by Bill Fawcett
PAIN THE EAR
While her husband was off winning World War II, Mamie Eisenhower stayed back in the states. Rumors soon spread that she was hitting the bottle. They were based on those who saw the general’s wife weaving or bumping into things at all hours of the day. The truth was that she had Meniere’s disease, which upset her balance. Be careful whom you spread gossip about; she might someday become the First Lady.
PRESIDENTIAL PUFF
To her dying day, Mamie Eisenhower smoked. Even while being a leading money raiser for the Heart Association, whose members were some of the first to point out the risks of smoking, she regularly puffed away—but only in private.
GOOD NIGHT?
When Jack Kennedy was suffering after having spinal surgery in 1954, his wife, Jackie, went to great lengths to cheer him up. One effort backfired when she had Grace Kelly dress as a night nurse and prance into the room. Her husband was too bleary to recognize the popular actress (and later Princess of Monaco). Grace commented that “I must be losing it.” She may be the only starlet in JFK’s bedroom whom he didn’t get to know much better.
AND A ONE-PIECE, TOO
Such was the scrutiny that Jackie Kennedy was under that when she relaxed on a private beach in a swimsuit, the pictures were shown around the world. By today’s standards, the suit was extremely modest, but this was the first time any First Lady had been seen in one. Some conservative supporters were so upset, they picketed the airport when she returned. The irony of all this was that at the same time her husband had the habit of swimming in the buff with a number of young and willing women in the White House pool.
EXTRAS
Pat Nixon, being a true Angeleno, appeared as an extra in several movies, including Ben Hur and The Great Ziegfeld (not as one of the scantily clad dancers).
CHEAP!
Lady Bird Johnson’s wedding ring was purchased from Sears for $2.50. It seems the normally highly efficient Lyndon Johnson forgot to buy one, and on the morning of the ceremony, had to have a friend rush out and grab a selection from the local Sears store, from which Lady Bird picked one. She married him anyhow.
BEAUTIFUL LEGACY
Every time any of us drive somewhere, we owe a small debt to Lady Bird Johnson. As First Lady, she made making America more beautiful a major part of her efforts. This inspired acres of flowers to be planted in Washington. But her real contribution was to encourage a bill that restricted billboards, junk, and junkyards along the nation’s major highways. The Highway Beautification Act made and makes a major difference in just how the world looks from our busiest highways. LBJ called it “Lady Bird’s bill” and gave her the first pen after signing it in 1965.
ALL OVER
Pat Nixon was not only well-traveled, but an excellent goodwill ambassador. She visited twenty-nine nations while First Lady, and often dressed in the same manner as the people of the country she was visiting. She always did this with apparent cheer, though she had to be more comfortable eating dinner in Paris than on her visit to sub-Saharan Africa. While Pat Nixon might dress in unusual garb while traveling, she was at home a conservative dresser who abhorred the new trend of women wearing pants and never did so.
SHARED INTEREST
One of the things shared by Jerry and Betty Ford was athletic ability. Where Jerry was a varsity football player and team captain, Betty was a talented dancer. She did the choreography for her own dance troupe, and was good enough to study under the top instructors. All her life Betty loved to dance. She often danced with the celebrities who visited the White House. She once posted in the East Wing a picture of her dancing with Cary Grant. Under it she wrote, “Eat your heart out, gals.”
WENT PUBLIC
In some ways, Americans can be a bit self-conscious. When Betty Ford was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy, this was a procedure rarely spoken of in public. Through her efforts and courage during and after the operation, Betty Ford brought the entire topic into the public’s awareness. Not only did this help those women who were also facing breast cancer, but the open discussions led to new and expanded research into treatment and prevention of the disease.
PHOTO OP
It is common for local party officials to pose for pictures with the First Lady when she visits a city. In Milwaukee, Rosalynn Carter once posed with a local Democratic Party organizer and donor. His name was John Wayne Gacy.
IN THE STARS
In this case the real stars, not her husband’s costars. Much of what happened in the White House, at least the timing of it, was determined by the charts and predictions of Joan Quigley, Nancy Reagan’s astrologer. Events such as travel and bill signing were changed to those moments considered most auspicious by the California seer.
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FAMILY CAN BE FIRST FAMILY
By all standards, Teddy Roosevelt was a permissive father. Considering his own behavior, anything else would have been hypocritical. But one time he did get most upset and put his foot down hard. It was when he had to animatedly explain to his son Quentin that one simply does not throw spitballs at the portrait of Andrew Jackson on the White House wall.
Mary Lincoln’s brother, George Todd, was an officer and surgeon in the Confederate Army. This led to rumors she was a Confederate sympathizer. Mrs. Lincoln’s half-sister, Emilie, was married to Confederate Brigadier General Benjamin Hardin Helm, who died at Chickamauga. When she was captured by Union troops and Lincoln was notified, his telegraphed response was “Send her to me.” Emilie then had a long visit at the White House, rekindling all the gossip and innuendo.
RELATED ISSUES:
Our second president, John Adams, was the father of the sixth president, John Quincy Adams.
The ninth president, William Henry Harrison, was the grandfather of the twenty-third president, Benjamin Harrison.
The fourth president, James Madison, and the twelfth president, Zachary Taylor, were second cousins.
While it is now assumed they were closely related, the twenty-sixth president, Theodore Roosevelt, and the thirty-second president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, were only fifth cousins.
George H. W. Bush, the forty-first president, is the father of George W. Bush, the forty-third.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was a true blue blood who was related in some way to a total of eleven U.S. presidents, five of them with a blood tie and six through marriage. He was in some way at least a distant relative of Theodore Roosevelt, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Ulysses Grant, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, James Madison, William Taft, Zachary Taylor, Martin Van Buren, and George Washington.
TEDDY AND FRANKLIN
Even though the two presidents were only distantly related and served decades apart, the two men had much in common. They both came from “old money” and saw serving in office as a duty. Both were, as their name suggests, of Dutch descent. Harvard University can claim both Roosevelts as alumni. Both developed severe handicaps—FDR’s legs and Teddy’s blindness and illnesses—while in office and managed to keep the general public from knowing about them. Both had held the offices of governor of New York and assistant secretary of the navy. Both Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt at one time ran for vice president. And finally, there was an attempted assassination of each Roosevelt.
PROLIFIC PRESIDENT
John Tyler had, by far, more children than any other president. He was married twice, and his second wife, Julia, was three decades younger than the president. Tyler had eight children by his first wife, Letitia, who died while he was in office. After remarrying in a secret ceremony while still president, Tyler proceeded to have seven more, for a total of fifteen presidential offspring.
THE OTHER PRESIDENT
While they did not exactly elope, Sally Knox Taylor, the daughter of future president Zachary Taylor, did rush her engagement and actually was married at an aunt’s home in Tennessee, rather than where her father was then stationed as commander of the First Infantry. This led to some strain between her father and her hus
band. Unfortunately, Sally died a few years later. Her husband and Zachary Taylor served together in the Mexican-American War, and because of the bravery shown by the younger man, they became friends. The husband became a president, too, but of the Confederate States of America. Sally Taylor had virtually run off with, and then married, a young and dashing Jefferson Davis.
GUILT
The fourteenth president, Franklin Pierce, and his wife, Jane, were very religious. They also felt that God took direct actions that affected their lives. Both held the Calvinist attitude that much of what happened to them was punishment for past sins and transgressions. The train taking Pierce and his family to Washington, not long after he was elected, derailed. One car detached and rolled down an embankment. The only fatality in that car was the Pierces’ only child. Blaming themselves, and even stating that God had taken their son so that Franklin could concentrate on being president, put a tremendous strain on both the president-elect and his wife. While in the train to Washington for the inauguration, Mrs. Franklin could not deal with it and got off to return to their home. She was not present at her husband’s inauguration and so missed one of the most depressed inaugural addresses ever given.
WEDDED BLISS
It was truly a wedding to remember. President Ulysses Grant’s daughter Nellie was getting married in the White House. It was the event of the season and done sparing no expense. The bride’s gown cost over $2,000. To get a good idea of how it compares to today’s value of money, add two more zeros. There were more than two hundred guests, a veritable “who’s who” of Washington, D.C. The wedding included a sit-down dinner whose menu was printed on satin. Thousands of flowers were rushed by steamer from Florida and filled the East Room. Gifts given the young couple were estimated at having a value of $60,000 (in 1874 dollars)—several million dollars today.
You would have thought this would make a daddy proud, but President Grant could not conceal his grief even at the ceremony. During the Civil War, the closest ally the Confederacy had was unofficial support from Britain. That was where most of those blockade runners like Rhett Butler took their cargos of cotton to sell, bringing war supplies back. Grant’s sorrow was that Nellie’s husband was Algernon Satoris, an Englishman. Even though the man was of “good family” and wealthy, the president had only reluctantly given his blessing and could not get past the fact his Nellie was not only not marrying an American, but an Englishman to boot. Happily, he later visited the couple in England after leaving office.
PRESIDENTIAL BABY
Grover Cleveland’s daughter Esther was the first and, so far, only child of a president born in the White House. She soon was the darling of the nation. Until her birth, the South Gate of the White House was kept constantly open. Eventually, the First Lady had to order it locked because too many people were coming through it just to view, and often kiss, the baby. Hard to picture today, but the White House used to be considered every citizen’s building and was very much more open and accessible.
TRANSPRESIDITE
Until he was five years old, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s mother regularly made him wear dresses. There are no records of what permanent effect this practice may have had on the president. He certainly was extremely heterosexual and demonstrated this proclivity much more widely than Eleanor Roosevelt approved of. It might have helped him to understand J. Edgar Hoover’s personal preferences.
BIG MAN
Some of us are big men from the beginning. Richard Nixon weighed almost eleven pounds at birth.
NAME GAME
When he was born, Gerald Ford was actually named Leslie Lynch King Jr. His mother divorced when he was two and married Gerald Ford Sr. The couple then legally changed the two-year-old child’s name.
MAYFLOWER MOMENT
A number of the presidents, three First Ladies, and even one vice president have been shown to be descendants of those who came over on the Mayflower.
These are:
John Adams and also, of course, his son John Quincy Adams
Zachary Taylor
Ulysses S. Grant
James A. Garfield
Franklin D. Roosevelt
George H. W. Bush and his son George W. Bush
Barbara (Pierce) Bush, wife of George Bush, the forty-first president
Lucretia (Rudolph) Garfield, wife of James Garfield, the twentieth president
Edith (Carrow) Roosevelt, wife of Theodore Roosevelt
Vice President Dan Quayle
Dan Quayle? Hmmm…the bloodline seems to be thinning.
TWO SONS
Andrew Jackson had no children of his own. He did adopt two sons. One was a nephew who had been orphaned. The western states could still be dangerous places and taking in orphaned family members was common and almost expected. The second son was the child of an Indian woman who had been killed during a battle.
THE COST OF WAR
Teddy Roosevelt was always a bit of a war lover. During the three years World War I ran before the United States joined the allies, he constantly lobbied for us to be in the conflict. His public statements regarding then President Wilson often verged on libel and he regularly questioned the president’s personal courage. Once the United States did enter the war, it turned out to be a far from glorious experience for the former president. In 1918, his son Quentin Roosevelt was shot down and killed while flying his fighter plane over the Western Front.
OLD ENEMY
During the American Civil War, the state of Missouri sent about as many volunteers to fight for the Confederacy as the Union. Among those who fought for the South were some of Harry Truman’s ancestors on his mother’s side. A few were known to have been placed in Northern prisoner-of-war camps, which were horrible places with high mortality rates among the prisoners. This left a lot of very bitter survivors whose families never forgot their ordeal. When Harry Truman became president, his mother came to visit. He offered to put her up in the most prestigious guest room of the executive mansion. Unfortunately this is the Lincoln Bedroom. Martha Ellen Truman turned down his offer, stating that she would prefer to sleep on the floor than in Lincoln’s bed.
FORMALLY YOURS
Richard Nixon must have been emotionally frustrating to be married to. He was simply distant and impersonal to just about everyone. The notes he sent to his daughters or Pat, his wife, were most often signed “The President.”
HISTORY MAJOR?
Lucy Hayes, the wife of Rutherford B. Hayes, was the first wife of a president to have graduated from a college. She may also have enjoyed being First Lady more than any other presidential wife. Lucy Hayes spent hours every week exploring odd corners of the White House, and unearthing items and odd papers she found in attics, storage areas, and closets. Many of the historical treasures on display in the Smithsonian from the early presidents can be credited to Mrs. Hayes’s efforts.
First Lady Lucy Hayes also had a second love, taking great pleasure in flowers. She personally would arrange from a dozen to even several dozen bouquets almost every day. These were sent mostly to friends.
YOUNG AND OLD DADS
The president who became a father at the youngest age was Andrew Johnson—he was nineteen. The oldest president to become a dad was John Tyler, whose young wife gave birth when he was seventy years old. Because of the spread between his and his father’s ages, the son of the tenth president actually met with the thirty-second, FDR, and as of 2007 one of his grandsons is still alive.
NAME GAME
It took some time for Harry and Bess Truman to settle on a name for their only daughter. He wanted to name her Mary, but Bess wanted Margaret. Margaret was four years old before it was mutually agreed that was her name.
PERMANENT EMOTIONAL SCARS?
When George H. W., Barbara, and a very young George W. Bush moved west, they had a surprising living arrangement in Odessa, Texas. The apartment building they moved into had a communal bathroom. It was shared by the two future presidents, and a mother and daughter who also worked at
an occupation common in oil towns: the two women were prostitutes.
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STRIPES IN THE STARS
It is unlikely the first presidents thought much about astrology. It was considered a superstition that had been left behind in the Age of Reason. But there was a revival in the late nineteenth century that has carried on to this day. So, were the presidents’ fates in the stars?
There is a fairly even spread of presidents and signs.
Aries
2
Taurus
4
Gemini
2
Cancer
4
Leo
3
Virgo
2
Libra
4
Scorpio
5
Sagittarius
3
Capricorn
4
Aquarius
5
Pisces
4
Aries: Adventurous and energetic, pioneering, courageous, dynamic and quick-witted, but also selfish with a temper, impatient, foolhardy, and a bit of a daredevil. The first Aries president was Thomas Jefferson, who had most of the positive traits listed here. Then again, his love life can be described as rather daredevil for his time. The next Aries president was John Tyler, whose most notable achievement was fathering fifteen children. Okay, so he gets energetic and courageous then.
Taurus: Patient and reliable, warmhearted, persistent, placid, but also jealous, possessive, resentful, inflexible, self-indulgent, and greedy. James Monroe was the first Taurus to be president. He did not fit the bill too well by type, but if being the most honest president is a Tauran trait, he qualifies. Every trait of stubborn determination attributed to Taurus was manifest in the second Tauran president, U. S. Grant.