Woodrow Wilson. Dr. Grayson. Edith. And Golf.

Posted on June 18, 2025 by Feather Foster
Most of our 20th Century (and later) Presidents played golf.

For Medicinal Purposes

At his inaugural luncheon at the White House, the new President Woodrow Wilson had occasion to meet naval physician Dr. Cary Grayson, and invited him to become his personal physician. A few days later, when Grayson gave the POTUS a thorough examination (with medical history), he was amazed to discover the 56-year-old man Woodrow Wilson was in startling poor health. 

Prescription for golf.

While some of the President’s conditions were not able to be cured, his hardening of the arteries for one, and his high-strung nature for another. But certain “lifestyle changes” could alleviate problems, at least partially. Like a bland diet for his sensitive digestive system. Or fresh air and exercise. Or making time for relaxation. 

Grayson had prescribed “golf” as a suitable activity for the intellectual scholar and sedentary man, and Wilson actually began to feel better. And, to make sure that his most important patient was abiding to the treatment, Dr. Grayson became his regular golf buddy. They became fast friends. 

Wilson the Golfer

Woodrow Wilson had always been what one might call a “sports enthusiast.” He managed the baseball team at college, and attended football games regularly. He was a fan. A cheerleader. But seldom an active player. Occasional horseback outings, or long walks or bicycle rides was the extent of his athletic participation. 

Neither Wilson nor Grayson were good golfers and never improved despite regular golf games. According to Col. Edmund Starling, the White House Secret Service agent assigned to accompany them, they were pretty evenly matched “four-putters,” and seldom played a round in less than 200 strokes. In a word: duffers.

Col. Edmund Starling

But they enjoyed it. And WW, with immense powers of focus and concentration, was able to focus that concentration on the golf course, and actually reduced the growing stresses of his office. 

The Devastation

Only eighteen months after Wilson’s inauguration, First Lady Ellen Wilson died. She had an un- or misdiagnosed Bright’s Disease for years, then always fatal. Wilson’s 30-year marriage had been a very happy one, and unusually close. Nobody knew him better than Ellen. Her loss devastated the President, and his emotional health, always fragile, was coming apart. 

He lost weight (and he was never heavy), he couldn’t sleep. Or focus or concentrate. On top of that, Ellen’s death came just as the opening shots were fired of what would be The Great War (WWI). 

Cary Grayson’s rounds of golf with his patient were now essential to the President’s health. 

Cousin Helen

Coincidences

After Ellen’s death, the President had asked his unmarried 38-year-old cousin Helen Bones to come live at the White House and assume the “First Lady” social responsibilities. She was happy to do so, but was a stranger to Washington. Dr. Grayson sensed her loneliness, and introduced her Edith Galt, a 42-year-old widow. 

Grayson had known Edith for several years, and believed the two women would have many things in common. Coincidentally, the doctor was courting a young woman who had become close to Edith when her parents died, and hoped that the Widow Galt might encourage his romantic attentions. 

As it was, Helen Bones and Edith Galt became good friends. They shopped and took long walks. Went to lunch. It was pleasant company. So much so, that one afternoon, when the two women were caught in a sudden downpour close to the White House, Helen invited her companion to come in for tea.

Coincidentally, at the elevator, they met the President and Dr. Grayson, who had been caught in the same downpour on the golf course. Wilson and the Doctor invited themselves to the tea party, and the rest became history. 

Edith and Woodrow: Newlyweds

As “Cousin Helen’s friend,” Edith now received invitations to lunch or dinner at the White House, He phoned her daily on a newly-installed private line, and invited her to join them on a carriage ride, or a theater performance… It did not take very long for Edith Galt to realize she was being courted.

Less than 18 months after Ellen Wilson’s death, the President remarried. It had been Ellen’s dying wish that Dr. Grayson “take care of Woodrow,” and knew her husband’s visceral need for a woman’s nurturing love. 

The Bride and The Diagnosis

Cary Grayson had known Mrs. Galt a long time, and as the new Mrs. Wilson, he took her into his confidence regarding her new husband’s health – which was not very good. He entrusted her to make sure he adhered to his “healthy” diet, and see to it that he has plenty of rest and relaxation. He stressed that it was essential.

She took Grayson’s charge very seriously, especially since the War was wreaking havoc throughout Europe and beyond. 

Grayson suggested that the new bride might want to join them on the golf course, and asked if she played? Actually she did on occasion, enjoyed the outings, was happy to go along and confessed that she played reasonably well – for a woman.

The happy couple.

In the memoirs she wrote twenty years afterwards, she recalled that the newlyweds rose early – by 6 AM, had coffee in their rooms, and then went out to play nine holes of golf before returning for a nourishing breakfast. She admitted that neither of them were particularly good golfers, but the fresh air and exercise was good for them. They had fun and laughed a lot. Sometimes Dr. Grayson joined them.

But it was Col. Starling, their unheralded escort, who provided the final analysis. Edith Wilson, while not a particularly good golfer – was a lot better than either of her companions!

Sources:

Heckscher, Augustus – Woodrow Wilson: A Biography – Scribner’s – 1991

Weinstein, Edwin A. – Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography – Princeton University Press, 1981

Starling, Col. Edmund (as told to Thomas Sugrue) – Simon & Schuster, 1946

Wilson, Edith Bolling – My Memoir – Bobbs Merrill, 1938

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/02/AR2007020201698.html?noredirect=on

Click to access EBW-DIGITAL-EXHIBIT-Text-MAY2021-katherineS.pdf

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Theodore Roosevelt and the Pigskin Library

Posted on June 10, 2025 by Feather Foster

Being a POTUS is a hard act to follow.

The Young Retiree

Theodore Roosevelt was our youngest President, only 42 when he took office. After seven-and-a-half years, declaring that he would not seek a third term, he was also our youngest ex-President. He was only 50, and at the peak of his physical and mental energies. 

Having hand-picked his successor, William H. Taft, he sought to allow the new POTUS the latitude he needed to chart his own direction. Serendipitously, The Smithsonian Institution had paved a smooth transition for TR – offering him an underwritten safari in Africa, with a supporting cast of hundreds, in exchange for regular articles and exotic specimens. They knew Roosevelt’s devotion and expertise as a naturalist, and expected grand results. And publicity.

Big Bill Taft needed room.

TR was dee-lighted for this mammoth opportunity, which also provided the material for dozens of magazine articles and a few books. He took Kermit with him. Kermit was his second son, and perhaps the most like his father when it came to the “strenuous” outdoor life. He gladly took a year off from his studies at Harvard for this once-in-a-lifetime father-and-son adventure. 

A Segue Back to Jefferson

Theodore Roosevelt was not a huge admirer of Thomas Jefferson, and said as much periodically. (Jefferson, having died decades before TR was born, remained silent on the subject.)

TJ and TR had commonalities.

Nevertheless, just as a broken clock is right twice a day, there were huge undeniable similarities between the two men. TJ was a knowledgeable and passionate agronomist. TR was a knowledgeable and passionate zoologist. Natural history is natural history. And passion and knowledge is passion and knowledge.

And while it is Jefferson who is remembered as saying, “I cannot live without books,” I doubt that Roosevelt would challenge either the words or the sentiment. He was a voracious book-a-day reader. 

Corinne

Corinne Roosevelt, TR’s younger sister, was devoted to her brother, as were all his family members. She had married a wealthy real estate manager Douglas Robinson, an ardent supporter of the Roosevelts, who denied his wife nothing that money could buy. 

Corinne Roosevelt Robinson

So when TR was in the retiring-cum-safari mode, Corinne wanted to give him a suitable gift, and asked him what he would like. He knew exactly what he wanted. 

In addition to all the related paraphernalia he would require for the months-long adventure, he could not go without books! A large assortment of them. But he also needed volumes that could withstand the wear and tear, be impervious to the weather and climate, the sand and the heat and the rains, the molds and the mildews, blood and gun oil and all the critters that might invade his tents. 

TR believed that “pigskin” was the most suitable binding material for his needs. Pigskin, a century-old nickname for a football, is as tough as it gets! Old bindings were removed, the margins were trimmed for space/weight, and an aluminum case was designed specifically to carry them. The set weighed 60 pounds.

It was a private one-of-one edition of TR’s favorite reading material. And the well-tuned-in father made sure to consult Kermit on his favorites as well! 

Kermit had TR’s hunting and reading and poetry genes.

Sixty books (or maybe fifty-nine) were chosen for special binding. The variety of them is a picture of the man himself – an amalgam of many different interests.

The Bible, of course. Volumes of Shakespeare, of course. The ancient classics – like the Iliad and the Odyssey, of course. Plays by Euripides.

Then there was a huge selection of poetry. All Roosevelts were drawn to poetry, and memorized hundreds of lines of verse. The range was interesting: Milton. Edgar Allan Poe. Robert Browning and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Shelly and Keats – and Longfellow.

Then there were some Dickens’ titles. And Sir Walter Scott adventures. Both Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn represented Mark Twain. Robinson Crusoe, and Pilgrims’ Progress, Don Quixote and even Alice in Wonderland made the list as well. 

And, perhaps to keep TR focused on the intellectual present, he included Darwin’s Origin of the Species, Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power on History, which had been a major influence on TR (personally and presidentially!) And The Federalist Papers.

A reader is a reader – anywhere!

According to TR himself, in his African Game Trails, the books were not for ornament. He always carried some volume with him, either in his saddle bag or his cartridge bag. If he rested for a while in the shade or waiting for camp to be pitched, out came one of his books, for a half hour or so reading pleasure. The books were used, and used hard. By the end of the year-long safari, TR claimed that the bindings looked like a “well-used saddle.” They held up. 

Where Are They Now?

The Pigskin Library was eventually given to TR’s daughter Ethel Derby, who kept them for decades, and finally gifted them to the Theodore Roosevelt collection in Harvard’s Houghton Library.

But… while Harvard still maintains a vast TR collection…and while the Roosevelt home at Sagamore Hill also maintains a substantial collection in its “Presidential Library”…

The newest TR library is set to open in 2026.

… a new Theodore Roosevelt Library is being built in Dickinson, North Dakota – not far from the ranch where he spent a few momentous years as a cowboy following the death of his young first wife. Most historians agree that the experience helped forge the man he became.

According to their plans, the Pigskin Library will be a part of its collection. 

One can imagine a heartfelt “Bully!” from its previous owner.

Sources: 

Brands, H.W. – TR: The Last Romantic – Basic Books, 1997

Morris, Edmund – Colonel Roosevelt – Random House, 2010

Roosevelt, Theodore – African Game Trails – Scribner’s, 1910

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/tr.htm

https://www.si.edu/object/auth_exp_fbr_EACE0006

https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Research/Digital-Library/Record?libID=o274791

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U.S. Grant and the Wildflowers

Posted on May 29, 2025 by Feather Foster

Ulysses S. Grant was a true case of still waters running deep.

The Young Romantic

Hiram Ulysses Grant (his name at birth) was an amalgam of both his parents: the tenacity of his father and the taciturnity of his mother. He did not give up easily (if at all), and he did not talk much – unless he had something worth saying.

As the eldest of six siblings, he had plenty of family companionship and was well liked among his schoolmates and neighbors. But his best affinity was with horses. By the time he was eight or nine, he had established himself as a fine horseman, with “a way with the animals.” 

His life and his name changed when he was enrolled at West Point. The “Hiram” part was dropped (nobody ever called him Hiram, anyway), and the “S” was an assumption from his Congressman, since his mother’s maiden name was “Simpson.” Ulysses S. Grant never changed it. 

He was a middle-of-the-class student throughout, except for his horsemanship, where he excelled. But he had discovered “novels.” He readily admitted preferring the latest novels to the classics and military histories proscribed by the Academy. 

He also made friends. Some were for life, no matter how their paths diverged.

One good friend was his senior class roommate, Frederick Dent. Upon their graduation in 1839, knowing his pal was assigned to Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, a popular first deployment for new officers, Dent urged Grant to visit his folks, who lived nearby.

The Dent home – it was white then.

Sure enough, once USG had settled in, he rode out to White Haven, the Dent home, where he was warmly welcomed and told “not to be a stranger.” The Dents were a lively bunch, and the invitation to Sunday dinners were eagerly accepted. 

A few months later, he met the Dent’s eldest daughter Julia, just graduated from finishing school. It was love at first sight. 

The Making of a Romance

Grant was only 21, about 5’8” and perhaps 140 lbs. No beard. Unprepossessing. Still shy with women, there was something about Julia that found its way into his heart and soul. 

She was far from a conventional beauty, in fact no beauty at all. Barely 18, average in height, with a build that promised to become stout with age and childbearing, she was born with an eye condition that caused one eye to turn inward at will. Since it caused chronic eye strain, her family and teachers were lenient when it came to “close” work: reading, writing, and academics in general. 

Young Julia Dent Grant

But Julia’s lack of physical beauty never seemed to be a problem for her. She was genuinely outgoing and pleasant, and always had plenty of friends – and suitors. 

Grant was attracted because they were comfortable together. He could talk to her. She was sympathetic. She was honest. She was fun to be with. He began showing up at the Dent home more often – mostly to see Julia. 

With four older brothers, she was obliged to be a tomboy, and could climb and run and fish. And an excellent horsewoman. This appealed to USG, who now had a companion for an afternoon’s ride. 

As the weeks passed, and winter became spring, the two periodically took sketchbooks and a picnic basket to a particularly lovely grove in the woods. They were falling in love.

When Grant was reassigned to Louisiana, he became depressed at the thought of leaving the young woman he wanted to marry. But before leaving for his new post, the two became secretly engaged. Julia knew her father would object; not for Grant himself (who he liked), but because they were too young, and second lieutenants do not earn very much. They decided to wait. And exchange letters.

They did not know it at the time, but they would only see each other once during the next four years. 

Wildflowers

The assignment in Louisiana led to Grant’s next assignment in the Mexican War. It was a foreign country – during wartime. Sending and receiving mail was long and arduous. Weeks passed before mail arrived.

Grant wrote often, with a surprising fluidity and ease of style. His prose was direct, sincere and without the common Victorian affectation. Julia wrote sporadically, perhaps one letter to his five. Warmly, but very much within the limits learned in school. 

Julia mentioned the story.

Nevertheless, in one of her letters, she mentioned re-visiting the grove in the woods where they enjoyed picnicking. It was spring and the wildflowers were abundant, so she picked a few – and enclosed them in her letter.

Alas, and despite the charming gesture, the time and distance and had turned the enclosed flowers to straw, and all that was left were flaky petals, dried leaves and dust. When Grant opened the envelope in a secluded spot in his wooded encampment, a stiff wind blew whatever was left of the precious flowers away.

He later told her that he spent the next two hours chasing a few remnants of her handpicked present in order to preserve the dear gift that her hands had touched. He was unsuccessful. Most of the petals had disintegrated and were at the mercy of the wind. 

True Love

At the end of the War, USG came to collect his intended. He was now 26, tanned, muscular, and a brevet Captain. She was 22, and old enough for marriage. They had waited, and their happy reunion immediately surrounded their unchanged feelings of four years earlier. 

The happy couple.

Their love was true and deep, with the loyalty and sincerity that Grant needed and Julia was happy to provide. It would last for forty years, through thick and thin.

Sources:

Grant, Julia Dent, (Simon, John Y. Ed.) – The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant – G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1975

Korda, Michael – Ulysses S. Grant, The Unlikely Hero – Atlas Books, 2004

Ross, Ishbel – The General’s Wife – Dodd, Mead, 1959

https://millercenter.org/president/grant/life-before-the-presidency

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/ulysses-s-grant

https://libguides.css.edu/usgrant/home/usgrant/julia

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John Tyler and the American Beethoven

Posted on May 5, 2025 by Feather Foster

An invitation to perform at the White House is a coup! It looks very good on ones resume!

The American Beethoven

Anthony Philip Heinrich (1781-1861), was a Bohemian-born American composer. Born to a prosperous Czech family, he came late to his professional musical career. The family business was a thriving one, and as its scion, he was expected to carry it on, which he did. Alas, it was lost during the Napoleonic Wars. His plans changed.

Finding himself stranded and near-penniless in Boston in 1810, and primarily self-taught, he decided to pursue his lifelong passion in music. Within a few years, he took a 700-mile journey through Pennsylvania, all the way to Kentucky, and discovered the new musical sounds of the American frontier. Perhaps like Aaron Copland more than a century later, he translated those “natural” sounds into a body of original work, including birds and Indian chants, amalgamating them with the traditional European models of musical composition. By 1822, he was being hailed as the “American Beethoven,” since, it is said, he introduced the composer’s symphonies to a new audience. Then he parlayed his own growing prominence and talents into performing his compositions on the pianoforte.

Anthony Philip Heinrich

By the 1840s, he was a celebrated and dominant figure in concert circles, with a wide range of prominent lawyers, judges, writers and poets in his circle. His musical reputation was made!

His tour de force circa 1840, was a suite of compositions, celebrating the growth of his adopted United States of America, from the Mayflower on forward. By the early 1840s, John Tyler was President, having succeeded to the office after the death of William Henry Harrison.

The American President

John Tyler was a Virginia of prominence. Born in 1790, his was a well established family of the “triple” professions: planter, lawyer and political statesman. His father, also a John Tyler, served as Virginia’s Governor. 

The younger Tyler was given an excellent education. He studied at the College of William and Mary, became an attorney, and by the time he was in his late twenties, was a Congressman. He had also studied music, a common requisite for most well-born Colonial youngsters. In Tyler’s case, it was the violin. It is also said he had a pleasant singing voice. 

His musical tastes were prosaic, and perhaps even more so by the time he was President. To him the newfangled “waltz” was “seductive” and the wild “polka” was unbecoming. Both types were banned in the early Tyler White House.

By the time he was President (1841-45), he had married and sired eight children, seven living to maturity. His wife, the former Letitia Christian, had suffered a debilitating stroke, and died by 1842.

Letitia Tyler, the First Mrs T.

Since inviting gifted professional musicians and composers to perform for a select audience at the White House has been a time honored event since George Washington, it stood to reason that the POTUS would offer invitations periodically to provide entertainment for his guests. 

Anthony Philip Heinrich was delighted to perform.  

The Concert

Heinrich wore his best formal attire, including his hat, his walking stick, his gloves, and his portfolio of music, including the most recent sections. 

He sat at the pianoforte, and proceeded to perform his tour de force – with all the passion and enthusiasm that a composer brings to the composition. “It is said” that his head bobbed up and down, and his shoulders heaved with each crescendo, as the chords rose and fell. 

This was a musical style or genre that was likely unfamiliar to the more pedestrian tastes of Tyler and his guests. They were accustomed to the old Scottish ballads. And the lively reels and folk dances. Maybe a little Mozart or Schubert. Heinrich’s compositions – and performance style – while original and creative, was eccentric and strange to them. 

Perhaps sensing the lack of response from his guests, Tyler approached the pianist and gently and respectfully (he was a very respectful southern gentleman) suggested that maybe “you could play a good old Virginia reel.” 

Heinrich was incensed. “I never play dance music,” he is said to have commented, as he rose, rolled up his music, took his hat, cane and gloves – and portfolio, and departed abruptly.

It is further said, that he commented to a friend who had accompanied him to the White House, that “the American electorate should be hanged,” since their President had no more musical taste than an oyster.”

The source.

Perhaps. Heinrich was obviously not happy. 

Epilogue 1:

Tyler’s first wife, the former Letitia Christian had suffered a severe and debilitating stroke some time before he became President. After her death, Tyler married a woman much younger (30 years!), much more sophisticated (world traveled), and much wealthier ($$$) than he was. Nevertheless, it was a happy and fruitful union, since they also had seven children together. John Tyler was 70 when his last child was born, about a year before he died.

Julia Gardiner Tyler had some musical talents herself. She played the guitar, and was said to have a pleasant singing voice.

The “Second” Tylers

In their post-Presidential retirement lives, many an evening was spent in their parlor, he playing the violin, she the guitar, and both singing duets – likely the old Scottish ballads and lively reels!

Epilogue 2:

Anthony Philip Heinrich, alas, did not fare as well. He was prolific, but his American audience and the American orchestras were lacking in their appreciation. Before the Civil War, he found himself performing in Europe, where he was treated with more artistic regard.

Nevertheless, he died at 80 in New York, not long before John Tyler died in Virginia. In poverty.

But occasionally his works are performed today. He would be pleased.

Sources:

Boller, Paul – Presidential Diversions: Presidents at Play: From George Washington to George W. Bush, Harcourt, 2007.

Kirk, Elise – Music at the White House – University of Illinois Press, 1986

https://firstladies.org/home/first-ladies/julia-tyler

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/john-tyler

Heinrich
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First Families of Prohibition

Posted on April 21, 2025 by Feather Foster

Five Presidential Couples lived in the White House between 1920 and 1933: The Prohibition Years.

A Long Simmering Issue

Of course nobody is in favor of drunkenness! And a traditionally Puritan ethic made public intoxication a cause for shame and ridicule for centuries. By the Civil War, “prohibition,” and its softer companion “temperance” had become a potent issue: enough to encourage political action, especially once slavery had been abolished.

Women and clergy were usually at the forefront of banning liquor of all kinds, with the possible exception of ceremonial wine for religious purposes. And maybe for medicinal use. By the late 19th century, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (still around!) had become a formidable bastion for moral causes, and “lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine” were on a great many pious lips. 

With the huge influx of immigrants in the later decades of the century, thousands of saloons catered to the thirsts of tired and poor laborers, some of whom needed respite from a tenement full of underfed children and an exhausted wife, as well as from long hours in sweatshops.

It seemed that the poorer the neighborhood, the greater the imprint of John Barleycorn. Pastors were supportive of prohibition. Newspapers published sad tales of five-year-olds being sent to fetch their drunken father from the saloon. Politicians started to cater to the voters aligning in the new “moral crusade.” 

Towns passed laws banning liquor. A few larger cities were joining the banned wagon. A Constitutional amendment was believed necessary to keep Americans sober. But enjoying a drink or two – or three, is a far cry from drunkenness!

By 1919, enough states had ratified the prohibition amendment to make it illegal throughout the entire country. Despite its piety, it was definitely NOT popular in either political party: You cannot legislate morality. They’ve been saying that for centuries!

And that included the five Presidential occupants entrusted to enforce it. 

The Wilsons

The Wilsons

Democrat Woodrow Wilson and his second wife Edith Galt had more pressing things on their plates than Prohibition. WW had tried very hard to keep the USA out of the Great War – for three years. When international matters became too intolerable for neutrality, it seemed more important than a beer. Besides, his own heart was completely subsumed in creating a League of Nations to prevent future wars.

Moreover, Wilson was not a teetotaler. Nor was Mrs. Wilson. They were both cosmopolitan, hardly drunkards, and both enjoyed a potable libation periodically. He actually vetoed the Volstead Act (as unenforceable), but Congress overrode it.

In January, 1920, the 18th Amendment was enacted into law, and WW had suffered a severe stroke, and next 18th months were focused on his health, and the extent of his disabilities, both temporary and permanent.

The Hardings

There was never going to be a way that Republican Warren Harding supported Prohibition, other than lip-service (required as President), and finagling around it, by putting a time limit on the “Noble Experiment.” They were social. They were political. Social and political is usually laced. 

The Hardings

Florence Harding, much as she probably had once enjoyed a snort of something, was a sick woman with a chronic, life-threatening kidney ailment. Alcohol was verboten, and not an option. Nevertheless, back in Ohio, at the Hardings’ regular poker games, she was a player of poker (and politics) – and the sociable bartender for the gang. 

As President, formal WH occasions were dry. But the upstairs private quarters were not. And when their bootleg-happy buddies came for a private visit, medicinal something-or-other was readily available. 

The Coolidges

The Coolidges

Republican Calvin Coolidge and his wife were descendants of New England puritan stock – sort of. As a local politician, Coolidge regularly stopped in where the men gathered, had a beer, smoked a cigar, and shook hands. His personal thrifty “entertaining” was more coffee and cake, but a bottle of whiskey was generally available – if someone wanted a drink. Refills were frowned upon – and he counted them.

As Massachusetts Governor, the Coolidges were invited everywhere – and went. And likely had a sip of something or other. But in the White House, they played by the new rules. But he was not in favor of Prohibition. He believed that it is a bad law if it makes law-abiding citizens disrespect the law, which was exactly what was happening. And it led to speakeasies, bootlegging, gang wars, and various other mayhem. 

Tools of mayhem.

The Hoovers

Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover had spent most of their married life abroad. He had become a wealthy mining engineer, mixed in high-level society, and while neither were heavy imbibers, they kept a well-stocked bar for their numerous luncheons and dinners. 

The Hoovers

An unusually well-balanced couple, Hoover did mention that in forty year of marriage, their only real argument concerned Prohibition. As President, he was obliged to set the example and Mrs. H. insisted that they support the “Noble Experiment,” which was fine enough in the White House. But when she also insisted that he dispose of a cellar filled with excellent and expensive fine wines in their California home, he rebelled.

She won the argument. He obeyed. He didn’t like it. And he didn’t like the law either. But he said he was obliged to to live with Mrs. Hoover. 

The F.D. Roosevelts

The Roosevelts

There was no question about where Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood on Prohibition. He was a “wet.” He had enjoyed a pre-dinner cocktail from the time he was old enough to have one. His wife Eleanor was more timid on the subject, especially since her beloved father was an alcoholic and died at 34, from its complications. 

Happily for the FDRs, Prohibition was repealed (the only Constitutional Amendment with that distinction) shortly after he became President. And “happy hour” prior to dinner was the relaxing high point of many a day for FDR and close associates, and that included Eleanor. At least for one drink. 

Sources:

Stoddard, Henry L. – As I Knew Them – Harper & Brothers, 1927

Sullivan, Mark – Our Times: The Twenties – Charles Scribners’ Sons, 1935

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/march-22/fdr-legalizes-sale-of-beer-and-wine

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/woodrow-wilson

https://millercenter.org/president/harding/life-before-the-presidency

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William Howard Taft and the Supreme Court Building

Posted on April 7, 2025 by Feather Foster

While two Presidents served in the Legislative Branch post-presidentially (JQ Adams and Andrew Johnson), only one ex-POTUS served in the Judiciary.

Cincinnati Patrician Politician

William Howard Taft (1857-1930) was Cincinnati-born to a prosperous Ohio transplanted family with a strong Republican political pedigree. His father, Alphonso Taft, New England born (Vermont) and education (Amherst/Yale) moved to Cincinnati, where he quickly became one of its leading citizens. He was an able lawyer, jurist and fine administrator, and had served in the Grant Administration in two cabinet positions. 

After his first wife died, he returned to New England to choose another – and one who would be a good stepmother to his young sons. It was a fortuitous move. Louise Torrey was not only a warm and loving stepmother to Charles and Peter, but bore her husband four more children who lived to maturity.

Young William Howard Taft

William Howard was the eldest of those children. He was a big baby – more than 10-pounds at birth – and turned into a big boy-to-man who never weighted less than 200 pounds since he was in high school.

An industrious student, more diligent than brilliant, WHT worked hard for every accomplishment. Continuing a family tradition that stretched through several generations, Big Bill went to Yale, and graduated second in his class. He returned to Cincinnati, studied law locally, and at a young age, had the seminal opportunity to be appointed a judge. It was a match made in heaven. Perhaps it was the one-size-fit-all robes that cover a large man. He loved the law, had the temperament for the judiciary, and never changed his mind about it. It was his one true love.

The young judge

When he married Helen (Nellie) Herron, he found himself happily wed to an ambitious woman – with a roadmap. It was she who helped plot and plann WHT’s career moves, and ran alongside him like a border collie. Only she wanted a slightly different path. Washington DC, definitely, but with the best address in town: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Her husband had only one real ambition: a seat on the Supreme Court – a mile down the road. 

Taft loved the slow, deliberate pace of life on the bench. He loved the placid, scholarly company of fellow judges.

But he was waylaid by the potent lobby of Nellie Taft, and the Taft family: father, mother, the brothers, etc. And even his good buddy Theodore Roosevelt. They won. 

The formidable Nellie.
The CJ and his brothers.

The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court, the Judicial branch of the US Government, was laid out clearly in the Constitution`along with its counterparts, the Executive Branch (President), and Legislative branch (Congress). However, for more than 125 years, the Supreme Court was essentially homeless, a boarder in the Capitol Building, where they bunked with the Legislative Branch since the War of 1812. They were even shifted around a few times within the few rooms they were permitted to occupy.

When William Howard Taft was President, (the only job he ever disliked, so he said) he never denied that his first true love was the Court. He also proposed legislation to create a Supreme Court Building, specifically for the Court. They deserved something more august and distinguished. The third branch of US Government must have a visual prominence of its own. To his dismay, it didn’t happen for a variety of reasons; money not being insignificant.

To add private insult to injury, in his one term, President Taft appointed FOUR justices, including the Chief Justice. It was like handing his dream job over to others.

The Interim Years

A fifty-six-year-“young” ex-President (then and now), is in an odd place. The prestige and responsibilities of the Presidency soars above any “job” that might come up. And even if one is open to subsequent employment, it must be suitably prestigious and responsible.

Wealthy Charles P. Taft

Taft’s post-presidential finances were precarious. He was never a wealthy man. There was no presidential pension until Harry Truman forty years later. For decades his income was supplemented by his very wealthy older half-brother Charles Phelps Taft. Nellie Taft had suffered a serious stroke, and required close medical care. And WHT still had a young son to educate.

His beloved Yale came to his rescue with an offer of a chair of law. This was perfect! He was eminently suited professionally, and loved Yale. Besides, education is a highly respectable occupation for a former President. And for Taft, Yale made his class assignments light, to afford him the time for the political speaking invitations that came along.

The Happy Man and the Sad Part

Taft and Warren Harding were both Ohioans, and had been acquainted for decades, and it was no secret that WHT’s dearest wish was a seat on the Court. In 1921, Chief Justice Edward White died, and President Harding was happy to propose Taft to fill the seat. Congress ratified the appointment immediately – and unanimously!

Taft was now in a position to now press fervently for a separate building for the judiciary – and this time he was successful – sort of. It took the better part of the decade for the decision to be made. The wheels of government grind slowly, and arguably, none slower than the justice department. 

He was tireless in promoting the building.

It was not until 1929 that Congress approved funding, a building site (close to the Capitol) and an architectural firm to design and build the impressive, neo-classical building, in keeping with its “neighbors.”

The Supreme Court

By that time, the Chief Justice was well past seventy, and his health which had been failing for years, was now declining rapidly. In early 1930, the Chief Justice tearfully resigned – only weeks before he succumbed. 

He never lived to lay the Building’s cornerstone (1932) or see its completion (1935). But he likely took great joy in being the steadfast champion to provide his beloved Supreme Court with a home of its own.

Sources:

Andreson, Judith Icke- William Howard Taft: An Intimate History – W.W. Norton, 1981

Barker, Charles E. – With President Taft in the White House – A. Kroch and Son, 1947

Ross, Ishbel – An American Family: The Tafts – 1964, World Publishing

https://www.taft.edu/william-howard-taft-president-chief-justice

https://millercenter.org/president/taft/family-life

https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/buildinghistory.aspx

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Julia Grant II: The Princess Cantacuzene

Posted on March 24, 2025 by Feather Foster

The USA was never created for although its trappings and perks always piqued interest…

The Great General: The Future Generations

Ulysses S. Grant was as far from “royal” as possible. His middle-class Ohio parents were hardworking folks. So were the antecedents of Miss Julia Dent, the middle-class Missouri woman he married. 

They had four children: Frederick Dent Grant, U.S. Grant Jr. (Buck), Ellen (Nellie) Grant Sartoris, and Jesse Root Grant II. None of them grew up in anything remotely resembling social or financial prominence. That came later.

The Civil War, of course, was the making of USG. He had a West Point military education and commendable service during the War With Mexico, but fared poorly during his long absence from his beloved wife and two babies. He resigned his commission in semi-disgrace, returned to his family, and struggled for a decade. 

The only thing successful about Ulysses S. Grant was his marriage. 

Grant and family

General Grant & Eldest Son:

The onset of the Civil War found Grant in Galena, IL, as a menial clerk at one of his father’s tanneries: a job he hated. But when the Civil War began in earnest, the Union Army was in dire need of trained and experienced officers. Ex-Captain Grant duly submitted re-enlistment paperwork, and within a short time was promoted to Colonel. 

His son Fred was eleven. At his mother’s insistence (heaven only knows why!), he accompanied his father on-and-off during the next four years. The soldiers loved him!

So it was no surprise when a few years later, Fred chose a West Point education himself. By that time, Ulysses S. Grant, victorious General and Hero, was President of the United States. 

Fred Grant and the gorgeous Ida Honore

In 1874, Fred met and married Miss Ida Honore, the daughter of a wealthy and prominent Chicago businessman, said to be one of the most beautiful belles in Chicago. They spent the next two years living at the White House, where their daughter, Julia Dent Grant II (1876-1975) was born.

Julia D., Granddaughter

Fred and Ida’s little girl was the only one of President Grant’s grandchildren who had any memory of him; she was nine when he died. 

Little Julia was an adorable child, favoring her beautiful mother Ida. In later life, Julia wrote of fond memories with her illustrious grandpa, sometimes riding with him in his carriage – at breakneck speed. 

A year before Grant’s death, the General was urged to write his war memorials to provide for his family following a huge financial debacle when his business venture went bankrupt, and throat cancer was winning the final battle. Fred Grant (as well as his siblings) were also deeply affected by those losses. For several months, Fred and his family lived with the Senior Grants in Manhattan, while Fred assisted his father with the book.

In her early teens, Julia II accompanied her family to Vienna, where Fred Grant had been appointed Ambassador (modern term) to Austria-Hungary. They stayed for four years, and the radiantly beautiful Julia made her social debut. Not long after they returned to New York, Julia accompanied her wealthy aunt, Mrs. Potter Palmer (née Bertha Honore), one of the most prominent social doyennes in the country, on a tour of Europe. 

Mrs. Potter Palmer

In Rome, Julia met Prince Mikhail Cantacuzène (Can-ta-cu-zini), also known as Count Speransky, then military attaché to the Russian embassy. The name and title was a complicated lineage via Russia and via Ukraine (where he was born). Some titles had been awarded generations earlier for services rendered; some were legitimate relationships with the Romanov family. Nevertheless, Michael (as he would be called) and Julia fell in love, courted briefly, and were married in Newport, RI in 1899, at one of Mrs. Potter Palmer’s homes. 

The beautiful princess.

Julia in the Revolution

Shortly after their wedding, the Prince and Princess began a good life of bedecked and bejeweled parties, ping-ponging between St. Petersburg, Russia, where Michael was attached to the Imperial Court, and his huge hereditary estates in Ukraine, where their three children were born. 

The Bride – and grandma – and others.

By the start of World War I, Prince Cantacuzène was a General with commendable service in the Russian Army – including wounds. Julia and the children remained in St. Petersburg. But following the violence, fear and anarchy of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Speransky-Cantacuzènes escaped St. Petersburg (with the clothes on their backs, and Julia’s jewels sewn into her undergarments) first to Finland, and then to the USA, where they made their permanent home. 

Their children were very good looking!

They lived briefly in Washington DC, hoping to support a counter-revolution, but after the assassination of the Imperial Romanov family, they decided to remain in America, and settled in Sarasota, FL, where Aunt Bertha Palmer had many business interests. Prince Mikhail needed to get a job and found a new career in a bank.

Princess Julia: Channeling Grandpa…

Ulysses S. Grant came late to his literary “career,” and had never fancied himself a writer. Nevertheless, Grant’s Memoirs was a mega-success, unquestionably the finest of the first-hand memorials of the Civil War, and a military standard even today. Now, in her middle years, his granddaughter, Princess Cantacuzène (or Countess Speransky) began writing some of her first-person observations of the Russian Revolution for various magazines, and subsequently elaborated as stand-alone books, published by Scribner’s in the 1920s.

They may not have had the legs of Grant’s Memoirs, but they were/are substantive.

Unfortunately, her marriage was failing, and she finally divorced Speransky in 1934, on grounds that he was “no longer interested in fulfilling his marital obligations.” 

She remained primarily in DC, lunching frequently at the Sulgrave Club which she helped establish, reinstated her American citizenship – and name – now calling herself Julia Cantacuzène Grant. She relinquished the noble titles and never remarried.

She also lived to be nearly one hundred!

Sources: 

Flood, Charles Bracelen – Grant’s Final Victory:  Ulysses S. Grant’s Heroic Last Year – 2012, DaCapo

Englund, Will – March 1917: On the Brink of War and Revolution – W.W. Norton & Co., 2017

https://millercenter.org/president/grant/family-life

https://libguides.css.edu/usgrant/home

https://www.granthomepage.com/intcantacuzene.htm

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bertha-Honore-Palmer

The Princess and Her Vases
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Lincoln: Lessons of the First Campaign

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Feather Foster
Spoiler alert: He lost.

Abe Lincoln of New Salem

When Abraham Lincoln was 21, he left the family fold to set out on his own. He jobbed-on with a riverboat to New Orleans, and was exposed to multiple sights and sounds and experiences he had never known before. On the return trip he stopped in the little village of New Salem IL, along the Sangamon River, and got off.  He thought it might be a nice place to settle – at least for a while.

Illustration of AL, the self-taught.

Within six months, he had become a “regular.” He had engaged in a wrestling fight with the bullies of Clary Grove, and made them his friends. He had also spend some weeks in the local militia “fighting” in the Black Hawk War. Only there was no fighting. 

He also started giving serious thought to his future – particularly once he had become acquainted with John Todd Stuart, a Springfield attorney, en route to becoming a Congressman. It was Stuart who sniffed some substance in the tall and lanky fellow, and suggested that law might provide him a decent profession. He offered to lend him some law books.

That sounded pretty good to the young Lincoln, who had nothing in his life to commend him: no family position or wealth, no education. Not even a real trade. Law seemed promising. Lawyers seemed to be “in charge” of everything. And they didn’t wear overalls or jean pants. 

But since New Salem boasted only a couple of dozen families, there was no call for a local lawyer. Politics, however, was full of lawyers – and opportunities. He decided to run for office.

Recreation of course, but you get the idea.

His choice of running for the State Legislature was surprising. Usually a young candidate chooses a local (i.e. winnable) office – like the town constable or court clerk.

Some historians surmise that Lincoln was in a hurry. Seeking/winning/maintaining a local office would keep him tethered to the town. He might have to wait – perhaps for four years – before a higher elected position became available.

The 1832 Campaign

Henry Clay

Lincoln was 23. Andrew Jackson, a Democrat, was seeking a second term as President. His opponent was Henry Clay, also a Democrat – but on the other side of the philosophical fence, and with other items on his agenda. The Whigs didn’t become a political “entity” for another eight years! 

Andrew Jackson

Lincoln liked Clay. He agreed with the national need for canals and roads and bridges. And easier access to money. And Clay had made his home in Kentucky long before Lincoln was born! 

The New Salem “district” was widespread, covering several thousand families. The large area had four seats assigned in the Illinois legislature. The young new candidate filed the proper papers, sought the best advice about how to proceed… and proceeded according to what was the conventional path. He wrote a lengthy “platform,” outlining his position on several issues, sent letters to the area newspapers, and made speeches wherever he could.

He lost. So did Henry Clay.

But it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. There had been thirteen candidates for those four seats, and Lincoln-the-unknown came in eighth. Not bad for a kid’s first start.

But the gratifying thing – and the one that mattered most to him – was that he won 90% of the votes in his village. The folks who knew him liked him enough to vote for him. And Lincoln, young man and older man, was a very likable person. 

Lessons Learned

If one loses – whether it is an election, or a job, or even financially – if lessons can be identified and learned, it is no longer a loss: It is an education.

Lincoln realized that he needed to become known in his district – not just on paper. He needed to make the rounds. To talk to the voters and get to known them. He figured if they knew him, they might like him. And trust him to represent their interests.

So for the next two years until the next election, Lincoln managed the town’s general store, served as the village postmaster (which provided a huge amount of information via the various newspapers that were received), and traveled around a much wider area. And continued to read law from the books John Todd Stuart had provided. 

He offered no platform. He espoused no political party. He may have realized the old political axiom even then, that “all politics is local.” And country-folks were mostly interested in the needs of their immediate surroundings. 

He shook a lot of hands. Went to their picnics or the local fair. Shook more hands and talked about the weather or the distance it was from New Salem, or the price of potatoes. General stuff. It is said that he once saw some fellows in the field bringing in a crop of wheat. Rather than talking politics “at” them, he offered to help bring in the sheaves! He made more friends, and they all voted for him. 

There were thirteen candidates for the FOUR seats once again. But this time, a 25-year-old Abraham Lincoln placed SECOND. He easily won a seat in the Illinois State Legislature.

He needed to buy a second-hand suit. 

Life-Lessons Learned

Lincoln once said that when his Black Hawk War company “voted” him captain, it was his most gratifying election.

The sweetest election.

He always counted the regard and good will of those who knew him as one of the most important and pleasurable components of his life.

A decade later, when he “rode the circuit” through Illinois, he seldom returned to Springfield on the weekends. It may have been more to his political advantage to meet and greet, and share a meal – and a couple of good stories – with his fellows.

He had learned early on that the common touch of his personality was perhaps his most important asset. It was valuable and sincere. And it never failed him.

Sources: 

Donald, David – Lincoln – Simon & Schuster, 1995

Schenkman, Richard – Presidential Ambition – Harper Collins, 1999

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0040.204/–lincoln-s-new-salem-revisited?rgn=main;view=fulltext

https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/LegislativeMoments/moments08RS/24_web_leg_moments.htm

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/lincoln-in-the-illinois-state-legislature.htm

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The Scandals of President Grant

Posted on February 24, 2025 by Feather Foster

Fallout from association could be traced to Adam’s and Eve’s friendship with a snake.

The Honest Ulysses

Hiram Ulysses Grant (1822-1885) was a mild mannered fellow, soft spoken, honest, and perhaps a bit naive in some regard. He had a middle-class upbringing in Ohio, surrounded by a domineering father, silent mother, and five younger siblings. At seventeen, Ulysses (who never used the name “Hiram”) was sent to West Point, where the Ulysses-part was well known, and the middle initial (“S”) was erroneously included due to his mother’s maiden name (Simpson). His “U.S.” initials, were likened to “Uncle Sam,” and his classmates usually called him Sam for the rest of his life. Except when they called him General. 

The iconic General Grant

He was a middle-of-the-class student, noted only for his exceptional horsemanship. 

Upon graduating, he served capably in the US Army for a decade, married, had four children, and fared poorly as a civilian. The Civil War rescued him. The Union Army needed trained, experienced officers. Once he had reenlisted, he was promoted fairly rapidly, each time proving his military worth via dogged leadership, ingenious strategies, and the ability to get along with underlings and superiors alike – including President Lincoln, who promoted him to the highest rank in the army. A little good luck helped. 

But General Grant was never wealthy, and proved to be a poor businessman all his life. With no luck in business at all.

The Honest Man of the Hour

By the end of the Civil War, Grant was the Victor of Vicksburg, the Butcher of the Battlefield and the Hero of Appomattox, pretty much in that order. The “Butcher” part was quickly forgotten amid the end of the hostilities, the assassination of Lincoln and the rancorous and disastrous presidency of Andrew Johnson, who got along with nobody. 

The unpopular Johnson

More and more citizens, veterans and politicians now looked to General Grant for leadership. He was an honest man. He readily admitted he knew very little (and cared very little) about politics. He was always honest, even while accepting the huge amounts of gifts from grateful admirers (with value ranging between boxes of cigars to horses and carriages), claiming that to refuse would be ungracious.

By the end of the Johnson Administration, General Grant was the most admired man in the country, and a shoo-in for the Presidency. While the Southern States didn’t cast many votes for him, they grudgingly liked him. He had always treated them fairly.

And as an honest man, USG was a loyal man. Loyal to the country, loyal to the Republicans who befriended him, and loyal to his military “band of brothers.” He therefore expected his “team” to be loyal to him.

The Naive President

There are some fine historians and biographers who suggest that the General was accustomed to making decisions himself, rather than utilizing collective counsel. In some ways it worked successfully; he planned his strategies and tactics carefully. In politics, however, it was disastrous. Politicians everywhere have huge egos that demand attention, respect and credit. From the start, Grant chose his cabinet without regard to the soft, all-important value that political expertise can provide. The political world was stunned by his mishmash of cabinet nominations.

Within months, several of these appointments were terminated. 

The Open Door of Corruption

It was not Grant’s door that was open to corruption. General Grant was always an honest man. The “open door” was the door of opportunity for graft, bribery, malfeasance, finagling and out-and-out-theft that followed the overflow huge wealth after the Civil War. Great inventions were inundating the patent office daily. Great fortunes were being made and finding their way into the pockets of creative scoundrels. And President Grant was involved-ish, by association. Some of the implicated parties were very close to him – personally!

First out of the box was via Abel Corbin, his new brother-in-law. Corbin was a widower who had recently married Grants sister Virginia. “Jennie” was in her middle thirties, and the Grant family was likely grateful for her happiness. Taking advantage of the relationship, Corbin became acquainted with Jay Gould and James Fisk, who engineered a scheme to “corner the gold market.” In effect, they would buy “cheap,” drive the price to a dizzying height, sell it at a huge profit, and get out before it tumbled. Once USG was apprised of these shenanigans, he countered the scheme, but not before the Black Friday of 1869, which ushered in a serious nationwide recession.

Then the President’s private secretary Orville Babcock, a young West Pointer and valued aide to General Grant, became involved with a Whiskey Ring, which diverted taxes placed on spirits into private pockets, including his own. It was complicated, and ongoing for several years before it was discovered. Grant liked Babcock, and defended him rigorously, including a lengthy written deposition in his behalf. 

Orville Babcock

Four cabinet secretaries were also connected in financial machinations. 

Interior Secretary Columbus Delano (a far-distant relative of FDR) resigned after his son was implicated in hundreds of fraudulent land grants.

Treasury Secretary (one of many) William Richardson was forced to resign due to involvement with a private contractor profiteering from delinquent federal tax collection.

War Secretary William Belknap resigned due to Indian trading post kickback schemes – manipulated by both his wives! His first wife had concocted the scheme, and her sister (the second wife!) continued it.

Navy Secretary George Robeson received more than a quarter-million dollars plus a house from a supplier’s kickbacks.

There were five federal judges, a Minister to Great Britain, and several high-level customs officers implicated in bribery and chicanery.

And both Grant’s Vice Presidents (Schuyler Colfax, first term and Henry Wilson, second term) were implicated in the shady Credit Mobilier scandal!

There was a new scandal every week! President Grant didn’t know who to trust any more. Not even himself. 

There were resignations, impeachment procedures, fines levied and reputations ruined. But very few went to jail.

Sources:

Chernow, Ron – Grant – Penguin Press, 2017

Schenkman, Richard – Presidential Ambition – Harper Collins, 1999

White, Ronald C. – American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant – Random House, 2016

https://millercenter.org/president/grant/life-before-the-presidency

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/bios/ulysses-s-grant

https://www.history.com/news/ulysses-s-grant-president-accomplishments-scandals-15th-amendment

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The Sad and Tragic Tale of Kate Chase Sprague

Posted on February 10, 2025 by Feather Foster
According to the Ancient Greek dramatists, tragedy requires a fall from great height.

The Tragedy of the Father

Salmon Portland Chase (1808-73), was New Hampshire born. Only nine when his father died, his mother was left with ten children and meager resources, so young Salmon was raised by relatives in Ohio who provided him with a fine education. That included admission to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where he was Phi Beta Kappa. 

Salmon P. Chase

Upon graduation, he read law, did well, and returned to Ohio, settling in the Cincinnati area. Considered good looking, smart and gregarious, he married three times, but alas for poor Mr. Chase, all three brides died before they reached thirty-five. During those short lived marriages, he also fathered six children, and alas again, only two lived to maturity. Four died in infancy.

Salmon Chase likely gave up on matrimony, although he was known to escort an attractive woman from time to time.

The Glorious Kate

Catherine Jane Chase (1840-1899) was born to the second Mrs. Chase, who died when Kate was five. Perhaps grieving the loss of two young wives, and needing a mother for his daughter, he married again.

Kate was a headstrong girl, destined to grow up tall, slim, and very pretty. And smart as a whip. Unsurprisingly, she did not get on with her new stepmother – and baby sister. To ease tensions, Chase enrolled Kate in a fashionable (and expensive) finishing school in New York City where she thrived. The sophistication, culture and opportunities of cosmopolitan New York appealed to her. She practically inhaled its snobbishness. Between her good looks and good smarts, she insisted on the very best of everything, and her father, growing in stature and wealth, was happy to indulge his elder daughter.

By the time she was sixteen, Kate’s stepmother had died. Her father, wafting and wobbling between being a Democrat and a Free-Soiler, had recently become a member of the newly emerging Republican Party, en route to the Governorship of Ohio. He had also developed an unrelenting ambition to become President.

Young Kate Chase

Kate Chase returned home. She was now old enough to assume the role she was trained for.

The Lady, The Role and The Image

When Salmon Chase became Ohio’s Governor, Kate was in the position she was born to fill. She had learned her finishing school lessons well, and was an accomplished hostess from the start. She was also what could be termed 19th century “arm candy.” Her father was proud to escort the beauteous Kate, and equally proud to let her charm the important men who came to his table. While she could be outspoken and opinionated, the men liked her – mostly for her beauty, but she was also very interesting in table conversation.

Salmon Chase and his daughters.

On her part, Kate had developed (or perhaps was born with) the politician’s gift for remembering names and faces, and those tidbits of information that make guests feel important. And she loved sharing her “interesting insights” with her father, who understood their value.

Kate and the Civil War

Salmon P. Chase did not receive the Republican nomination for President in 1860, much to his dismay, and eternal belief that he would have been a better choice than Abraham Lincoln. But as Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury, he rented a grand mansion in Washington and installed his charming 20-year-old daughter as his hostess. She was a huge hit with everyone – except Mrs. Lincoln, who immediately saw through the finishing school “ploys” of position. After all, Mary Lincoln went to a finishing school, too. 

William Sprague, the young Rhode Island Governor and scion to a manufacturing fortune, had enlisted in the Union Army, was immediately made a Colonel, and came to Washington, and was enchanted (maybe) by the beautiful Miss Chase. Short, no Adonis, and masking a dissolute and abusive nature, he wooed Kate. She, perhaps, found him more attractive when he stood on his wallet. The Chases needed financing for her father’s future presidential ambitions, and Kate had ambitions of her own. If Papa was President, she would be de facto First Lady. 

William and Kate Sprague

The Spragues married in 1863. It was a splashy bash, with the cream of everyone in Washington in attendance, except for Mrs. Lincoln, who couldn’t stand the bride and couldn’t force the smile. The groom presented Kate with a jeweled tiara worth $50,000.

A Mismatched Misery

It was a horrible marriage, despite the infusion of money. Sprague was unfaithful, a chronic alcoholic, and not averse to abusive behavior. Or speculation and illegal profiteering. Kate was happy to spend his money, and despite their four children, was not averse to breaking her own marriage vows. 

Roscoe Conkling

A decade later, living mostly apart, she began an affair with the flamboyant and also-married NY Senator Roscoe Conkling, whose presidential ambitions matched her father, now Chief Justice and long-in-the-tooth. The Sprague-Conkling scandals made the newspapers. Sprague eventually imprisoned her in their house, but she escaped (through a window) and filed for divorce in 1882. It was messy, and he refused to support her. 

The Great Fall

Kate was broke, except for her “personal belongings,” which she periodically sold to make ends meet. She mortgaged the mansion left to her by her father. Her only son, dissolute and snarly like his father, committed suicide. One of her daughters was mentally handicapped. Her other daughters left home. She became reclusive, grateful that some old, wealthy friends paid off her mortgages to ease the burdens. 

For the last decade of her life, shortened by Bright’s Disease, then always fatal, the proud Kate Chase, a queen-sans-throne, sold the butter and eggs and vegetables from her property door-to-door to eke out a living – and support her handicapped daughter. 

The older Kate Chase Sprague

When she died, only her three daughters attended her funeral. 

Sources:

Goodwin, Doris Kearns – Team of Rivals – Simon & Schuster, 2015

Ross, Ishbel – Proud Kate: Portrait of an Ambitious Woman – Harper, 1953

https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/january/salmon-p-chase

https://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/residents-visitors/visitors-from-congress/visitors-congress-william-sprague-1830-1915/index.html

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/stalwarts-half-breeds-and-political-assassination.htm

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