this is the first time that a president and first lady have ever been captured on film in the united states. this rare footage is of president mckinley and mrs. mckinley arriving on stage at the pan american exposition in buffalo new york on september 5th, 1901. the data significant because the very next day, the president would be killed by an assassins bullet. let's look at the footage. what was it about this exhibition that attracted the president want to go in the first place? >> it was the world's fair that cannot have been better time. it was a celebration and some waves of americas new place in the world. and the mckinley presidency was surprising in many ways. mckinley had been identified throughout his political career through protectionism. he would be the president who took the country on to the world stage next to hawaii in 1898. fought the spanish american war. -- from a republic to an empire. at the end of his life, in the last speech that he gave at that fare in effect, recanted his earlier protectionist outlook. he talked in ways that years later, we can all appreciate about -- america to the world. >> they were looking at our facebook and twitter postings. everyone is asking about what is known of ida mckinley. her ill health. what did the country think of the first lady and know about her at that point as opposed to what we know about her today? >> it is an interesting dichotomy because this is the pattern of her life. she has been grossly miscast by history as this victorian invalid on the couch. that was not the truth. there were times when she was that way, and she had three chronic illnesses. one was seizure disorder. known as epilepsy, otherwise. she had some kind of a neurological damage along her left leg, which often led to a mobility or periods of it. she also had a weekend compromised immune system. she was susceptible to infections. they took a tour across the country, six months before he was shot. when they got to california, she almost died and san francisco and the presidency was at the cabinet with the secretaries and everybody. the way they used to travel -- they set up the western white house. the whole nation, the whole world was focused on. they had this thought of her -- knee invalid, then six months later, she was walking unassisted. >> as we said, the very next day, september six 1901, an assassin struck and killed president mckinley. who was he? what were his motives? >> if you can spell it, you will do a whole lot better than i could. he was a drifter. he was an anarchist in his politics. he believed with many people at the turn of the century that the existing systems of the government, particularly monarchs in europe, existed to the detriment of the common man. again some and a artists were against all organized governments. they were certainly against the system that was taught by the powerful -- mckinley had power and -- he had planned on killing the president. i think it was earlier in the year. mckinley had been murdered. they later said that leon would stay up at night reading the news about the death of the king. he made plans to kill the president and ironically -- the secret service protection. there was one guard at the white house. he retired early that night. >> i have to say, we asked this -- with the last assassination, i mean this is the third president to be assassinated. >> which is what we finally got serious about protecting presidents. the secret service of at that time was busy working on counter fitters. but the presidents secretary slash chief of staff, wanted very much to cancel the reception at the fair. he worried about such a threat. ironically, he got in and managed to wrap the gun around a bandage so it would go unnoticed. leon czolgosz shot the president twice. about a week later, he took a turn for the worst, and in a very real, odd way, that is the last time the american people focused on william mckinley rather than his successor, theodore roosevelt. >> here is an illustration of ida mckinley at the president's death. she was not at his side when the assassination took place. how did it all play out? >> at this point, and we will later on get to the story of her epilepsy and cesar disorder. finally, among the string of doctors she had, she had one who really committed to helping her, at least and trying to control the seizures. part of that required a very strict regiment of food, diet, but also rest at regular points. she had been with him at the opening day there. then they went to niagara falls. but then, the doctor said, it is time for your rest. both the president and mrs. mckinley had bought off on that. she was taking her schedule her scheduled rest. she suspected something had happened when the hour started going by and he did not come back. she was very calm, actually, when she was told. not only calm, but really rose to the occasion. in fact, almost like and some extraordinary way, there is a story of her during this period of convalescence when there was hope that he would recover. she went out and walked along the sidewalk on her own and talks to the reporters. this defies the perception of her. >> we have some video that we will show of mckinley's funeral. what was it like in the country at that time? >> the country was convulsed. you've got -- the fact is if you talk to the man on the street and september of 1901, he would have told you mckinley was certainly the greatest president since lincoln. there were people, in fact, we compared him to lincoln. he was not simply admire. this was the man who had brought us out of the greatest depression to that date in american history. then projected american power, economic and military on to the world stage. he is a very large presence, for someone to have be come almost forgotten. so when he died, much as was the case with hearting. i would argue more deservedly, there was enormous grief in the country. one reason why people -- they didn't vote for him is what it is because what people saw -- the tenderness and devotion to his wife. >> going back in time and learning more about ida saxton and her life with william mckinley. we will go back to her early days in her hometown of ohio, taking you to the saxton mckinley house, which is what it's called today. where ida grew up. this is our first video you will see tonight. >> we are in the former for your of this accident mckinley house. it is significant in the life of ida saxton mick henley because this is the house in which he was born. she grew up in this house along with her sister and brother and parents and grandmother. this is the house that she lived and right up to the time that she met and married future president william mckinley. >> this is the family parlor where the family would have spent evenings reading and conversing with each other. this is not a place where they would entertain. we have on the wall here, one of the earliest known photographs of item acutely and the center. along with her sister mary, also known as the little one, and her brother george. on the wall above the mantle, we have a portrait of ida's father, james saxton. over on this wall, we have a photograph of ida's beloved mother, kate saxton. this room was actually replicated from a photograph that we received from the descendant. it is one of the few interior photographs that we have of the house. we are in the formal parlor of the house. in this room, we have examples of ideas love for music. we have ideas piano sitting over here. during the white house years ida's -- music was part of ida's formal education. when ida and her sister went on a torn 1869, one of the items she brought home was this wonderful music box. she bought this music box in geneva switzerland. there are letters that she wrote home to her parents throughout the trip. talking about looking for music boxes and she sees music boxes in different places, but she does not care for the quality. she says, i think i will wait until i go to geneva, switzerland. i will buy a music box there. this is the box she bought for her mother. >> we are going into the storage to see some of her letters. letters that we have our written to her parents from her and her sister mary. they went to europe to see all of the countries that they could. the letters we have detail a lot of the things that they saw. countries that they went to. this one is from edinburgh from scotland. she said people ought to travel to see how much there is to learn and read. how much i will enjoy reading anything burns has written. -- and the scenes of so many of the things he has written. she really made the most of her trip. she was intensely studying the different countries and seeing the things that you should see on this grand tour which took six months. we have a few other things that represent her life as a young girl. this is the item she would have carried in her hands to go to and from church. this is before she met and married mckinley. she was a sunday school teacher. these are some of the hymns that she would have some at church. another piece that we have representing her early life is one of my favorites. this is the actual wedding license that william mckinley junior signed. he dropped the junior after his father died. this would have been what they filed before they got married in january of 1871. at the time, it was not necessary for the woman to sign it. william mckinley signed it. ida did not. >> carl anthony, she was born in 1847 to, obviously well off parents. what's important to know about her earliest years? >> her parents were not only well off, but they were what you would almost call radically progressive. particularly on the issues of abolition. they were rapidly against slavery slavery. on equal education as well for women. ida's mother was extremely well educated. ida mckinley is the most fully educated of all the first ladies up to that time. her father also was friends with a fellow abolitionist. her grandfather was friends with horse greenly. really involved -- ohio was very much the california of the day. sort of in the earlier part of the 19th century, represented almost the far west. that is where you really find this movement for equal education for women. i've us father ida's father helps to bring this woman's famed abolitionist whose name i cannot remember right now, but ida then follows her when her teacher goes to teach at the academy during the civil war. then she goes on to study and cleveland. then she goes to steady at brooke hall seminary and pennsylvania. what you see here is a worldly educated young woman with an interest and finance and capability for mathematics. also great physical activity. she was an unusually physically fit young woman. she hikes upwards of ten miles a day on that trip to europe. two significant factors on a trip to europe. one, she sees for the first time, poor and working class women working in belgium on lace. she finds out how very little they make and have to live on. she is sort of devastated by this. it's reflected in her letters. she starts to buy a lot of lace as a way to try and do her part to help them. technically, she sees an artist who is born with no hands. he is painting, and at first she is put off by this. but she starts to open up and reflects a real sense of empathy for people living with disabilities. >> she was so good at numbers, her father gave her a job first as a teller. she worked her way up to manager of the bank. was it normal for a woman during that time to work or was it okay because it was from her father. ? >> the answer is certainly not. not in a managerial capacity. secondly, it tells you a lot about the relationship with her father. >> we want to invite you to join. we are already using your tweet and facebook comments here on air. twitter, use the hashtag first ladies. go to c-span's facebook page. there is already a conversation about ida mckinley. add your comments to it. we have the google fashion television phone call. you can call us we have the phone number on the screen. divided by region of the country. she met at the bank, major william mckinley. who was? he >> it must be said that mckinley merit up. there is no doubt, from what carl said. this is a young woman with a pretty cosmopolitan, sophisticated background. he was born in ohio. from a family that had been in the iron making business. people think that's where the seeds of his interest and protectionism were planted. he went to a place -- came back home sick. then of course, -- has real classroom was the war. he entered as a private. he ended the war as a major. along the way, critically, found the patronage of his fellow iowan -- hayes took a liking to this young man. he became a protége of sorts. years later, ida with spent a good deal of time in the hays white house. she actually baby sat for the haze children for a couple of weeks. that relationship became a very significant one. >> she was 23, he was 27. what were there early years like? >> it was the frankly a little bit conventional. she stopped working. he was interested in politics. there is no question in writing this new biography of her, that you see the very first legal cases. the business he was handling was all through the saxton family. that family really helped build the city of canton. canton went on to become a major and important industrial center in ohio at that time. certainly, ida's father and grandfather helped build it. mckinley helped sustain it and making it famous. he rose and prominence largely because of her. >> just a few years after they got married in 1873, and on set of problems came for him. >> what were they? >> they were living in a house that had been mistakenly described as their house. it was a house that her father had bought and least to them. she gave birth on christmas day, 1873, to their first daughter, katie, who is very healthy. she was the central focus of their lives. ida's mother became very ill. it turns out she had cancer. i should say that that house. this accident mckinley house was owned by ida's maternal grandmother. it may have been the only house that had passed four generations of all women. i was very close to her mother and grandmother. she was pregnant at the second time when her mother had cancer. two weeks before she gave birth, her mother died. there was a fall out of the carriage, either stepping into the carriage or out of it. her mother's burial service. ida, from what we can tell, people later on in life recalled it, that she had struck her head and may have had some kind of bad injury to her spine. she gives birth two weeks later to a child who only lives for months, and at this time, at this age starts to develop a seizure disorder. >> jennifer on facebook says, i've heard she suffered from depression after her second daughter passed away. it got worse after the other daughter passed away. my question is, whether more depression episodes happened throughout her time as first lady. >> it comes and goes. one of the great discoveries, i think, that this new brag roughly will point out is that for almost the entire first half of mckinley's years in the white house, ida mckinley was fine. she was traveling on her own to new york, baltimore. she was really relatively active. she was still disabled in a sense that she had the most ability problem, but she adapted the role of first lady and she did not hide the fact that she had this occasional walking problem. the depression -- you know, ida mckinley's physical problems and the resulting frustrations and emotional problems, sometimes frustrations with her husband, because even though it was an extremely loving and devoted relationship, there were, like any marriage, there were times of strain. it is all well and good about being optimistic and not giving into depression when you are the one who can get up and walk away. but there were times when this young woman had been so active suddenly found herself confined. >> i want to ask a quick question. i've read and you would know more about it certainly. halfway through that first term, there was this amazing scandal that entailed the murder of the first lady's brother. supposedly by a discarded mistrust. then a trial, which must have been very sensational, in which the mistress was acquitted. supposedly, there was a cause and effect following that, she went into a severe depression. >> that was a story that was largely put out by a book called, the days of mckinley by margaret leach. aida was treated more as a character -- that happened in october of 1998. it is not until june of 1899, a good amount of time after the trial is over, that other factors, his reelection campaign and his not telling her that he will run for reelection, begin to cause this depression that your viewers asked about. >> we will take a few phone calls. glenn from new jersey. >> thank you for having me on this wonderful program. my question is -- relates specifically to the whole bars and the mckinley's. more specifically, the world that jenny barred played as sort of an acting first lady during the years that they were in the white house when they were with the mckinley. can you speak of that issue? >> yes. i'll summarize it by saying it's actually false. she was there more as a friend and a support. ida mckinley never was absent from any of the official duties of first lady and had someone substitute for her. she had her young nieces, particularly one, mary barbara, with whom she was very close. sometimes she was frustrated because they did not want to come and undertake this kind of social obligation. she was very close to her. she advised the president -- you are president. if you want to change the seating arrangements -- ida really considered her a very genuine friend. but she never substituted for mrs. mckinley. >> maria is watching us from rhode island. >> hi. thank you so much for having me on. my question is how did make item it can lead deal with the death of her children in comparison to other first ladies, such as mary lincoln? >> she was not up in the attic writing letters to them, but it clearly was a trauma to her. it is the worst thing that a parent can go through. that is universal. >> the second child katie, who lived -- i should and picking up the threat of what we are talking about. she then moved out of the house. that house later on was on postcards. it became famous. the mckinley home, the honeymoon -- all these sorts of euphemisms that were used. they only lived there for two and a half years. they moved into the saxton mid-keenly house. actually, mckinley lived longer in the saxton mckinley house than any other place at all that he had ever considered his official residence. katie came with them. she died of scarlet fever. this is after ida has already been through the trauma and is going through dealing with this very bewildering new factor in her life. the seizure disorder. she began to, some years later, take comfort in a certain tenants of buddhism. one in particular was green carnation. you begin to see ida mckinley, writing letters to her that child. but since she kept katie alive. she kept her memory alive. she always had her picture on the wall. she kept the girls close in a rocking chair. she spoke as if the child sometimes was still alive. there is also a lot of firsthand accounts of her looking at young children, because she believed that perhaps, katie had been reincarnated. >> we will return to the saxton cannily house to learn more about the political partnership between the mckinley's. >> during the years of when late marilyn mckinley political career, the saxton macon lionel served as william and ideas canton residents. they had living quarters up on the third floor of the house which originally was a ballroom that was turned into living quarters of the bedroom and a sitting room and an entertaining area. also, off of that room and office that william used to conduct business. we are in william mckinley's office outside the ballroom which then later becomes the living quarters of ida and william mckinley while they are in canton. this is kind of setup that they had everywhere that they went during his political years. always when he conducted business, his door stayed open to the living quarters. and i tested in the living quarters but you could hear what was going on. she was a silent political helpmate to william mckinley. they would discuss things which would never take part in these. she would never express her political opinions. she would never come and join in but this type of setup they had when they were in columbus when he was governor, there was no governors manner than also in washington and here at this house. >> so william mckinley u.s. congressman the ohio governor became the party's nominee in 1896. what were his party politics. what was the republican party like with him and it? >> it was part of those big business. that's part of what they're all about. protecting american industry. it's hard to believe, but you could look at the political map in the united states and we're flip-flop today. mckinley in the republican swept the cities. the industrial northeast. and the democrats had the south. it's frivolous what we take for granted today. mckinley had become and identified with this issue, with the tariff. his name was on the tariff. the democrats tried twice, and the second time they got him. they should reconsider for the next year he was reelected to the governor of ohio, he was elected two years after that. and that of course another reason why he again is today thought up as almost a persian are of big business, of the trusts as they were known. is this disassociation with mark anna. >> as u.s. congressman there was a story that was very compelling to me that he had he would get up from his desk her at 3:00 every day and wave at ida. >> that was as a governor. their home was a residential suite, in front of the capital. he would go out and do this and the stories were written about him, and tourists actually started to come and they not three clock, there's governor look how devoted he has. and none other than future president warren carding, told the story you gave the deal away and telling him how legislators bent over in laughter, because they would watch him wave his handkerchief, they'll that mr. mckinley had been back in canton for about a week. he was putting on a good show. the devotion to ida, he began to use as presidential timber. he was disciplined, he was focused devoted and loyal. these are the kind of things you could look for in him as president. >> it seems a little strange today he would get up in the middle of meetings it's kind of -- >> its shrewd theater. he used it because it was on stages, and getting on and off of trains he would do things like carry her parasol, and the audience would be all look at him. you put the shawl around her. people would clap. this became part of his persona. >> not every accused oren hearting of doing that. >> regina wants to know if he was he has popular and the rest of america as he was in ohio? >> they were. this fabled hour we want to describe it relationship, we're talking about the height of the victorian era. and men and women's rules being what they are, but quite apart from that mckinley was a lovable public figure. he had this other trick, public men people in office are always being petition. people won jobs, people want something for friend they want something. the governor ohio was much different. the story was mckinley had disability. people would go in their wanting something, and he couldn't give them what they wanted. but he had developed he would instead, change the subject. he would take his trademark kaneisha office coat and pin it on one of his petitioners. he would send someone out he can get what you wanted but he felt like he had a normal connection to the governor. that's what made him a political genius, it wasn't a great intellect but whatever it is, he had. >> charlotte in columbia maryland high charlotte. >> i. i just want to say you before you answer my question, i really do enjoy this show. is the second time i've been watching this with my mom. my question is, didn't ida mckinley play anything else besides the piano? >> thank you welcome to you on your mom. did she play anything besides the piano? >> no. i've heard no evidence, but she took a real interest in a wide variety of music. she loved the opera, she was really big on the theater. and she had a lot of friends, one of the great things she loved about being first lady, was having all of the stars of the stage, and this is before hollywood come to the white house. she had all kinds of music played at the white house. she had me native mexican music, a british club, china glee club she had african american music. she even had the very first bit of ragtime performed at the very first valentine's day dance held at the white house. >> mary lewis from kansas high. >> i think my question was answered already but first i want to thank you so much for the program. i really enjoyed it. i want to ask will there be a dvd of the programs available later? >> well actually all of them are available online if you have the internet, and you can order dvds from our website. so you go to c-span.org, find the video library. it walks you through the process of doing that. you don't need to buy the dvd we have it all online for you to watch again. 1896 campaign was when jennings bryant versus mckinley. he campaigned through many states. he was on the road all the time whereas mckinley conducted what was then known as the front porch campaign. we're gonna learn more about that in our next video. >> mccann item mckinley played a very active role in the campaign and in the front porch campaign. she would be seated on the porch. she would never speak, but she was always there. she was always present. there was a perception by the public that she was an in violent. the campaign managers wanted to dispel that somewhat. they want to show that ida would serve her role as first lady. and there had been many first ladies in the past, that were ill. that did not really play an active role. but now it's 1896. we are coming up on a new century. communication is better. people are learning more about the president and the first lady. now they are starting to have expectations that that first lady plays a role. they don't want her hiding away in the white house. that was another thing that the campaign managers want to do. they wanted to bring out to the public, that this was not an invalid in a wheelchair. this was a woman that was active, and wanted to play that role. >> in the case here we have some those items that were created for the campaign for item a keenly. we have the campaign biography. we have some wonderful campaign ribbons are put out by different organizations. we have a piece, that is a paper tree that depicts not only item mckinley, but the wife of the other candidate, mary brian. we have a piece of china that has ideas image, a spoon that has not only ideas image but the white house. all of these pieces were out there in the public. i don't was out there in the public. she didn't make speeches, but she was always there, she was always present. >> so dalia turner wants to know on twitter, how well-known were ida mckinley's health issues to the press and media at the time of williams presidency? >> it was really brilliantly handled. the greater issue and greater problem which william mckinley never ceased searching for of a cure to end the seizures. but, because of visually, you would see here with a gold handled cain, when the wheelchair didn't really come until the end of his administration. it was mostly the cain she would always give his arm tour. it was very easy to focus on that, which is what he did and she would talk to reporters. and say i have a lameness in my leg. that for a while kept things kept a public satisfied. occasionally and start hearing things, things like nervous affliction. there was never, they never use the word i pepsi. what was really going on, and it was tragic in of itself was the ignorance of the vast population at the time, but see their seizure disorders. just at the age of neurology is donning, people acquitted with insanity. with mental problems as opposed to physiological. . mckinley and trying to contain this from the public learning about it, there was a fear of course that would damage his career, that is why would have this form of mental illness. he contracted well-intentioned with a doctor in new york john and bishop, who this was before the fda of course who came in this guy broke the the code by giving mckinley bromide salt, which at that time was very strong and much of the 20th century could at least control the onset of seizures. the doctor, started writing and say i give you these on the condition that i would get a weekly report of her symptoms. because it's a very precise measurement that has to change week to week based on that. and mckinley would never right. because you didn't want to put anything in writing about this. over time, it actually created a greater harm called brown isn't. the effect of the nerves adult the nerves, but overtime we could damage the nerves. >> so in attempting to help or, he actually made her condition winners. >> could you define for people who start to term what our bromide's? >> they're bromide salt. they came and i can't recall, the chemical but i think it's a potassium soul. it is a white powder that would be starting to water. there was some tablets i found reference to i was able to trace this largely by a checking his accounts with checks. he would get rid of and him not replying to doctor bishops letters he didn't send the checks. >> is it a sedative? >> it's all the nerves. >> i want to ask you we saw on that video of the use of the wives and campaigning. was this a new trend coming into the country? where the wives became something to help make the candidates appeal to the public? >> in certain ways mckinley is a bridge. he's the last of the old-fashioned candidates and presidents in the first of the modern ones. it became certainly theodore roosevelt exploited the hell out of his family. they're very exploitable she was probably the least willing to go along with the children at a great time. it's a hinge of maternity. when you have newspapers with pictures, all of a sudden presidents and their families are remote figures you're forcing their faces that personalities. that extended to their families as well. what you just take off about when the media commerce affiliated. >> skip on the air now. >> good evening, all we want to know i have a comment to make. miss lane, i think this program that you have put together on c span has been phenomenal. i have watched most of the series, and i've been educated and enlightened. i had a couple of comments. >> could you could have pause moment the gentleman sitting right across for me, it was his idea to do this series. and our producer mark ferguson and his team have worked really hard on it thank your kind words. >> absolutely. and let me just say you have the right. carl anthony, it's just a pleasure and an honor to be able to talk to both. i have a love of history, i have a love and i followed a lot of your work for years. especially carl anthony in under work a first ladies. it's an honor to be able to talk to you tonight. first of all, with regard to miss mckinley's help, i know that you had a comment earlier maybe about six months before president mckinley was assassinated that she was gravely ill when they had a trip out in the west coast. i notice that there was a report in the new york times that talked about how gravely ill that she was. almost near death. my question is was that the first time that a first lady's health was publicly reported? and i guess i'm curious to know why did they feel that they needed to get that out there? i could think 20 years that they, that a president first lady probably did not want that information to be released. >> that is a really great question and great observation. the only other first lady who had gone through a really bad health problem and then died was caroline harrison. it was not until it was really at the very very and, like a day or two before she died that more details were learned. i think the part of the problem was they were traveling. they went from -- through tennessee down to new orleans across texas. by the way, when president mckinley spoke in texas, she got off on the other side of the train and ran away with a bunch of women who took her to a big breakfast across the border making her the first incumbent first lady to ever leave the united states. they came through the last angeles fiesta of flowers. she had been shaking hands and had cut her finger. she had a ring on. this became infected. as they were going up the coast, to summarize it, there was a debate about is she going to get better? mckinley was a little bit like, oh i've seen her. she'll get better. don't worry about. the doctor was like, this is pretty serious. finally, when they had to cancel everything, and she was really near death, that is when the reporters were traveling with them. they really had to tell the truth. they were very honest about it. they gave daily reports. >> with regard to her seizure disorder, the president developed a technique when they were at events, particularly at dinners. it was described by william howard half attending an event at the home in canton, let me read to how he described it. at that moment, we heard a particular hissing sound. instantly, mckinley threw a knock in over his wife's face and simultaneously, without a trace of excitement handed me his pencil. and two or three minutes, the napkin was removed and mrs. mckinley was asking about the election as don't i think had happened. not a word with said about the incident by anyone in the room. so many people had heard of the napkin story. is it true? >> they have been so exaggerated and so distorted. here is the truth. that only occurred in private. this was at their home. the other three or four, accounts that i have found of it, are all in reference to private dinners. this never happened at state dinners. this never happened in public. in a way, it would have been better, so to speak, the reason it did not happen in public was that she was being kept -- that were delaying her senses. you start having firsthand accounts from johnny hague, henry adams, talking about how vague and distorted their conversation was becoming. again, this is 1899 and afterwards. it was the effects of the nerve damage that was occurring. >> we will return to canton, ohio, to look at some of the dresses of the first lady that they have preserved there as a sense of how she presented herself as first lady. >> in order to see some of the more fragile and important pieces from ida mckinley's white house ears we have to go to the main storage area. this is where we keep fighters white house dresses and artifacts. this dress is my favorite. jeff we are in the middle of a conservation process so that we can have these dresses repaired so that they will be able to be on a mannequin. this one is my favorite because it is so heavily ornamental. you can see all the bead work. it actually has silver beads. it has metallic thread. it has tiny little mirrors. the little squares are little mirrors. this would have reflected light beautifully. this is typical of ideas style. the fashion in the late 1890s would have been high collar. puffy sleeves, although toward the end of the decade they toned down a little bit. her favorite was this kind of ivory colored. she also lived blue. most of the dresses that we have are typical of that type of color palette. she did not have a lot in her life to be excited about. she was what we would call a semi invalid, so fashion was extremely important to her as reflected by the gowns in her collection. >> we are beginning to see first ladies who have set the trends. we see a trend setter for the fashion world? >> she was not. she did get into a bit of trouble with the autobahn society by wearing an egret feather in her hair. he had mrs. cleveland, mrs. hayes, great levers of animals. item mckinley was not -- i will take this chance to clear up a stupid and untrue story which was that she ordered the -- of cats. during the spanish american war that had been named after spanish political and military leaders. i really tried to track that down. there is zero evidence, not only that she did not do it, but that there were any cats in the white house. >> the mckinley presidency was a very busy time in this country. some of the major events, they were occurring during the administration of 1898. the spanish american war, but among other things -- >> even there, mckinley's role is remembered -- >> 1890, the war revenue act in the treaty of paris signed. 1899, the open-door policy. the gold standard act of 1900. you talk about him as -- the power of presidencies. >> first of all, 1896 matters because it is a real lining election. we don't have a lot of those. they could not know it in 1901, but the fact is we knew mckinley transformed american politics. it dates almost 40 years up until -- republicans would be the dominant party. he's the one who brought -- after the civil war. that is important. another case of presidential power that is relevant to our own time. that is, mckinley unilaterally dispatched 5000 american soldiers to combat the rebellion, almost referred to as a secret society. the chinese who were fed up of the exploitation of their country by western imperial powers. they had laid siege -- and pay king and he ensign. the honeymooning couple -- hoover were ensconced. thousands were threatened with death. mckinley sent these troops along, as part of an international expedition, and the nick of time they arrived in packing and were able to save most -- about 900 westerners who were there. he did it on his own power. subsequent presidents would use that example in situations that may have been similar. that is just one way in which war, which mckinley never wanted in the first place, transformed his presidency and the presidency. >> from pennsylvania, you are on. >> i love this program. my question was, when we were in elementary school, i had a teacher and geography. he told us that when mckinley was assassinated and had died, his wife sat the white house for quite a long time, playing the piano and got up and took a canary or parakeet and left the white house and everything else in it. is that true or false? >> false. that was florence hearting. it's pretty shocking how so many of the things that she made simple requests about regarding her husband and his coffins -- were ignored. without him there to sort of look out after her she was not really treated with much -- her requests as a widow were not honored. >> in the first term, when he was looking at all the of the issues. it said that it was his custom to drink a mixture to stay awake, that contained, what we think of today as cocaine. >> in the twenties, thirties, forties, coca-cola was known to contain the same substance. the answer is yes. >> the pope was also using it. >> he had this consuming presidency, and yet he was consumed with his wife's health. how did that affect his ability to govern? >> there is one or two times where, right after the main, the battleship maine is sunk in havana, harbor in february 1896. he is reluctant to go to war. the negotiations with spain broke down. we go to war. there were times when he stayed up late at night, but the truth was, she was worried. that was the period when she was worried about him, and in fact, there is a strong record that shows that she was trying to talk to his assistant. we need to do something about him. she was playing the protective role. this is a period when she was very physically strong. it is the later period that he, after the war, after the war is declared over with spain, what we were never told was another war, which was the filipino american war. because when we took the philippines, they did not welcome us. it resisted. it was a bloody and horrifying -- there were atrocities committed on both sides. that is when she was at her neediest. that is when pressure really did get to him. he had to constantly make a choice between his work and his wife. >> striking parallels between then and now. the splendid little war was the reference to -- to took to the feet the decrepit empire. what we tend to forget is, rather like in iraq and afghanistan, he the media victory was immediately followed by -- protracted a very bloody insurrection which went on for four years. there were 70,000 american soldiers who were in the philippines, trying to put down -- while mckinley is preaching what he calls benevolent assimilation. the problem was, the filipinos did not want to be assimilated. >> joshua from florida. >> hi. i want to thank you. i really enjoy these programs. i want to talk about something you mentioned last week that ties into this week. last week, the historian mentioned mimi eisenhower was the first fashion icon just as jacqueline kennedy was. i could not help but think that they were the first ladies to be seen regularly on tv. i have a mckinley was obviously the first lady to be seen on film. can we talk a little bit of the importance of imagery -- images of the first lady, especially ida mckinley? >> i would not place too much emphasis on it. it was more a matter of her of being captured as a matter of fact. again, these were shown more on nickelodeon's. a few of the movie theaters that you begin to see, what will become newsreels, by the time of woodrow wilson, who is the very first one, 1896, presidential campaign when mckinley, his brother aber was always asking for railroad passes and looking to make good -- his brothers >> got involved in the first film company. in that, mckinley sort of takes a letter of his notification. but you see ida mckinley on the front porch walking. it was more of a half hazard fact that she appeared. it was really not a factor. what i will add, is their newspaper illustrations. the hand drawn newspaper illustrations were now the technology allows for them to take photographs, almost like a cut and paste. have actual photographs of people's faces. and then the drawings of them in various scenarios. in fact that's the first impression cast a biden wheelchair. when she almost dies in san francisco is done that way. >> that is 1899, i want to talk about rachel for on facebook was what was i does we won women suffrage? -- do we learn about her views about women's rights in those speeches? >> she is again, this is something i discovered. because like everyone else, i had sort of a general impression of her as the invalid. in fact she goes to the president he becomes at smith college, the first president the united states to speak on to address the issue of women's education. it's in a way to we don't think that is a big day deal. they want to educate women, they want to get jobs the fabric of the family will fall apart. item mckinley we don't have the text of what her speech was, but she delivered a short speech. she was given at smith college, on the main stand there, but in one of the rooms inside the building presented with a silver and had made some remarks. she was very decidedly in favor of women's right equal right to vote. and on one day a delegation of the anti suffrage league came. and presidento5n mckinley met h them. item mckinley did not come downstairs and nothing further was said and the suffrage leader said and said mckinley said please bring them up into my private suite. and went and gave a whole load of lilies to susan b anthony and said when you go to the suffrage convention i want you to tell them that this is from me. as a gift to all of you later on she corresponded with susan be anthony, and a friend of hers later confirmed that she very strongly believed in women suffering. that was the first incumbent first lady to publicly support suffrage. >> on this trip she has a massive epileptics easier. is this one of the health really begins to deteriorate? >> yes june of 1899. all that happened this mckinley has purchased that original house that the first two and a half years of their married life together. the front porch house. and they have rented it. they rented it for a year, during the 1896 campaign. a little confusing. this accident and mckinley house which still stands, that's not where the campaign was. the campaign was that the other how they rented, then it came up for sale. he enrolls she's very depressed because of the onset of the seizures now, but he enrolls these blueprints. we're gonna buy the house or expanded. and gets or into this idea that finally were not retire. she had a very strong and state for the record fear of his assassination. it was based very rationally not any hocus focus, because of the movement of the anarchists, killing leaders around the world. he refused to say whether or not he was or not. then in 1899 it became clear to her that they were expanding their house not for their retirement but two houses campaign and campaign staff there are letters can john hay rights and others that this is the most depressed and lowest that she have ever been. and she made what was counted as thousands of slippers that had a political benefit. >> we learn more about that in our next video. we >> we have this bill fold. this is never been on exhibit this was recently donated by a descendant. what's wonderful about this is that inside, it has a picture of william mckinley. and this is something that we see in a lot of her personal belongings. this was her sewing bag. she would keep her air crochet items in here. it is your favorite color blue. inside we have a picture of william mckinley even when he was away from her. she'd have something to remind her of him. she was known for her crochet slippers. she would spend hours crushing the slippers. we think that she maybe made 4000 pairs in our lifetime. these are unique for the souls that they have. there were leather soles on the bottom. she would make them in various sizes. we have a pair from obviously a child size. they were usually made in a variation of blue, gray or an ivory color. these represent the basic colors that she would use. since she was not well and was not able to do other types of work as a first lady this was one of the things she could contribute. because she would either donate these to a charity, to needy children or war veterans or she would donate them to the option to raise money for charity. >> so carl anthony on twitter sheldon cooper wants to know did she ever give needed slippers to his political friends, and adversaries? >> yes. exactly pretty brilliant. i should say, i don't mckinley was a very witty woman. and a little bit subversive. she would, she could like someone and the one area politically where you do see her really having an influence is in judging the character of people that he is considering for higher positions or to be around him if she hadn't like someone or didn't trust someone it wasn't like she would throw some fishy she had a very rational explanation. she also indicated how she felt about them by the color of the slippers she gave. she would give purple as an act of saying this guy is very loyal and yellow if she thought the guy was a yes man and a bit of a coward, in expressing himself. >> well the so-called friend julia for worker was watching this relationship between the two of more closely in the public. here's one thing she said. the fact that her husband had been a shield between her and reality and made her a pathetically spoiled and miserable woman she knew what she liked and she got it royally. >> i would say that is partially true. it was more true and held up when she found out that he was gonna run for reelection. and he hadn't told are. at this point, she is more physically disabled. this is going into the year 1900, in his reelection campaign. and she was very frustrated. later in life, as a widow she actually wrote something that was really remarkable. it was basically saying the longer i live without him, the more i have realized how completely dependent i was. and the story has always been painted like he was a great hero, and the protector. but he was also controlling in the situation. he controlled her medicine, you controlled a lot of things and from her point of view she was willing to accept her limitations and adapt herself and there were times he didn't one that. >> joel come back to you in a second job in illinois. >> i have been enjoying the program a lot i'm looking forward to the second season, especially because i'm a presidency history geek. i want to call last week i've been to the harrison home in indianapolis, and the weekend i was there they were doing reenactments. do any of the other presidential homes do reenactor's, where local citizens portray the presidents and their families? >> how about specific does canton ohio do it? >> at the saxony kingly home, i haven't been there recently but i know they certainly did volunteer their, and they would because it serves to the purpose of being a center for the study of all the first ladies, as well as the sack acts and mckinley house. yes there has been at the mckinley house we've done that. >> john is in chicago. >> i grew up just a few miles away from canton. i visited the mckinley monument, where they are very i was impressed. the question when i go down the freeway in chicago, in the south side there's an area called ida mckinley homes. i believe it's a public housing project. i wondered if there was any connection there or they just memorial name them after her. i don't know if you guess would know that. >> specifically that i do not know. but i will say that this. there was again, the story never gets fully written. people get miscast and caricature. she was very involved with tour gonna's asians. one was called the critic and in-house, and the other was the red cross. it was really interesting because it was it specifically helped women who had been battered, who are homeless, and it provided them with shelters. as well as education. and it really helped them to reestablish their lives. she didn't just willy-nilly support every group and everything. she did to the slippers. they fetched a lot of money, at auction. but they were very careful about where she allowed her name to be used. and it might well be, there wasn't a connection there with jane adams that whole house, and the creek indian organization about mature entirely. >> so richard norton smith, we heard the president did really consult aida on his decision to run for reelection. we have a coat from this time period where she said of him, i will be glad when he is out of public life. i do not want him to run a second time. i thought he had done enough for the country. and when his term expires he will come home and we will settle down quietly and he will belong to me. she certainly didn't get her wish. over the 1900 election all about. >> the 1900 election was in some ways a rematch. of 1896. he ran against mckinley -- >> -- >> by 1900, he was seen as the men as i said earlier, brought us out of the great depression of 18 nineties. he was -- imperialism. brian and the democrats, and the number of what you might call good government republicans, liberal republicans. basically they oppose the idea, of american empire. mckinley on the other hand, for a number of reasons, first of all he was a convert to the war in the first place. the question i have, we've been told by i believe by the white house military aid, the single point you had to make as president after going to war, was deciding whether to keep the philippines. hugely important question. very controversial. the white house military aid said, that in fact it was ideas constant hopping, or harping on all the good work done by the missionaries that heavily influenced her husband's ultimate decision, to which he always said had religious connotations. to take the philippines, and quote educate and civilize and christian eyes them. that ring about? >> yes i actually found that evidence not just by benjamin montgomery, his military aid that was there in the middle of the night he was the guy transmitting all the messages to and from the front. and then i'll telegraph room. but also julie fork up the senate wife, william beer is a political operative and i tried to remember there was several people as mr. mckinley is not what you would consider a traditional and religious person. she never went to church. she went to the theater a lot on sunday. she sure did not go to church. >> but he was a very devout methodist. his mother thought he was going to be a minister. that never quite took. but he literally, all his life he, was a significant influence in his decisions. >> he went alone. she did not come with him. the suggestion is, though, that she really believed that from the reports they were getting -- they were slanted -- the whole population summarized as living in a primitive way, that their lives, less about christianity per se, but more that their lives needed to be improved in a way that only the americans -- >> but i truly believe that is why he was annexing the philippines. >> one of those worries was about potential assassination. she had good reason to. here is a list of some of the assassinations all happening around the globe. 1894, the president of france. 1895, the prime minister of bulgaria. 1897, the prime minister of spain. , and 1900 the president of it early. >> an orchids was a worldwide -- well it's terrorism today. >> it is really interesting. >> and their choice where the leaders of the country. >> you chop off the head of the system and the system will die. >> it was not always cooked up by a large -- it was people acting on their own. >> which spoke to his decision to put theodore roosevelt on the ticket. >> it was not exactly his decision. the fact of the matter is, in managed to alienate the political bosses in new york who in desperation turn to him as the great hero of the war. as the only one who could win election as a government of new york in 1898. he was a reformer. most of his reforms seemed pretty mild to us today, but they struck at the heart of the political bosses and the status quo that they wanted to preserve. the united states senator from new york, tom, the easy boss as he was known, basically hatched the idea of getting rid of theater, kicking him upstairs into the vice presidency where no one would ever hear from him again. mckinley seems to have been ambivalent about this. people might ask why? he already had a vice president. he died in 1899. there was an opening. the convention went wild -- who had tried in advance to indicate he did not want to be vice president. it was like taking the veil. that was not his style. >> there's an important fact. about mckinley. she was crucial in at least two instances and very important points in the rise of theater roosevelt. perhaps the most rheumatic one, i will tell you that when, is that when roosevelt was with the cavalry in san antonio with the rough rioters and was trying to get on to a train, so he could get to the transport ships in florida, so they could go to cuba, nobody would give him permission. he was sending wires and telegraph to the secretary of wart. send it to mrs. mckinley. she took it and brought it to the president. she had met roosevelt and trusted him. that is what got roosevelt to those transports in florida, and roosevelt responded to the president, please tell mrs. mckinley to think of the rough riders as her very own, and we will make her proud. from that point on, roosevelt curried favor with ida mckinley. there was an event in 1899 where she came in. it was a big dinner. thousands of people there. the governor new york was speaking. he saw she was coming in. right at the right moment he said, three cheers for mrs. mckinley. she sort of gave favor to him with her husband. >> 13 13 minutes left. lots more to tell. >> hi. i love your show. love love love. is it true that robert lincoln who was at his bedside when he died -- and was also at mckinley's assassination? >> i think he was at the train station at the time. i do not believe he was in the temple of music. he was in buffalo, though. cohen he probably decided not to accompany the president. >> our stories coming full circle. before we get to the assassination. donna asked, if she was so frail, how did she function as first lady in the white house? we've talked so much about politics. does the mckinley white house do that? >> she was not interested in -- interestingly, apart from her illness, before she had gotten her seizure disorder, she was not interested in housekeeping. she was not interested in menus or entertaining. they had basically lived in a hotel suites in washington and in columbus. she was interested in him. again, that is a good question, but, from the idea, this whole idea that she was always kind of this invalid, and she was not -- mckinley took control. mckinley was the one who planned a lot of the dinners. she had weekly receptions. she did a lot of the traditional stuff, but she was not particularly interested in making those decisions. >> presidents were still being sworn in in march at this time. it was six months later in september that they went to the exposition. we have more footage about the exposition. it is a new american century. is america really beginning to change its place in the world? >> absolutely. the panel american exposition was a celebration of the western hemisphere, but in a lot of the sense, it was americas coming out party. america now owned must much of the western hemisphere. cuba, a puerto rico -- and the pacific blob -- hawaii and the philippines. all in one presidency. again, you had this remarkable overnight explosion of activity, and the american people are having this debate, which in some ways goes on to this day. what is our role in the world? >> at that faithful time, he was shot. by this anarchist. how long did he linger before he died? >> was it 16? >> eight days. >> what happened to either make item a keenly after his death? >> well, she wanted to be with him. she wanted some privacy. she wanted to have a moment with him. on the day before he died. in the late hours, she was brought in to be with him. they did have some private words together and mckinley said something i found that had not been widely quoted. after she was brought out he said to the doctor, what will become of her? it was almost a little bit cold. it was not. he loved her but he knew he was dying. and the doctor, he was a good guy. he was the one who got her on the regiment. they looked to him like a son. they would not allow her to attend any of the public ceremonies. she was in the white house. she had some time downstairs with the closed coffin in the east room. she was walked to the train. brought that to canton. the coffin was an open coffin for the public to pay their respects to in the canton city hall. she was not permitted. she said one thing. she said, i want him one last night in this house alone with me. so that i could look at him one more time. they brought the coffin and they had sealed it. she was very bitter, frankly. she was very angry. i very rarely found instances of her saying things that were really sharp and frustrated. she did after they did that. >> our final video is returning to ida mckinley's museum and learning more about mrs. mckinley in mourning. >> now, we want to take a look at some of the things that happened to ida after the white house. her white house years were cut short by the mckinley's assassination. she spent the next six years in mourning. there are not a lot of things that represent this period for her. she mostly was a recluse. she stayed at home almost all the time. when she left, it was usually only to visit her husband's grave. when mckinley first was assassinated, condolences poured in from all around the world, and she could not take care of each one of them personally. she sent out this card, which would acknowledge that she appreciated what people had sent to her. she often did not sign them. these would've been something you would have received after you send her a condolence. we also have a pound book. this is family and intimate friends. we have lots of professional and public condolences. this one is extremely special, because these would've been the closer friends of hers. they would have been family members, cousins, things like that. these would have been the types of things that she would have wanted to keep a close. it would have been bound for her to have and to look through. some of them are acknowledged up on the corner in pencil. they would have a date on them, so that the secretary could keep track of which once she had acknowledged. not all of them have that. these are also -- this one is a good one because it shows that it is from a mckinley family. this would have been the most nearest and dearest friend and family. >> as we close out here, john richardson asks a very interesting question to both of you on facebook. to the historians, the idea had item akin lee described herself in a third person what would she have said? >> a devoted wife by her own choice. >> i'll leave it at that. >> dave wants to know, we're ida's daily trip to her husband 's grave more of a physical or mentally -- >> they began right after the services. he was not buried. they would build that monument. it was actually his coffin on a stand and what looks like a church. it was stone. in it or large floral displays. eventually, every day she went. at first, it was therapeutic in a way that was healthy to physically get her out. but overtime, it became rather a ghoulish and grim for her. she was focused on death. she was even focused on the flowers that were dying. trying to keep them alive and trying to get new flowers that she would put in. it was sort of grim. she wanted it done. but there was an incredible little moment that happened. i thought, that was the rest of her story and it is not. what happens is, her two nieces both have a daughter each. suddenly, at the end of her life are these two little girls in her life. she stops going to the tomb every day and she starts walking every day on the porch. she gardens and talks about flowers. she really returns to life. >> almost a rebirth of her in the last couple years. >> queen victoria, 40 years -- this is the time of the victorian obsession with death. to me, erie east chapter and this whole story is allegedly, she never had another seizure after the president's death. >> this is very complicated. i won't get into it here but seizures -- people still have seizures. there are many different types of seizures. i had it material reviewed by members of the board for epilepsy. it is a sensitive issue that has to be handled well and describing it. we can only base so much -- we only know so much. the fact that the doctor had regulated her life to this point, in terms of rest and diet and then instructed the nurses who took care of her later on, it kind of became secretaries made an account for that. but also, the stress. the paradox of this is, part of the reason she would sometimes if you get stressed out and she would worry about him being shot. buy him now being gone, that stress was removed. >> he died in may of 1907. just shy of her 68 60th birthday. 59 years. old how did the country react when she died? >> it reacted, as it so up and a half and often happens, in the context of this young family, the roosevelt in the white house. there was some sharp nasty little things that, oh the roosevelt aristocrats and the mckinley were sort of village people from ohio. there was there was nothing said about her as a person. everything that was said about her was a symbol. it was all through the lens of him. two days in her lifetime and she didn't care what people thought about her. she didn't really care whether the public love their she cared about what they still thought about him and she would attack someone who attacked him >> >> one of our facebook questions wants to know about you written a whole book about her. we've got what the picture what the cover looks like. why were you so interested to tackle a biography. >> it was really the founder and president of the she really felt that there was a real story to tell their it was really an undertaking there was a lot of work it was not one repository of all of miss mckinley's papers. the effort was far and wide it was like taking a magnet and picking up metal filings. one letter from here, one letter from there was pre-arduous arduous. but even like i said at that story at the end at the 11th hour, as long as you are live there is hope. that at the end of her story, prove true. i hope what it will do is eventually, where away at that caricature and give history a little bit more of a fully developed human being. >> where to give you the last word on this which is we're running out of time here where do you think she should fit in the pantheon of first ladies? >> let me recall carl's book is exactly what this series is all about. taking a fresh look below the surface beyond the caricature making the reacquainted's of women, who remain we may know little about or we may be ongoing learning about. is a wonderful springboard to part two. >> thanks to both of you for helping us learn about the mckinley presidency and life of item occasionally during that first term and very important second term. we appreciate you helping us learn more. as we closure tonight, you are several times this is the final installment of our first part we will be back on september 9th to pick it up again all the way through presidents they have 2014 with the modern first lady starting with roosevelt. if you've gotten interested in the subject will continue to feed that interest thanks for being with us. >> if you enjoyed watching first lays pick up a copy of the book first ladies influence in the image featuring profiles of the nation's first ladies. through interviews with top historians. now available in paperback hardcover, or as an e-book. i >> wore erupted between north and south korea 70 years ago on june 25th 1950 thursday night beginning at 8 pm eastern, american history tv and washington journal look back at the division of the country along the 38th parallel after world war ii. we also examine its role in the cold war. and the conflict that led to the deaths of 36,000 americans to 1950, and 1953. watch american history tv, overnight and over the weekend on c-span 3. >> descendants of president from james maduro to gerald our ford convened in washington for a conference hosted by the white house historical association. next an interview with massie mckinley whose descended this is

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