Tag Archives: Presidential history

The President and the Apprentice: A Book Review

The President and the Apprentice by Irvin F. Gellman is a massive and masterful book. It runs nearly 600 pages, not counting another 200 small print notes and citations. A remarkable effort. One could write pages of comments of course … Continue reading →

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Jane Pierce: First Lady of Sorrows

Some people are born with a melancholy gene. Like Jane Appleton Pierce. A Solemn Girl There was nothing in Jane Appleton’s (1806-63) childhood that suggested merriment. She was a New Englander, her father a Congregational minister, and strict religious observance … Continue reading →

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Martha Washington’s “Disposition”

Martha Washington had very few memorable “quotes” – but one of them bears repeating. Often. Martha Washington: Correspondent When George Washington died in 1799, his distraught widow of more than 40 years systematically burned most of their correspondence. George Washington … Continue reading →

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Frances Cleveland: The FLOTUS As Celebrity

When 49-year-old sitting president Grover Cleveland took a 21-year old bride, the country was enchanted.   Frances Folsom: White House Bride New First Lady Frances Cleveland was not only young, but she was pretty.  She had a nice figure, a peaches-and-cream … Continue reading →

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Lucy Hayes and the Spectacular Dinner Service,

The White House, then and now, requires a huge amount of china place settings. The Precedents of China Formal Presidential dinner services have always been needed for formal occasions since the time of George Washington’s terms of office in New … Continue reading →

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The Plot to Assassinate General Grant

General Grant was one of John Wilkes Booth’s targets on April 14, 1865. This is Julia Grant’s story, penned some 35 years after it occurred, and not known to the general public for more than a century. April 14, 1865 … Continue reading →

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Warren Harding and the Ohio Gang

The term “The Ohio Gang” is misleading. First of all, not all of them were from Ohio. Warren Harding: A Lackluster Politician Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865-1923) was a lackluster fellow.  His abilities were moderate, not stellar. His ambition for high … Continue reading →

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Emilie Todd: Mary Lincoln’s Little Sister

Mary Todd Lincoln came from a huge family. There were fourteen children. Children and Steps: Mary Todd was the fourth of six children born to Robert Smith Todd and his first wife, Elizabeth Parker.   She died when Mary was only … Continue reading →

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McKinley and Bryan: The Second Battle of the Bills: 1900

The rematch election in 1900 between “Bills” – William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan – was not an unusual occurrence. There have been a few “rematch” Presidential elections. Adams & Jefferson in 1796 and 1800, where the office exchanged hands. … Continue reading →

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The Horrible Health of Andrew Jackson

How Andrew Jackson managed to live to be seventy-eight is a wonderment, considering his dreadful health. AJ: The Young Frontier Boy Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was a posthumous boy; his father died only weeks before Andy was born. Raised in the … Continue reading →

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