The Washington Courtship

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Feather Schwartz Foster

Was it a love match?  Or merely a partnership of mutual convenience?

The Wealthy Widow Custis

Martha Dandridge had married an old man.  She was seventeen; Daniel Parke Custis was past thirty-five.  But it had been a marriage of true inclination.  They knew and liked each other and wanted to be married.  It turned out to be happy and fruitful, with four children; two dying as babies.

martha young-2

Martha Dandridge Custis was a young widow with children when she met and married Colonel George Washington of the Virginia Militia.

Then, after eight years, Custis died.  He had been an extremely wealthy Virginia planter, and he died without a will.   By Colonial Virginia law (still British law), Martha and her children, Jackie and Patsy, four and two respectively, were his only heirs, so the estate was split in equal thirds.  This huge property included nearly 20,000 acres of rich farmland, more than 200 slaves, household goods of great value, and that rarest of all commodities among Southern planters, an abundance of hard cash.

Now at loose ends, Martha Custis had to chart a new life.  Colonial mourning traditions were much different than those of Victoriana, a century later.  People who married three, four, or even five times during their lives was not uncommon.  Life was hard.  Spouses needed spouses.  If one was widowed, male or female, one was expected to remarry fairly promptly, especially if there were young children involved.

Martha’s needs and priorities were not limited to 18th century living.  They were needs and priorities for all times, including our own.  First, she needed a wise and honest manager for her inheritance, and that of her children.  She was no fool.  She was understandably wary of fortune hunters.  Since Mistress Custis was considered one of the wealthiest young widows in Virginia, there were many wooers.  Secondly, at twenty-six, with four children already born to her, she had every expectation of having more children – perhaps several more.  She needed a kind step-father to her children and their interests.

The Ambitious Colonel Washington

young GW

George Washington in military uniform. He would be a soldier, a planter, a statesman and a wise and capable manager for Martha’s vast fortune.

In 1758, George Washington was twenty-six and had spent nearly eight years in the Virginia Militia.  He had risen to Colonel, the highest rank the colony had to offer.  For years, he had applied and lobbied to become an officer in the British Army, a situation continually thwarted.  To make matters  worse for the sometimes touchy young man, a colonel in the Virginia Militia was considered several steps below a comparable rank among British regulars.  Having concluded that he was getting nowhere, he decided to change his career path.  He had inherited Mount Vernon, a substantial and very promising estate along the Potomac River.  He also had acquired considerable acreage in the western part of Virginia as payment for his military services.  He would become a planter.

But he needed a suitable consort.  Someone who could help him turn his vision of Mount Vernon into a showplace as well as a profitable entity.

The Courtship of George and Martha Washington

The Colonel and the Widow were introduced by mutual acquaintances at her home, not far from Williamsburg, Virginia.  Both were unquestionably in the market, so to speak, for marriage.   Their courtship was brief.  They would spend less than 24 waking hours in each other’s company, during which time they were engrossed in deep conversation, sharing their needs, philosophies and dreams for the future.  Realizing they were like-minded, they were affianced.  Then Colonel Washington left for the next several months to tend to his military responsibilities.  The balance of their courtship, some six months, was via correspondence.

Had they fallen in love?  Perhaps.  Perhaps not.   It was hardly a wild passionate romance by today’s standards, but it is fairly certain that by the time their engagement was determined, George and Martha liked each other a great deal, and found much compatibility.  In the eighteenth century, marriages were primarily made for ease of living, each partner contributing their share of the man’s-work woman’s-work dynamic.

washingtonfamily

George and Martha Washington enjoyed forty years of married life, raised her two children, and (pictured here) two grandchildren.

During the next forty years the Washingtons would grow to love each other with true devotion.  They had chosen wisely, perhaps more than they could have realized at the time.  Washington was indeed a wise and honest manager of the Custis fortune.  He would add to that fortune by his own astute business-sense, and by the time of his death, would be one of the wealthiest men in Virginia.  He was also a caring and fond step-parent to Martha’s children, both of whom died young.  Then he would be a caring and fond step-grandparent to Martha’s grandchildren.

And Martha would take her place as the quintessential mistress of Mount Vernon – and the executive mansion, when George Washington became the first President of the United States.  She would bring a distinctly new and democratic flavor to her First Lady hosting duties: all the dignity, warmth, style, manners and sincerity that is associated with American hospitality.

Sources:

Randall, Willard Sterne; Washington: A Life, 1997, Edison, NJ, Galahad Books

Bourne, Miriam Anne: First Family: George Washington and his Intimate Relations, 1982, New York, NY, W.W. Norton

National Archives and Record Administration

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Mary and Robert Lincoln: A Family Tragedy

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Feather Schwartz Foster

The Widow Mary would have a tenuous and tragic relationship with her son Robert Lincoln for the remaining years of her life.

The Family Situation

Abraham Lincoln died without a will, thus his estate would be shared equally by Mary, his widow, and his two remaining sons, Robert and Tad, a minor.  Robert, only twenty-one, was now the man of the family.  He became legal guardian to his emotionally distraught mother and his twelve-year-old brother, whose cleft palate and childhood dyslexia made him somewhat babyish.  Robert’s own future plans were now dashed.   Having graduated from Harvard some months earlier, he expected to return for law studies once discharged from the Army.  Now, formal law school was out of the question.

mary in mourning

Mary Lincoln would wear mourning clothes from the time of her husband’s death in 1865, to the time she died in 1882.

Mary Lincoln understandably refused to return to their Springfield, Illinois home.  She could not bear the memories.  One son and her husband had died in the four years since they departed.

Six weeks after the assassination, what remained of the Lincoln family went to Chicago.  Robert had been accepted by a prominent firm to “read law”, still an acceptable route to a legal education.  Within weeks, however, he discovered his mother’s secret: she was deeply in debt to merchants in Washington, New York and Philadelphia for a long list of purchases she had accrued as First Lady.  Between her frantic need to pay these debts and her already fragile emotional state, Robert realize he could not possibly live in cramped boarding house quarters with his agitated mother and young brother.  He moved out.

Mary Lincoln’s Problem

Mary was shabbily treated and grossly shortchanged by political powers that wanted her to go away “on the cheap.”  By and large, Congress did not like her.  She had very few partisans.  They gave her $25,000, Lincoln’s salary for the year.  Mary wanted the full four-year salary.   It would not happen.

Lincoln’s estate was comfortable, but not opulent.  It was also divided into thirds and took nearly two years to resolve.  Mrs. Lincoln had no home of her own, nor could she afford one.  Between her debts and her erratic compulsion for shopping, she became a wanderer.  In an effort to raise money, she instigated a scheme to sell some of her clothing.  The effort not only backfired, but it caused huge embarrassment to herself, to her son Robert, to the country, and most importantly, to Lincoln’s memory.

Mortified, and practically unable to show her face, the former First Lady left the country.  Her primary goal was to provide a good education for Tad, whose schooling had been woefully neglected.  Her second goal was to live frugally and privately.  The word “spendthrift” is an oxymoron that fits Mary nearly to perfection.  In Europe she shopped-till-she-dropped, frequently purchasing items she never used; then she would seemingly punish herself for these indulgences by living in cheap, substandard rooms, lit by a single candle.

Robert Lincoln’s Problem

Robert Lincoln

Robert Todd Lincoln, about the time of his father’s death in 1865.

Within six years after his father’s death, Robert Lincoln had married the former Mary Harlan and had had a baby.  “Uncle” Tad, nearly eighteen, desperately wanted to see his brother so they went home.  Robert also had wanted to see Tad, and help guide him in planning his future.  He welcomed them gladly.   Unfortunately the Lincoln house was not big enough for two Mary Lincolns, and Robert’s wife, forming a bitter dislike for her touchy and rather imperious mother-in-law, took the baby and went back to her own mother.

Then Tad sickened and died.  Mary was once again hysterical.  Robert was once again burdened with funeral plans, a solitary trip to Springfield with a coffin, a wife and baby who refused to come home, and a devastated mother whose grief could not be controlled.  On the verge of a nervous breakdown himself, he consulted his doctor, who advised him to “get away” from that toxic atmosphere immediately.  Perhaps lacking the courage or stamina, or both, to face his mother, Robert callously left her a note.  Mrs. Abraham Lincoln was now alone in a big house, with no one except the servants, who had grown tired of her incessant weeping and wailing, and offered no comfort.

The Lincoln Tragedy Continues

Mary now began a long process of wandering from place to place, from spa to spa, dragging the trunks and crates of her life, looking for whatever peace she could find.  With little to occupy her time productively, she had become excessively hypochondriacal, focusing on a series of vague ailments, some real, many stemming from her emotional frailty.  She consulted dozens of doctors and received dozens of prescriptions.  She took dozens of medications.  Robert, realizing that his mother could never really care for herself, arranged for a nurse-companion.  Mary was a difficult patient; the nurse-maids resigned in short order.  No one could live with her.

Finally, after a series of unfathomably bizarre incidents (perhaps from drug interaction), Robert consulted with several of Lincoln’s old friends – friends he trusted, and who would do everything in their power to keep the Lincoln name and reputation from as much humiliation as possible.  Mary was declared “legally insane” in a court of law, and, in the most humane treatment available in an age where psychiatry was in its infancy, sent to a private sanitarium called Bellevue Place, in Batavia, Illinois, to “recover.”   Within a few months, largely due to her own efforts, Mary was declared “cured” and curiously enough, never showed those inexplicable symptoms again.

The relationship between mother and son was permanently scarred.  Robert Lincoln was a private man, assiduously shunning the public eye, and acutely aware of being the keeper of the Lincoln flame, whether he liked it or not.  His own deep pain at the course of events remained secreted in a hidden compartment of his private office for nearly a century.  When his files on Mary Lincoln’s “insanity hearings” were finally discovered, containing legalistic documents and all the letters that he meticulously maintained, through it all, weaves the huge sadness and agony of Robert Todd Lincoln.

He was as tragic a figure as his mother.

Sources:

  • Clinton, Catherine –  Mrs. Lincoln: A Life, Harper Collins, 2009
  • Lachman, Charles – The Last Lincolns: The Rise & Fall of a Great American Family, Union Square Press, 2008
  • Neely, Mark E., Jr., & McMurtry, R. Gerald – The Insanity Papers: The Case of Mary Todd Lincoln, Southern Illinois University Press, 1986,
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Abraham Lincoln’s Life and Limb

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Feather Schwartz Foster

Abraham Lincoln had an innate instinct for Public Relations – but with him, it usually meant “Political Realities.”

The Fall of Fort Sumter

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) had only been President for six weeks when Fort Sumter was attacked in Charleston Harbor. Lincoln had inherited the seething dilemma from the moment he was sworn in.

Minolta DSC

The attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor – the first shots fired in the American Civil War.

Should he reinforce it? That would trigger a war without doubt. Should he surrender it?  Unthinkable. Lincoln, against the considered opinions of his cabinet, opted for a third solution. Resupply it. No ammunition or arms or soldiers – just food, blankets and medicines. He would also advise the Governor of South Carolina of his intentions. In that way, the Union would not be attacking, something he had pledged in his inaugural address. “We will not attack you…..” Any attack would have to come from the South.

South Carolina did exactly what people expected – and dreaded. The Union ship bringing supplies to Fort Sumter was turned back. Shots were fired, and the American Civil War began.

The Constitutional War Powers Conundrum

On April 15, 1861, when those shots were fired, Congress had already adjourned, and was not due to reconvene until July 4th,  three months later. According to the Constitution, Congress alone had the right to declare war.

What were Lincoln’s options?

It is important to remember that Abraham Lincoln was barely known outside of his own state of Illinois. It is also important to remember that he was elected only in the North and “Western” states. In the South, he wasn’t even on the ballot. He was not expected to be a strong leader. He was expected to perform in the same manner as his predecessors.

pierce

President Franklin Pierce (1853-57) ducked many of the looming issues leading up to the Civil War.

buchanan

President James Buchanan (1857-1861) wrung his hands over the issues, and was delighted to turn the office over to Lincoln.

Franklin Pierce (1853-57) and James Buchanan (1857-61) were also lawyers. During their administrations throughout the 1850s, every sectional crisis saw them ducking the issues and wringing their hands, claiming they did not have the Constitutional authority to take any action – even if they had wanted to.

As Lincoln saw it however, if he waited for three months until Congress returned, the South had the time it needed to reinforce its militias, strengthen its infrastructure, put its political house in order, and possibly cultivate foreign recognition or alliances. There was also no guarantee that Congress, once reassembled, would do any more than dither and posture. By its very nature, Congress is a deliberative body, and had been dithering and posturing for decades.

The issues at hand – preservation of the Union first and foremost, along with its underlying cause, slavery, had to be resolved once and for all. Fort Sumter was the straw.

If however, President Lincoln chose to respond to the “attack” and assert his leadership as Commander-in-Chief (his Constitutional responsibility) he would be acting in violation of Congress’ sole authority to declare war (its Constitutional responsibility). Lincoln knew this. So did every legal mind in the country.

The Conundrum Continues

To act or not to act, that was his question.

lincoln

The new President had many deep issues to determine; few would have more impact than how to deal with Fort Sumter, only a few weeks into his term.

If Lincoln delayed or ducked as did his predecessors, he would be guilty of the same lack of leadership the country had decried for a decade. He would be excoriated in the press, especially since Union property had been assailed. That was untenable.

If he took bold measures however, there was the risk it could backfire. Congress could reconvene and declare Lincoln’s actions unconstitutional and thereby nullified. This would immediately place him in an untenable situation.

Lincoln Assumes War Powers

Abraham Lincoln was a very canny practical politician. He had sworn an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, and as Commander-in-Chief, he saw his duties to do just that, believing they were included in the “war powers” granted inherently by that same Constitution – although even to this day they are open to serious debate.

He immediately authorized a blockade around the major Southern ports, tantamount to a declaration of war. He further called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion, thus tripling the size of the federal army.

Perhaps the most troubling was his action to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. Hundreds of people, particularly in the border states, were summarily arrested and jailed on suspicion of “disloyal activity.” They were not given the benefit of a trial, or even the charges against them, which was their Constitutional right.

Lincoln was taking a huge risk. Congress, when it met again, could not only nullify his actions completely, but could even impeach the President. Or it could ratify those actions retroactively.

Lincoln Plays A Careful Card

In Lincoln’s inimitable way of condensing a complex issue into simple, understandable terms, he explained his questionable Constitutional actions thus (his words): ”By general law, life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life; but a life is never wisely given to save a limb.”

Congress, well-populated with lawyers, understood Lincoln’s metaphor. To save the Union (i.e. the “life”), certain laws (i.e. the “limb”) had to be at least temporarily restricted. To maintain the laws for law’s sake, would likely have been the death of the Union itself.

Congress ratified Lincoln’s war power actions retroactively. By that time, the North was solidly behind the President, clamoring “On to Richmond!” It was a true case of understanding the political reality as well as the public opinion.

Sources:

Henig, Gerald S. & Niderost, Eric – Civil War Firsts – Stackpole Books, 2001

http://www.us-civilwar.com/sumter

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/abrahamlincoln

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Herbert Hoover and the First Hoover Dam

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Feather Schwartz Foster

In 1921, Herbert Hoover was a household word, and a newly appointed Secretary of Commerce in the Harding Administration.

Herbert Hoover: A Quick Background

young Hoover

Herbert Hoover was in his late forties when he became Secretary of Commerce in the Harding Administration.

Herbert Clark Hoover (1874-1964) was a self-made man in the truest sense of the word.  Born a poor farm boy, orphaned at ten, raised by relatives, he managed to get an education at Stanford University and became a mining engineer. With huge talents and abilities in his discipline, he was a millionaire a few times over by the time he was thirty-five. He was well known, but only in his field.

World War I found him living in London, an American mining consultant with offices in six countries. The exigencies of the war in Europe brought him to the forefront, uncovering his true calling: Humanitarianism with a capital ‘H’ and on a grand scale. He earned worldwide fame (and gratitude) for organizing a massive relief effort to feed the starving citizens of Belgium, whose country had been overrun by the German army. After the Belgian relief effort, he never again engaged actively in mining efforts.

President Woodrow Wilson summoned Herbert Hoover home in mid-1917 to supervise the Food Administration, which turned the United States into the world’s breadbasket. But while he was known far and wide for his abilities and his integrity, he remained elusive as a person.

Washington Close-Ups, by Edward G. Lowry

I have a little gem of an old book, vintage 1921, written by Edward G. Lowry, a Washington journalist of that era, titled Washington Close-Ups, which gives a dozen or so character sketches about the movers and shakers of that time, Herbert Hoover being one of them.

Lowry tells this lost, but delicious vignette.

According to the author, Hoover’s public work and reputation is widely known, but he, as an individual, remains hidden, despite all efforts to “find the man” behind the celluloid collar.

The story goes that his entry to Hoover was through a neighbor’s child, who “with shining, dancing eyes and glowing cheeks” mentioned in passing that she and Allan (Hoover’s son) had been building a dam across one of the creeks branching off the Potomac River – with the assistance of the Great Engineer. She described him wading in the water, muddy and wet to his armpits, laying stones and chinking the cracks. It was clear that she and Hoover were great pals. The effort seemed intriguing, and Lowry wangled himself an invitation some time later to join them on a Sunday afternoon for a picnic and dam building.

Herbert Hoover Builds A Dam

Mr. Lowry can continue the story from here…

“The job that morning was to fetch stones, to dig clay, to make sluiceways and spills and to put in place two overshot waterwheels. I saw Hoover walk into the water “with all his clothes on.” I saw him muddy and wet to the waist, entirely absorbed and centered on what he was doing… He was having a good time; just as much fun as they [the children] were. It interested me that his idea of a day’s holiday was to devote it to children – and to building something. It interested me even more that children accepted him on easy, equal terms. Plenty of grown people want to play with children, but don’t know how.  They try, but the children stand aloof.”

Herbert Hoover, as Secretary of Commerce during the 1920s, oversaw the planning and construction of yet another dam, this one on a much grander scale, harnessing the Colorado River. It was more complex. It took longer. It also bears his name.

Herbert Hoover and Children

hoover_hh_children

Herbert Hoover always had a great fondness for children, and perhaps was more “himself” among children than with anyone else.

Lowry continued to remark that during the First World War (and the book was written long before there was a second one), many studies were made about the needs of poor European countries, whose people were starving, just as Belgium was, and in dire need of humanitarian aid. Thousands and thousands of words were written; hundreds of documents produced. Lowry mentions the one sentence that touched Hoover the most: “We see very few children playing in the streets of Warsaw.” Those children were not strong enough to run and play. Many could not walk or even stand. Eastern Europe numbered more than two million hungry children.

After the Second World War, Europe numbered twice that many hungry children, and President Harry Truman, who admired Hoover and became his great personal friend, asked the Great Humanitarian, now in his seventies, to manage the relief effort. The ex-President, who had become by and large “non-grata” with the taint of the Depression permanently affixed to his celluloid collar, was eager to comply and accomplish more miracles.

Later, as an elderly man (he lived to be ninety), he published a slim book of letters (and their responses) that he received from children over the years. He obviously enjoyed those letters enough to keep them. And contrary to the stiff figure who always looked uncomfortable in front of the camera, he had a delightful and warm sense of humor. Mr. Lowry was right. Hoover was at his most accessible with children.

Sources:

Hoover, Herbert – On Growing Up: His letters from and to American children – William Morrow & Co., 1962

Lowry, Edward G. – Washington Close-Ups: Intimate Views of Some Public Figures – Houghton Mifflin Co., 1921

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Nellie Taft’s Lonely Dinner

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Feather Schwartz Foster

 Helen Herron Taft (1861-1943) did not have a long time to enjoy wearing her stylish Edwardian gowns on the magnificent occasions she had been planning for decades.  Only three months into William Howard Taft’s presidency, she collapsed from a stroke.

HelenTaft_640x400

Helen Herron (Nellie) Taft was only forty-eight when she suffered a severe stroke. She would recover in time, but would always be a shadow of her former cosmopolitan self.

Mrs. Taft Has Aphasia

While the stroke was not crippling, and while she would only be confined to bed for a relatively short time, the effect of the stroke was extremely serious.   Nellie’s face drooped, so she could not appear in public.  She had been left with aphasia, which made it nearly impossible for her to speak coherently, let alone sustain a conversation.  (Poor Nellie had been an outspoken and articulate woman!)  She also lost her ability to read and write.  In short, while the “receptor” part of her brain, the part that could understand everything, was intact, the “transmitter” part, the part that could communicate, was seriously impaired.  It would take the rest of Taft’s administration for her to regain the better part of her lost abilities.

Nevertheless, and despite a lack of scientific knowledge and therapy, her sisters and her daughter, and Will, too, when he could, worked with her to teach her to say a few intelligible words of greeting, and to read and write all over again.  Her stroke was all the more poignant, since Nellie had worked so hard for so long to achieve her dream: being the First Lady.  It was the pinnacle of all her ambitions, and despite everything, she was not about to relinquish any aspect of it that she could manage.  Staff members and companions would learn that if they asked simple yes/no questions, Nellie could respond with unimpaired acumen.  She could understand everything that was going on.  She just couldn’t communicate.

Nellie Taft Continues Her First Ladies Responsibilities

Nellie Taft continued to take an active part in helping to plan the important dinners and entertainments.  She chose the table colors and decorations, selected the menus, and most importantly, took a hand in the guest lists and seating arrangements.  She watched over the costs of the affairs as well, since she was accustomed to thrift, and the President’s substantial salary did not include an expense account for entertainment.  Those expenses were out of pocket.

She was the one First Lady among all of them who had wanted the role with all her heart, and she had wanted it for a very long time.  No one worked harder to achieve it.  She read, she wrote, she joined, she entertained, she subscribed, she attended, and in short she breathed politics through every pore.  She also breathed her ambition into her delightful, but more placid husband from the time the met.

nellie after stroke

Still First Lady, Nellie Taft was a frail echo of her former cosmopolitan image, and stayed active, but in the background.

Nellie’s Lonely Dinner

Major Archie Butt, Taft’s military aide, painted a poignant word-picture of Mrs. Taft who had helped plan an important state dinner that she would not be able to attend.  Instead, a small table for one was set for her, with fine linen, china and silver, and a floral centerpiece that she had selected – but it was in a room adjoining the state dining room, near a connecting door, kept slightly ajar so all the conversation could be heard.

A beautifully coiffed Nellie, dressed to the teeth in one of her gorgeous new gowns, dripping jewelry and looking like a frail copy of the elegant First Lady she had envisioned for herself, sat alone at her table, eating party food, straining to listen to the chatter of the guests, and having the kind of private thoughts no one should intrude upon.

What Nellie lost, was her hard drive.  She would continue.  She would go on.  But she would never be the same.  If she ever spoke of it to anyone, it is unknown.   Some thoughts are just too painful.

SOURCES:

Anthony, Carl Sferrazza – Nellie Taft: The Unconventional First Lady of the Ragtime Era – 2005, William Morrow

Butt, Archie –  Taft and Roosevelt: The Intimate Letters of Archie Butt, Military Aide – 1930, Doubleday, Doran & Co.

http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=27

http://www.nndb.com/people/792/000128408/

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First Ladies of Indisposition

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Feather Schwartz Foster

Between 1849 and 1857, the three First Ladies of the United States were, in their individual ways, indisposed in the true meaning of the word: they did not have the disposition to perform the highly visible social duties that were inherent and necessary to fulfilling that role.  They were also “indisposed” for three different reasons.

They were well into their middle years when duty called, deeply entrenched in the modest personal lives they had known and enjoyed for decades.  They were more than happy to relinquish the hosting and dancing duties to daughters or nieces or other female relatives.  They were even happier to avoid the criticism of a social set whose main avocation was to criticize.

Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor

Margaret_Taylor

The only likeness said to be of Margaret Taylor, the wife of President Zachary Taylor. She had no interest whatsoever of serving as First Lady, and relinquished the hosting duties to her daughter, Betty Bliss.

Margaret Smith Tayor (1788-1852) was born in Maryland to a family of gentry.   At twenty-one she married Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), a professional soldier without the benefit of a West Point education.  His promotions came through the ranks.  In 1810, when they were married, a soldier’s life was a hard one, deployed to isolated outposts, mainly to protect against Indian attacks.  Peggy traveled from pillar to army-post, living in barracks, in lean-tos, in tents, forts and whatever dwellings were available.  She managed to raise four children to maturity, and by the late 1840s, when she was nearly sixty, looked forward to a retirement on their Baton Rouge plantation, surrounded by family and close friends.

The harsh military life had taken its toll on her, and between age and the lack of comforts, her health had ebbed.  Whatever youthful beauty she might have had, had coarsened.  While the dignities and manners of a gracious upbringing may have lingered in essence, she likely felt that she was ill-equipped to be the social leader of the nation’s capital, and had no interest in trying.

She chose to remain secluded at the White House, presiding only at the family table.  Her married daughter, Betty Blair, was tapped to fulfill the hosting duties.  Naturally rumors abounded that Mrs. Taylor smoked a pipe, or was otherwise “unfit” for the role.

About the only thing that Peggy Taylor is known for, was her claim that the “Presidency would shorten both their lives.”  She and Zachary Taylor died before their natural term would have ended.  She was a prophet.

Abigail Powers Fillmore

Abigail Powers Fillmore (1798-1852) was also disinclined to be First Lady – but for a different reason.

abigail fillmore_2

Abigail Fillmore was genuinely bored by the social role of White House society, and avoided it whenever possible.

Born in upstate New York, her father died when she was young, and the family had meager means.   Having had a fair education (at least for a woman), perhaps to the fifth or sixth grade, she became the village schoolmarm when she was sixteen, and was the first First Lady to work outside the home.  She remained in the workforce for several years, and developed a great and sincere love of books and learning in general.

She was still in her teens when she met Millard Fillmore (1800-1874), a local fellow with ambition.  She tutored him for a better future.  They courted for several years before they were financially able to marry.

Once married with children, Abigail devoted herself to her family, their home in Aurora, New York and the moderate reputation of her lawyer-congressman husband.  She channeled her own intellectual abilities into helping found a library society in their town.  The letters between the Fillmores are filled with list of books she wanted him to purchase in New York or Philadelphia when he was en route to Washington.

When Fillmore was elected Vice President in 1848, Abigail finally came to Washington.  She found “society” boring.  She believed the Washington doyennes were superficial, focused on appearance above substance, and above all, loved gossip.  So she continued to channel her efforts intellectually, and created the first White House library. When she became First Lady, there wasn’t a book in the place – not even a Bible.

Not long before her coming to Washington, Abigail had broken her ankle.  It was set badly and was painful for her to stand in a receiving line for any length of time.  It was also an available excuse for her to bow out.  This is not to say that Abigail Fillmore locked herself away a la Margaret Taylor. She participated when she was needed, but kept the social scene to a minimum.  The Fillmore’s daughter Mary Abigail, was twenty by then, and was happy to fill in for her disinclined, and genuinely bored, mother.

Jane Means Appleton Pierce

jane_pierce

Jane Pierce was a sad and grieving woman when she came to the White House. Her sorrow never lifted and she avoided most social activity.

Jane Pierce (1806-1863) was a depressive, period.  She was also zealously religious.  Born in New Hampshire, she did not marry until she was nearly twenty-nine, and considered an old maid.  Her disposition was the total opposite of her husband, the genial Franklin Pierce (1804-1869), who had just been elected to Congress.

Jane hated Washington with a passion.  She thought the climate was cruel to her frail health, and she disliked the political scene and thought it ungodly.  She lost two sons as babies, and devoted herself to raising her remaining boy.  She even managed to convince her husband (who loved politics) to give up the national scene, and devote himself strictly to his law practice and local New Hampshire affairs.

When Pierce became the Democratic nominee, and elected President in 1852, it is said that Jane fainted when she heard the news.  If the dissatisfaction with the course of events wasn’t enough, eleven-year-old Bennie Pierce was killed in a freak railway accident only a few weeks before the inauguration.  Jane was prostrate with grief, and remained secluded in the White House for months.  Her aunt-by-marriage was enlisted to handle whatever mild social duties could not be avoided.

When Jane finally made a public appearance, it was sad that her “woebegone expression” made it difficult for anyone to enjoy the gathering.

Sources:

Caroli, Betty Boyd – First Ladies: An Intimate Look at How 38 Women Handled what may be the most Demanding, Unpaid, Unelected Job in America – Oxford University Press, 1995

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/first-ladies/margarettaylor

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/first-ladies/abigailfillmore

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/first-ladies/janepierce

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Chester Alan Arthur: “Nobody’s Damn Business”

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Feather Schwartz Foster

Chester Alan Arthur, known only by his distinctive and imposing whiskers, is one of the least known and least studied of our Presidents. 

Chester_A_Arthur_by_Daniel_Huntington

Chester Alan Arthur’s portrait by Daniel Huntington shows a big, bewhiskered man who looks like he should be a President.

Chester Alan Arthur: The Basic Facts

Chester Alan Arthur (1830-1886) was a clergyman’s son, born in Vermont and educated at Union College in Schenectady, New York.  He became a successful lawyer and gravitated easily into the Republican party hierarchy, mostly due to his diligence and superb organizational and administrative skills.

During the Civil War, he served as Quartermaster General for New York, and was well regarded for those same organizational skills.

Early in his political career, Chet Arthur came to the attention of Utica attorney and congressman Roscoe Conkling, the political boss of the New York Republicans.  The two men became fast friends, and it became obvious to all that Arthur was Conkling’s prime go-to man.

Arthur was a man of decidedly elegant tastes.  He enjoyed a cultured lifestyle, epicurean meals, and was said to possess an extensive wardrobe of more than two dozen pairs of trousers.  His manners were impeccable, his bearing almost aristocratic.

Notwithstanding, the “Gentleman Boss,”as he is frequently called, remained apart from the throngs, barely known outside his intimates and New York Republican hierarchy.

The Port of New York

Chet’s buddy Roscoe Conkling (1829-1888) cemented his strong control over New York patronage by being elected United States Senator after the Civil War.  He also became fast friends with General Ulysses S. Grant, a shoo-in for the presidency in 1868.

conkling

Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York was the Republican political boss who ran all of New York’s patronage positions.

During Grant’s administration, at the urging of Conkling, Chet Arthur was appointed to the plum position of Collector of the Port of New York.  It was the most lucrative of all the political offices within the federal purview.

The Port of New York controlled the collection of all the tariffs and duties on all products coming in and out of the country’s largest port.   It was also literally awash in corruption.  Arthur himself was an honest man, and no taint of personal malfeasance was ever charged against him.  Nevertheless, under President Rutherford B. Hayes, a reformer (and thereby a sworn enemy of spoilsman Conkling) the Port of New York was subject to a major housecleaning.  Chester Alan Arthur was summarily dismissed.  Personally honest or not, mismanagement had occurred on his watch.  Someone’s head had to roll.

Chester Alan Arthur: The Surprising Vice President

It came as a total surprise to everyone when Chet Arthur, the ex-Collector of the Port of New York was tapped as a Vice Presidential candidate to James A. Garfield of Ohio for the Republican ticket in 1880.  It was strictly a geopolitical maneuver to obtain New York’s large bloc of electoral votes, and Conkling was personally opposed to it.  Arthur was honored however, and in a rare moment of independence, accepted.

If the Garfield-Arthur ticket was a surprise, the assassination of James Garfield only four months into his presidency stunned the country completely.  Chester Alan Arthur, a perceived political hack and groveling henchman of Boss Conkling, was now President.

The White House that Chet Arthur inherited was not nearly up to the new President’s snuff.  He had wagonloads of old furniture carted off, to be replaced by the elegant designs of Louis Comfort Tiffany.

The sophisticated New Yorker was also a widower.  His wife Ellen Herndon had died ony a few months earlier, and his daughter was much too young to serve as hostess.  Naturally this created an understandable stir in Washington, with every society matron in town vying to introduce him to an eligible relation.  The fresh flower that the President kept in his bedroom was said to be replaced daily in Ellen’s memory.  When asked about it, the personally reticent president commented, “I may be President of the United States, but my private life is nobody’s damn business.”

This is probably the only quote attributed to Arthur that anyone remembers – other than subsequent presidents.

Then again, there are some who believe that Arthur uttered those dismissive words to a delegation of temperance advocates, who urged the new President to ban spirits in the White House and lectured him on the evils of John Barleycorn.  The epicurean Arthur was known to have a personal collection of excellent French wines and brandies, and was seriously miffed at the impertinence.

Either way, the message was sent: the urbane president with the imposing mutton-chop whiskers was not a man to permit personal liberties.  If he preferred that remote image, that was his own damn business, too.  And he did a surprisingly credible job as president.

Sources:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/chesterarthur

http://millercenter.org/president/arthur

http://www.biography.com/people/chester-a-arthur-9190059

Barzman, Sol – Madmen & Geniuses: The Vice-Presidents of the United States – Follett Publishing, 1974

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The Vice Presidency, A Peculiar Institution

Posted on June 1, 2013 by Feather Schwartz Foster

The office of the Vice President of the United States, until the mid-twentieth century, could be summed as perfectly respectable with a dose of public ridicule.

Vice Presidential Impressions

According to the Constitution, the Vice President’s only proscribed duty is to preside over the Senate, and vote only in the event of a tie.

john-adams

John Adams, the first Vice President of the United States

John Adams, the very first in that office, summed up his new position quickly and tartly, as “the most insignificant office ever created by the mind of man.”  Mr. Adams was a bona fide political heavyweight of the Revolutionary War era, well qualified for the top office, which he would later fill.

A century and a half later, John Nance Garner, Vice President for eight years under Franklin D. Roosevelt, would describe the office more colorfully:  “Not worth a bucket of warm spit.”  Later in the 1930s, George and Ira Gershwin wrote a musical called “Of Thee I Sing” – which portrayed a fictional Vice President Throttlebottom as a complete buffoon.  It won a Pulitzer Prize.

john nance garner

John Nance Garner of Texas, was one of our more colorful Vice Presidents. He served for eight years under Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The Early Veeps

Our Founders strongly opposed political parties.  The plan was that the winner of the election would be President, the runner-up would be Vice President. Thomas Jefferson, our Second Vice President (and third President) was also a political heavyweight.  He thought so highly of the second-place office, that he seldom came to Philadelphia (then the capital), preferring to remain at his plantation and play politics.

But by 1800, there was already a crisis: Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received an equal number of votes.  Burr had originally indicated that the Vice Presidency was his goal, but he was a slippery sort, and few people trusted him.  Burr changed his mind, challenged Jefferson, and threw the election into the House of Representatives.  They opted for Jefferson, and Burr went on to become involved in some murky empire building efforts out west – and killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, giving the office of Vice President a bad name.

Thereafter, the Vice Presidency was demoted, as it were, to being a geo-political sop to balance a party ticket.  It would be considered a respectable position, worth a $5,000 per year salary – but it would require no heavy lifting.

South Carolinian John C. Calhoun, another heavyweight in the second generation of statesmen, had the unique distinction of serving under two different Presidents: John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.  Neither one of them liked him, and Jackson is quoted as claiming his big regret in life was “not hanging Calhoun.”

The Vice Presidential Doldrums

It is absolutely amazing that for a century and a half, the Vice Presidency was held in such low esteem. It is all the more bizarre, since every twenty years or so (by an odd coincidence of fate) a Vice President would ascend to the Presidency.

john-tyler

John Tyler was the first Vice President to assume the Presidency following the death of a President.

The first to do so was John Tyler in 1841, when William Henry Harrison died just a month after assuming the top office.  Tyler was unpopular, but is credited with asserting himself as the President – rather than “Acting President” – including all the responsibilities and privileges assigned by the Constitution.

Less than a decade later, President Zachary Taylor died and another Vice President, Millard Fillmore became President.  Even then the office remained insignificant, to be occupied by names long lost to history’s dustbin.

In 1852, long-time Alabama Senator William King was elected Vice President to balance a ticket headed by Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire.  King, well past sixty, was ill at the time.  He was elected, but died before he could be sworn in.  Pierce went on to serve for four full years without a Vice President.  No one seemed to miss it or suggest a special election be held.

Fateful Accidents of the Presidency

The assumption of Tyler and Fillmore had little real consequence for the country.  They were both reasonably capable men who were diligent in fulfilling their duties to the best of their abilities.

Hannibal Hamlin, however, was Vice President under Abraham Lincoln during his first term.  Due to the vagaries of war, politics and sectional strife, the former Senator from Maine was scrapped for Tennessee Unionist Andrew Johnson.  One could only wonder the what-ifs of that situation.

In a similar incident of fate, Garrett Hobart of New Jersey served as Vice President during the first term of William McKinley.   The two men had become fast friends, and Hobart would surely have been asked to be on the ticket again – but he died.  For his second term, McKinley had a young New York politician-turned-war-hero-turned-politician named Theodore Roosevelt as his VP – and the rest is history.

The Vice President and the 1950s

It was not until Dwight Eisenhower was President that the second-in-command took on a more substantial role.  During his first term, Ike had a heart attack, requiring a serious curtailment of his activities.  VP Richard Nixon would assume major responsibilities.

Yet while new respect was found for the office, it would not be until the mid-1960’s, after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, that a mechanism would be put into place to provide an immediate Vice President.

Today, the Vice President of the United States is always assigned serious and important duties, and is immediately sworn in as “acting” president in the event that the chief executive has even the most minor situations that could render him “unavailable” even for a few hours.

Sources:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-Vice-Presidents-That-History-Forgot-160281765.html

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Vice_President.ht

Barzman, Sol – Madmen & Geniuses: The Vice-Presidents of the United States – Follett Publishing, 1974

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Dolley Madison Saves Washington: Part II

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Feather Schwartz Foster

Within hours after Dolley Madison “rescued” the portrait of George Washington, British Redcoats marched in and torched the city.

Burning Washington 1814

British soldiers burn Washington, DC in August, 1814

The British Invade Washington

Politicians and military personnel alike were surprised when the British Army targeted Washington, DC. In 1814 the village was barely fifteen years old, and had no strategic importance whatsoever.

What it did have however, was symbolic importance: the capital city of Britain’s erstwhile colonies – the colonies they had lost forty years earlier. Perhaps even more galling was that the town was named for George Washington, the general who had tweaked John Bull’s nose.

For days, everyone in Washington was nervous as the British Army was in Maryland, barely 50 miles away. The town itself was practically deserted. Nearly everyone had evacuated in fear of a possible invasion. Dolley Madison had been expecting guests, and the White House dining room was still set for the luncheon party when she finally received word from her husband to evacuate as well. Days earlier, all the important documents and treasures had been sent away for safe keeping, and evacuation plans had been made.

The Redcoats entered an empty White House. The invading soldiers gladly helped themselves to the delicacies. Legend has it that they drank a toast to the popular First Lady, and Sir George Cockburn, their general, commandeered one of her cushions as a souvenir. Then they lit torches, touched them to the draperies and furnishings, and departed. The flames were visible for miles.

Aftermath of the Storm

Within hours, Providence in the form of a hurricane, put out the fire. The drenching rains may have saved the building from complete destruction, but the water damage coupled with the fire/smoke damage made the Executive Mansion uninhabitable.

During the next weeks, Washingtonians began returning to their capital city. That included President and Mrs. Madison, who returned to a house they could no longer occupy. For weeks there had been a growing hue and cry in the newspapers and legislatures around the country to move the capital farther inland and away from any path of destruction. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania was frequently mentioned.

James Madison was opposed. He believed strongly that our young country should not and must not be chased away from its chosen center. He was the youngest of our Founding Fathers, but in 1814, was past sixty. While he was acknowledged as a brilliant polemicist and political philosopher, many of his contemporaries considered him a weak president. Some said he was only elected to his first term because of his great friend and mentor, Thomas Jefferson. Then there were those who said he was only re-elected because of his immensely popular wife.

Popular or not, Madison was adamant about keeping the US capital in Washington City. Mrs. Madison, who always supported her husband’s political views, was just as adamant.  But while Madison would set the course, it would be Dolley who would gently steer the course to help save Washington for a second time. This time it was not George’s portrait, but the City of Washington itself.

The Octagon House

OCtagon House

The Octagon House has been refurbished according to how it looked when the Madisons lived there in 1814. It is open to the public.

John Tayloe III was a prominent Washingtonian who owned an elegant brick house only two blocks from the President’s Mansion. Called the Octagon House because of its interesting architectural shape, it was considered one of the best-designed homes in the young capital. It had been spared from the fire.

Since the White House was far too badly damaged to permit occupancy, Tayloe offered the use of his home to the President and First Lady. Its circular reception room was a charmer, and presented an inviting atmosphere for receiving guests. The dining room of course, was smaller. It could only hold fifty – and it was tight at that. Nevertheless it would do nicely for their purposes. The Madisons accepted the offer and moved in.

No sooner had they unpacked, than Dolley opened their new digs for a reception. Caterers and confectioners were called, invitations were sent. The Presidency was back in business!

A Political Bullseye and Clear Message

James Madison may have been the political mastermind for keeping Washington DC as the capital city, but it was his wife who truly made it happen. She was arguably the most popular and influential First Lady the country has ever had. It was her true talent. The charm was natural and sincere and generally unerring.

Mrs. Madison had made a reputation for herself as a consummate hostess, who received guests from all class distinctions, countries, and even political parties with grace. Everyone knew her and everyone loved her.

By “entertaining as usual” Dolley Madison sent a message not only to Washingtonians, but to the country itself: the capital was staying put. The discreet lobbying that took place at Dolley’s soirees was focused on fixing and rebuilding – not moving away. It provided solid support for President Madison’s policy against turning tail and running. The message was sent and it was clear: The United States would not be intimidated by any foreign power.

And, of course, if Mrs. Madison was still having parties, things obviously couldn’t be that bad.

President and Mrs. Madison would never live in the White House again. The structural repair was extensive and would take more than two years to complete. By that time, President James Monroe had been inaugurated.

Sources:

Allgor, Catherine – A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation – 2006 Henry Holt and Company

Moore, Virginia – The Madisons: A Biography, 1979, McGraw Hill

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/first-ladies/dolleymadison

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/jamesmadison

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DOLLEY MADISON SAVES WASHINGTON: PART I

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Feather Schwartz Foster
Dolley by Gilbert Stuart

Dolley Madison, painted by Gilbert Stuart

 In the old days, every school child knew that First Lady Dolley Madison saved the portrait of George Washington from the approaching British Army. Fact? Legend?

The War of 1812:  Target Washington

The War of 1812, the second war between the United States and England was not going well for Americans. Its army was minuscule, poorly trained, and staffed with officers whose last experiences were forty years earlier. Their weaponry was just as archaic.

Washington DC was only a small village barely a dozen years old. The town itself could hardly have been an important strategic objective. Common sense and military savvy would suggest the Redcoats would concentrate on the far more important port of Baltimore, Maryland. The Brits had other ideas. To them Washington was an important symbolic objective: a) a capital city, and b) all the more odious since it was named in honor of the man who had inflicted the erstwhile invincible British army with the loss of their colonies.

President Madison and the War of 1812

President James Madison was past sixty, small and unimposing in stature. He was a gentle soul, and one of the least warlike men to occupy the office. His decision to even engage in this war had been an agonizing one, undertaken with a heavy heart and heavy political arm-twisting. But the honor of our country, and the concept of freedom of the high seas (being flagrantly flouted by England) was important both politically and economically.

In late August, 1814, with disheartened US troops encamped in Maryland, Commander-in-Chief Madison decided to personally rally the troops, and rode off.

Before his departure however, he took the precaution of entrusting important documents to friends who would transport them out of the capital. He also advised his wife Dolley to remain at the White House until he either returned or sent word.

Dolley Madison’s Role in the War of 1812

Dolley Madison now in her mid-forties, was the quintessential hostess at the center of Washington’s socio-political structure. She had been providing a warm and neutral setting where politicians and governmental hierarchy could meet informally on common ground.  Her soirees were famous for their ecumenical guest lists. Senators rubbed elbows with tavern-keepers, generals with booksellers. Dolley Madison entertained practically daily, sometimes holding two or three gatherings on a single day.

Even in Madison’s absence Dolley had planned a luncheon. The table had been set, the food prepared, but “regrets” were coming all morning from her luncheon guests, saying they were evacuating the city.

She checked and double checked that all important papers and possessions had been removed. Then she spied the full-length Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington.  (Some historians claim it is only a copy, but it really doesn’t matter, does it?) It was as much a symbol of our new nation as the capital city named in his honor. She could not let it fall into enemy hands. He had been our first Commander-in-Chief, and now her gentle husband was trying to fill those august shoes.

Saving George Washington

DECODED Save George

A n illustration of Dolley Madison directing the removal of the Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington

Illustrations abound depicting Dolley Madison on stepladders, knife in hand, or stuffing a rolled-up canvas into a satchel and fleeing a burning building. That is the legend part, of course, and one should always treasure legends. They speak volumes and endear us to the subjects.

But Dolley did not shinny up the stepladder, with or without a knife. Long skirts and high-heels are not conducive for climbing. She did however summon servants to do her climbing and remove George from the wall. The resourceful First Lady then ordered the canvas cut from the heavy gilt frame. After all, a frame can be replaced, and a canvas is much easier to transport. Coincidentally, Robert De Peyster and Jacob Barker, two gentlemen from New York, were passing by the White House, and Dolley persuaded them to safeguard the precious portrait. They were pleased to oblige.

Many years later, after the legend had firmly been attached to the story, both De Peyster and Barker were elderly, as was Dolley. The three of them were in concurrence however, regarding the veracity of the episode, which by then had dozens of variations. Truth or not, the legend (or legends) took over the more prosaic truth, and the image of Dolley on a ladder, rescuing George and fleeing a burning White House with the rolled-up canvas in her satchel is the one that lingers.

The Aftermath of George

“George”  was returned some time later. It hangs today in the White House East Room, next to the fireplace – with a full length Martha Washington on the other side. They both have graced the room for generations.

It is said that “George Washington” is the oldest possession in the Executive Mansion, and the only item that remains pre- the burning of the White House in August, 1814.

Sources:

Anthony, Carl Sferrazza – First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents’ Wives and Their Power 1789-1961, 1990, William Morrow

Allgor, Catherine, – Parlor Politics: In Which the Ladies of Washington Help Build a City and a Government, 2000, University of Virginia Press

Allgor, Catherine – A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation – 2006 Henry Holt and Company

Moore, Virginia – The Madisons: A Biography, 1979, McGraw Hill

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/first-ladies/dolleymadison

Posted in A POTUS-FLOTUS Blog, George Washington, James Madison | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments