Author Archives: Feather Schwartz Foster

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About Feather Schwartz Foster

Feather Schwartz Foster is an author-historian who has made more than 500 appearances discussing presidential history. She teaches adult education at the Christopher Wren Association (affiliated with William and; Mary College), and adult Education programs at Christopher Newport University. She has been a guest on the C-SPAN "First Ladies" program. She has written five books.

Chester Alan Arthur: The Dandy President

Nothing but the very best would satisfy Chester Alan Arthur. An Insignificant Upbringing Nothing in his background remotely suggested that Chester Alan Arthur (1829-86) would ever be president. Of course that could be said about many of our chief executives. … Continue reading

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Tad Lincoln and The Doll Jack

All kids need toys.  Tad: A Child With Problems Tad was the Lincolns’ fourth and last child born after a grueling two-day labor. He was born with a cleft palate, a not-uncommon malformation in the mouth routinely corrected in infancy … Continue reading

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Nan Britton, Part II: Harding’s Tell-All Mistress

The bad news was that President Warren Harding died in 1923. Without a will. Nan Britton, Nymphette Nanna Popham Britton (1896-1991) had been obsessed with Warren G. Harding since she was a child. She fixated on him like today’s teeny-boppers … Continue reading

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Nan Britton: Harding’s “Lolita”

This is Part One of a very nifty story! The Marion Publisher Warren G. Harding (1865-1923) was a rural Ohio fellow, who, following a mediocre education, gravitated to Marion, Ohio where he purchased an interest in The Marion Star, a … Continue reading

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Dolley Madison at 250

At 250 years old, Dolley Madison has consistently “worn well.” Happy Birthday to Dolley! From the time Dolley Payne Todd Madison (May 20, 1768-1849) was in her mid-twenties, she was arguably the most famous woman in the United States. Two … Continue reading

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Franklin Pierce: Moments of Grace

Franklin Pierce came to the Presidency following great personal tragedy. Franklin Pierce: The Tragedy Only weeks before Franklin Pierce (D-NH) was inaugurated in 1853, he took his wife and their eleven-year-old son to visit family in Massachusetts. En route, their … Continue reading

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Johnson, Grant and the Big Parade

Mid-March through Mid-May, 1865 were fraught with events March 1865 With General Ulysses Grant squeezing the Rebel Army even tighter in Petersburg, VA, and General William Sherman marching his vast army up the eastern coast, everyone knew that the end … Continue reading

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George Washington and Smallpox

Smallpox was a dreaded contagious disease. If one survived, one could be scarred and disfigured for life. George Washington and his Brother Lawrence Augustine Washington died when his son George was eleven. He had four younger siblings. He also had … Continue reading

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Seward and Davis: An Unlikely Friendship

Jefferson Davis and William Seward in their old age. William H. Seward: Republican Whig The 1850s was decade seething with unrest; a volcano just waiting to erupt. The Whigs had always been a cobbled-together party of various factions and sections … Continue reading

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General Grant’s Greatest Lesson

Fear is a natural reaction in the face of danger, or stress or the unknown. Or all of it. USG: Reinstatement The surrender of Fort Sumter in April 1861 changed everything for West Point trained Ulysses S. Grant. President Lincoln … Continue reading

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