Tag Archives: White House history

John Quincy Adams and Anne Royall

The curmudgeon and the public nuisance: an odd couple. John Quincy Adams When John Quincy Adams became President in 1825, there were few who could match his stellar credentials: A cosmopolitan European education, Harvard graduate, legislative appointments and a long … Continue reading

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Grace Coolidge: The Red Portrait

  Ever since FLOTUS Lucy Hayes, it has become a tradition for the sitting First Lady to have a formal portrait painted. The Delightful Mrs. Coolidge Grace Goodhue Coolidge (1879-1957) was one of the most personable First Ladies to ever … Continue reading

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The Assassin and FDR-the-POTUS-Elect

Less than a month before FDR’s first inauguration in 1933, he was the target of an assassination attempt. FDR: President Elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an unlikely candidate for President in 1932. The 50-year-old New York patrician had a pleasant, … Continue reading

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Woodrow Wilson and the Suffragettes

Woodrow Wilson liked women – and he liked intelligent women. WW: A Boy and His Family Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) grew up surrounded by three doting women: his mother, Jessie Woodrow – and two older sisters. A younger brother didn’t … Continue reading

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TR: Marching With Kings

Thousands of people watched the funeral parade of King Edward VII. The POTUS and the King The nearly eight years Theodore Roosevelt spent as President coincided with the reign of Edward VII (1841-1910) of England. TR was only 42 when … Continue reading

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Abraham Lincoln and Smallpox

Abraham Lincoln suffered from variola (smallpox) when he was in the White House. November, 1863 Almost as an afterthought, President Lincoln had been invited to make “a few appropriate remarks” at an event in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In July, a massive … Continue reading

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Bess Truman and The Airplane

Few First Ladies were as reluctant as Bess Truman. Bess: The Reluctant Everything Bess Wallace (1885-1982) was considered outgoing and personable all the way through high school. She was a good student, an excellent athlete (a rarity at the turn … Continue reading

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The Private Sorrow of Eliza McCardle Johnson

  First Lady Eliza McCardle Johnson. Quick Bio on Eliza Eliza McCardle (1810-1876) was Tennessee-born and an only child. While most of the American First Ladies were middle-class gentry, if not out-and-out well-to-do, Eliza was likely the poorest of the … Continue reading

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The White House Conservatory: The Lost Treasure

 Arguably the largest of all lost White House treasures, is the Conservatory. The Greenhouse Concept Some three hundred years ago, the first greenhouse was built in Colonial America. The concept had been known in Europe for some time: to provide … Continue reading

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Florence Harding And The Knife in her Back

Warren Harding’s wife was difficult, but his paramours were no picnics either! Warren the Romeo Most citizens of Marion, Ohio in the late-1880s considered Warren Gamaleil Harding one of the handsomest young men in town, plus affable and easy-to-like. When … Continue reading

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