First Ladies Library Blog

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy shortly after m moving into the White House with three-year old daughter Caroline and several-month old son. (Mark Shaw)

This article is adapted from a recent public inquiry pointing out that there is no entry for the first-born of Jacqueline Kennedy under the section marked “children” in her National First Ladies Library online biography.

by Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Historian of the National First Ladies Library

The gravestone of the Kennedy daughter whom Jacqueline Kennedy informally named “Arabella.) (flickr)

Until research in 1997 discovered the fact, there was no public record of the name of Jacqueline Kennedy’s stillborn child in 1956. Several of her siblings at that time disclosed that the child was never baptized, registered with a birth certificate or legally named. Instead, Jacqueline Kennedy would later make reference to this lost first-born with the sentimental name of “Arabella.”

In 1963, when the child’s remains were later transferred from a local Catholic cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island to be placed alongside those of President Kennedy and the infant Patrick Kennedy, the widowed First Lady did not want a gravestone marked with the informal “nickname” which she had given her.

It is not even clear that President Kennedy was aware of this “name.” Nor was Jacqueline Kennedy known to ever make a written record of this name; it was simply a reference spoken among those with whom she was closest at the time. She made no known further mention of the name after the initial period of loss.

President-elect Kennedy pushing his wife through the hospital lobby following the birth of their son John. (UPI)

Naturally, the loss of any child is a traumatic experience, perhaps a first one in particular. In later editing the book A Thousand Days by her friend, historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jacqueline Kennedy affirmed that she and the President had “five children in ten years,” which he interpreted to be an understandably defensive view from her perspective, having been pregnant with that many children in that number of years.

Ethel Kennedy with ten of her eleven children. (original photographer unknown)

She made this remark, Schlesinger thought, in reaction to comparisons often made between her and her sister-in-law Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy, who gave birth to eleven children, all of whom lived to adulthood.

The other “child” which Jacqueline Kennedy referred to was actually a miscarriage she suffered, also an experience before the birth of her daughter Caroline in November 1957.

Jacqueline Kennedy holds her infant son John. (Richard Avedon)

Along with her son John, Jr. who was born after his father’s November 1960 election to the presidency but before his January 1961 inauguration, Mrs. Kennedy gave birth to her son Patrick Bouvier Kennedy in August of 1963, while she was First Lady.

Unfortunately, he died of an infant lung ailment within two days.

Florence Harding and Lou Hoover in Portland, Oregon, July 1923.

by Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Historian of the National First Ladies Library

Florence Harding’s relationship with other First Ladies was not significant. During her tenure as First Lady, however, she was on very friendly terms with Nellie Taft in her capacity as the Supreme Court Chief Justice’s spouse and with Lou Hoover as the Commerce Secretary’s spouse. Her interactions with them were circumstantial and social in nature, rather than personal.

Florence Harding and Grace Coolidge meet in Marion, Ohio, after the 1920 election.

Despite the story of her reacting negatively to the government providing an official vice presidential residence for Calvin and Grace Coolidge, her correspondence shows she also had a friendly relationship with Grace Coolidge.

The story is not likely false, given the source of it was Columbia University president Nicholas Butler Murray, who was not known for prevaricating. However, the exaggeration of it provides a misleading characterization of their relationship.

There is also at least one newspaper account suggesting Mrs. Harding’s impatient exasperation with Mrs. Coolidge feeling she must strictly follow social etiquette. Unlike her, of course, Mrs. Harding had lived in Washington as a U.S. Senate wife and knew its customs. In addition this, she was a friendly and informal person by nature rather than a stickler for protocol.

Florence Harding expressed disdain for Edith Roosevelt’s submissive interactions with the general public and turning over requests for photographs of her to the President. Mrs. Harding believed a First Lady was a public figure and that the citizenry was her constituency.

Florence Harding and Edith Wilson riding together on Inauguration Day, 1921.

Although Edith Wilson left a caustic account of her meeting with Florence Harding during the transition from the Wilson Administration to the Harding Administration, the latter did invite the former to return as a guest to the White House to share a tea with her.

Also, as a former First Lady Florence Harding accepted the invitation to attend the February 1924 funeral of former President Wilson, extended by Edith Wilson. That event, held in the National Cathedral of Washington, was marked by the largest gathering of First Ladies to that time: Nellie Taft, Edith Wilson, Florence Harding, Grace Coolidge and the future First Lady Lou Hoover.

In those of her papers which have been preserved as part of the Warren G. Harding Papers held at the Ohio Historical Society, there is no evidence of Florence Harding having had contact with the other two former First Ladies alive at the time of the Harding Administration: Frances Cleveland (Preston) or Mary Dimmock Harrison.

Lou Hoover in front of the home where she and her family lived while residing in China, before his presidency. (HCHL)

This posting is adapted from a response provided to a member of the public inquiring on the best sources to consult in beginning a research effort on internationalism and First Ladies.

by Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Historian of the National First Ladies Library

Many First Ladies took an active interest in matters of foreign affairs and some often weighed in on their husbands decisions or those of the Secretary of State.

Barbara Bush and her husband President George H. Bush welcome Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his wife. (Washington Post)

The level of detailed information will determine the type of sources one might begin to consult as part of a research effort.

As far as primary sources, one will find original documentation on the foreign trips made by First Ladies from Eleanor Roosevelt to Laura Bush in the files archived in their husbands’ individual presidential libraries. Documents there will trace the intent, planning and execution of their activities while overseas. Even more detail about the arrangements made for entertaining heads of state will be found in materials usually classified as “social files” in the presidential libraries.

Certainly the most extensive of these will involve Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton both during and after their tenures as First Lady, the former having served in an official capacity with the United Nations and the latter as Secretary of State.

Hillary Clinton and her daughter visiting with Nelson Mandela during a state visit to South Africa. (WJCL)

It is not yet certain what repository will ultimately hold the papers related to Mrs. Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State under the Obama Administration. Michelle Obama’s papers related to international matters will eventually be housed in the Obama Presidential Library, the site location of which is yet to be determined.

Individual biographies of these and earlier First Ladies are certainly the best place to begin; from there more specific sources can often be found in the bibliography and endnotes.

There’s an important distinction to be made between a First Lady making an international trip and their general or specific interest in matters of state during their husbands’ presidencies. Many who never made state trips nevertheless took an interest in international issues. There are also many examples of how they expressed their opinions or played a role which involved foreign affairs.

Theodore and Edith Roosevelt at the Panama Canal Zone. (choiceartwork.com)

Edith Roosevelt who served as a private emissary between the President and British Ambassador. Sylvia Jukes Morris has written the most extensive biography of her details the role she played as emissary. Lou Hoover lived in a number of foreign nations, including China during the Boxer Rebellion and one finds a great level of new material in the Nancy Beck Young biography of her, the most scholarly published source to consult.

Eleanor Roosevelt took an especially active interest in European and Asian affairs before the United States became involved in World War II, and of course during the war. For this topic, there are several good general source biographies to consult, including Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph Lash for the pre-war and war years and Doris Goodwin’s No Ordinary Time for the war years.

Eleanor Roosevelt visits the grave of an American serviceman in Guadalcanal. (pacificwrecks.org)

Florence Harding disagreed with Commerce Department policy on provisions to send supplies to Russia and my own biography of her includes examples of her opinions on U.S. foreign policy and how she expressed them.

Among the autobiographies of First Ladies, those of Rosalynn Carter, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush go into great detail not only about their foreign trips and the issues which drew them there, but also the wider context of those issues.

Although much of American history focuses on global events beginning with the 20th century, it is misleading to suggest that those First Ladies who served previous to this had interest only in domestic political issues. Harriet Lane, for example, lived in Europe and served in a public role for her uncle during his tenure as U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain.

Louisa Adams. (Massachusetts Historical Society)

Louisa Adams is the only First Lady both born and educated in Europe and also had extensive experience living abroad after having come to the U.S., returning there as her husband served in various diplomatic roles before his presidency.

Her papers and a diary she kept of a famous trip across the sweep of Europe during the Napoleonic era are in the Massachusetts Historical Society.

As a former First Lady, Mary Lincoln also lived and traveled extensively through many European countries. Likewise, Julia Grant joined her husband on a world tour after his presidency.

Julia Grant. (Library of Congress)

One might consult their personal papers; many extensive personal papers of First Ladies who served before the presidential library system was established by the National Archives are located in the Library of Congress Manuscript Reading Room.

You will also find general summary information on the subject within the individual biographies posted here online at the National First Ladies Library website, including those of Abigail Adams, Elizabeth Monroe, Louisa Adams, Nellie Taft, Edith Wilson, Jacqueline Kennedy, Pat Nixon, Rosalynn Carter, Hillary Clinton, and Laura Bush.

For over a century, American First Ladies have visited nations around the globe in various capacities.

Fist Lady Edith Roosevelt in Panama. (chipbishop.com)

This post is adapted from a response to a public inquiry about the foreign trips undertaken by First Ladies.

by Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Historian of the National First Ladies Library

It was Ida McKinley who became the first incumbent First Lady to not only visit a foreign country but do so independently of her husband.

The event was a May 1901 visit across the U.S. border bridge at El Paso, Texas and into Mexico, where she traveled a short distance to the town of Juarez, to attend an impromptu brunch held in a private home there, in her honor.

The incident occurred while President McKinley remained in El Paso, a stop that was part of their itinerary of a transcontinental tour of the U.S. to California.

Edith Carow Roosevelt, wife of Theodore Roosevelt, accompanied her husband to the recently-independent nation of Panama on 9 November 1907, making her the first incumbent First Lady to leave the United States with her husband.

More famously, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, sailed from Hoboken, New Jersey to Brest, France on 4 December, 1918, with her husband Woodrow Wilson, for his participation in the Paris peace conference held after World War I.

Edith Wilson stands behind her husband as they sail to Europe in 1919. (WWPL)

She joined him in also visiting England and Italy; they returned to the U.S. on 15 February, 1919. She thus holds the record of an incumbent First Lady being out of the U.S., a total of 72 days.

Grace Coolidge traveled with her husband, incumbent President Calvin Coolidge to Havana, Cuba in January of 1928, where he delivered the opening address of a Pan-American Conference.

Eleanor Roosevelt was the second incumbent First Lady to travel on foreign soil without her husband.

Her trips were made as a representative of the American Red Cross during World War II: to Ireland and England in 1942, to active U.S. military installations in Australia, New Zealand, Guadalcanal and other South Pacific islands in 1943, and to non-combat military bases in Central, South American and Caribbean basin nations in 1944.

Eleanor Roosevelt inspects a downed U.S. plane in Guadalcanal during World War II. (FDRL)

She became the first incumbent First Lady to also make such trip by air flight, over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Jacqueline Kennedy’s famous meetings with Charles DeGaulle in Paris, Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna and Queen Elizabeth in London, occurred when she accompanied her husband during his first trans-Atlantic trip, in May and early June of 1961, visiting France, Austria and England.

At the end of the presidential tour, she went on her own to Greece, thus marking her first solo trip.

She would also join her husband to Venezuela and Colombia in December 1961 and Mexico in June 1962.

Jacqueline Kennedy arriving in India. (Life)

She continued to make solo trips. In April 1962 she was designated as a “goodwill ambassador” of the U.S. government during trips to India and Pakistan, and during her visit to the latter nation she proceeded to the Khyber Pass and the Afghanistan border.

In August of 1962, she took a vacation in Italy; even though the White House listed her trip as a “private citizen” she interceded with the U.S. government to provide disaster relief during an earthquake that took place while she was in that nation.

Jacqueline Kennedy in India. (life)

She had a similar quasi-official status when she visited Greece and Morocco in October and early November of 1963.

Lady Bird Johnson made no solo trips to foreign nations as an incumbent First Lady.

In combination with the foreign trips she made with her husband Richard Nixon and those on her own, Pat Nixon for many years held the record as the most traveled First Lady.

Pat Nixon conceived and led the US humanitarian relief effort in Peru after its devastating 1971 earthquake. (RMNL)

Her most notable and highly-visible trip with her husband was to China in 1972. However, she initiated her own humanitarian trip to Peru, when that mountainous nation was hit by a devastating earthquake in June 1970.

In January of 1972, with the official but temporary designation as “the president’s ambassador” she visited three African nations – Ghana, the Ivory Coast and Liberia. She addressed the parliaments of all three nations, discussing American state policy on Rhodesia and South Africa.

In March of 1974, she made a solo trip to the inaugurations of South American presidents in Venezuela and Brazil.

Rosalynn Carter in a Cambodian refugee camp on the Thailand border, 1980. (JECL)

Betty Ford was the last incumbent First Lady who made no foreign trips independent of her husband.

Since 1977, each incumbent First Lady has made numerous foreign trips, both with their husbands and on their own.

Among the most noteworthy have been those of Rosalynn Carter as “the president’s representative” in 1977 to multiple Central and South American nations where she discussed serious policy issues including exports, human rights and nuclear weaponry, and in 1980 to Thailand as part of a global emergency relief effort on behalf of Cambodian refugees.

Nancy Reagan attended the wedding of Prince Charles to Diane Spencer in London, England, in July 1981. Barbara Bush led the U.S. delegation attending the inauguration of the president of Costa Rica in May of 1989.

First Lady Hillary Clinton in China delivering a UN speech on women’s rights (AP)

In September of 1995, Hillary Rodham Clinton attended the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, giving a strong policy speech that rebuked the host nation’s violations of women’s and children’s rights.

Hillary Clinton would also make numerous trips around the globe, joined in efforts by other women leaders through an organization she helped to found as First Lady, “Vital Voices.” She also made several trips to the emerging democracies of nations which were once part of the former Soviet Republic, encouraging the understanding and establishment of civil societies.

Laura Bush visiting an Afghanistan school for girls. (GWBL)

During her tenure Laura Bush made independent trips to Afghanistan, to encourage the stability of re-opened schools for girls, to several African nations in projects to curb the rate of AIDS in children and malaria, and to Saudi Arabia to encourage a shift in its culture towards recognition of early detection and treatment of breast cancer.

It is difficult to specifically state who is the most “traveled” First Lady since such a designation could be determined by several different factors: how many different nations were visited, whether return trips to the same nation are to be counted, whether “travel” means one trip to one nation, or one trip with several stops (for example, on one of her first foreign trips with her husband, Pat Nixon went to Guam, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, Romania, England and South Vietnam).

Lou Hoover makes her radio address. (ecommcode.com)

A response to a public inquiry about the location from which First Lady Lou Hoover made a radio address that was also filmed for newsreels and shown to the public.

by Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Historian of the National First Ladies Library

Mrs. Hoover had actually established a room in the White House residence from which she both practiced her elocution and from there also delivered at the very least this one public radio address, including the newsreel footage taken of it.

Lou Hoover votes in 1932 Palo Alto California, her home district. (HHL)

The speech in question was entitled, “The Woman’s Place in the Present Emergency,” and made on behalf of the National Women’s Committee of the Welfare and Relief Mobilization.” It was delivered on 27 November 1932 – three weeks or so after her husband lost his bid for re-election.

Franklin D. Roosevelt delivering one of his fireside chat radio speeches from the White House. (Huffington Post)

It is established fact that just months after the Hoover Administration ended, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt began delivering his “fireside chats” on the radio to the American people that electronic recording and transmission equipment had to be brought into the present-day oval Diplomatic Reception Room.

Lou Hoover making clothes during the Great Depression on a sewing machine, to encourage voluntary aid to those in need. (Library of Congress)

While this is only speculation, it may be that this room was, in fact, used for her radio and newsreel recording as seen in the video (if not all of them) and that contemporary news reports that she practiced her public speaking into a recording device in the same room where she delivered them live to the nation is not, in fact, correct.

Mary Barber at the time her sister was First Lady. (NFLL)

by Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Historian of the National First Ladies Library

The presence of the current First Lady Michelle Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson, as a part-time resident of the White House who aids her in managing the two presidential daughters received a great deal of attention when the Obama Administration began in 2009, but it is but only the most recent example of how family members have helped out First Ladies.

Mary Saxton at about age 5. (NFLL)

During William McKinley’s presidency from 1897 to 1901, newspapers so frequently made reference to “Mary Barber,” that the public came to know her by name. The sister of First Lady Ida McKinley, she was always known within the family by the nickname of “Pina,” as in little one.

While she was a frequent visitor to the White House, Pina lived at the Saxton-McKinley House, which she shared with her husband and seven children, the President and Mrs. McKinley during their visits back home to Canton, and her brother George Saxton, until his murder nearby the house in October of 1899.

Brooke Hall where Pina boarded for a year with her sister. (NFLL)

Ida McKinley was especially close with her sister Mary. For a period of time the part of the time both Saxton sisters were boarding school students at Brooke Hall Seminary in Media, Pennsylvania.

In 1869, they together spent six months on a grand tour of Europe and Mary’s letters home provide much detail about Ida McKinley’s life during that period.

Marshall Barber. (NFLL)

Just two days after the tragic death of William and Ida McKinley’s second daughter, the 5-month old “Little Ida,” Pina Saxton was married to her long-time boyfriend Marshall Barber.

Like her own family, the Barbers had been among the pioneer founders of Canton.

Marshall Barber had a lifelong love of the theater and he later worked as the manager of a local theater, among the inherited properties passed down to his wife, sister-in-law and brother-in-law upon the death of their father.

Mary Barber’s seven children at the Saxton-McKinley House. (NFLL)

Although the newlyweds began married life in their own home, following the onset of Ida McKinley’s epilepsy in 1873, Pina Barber assumed a degree of responsibility for the care of her niece Katie who moved into the Saxton-McKinley House with her parents in September of that year.

Soon enough, Marsh and Pina moved into the Saxton-McKinley House, where her brother George and widowed father James had continued to live, following the April 1873 death of his wife Kate Saxton, mother to the three Saxton children.

Especially after the 1887 death of their father, Mary Barber learned the details of her sister’s epilepsy and, in the frequent absence of William McKinley, provided the necessary care during her seizures.

A newspaper drawing of Pina’s daughter Mary Barber in the gown she wore to the 1897 Inauguration. (carlanthonyonline.com)

During the McKinley presidency, Mary Barber assumed all responsibility for the arrangements of the presidential visits to their shared home. She also coaxed her reluctant two eldest daughters Mary and Ida Barber to take leaves of absence from college and spend the winter social seasons at the White House as aides to their aunt the First Lady.

Pina Barber was extremely active in numerous Canton civic affairs.

Mary Saxton Barber, (rootsweb)

She served as president of the local branch of the Needlework Guild and was a leader in the Associated Charities and in the Red Cross. She was also a member of the board of directors of the George D. Harter Bank, a board member of Aultman Hospital, and held various positions with the  YMCA and YWCA.

During the Spanish-American War, Pina Barber led Canton’s efforts to send nourishing non-perishable foods and other items to the troop of local men, including her son, stationed in the Philippines.

Following the 1898 murder by gunshot of their brother George Saxton, Mary Barber assumed the sole responsibility for managing the properties and investments made by their father which she and the First Lady inherited, relying on the legal guidance of her brother-in-law President McKinley.

Upon word of McKinley’s assassination in Buffalo, Mary Barber sped there to provide companionship for her sister.

Following his death, she assumed control of her care at the direction of the widow’s physician.

Mary Barber in 1906. (NFLL)

This task proved difficult and often presented conflicts between emotional and practical choices, there being an indication that she tacitly approved of her sister’s attorney refusing to comply with the widowed First Lady’s desire to disperse some of her jewelry to friends and to financially help the late President’s brother.

The valuables and money were part of the anticipated inheritance which Mrs. Barber and her children would receive from Mrs. McKinley and which represented inheritance from her and Pina’s parents.

Pina Barber also received unwanted press coverage after being drawn into a breach-of-contract case brought by the divorced wife of her son George Barber who alleged that Pina had urged him to propose a deceiving settlement.

The Saxton-McKinley House (NFLL)

As the sole remaining heir of her parents, the Saxton-McKinley House became the sole property of Mary Barber.

Upon her death in 1917,  it was Pina’s youngest child Kate Barber Belden who then assumed occupancy with her husband and children and became the last residents of the house.

Thus the Saxton-McKinley House is perhaps the only home in the United States which has passed down in one family through four generations of women.

The McKinley “Campaign House.” (NFLL)

Following the First Lady’s death, Pina Barber had also been drawn into a public contesting of her late sister’s will by relatives of the late President.

She had wanted to buy from them the McKinley “Campaign House” and turn it into a national home museum to honor the late President and his wife but the McKinley heirs would not sell it to her.

In that respect, the NFLL’s purchase of the Saxton-McKinley House and its subsequent restoration as a presidential historic site open to the public now fulfills her vision.

Lady Bird Johnson (far left), Betty Ford (second from left), and Nancy Reagan (fourth from left) are three of the longest-living First Ladies; seen here with Rosalynn Carter, Barbara Bush, and Hillary Clinton in 1994. (Clinton Presidential Library)

by Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Historian of the National First Ladies Library

Over the last half-century, history has seen a number of First Ladies reach an advanced age beyond even the trend reflected in national statistics on longevity and gender.

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan escorted by President Obama during a 2009 White House visit, as they pass her portrait. (The White House)

Earlier this month, on July 5, Nancy Reagan celebrated her 92nd birthday. By any measure, this is a remarkable benchmark but particularly when one considers some of what the former First Lady endured.

Many people may recall that she is a breast cancer survivor. Fewer perhaps were aware of a more subtle strain on her. As she has also candidly admitted, the March 30, 1981 assassination attempt on her late husband Ronald Reagan also took both an emotional and physical toll on her.

Mrs. Reagan.(Corbis)

That event came only two months and ten days after he first became President of the United States and for the entire following eight years (short those two months and ten days) she endured a high degree of anxiety every time the President appeared at a publicly accessible evert, fearing his was vulnerable to such an attack again. As she recalled and as is evidenced in pictures during her tenure as First Lady, the stress on her system resulted in a great weight loss.

While the conclusion of his two terms in 1989 marked the end of this period, the former President and First Lady had less than six years to enjoy each other’s company without public duties on their daily schedule, for in 1994 Reagan disclosed that he had Alzheimer’s Disease.

Former President Reagan celebrated his birthday in 1996 with Nancy Reagan. (The Reagan Library)

For the next decade, Nancy Reagan chose not to divest her commitment to him. Mrs. Reagan assumed the role of his primary caretaker, managing all aspects of it in their home, and permitting her own full public life to become limited in scope as his condition advanced.

Although she had the opportunity to place the management of his daily care in the hands of expert medical care professionals which his status as a former President afforded him and which she always acknowledged to be a great privilege, the former First Lady was vigilant in assuming her responsibilities until his June 5, 2004 death.

For a person of any age, maintaining that degree of commitment for a full ten years would be difficult, making the fact that just four weeks later Nancy Reagan turned 82 years old all the more remarkable.

At that point it would have been entirely reasonable if she had chosen to then live an entirely private life, especially with the deep grief she suffered after her loss. All the more startling has been her return to public life in her nine years as a presidential widow.

The First Ladies together in 2009.{The White House)

Refusing to permit an unsteady mobility limit her and showing no vanity in her reliance on a cane or wheelchair when necessary, Nancy Reagan continues to shepherd fundraising efforts at the Reagan Presidential Library and attend events there.

She returned to visit the White House in 2009 to meet with President Obama and witness his signing of federal recognition of Reagan’s 2011 centennial, and with Mrs. Obama for a private lunch.

Although it conflicted with the majority view of leaders from her late husband’s political party, she took a strong stand in favor of stem cell research and then marriage equality. She has also become a symbol of her late husband’s legacy, and welcomed the 2008 and 2012 presidential nominee’s of his party.

Mrs. Reagan and her mother Edith Davis. (Reagan Library)

Another factor overlooked about Mrs. Reagan’s longevity may be her family proclivity.

In fact, it is Nancy Reagan’s mother, Edith Luckett Robins Davis who holds the record for being the longest-living parents of a First Lady.

Born on July 16, 1888, and dying on October 27, 1987, Mrs. Davis reached the remarkable age of 99 years old.

From a young age, the Washington-born “Edie” Luckett had worked as a stage actress. Even after her first marriage to Kenneth Robbins and the birth of her only child Anne Frances “Nancy,” she pursued her professional career. Following her 1929 marriage to Dr. Loyal Davis, Mrs. Reagan’s mother continued to work in the entertainment industry, as a radio actress.

She lived her retirement years in Arizona, having seen her daughter become First Lady.

Bess Truman at age 94 years old, leaving a Missouri restaurant in August of 1979. (UPI)

Since her death in 1982, the longevity of Bess Truman has continued to be the record length of life among any First Lady – or President.

(The five Presidents with the greatest longevity are: Gerald Ford, who lived to 93 years old and 165 days, Ronald Reagan who lived to 93 years old and 120 days, John Adams who lived to 90 years old and 247 days, Herbert Hoover who lived to 90 years old and 71 days, and George Bush who turned 89 years old on June 12, 2013.)

Mrs. Truman had reached the astounding age of 97 years old but she had held the status of greatest longevity among First Ladies beginning in 1975, when she turned 90 years old.

This benchmark was longer than the one previously held by Edith Wilson who died in December of 1961 at 89 years old.

In March of 1977, a month after Mrs. Truman had attained the age of 91 years old, a life insurance industry study determined that First Ladies lived an average of ten percent longer than their comparable demographic in the general U.S. population at the time.

Bess Truman, in yellow, joins her husband former President Harry Truman and the President and Mrs. Johnson and Vice President Hubert Humphrey. (LBJ Library)

As a senior citizen, Bess Truman also held another unique status.

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson made her the first American woman recipient of Medicare coverage.

He and Lady Bird Johnson even came to the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri to sign the new legislation which enacted the measure, so former President Harry Truman and former First Lady Bess Truman could participate in the ceremony – and receive the first cards ensuring their coverage by the new measure.

In light of the fact that the average life expectancy for American women is 81 years old, it certainly seems that a four year lease at the White House adds to a lease on life for the women who’ve joined their husbands in living there.

President John F. Kennedy with Edith Wilson just weeks before her death in 1961 (First Ladies by Carl Anthony, volume 2)

In surveying the entire history of the American presidency, once finds that previous to 1975, the five longest-living First Ladies had been:

1) Edith Wilson, mentioned above.

2) Anna Harrison who died at 88 years old in 1864.

3) Sarah Polk who died at 87 years old in 1891.

4) Edith Roosevelt who died at 87 years old in 1948.

5) Lucretia Garfield who died at 85 years in 1918.

As the 21st century began, however, that record quickly shifted.

Betty Ford joins President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush at a 2003 White House 90th birthday celebration for her husband former President Gerald Ford, the longest-living President. (G.W. Bush Presidential Library)

Although Mrs. Truman remains the longest-living at 97 years old, she is now followed by Lady Bird Johnson who reach the age of 94 years old  at the time of her July 11 2007 death, Betty Ford who died at age 93 years old on July 8, 2011, and Mrs. Reagan who, currently at age 92 years old, may well surpass their longevity records.

At 89 years old, Edith Wilson was the longest-living until that status became Mrs. Truman’s in 1975, and has since receded to become only the fifth-longest living First Lady.

Former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson seated between President Bill Clinton and former President George Bush at a 2000 White House dinner. (Clinton Presidential Library)

The longevity of other women who served as First Ladies between Mrs. Truman and Mrs. Ford are Mamie Eisenhower who died several days before reaching her 83rd birthday in 1979, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis who died two months before her 65th birthday in 1994 and Pat Nixon who had turned 81 years old three months before her  death in 1993.

Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis with President Clinton seven months before her 1994 death. (Clinton Presidential Library)

Among the living First Ladies besides Mrs. Reagan are Rosalynn Carter, who will celebrate her 86th birthday on August 18, Barbara Bush who turned 88 this past June 8, Hillary Clinton who will be 66 years old on October 26, Laura Bush who will be 67 years old on November 4, and Michelle Obama who will turn 50 years old on January 17, 2014.

By reaching 75 days beyond her 89th birthday next June 8, Barbara Bush’s longevity would then replace Edith Wilson’s record to become the fifth longest-living First Lady, meaning that four of the five with such status will have been incumbent First Ladies within just the last 40 years of the 225 year institution of the American Presidency.

What accounts for First Ladies having such a longer life expectancy than average?

Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, Barbara Bush and Rosalynn Carter, April 25, 2013. at the GW Bush Presidential Library dedication. (AP)

Obviously, a primary factor has been their access to excellent health care; during their tenures as incumbent First Ladies, medical care from the nation’s leading military physicians it is a perquisite provided them as presidential family members. Living healthily is certainly another factor.

Here is a curious fact, coincidence or not.

Among the five longest-living First Ladies, Bess Truman, Betty Ford and Nancy Reagan are all breast-cancer survivors.

While it is entirely supposition, perhaps their surviving such a health crisis made them more conscientious about their own well-being.

Three Californians who were First Ladies, Nancy Reagan (far left), Betty Ford (second from left) and Pat Nixon (far right) with Gloria Saatjian Duekmejian California Governor’s spouse (second from right), June 1991. (Nixon Foundation)

Perhaps one other factor has played a role in the case of two of the longest-living First Ladies.

According to the July 10, 2013 report on worldwide longevity conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, the one place on the planet where women lived the longest is Marin County in the state of California.

Betty Ford was a Californian for the last 34 years of her life and, except for her eight years as First Lady in Washington, D.C., Nancy Reagan has lived in the Golden State for almost 70 years.

Former First Lady Laura Bush joins incumbent First Lady Michelle Obama during a joint interview and conference in African, June 2013. (Gary Cameron/Reuters)

by Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Historian of the National First Ladies Library

Last week, on Tuesday, July 2, 2013, incumbent First Lady Michelle Obama joined her immediate predecessor Laura Bush for a portion of a conference which gathered First Ladies of African nations. Entitled “Investing in Women: Strengthening Africa,” the summit was hosted by the George W. Bush Institute, and held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

A laugh between First Ladies Bush and Obama. (Reuter’s)

The First Lady was in Africa accompanying President Obama on a state visit to several nations there.

While the media gave focus to the light-hearted moments between these two of only six living First Ladies, the purpose of the conference had a more important purpose.

Laura Bush. (AP)

As First Lady, Laura Bush was a consistent and avid advocate for U.S. foreign policy which provided not only monetary aid, but educational resources, professional training and voluntary medical help to citizens of numerous African nations on a variety of health issues, most famously in the prevention and treatment of AIDS in children and adults.

She also undertook several domestic initiatives aimed at improving the health of American women, the most famous of which were public awareness campaigns on heart care and breast cancer.

Laura Bush and Michelle Obama at their first meeting, 2008. (WBush Presidential Library)

Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Bush first met a week after the 2008 election of Barack Obama, when the latter guided the former on her personal tour of the family living quarters of the White House.

They came together again on September 11, 2010 to lead a memorial service to 9-11 victims in Pennsylvania.

Earlier this year they were also joined by Rosalynn Carter, Hillary Clinton and Barbara Bush for the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

The First Ladies preside at a 2010 memorial service. (White House)

Historically, the Tanzania meeting of Laura Bush and Michelle Obama was the first time two American First Ladies joined together for a larger purpose in a foreign country.

It was not, however, the first time that former and incumbent First Ladies have joined in common cause to confront a sudden crisis, raise public awareness about a problem affecting a neglected demographic, advocate action on pending legislation, demonstrate support for a national institution or raise funds to establish or maintain charitable organizations.

The first such example of this goes back to July 4, 1848. On that day, former First Lady Dolley Madison accepted the invitation of the Washington National Monument Society to appear at the public ceremony marking the laying of the cornerstone of what would become the famous Washington Monument.

Sarah Polk with President James Polk, joined by former First Lady Dolley Madison at far right. (Eastman House)

She was joined on the dais by the incumbent First Lady Sarah Polk.

Although the Polk Administration would be ending exactly eight months later from that day, Mrs. Polk recognized that her unique marital status as a president’s wife was of symbolic importance to the public and felt a sense of duty about making such appearance.

This was a strong view shared by Mrs. Madison was then living in a townhouse on Lafayette Square, the park just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.

Edith Roosevelt. (NPS)

During World War I, two former First Ladies coincidentally found themselves working for the same organization in voluntary executive positions simply because they shared an expert skill at knitting.

Having left the White House at the end of her husband’s presidency in 1909, Edith Kermit Roosevelt far preferred the private life she shared with the former President at their Sagamore Hill estate in Oyster Bay, New York.

When the U.S. became involved in the European war in April of 1917, her role as a regional president of a national organization called the Needlework Guild took on a sense of urgency, there being a sudden need for skullcaps, socks, sweaters and other cold-weather protective clothing to ensure the health of American servicemen who often spent days on end in freezing winter conditions.

Frances Cleveland Preston. (Buffalo Architecture and History)

It was her fellow former First Lady Frances Cleveland, by then married to her second husband Thomas J. Preston, who headed the entire national organization.

As the Needlework Guild’s national president, Frances Cleveland travelled the country, meeting with regional leaders like Mrs. Roosevelt to encourage the membership to meet the quota of clothing items which the war necessitated.

Former First Lady Nellie Taft, 1940. (Corbis)

During the Great Depression, incumbent First Lady Lou Hoover led a variety of efforts intended to mobilize corps of volunteer women into gathering and delivering clothing, canned foods and other donated items to families in need. To this end, she headed the local District of Columbia branch of the Red Cross women’s committee, where she was joined by two former First Ladies then living in Washington, D.C., Nellie Taft and Edith Wilson.

Eleanor Roosevelt with Edith Wilson in 1936. (Time-Life)

Edith Wilson had first become involved in working with the Red Cross during World War I, when she was serving as First Lady; she likely viewed her effort to help Mrs. Hoover as simply a continuance of that.

In contrast, she declined the many invitations made by Eleanor Roosevelt, both before and during her twelve-year tenure as First Lady from 1933 to 1945, to join her in supporting numerous endeavors of the National Democratic Party’s Women’s Division.

She had feared that assuming an image that might cast her as politically partisan might damage the public support she was seeking for various memorial efforts of her late husband, President Woodrow Wilson.

When the world learned that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941, however, Mrs. Wilson speedily agreed to sit beside Mrs. Roosevelt and jointly witness President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s declaration of war, recognizing that her presence symbolized continuity to that day in April of 1917 when her husband had delivered his own declaration of war against Germany.

Former First Ladies Edith Wilson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Bess Truman headlined a 1950s Democratic Party fundraiser. (Bettman/Corbis)

During the ensuing years of World War II, Edith Wilson never failed to appear with Eleanor Roosevelt at the many Red Cross events which the incumbent First Lady led as an official representative of the organization.

It was perhaps in doing so that Mrs. Wilson eventually relaxed her earlier determination that her public persona remain strictly non-partisan.

Following the death of President Roosevelt and during and after the presidency of his successor Harry Truman, Edith Wilson joined in unison with the overtly partisan but now widowed Mrs. Roosevelt at the large and important national party events, where they were often joined by Bess Truman.

Paradoxically, as First Ladies became more overtly partisan symbols of the political parties which had helped elect their husbands into the presidency, they also more frequently began working on joint efforts with those among them who represented the opposing party, thus providing a stronger sense of national unity.

Mamie Eisenhower calls out to reporters before joining Jacqueline Kennedy for a lunch meeting on their joint National Cultural Center endeavor. (Bettman/Corbis)

The first such substantial example of this occurred on June 22, 1962.

On that day, Mamie Eisenhower, wife of a former Republican President, and Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of the incumbent Democratic President, serving as honorary co-chairs met to begin plans for a massive fundraising drive and publicity campaign to finally establish a national cultural center for the performing arts in the capital city itself.

Despite their political differences, Mrs. Kennedy had invited Mrs. Eisenhower to return to the White House to personally discuss their joint effort and the latter had happily accepted. They together posed for promotional pictures and spoke to members of the national press corps on the steps of the North Portico before beginning their luncheon meeting.

It was to establish another national site in Washington, D.C. that the largest gathering of First Ladies took place.

Six First Ladies gathered to raise funds for the National Botanical Garden, May 11, 1994. (Clinton Presidential LIbrary)

On May 11, 1994, the incumbent First Lady Hillary Clinton was joined by five of her predecessor, Barbara Bush, Nancy Reagan, Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford and Lady Bird Johnson, in an unprecedented joint fundraising effort to create the National Botanical Garden on the National Mall.

The only living First Lady unable to attend was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis who was then terminally ill, and died a week later.

Although various individuals among them would gather through the years at formal ceremonies such as presidential inaugurations, funerals and library dedications and even once to mark the anniversary of Reader’s Digest magazine, this event marked the first time such a greater group came together for a specific national cause, without the Presidents.

Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford and their husbands on the day the Fords left and the Carters entered: Inauguration Day 1977. (Baltimore Examiner)

No two First Ladies worked more closely and consistently on joint public concerns, however, than did Betty Ford and Rosalynn Carter.

Overcoming any lingering tension which had resulted in her husband Gerald Ford’s loss of the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter, their working relationship began a year later.

Three First Ladies at the 1977 Houston Women’s Conference. (Carter Presidential LIbrary)

That was when Mrs. Ford joined Mrs. Carter, as well as Lady Bird Johnson at the 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston, Texas.

The rally of this trio of First Ladies was a politically overt demonstration of their support for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Carter continued to make joint appearances for the ERA and Mrs. Johnson also later joined Mrs. Ford at a 1984 ERA rally at the Lincoln Memorial.

First Lady Rosalynn Carter joined by predecessor Betty Ford on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment (CarterLibrary)

Mrs. Carter would also participate in a 1984 Ford Presidential Library symposium hosted by Mrs. Ford to consider aspects of presidential family life.

In turn, Mrs. Ford participated in a conference Mrs. Carter hosted at her husband’s presidential library on the U.S. Constitution and women.

As they had done for the ERA, the two former First Ladies worked together to make a strong national statement about what they saw as the need for national health care insurance to include proper coverage of those individuals with mental health, substance abuse and alcohol addiction issues.

As former First Ladies, Ford and Carter jointly advocated a number of social and political issues.

The two women had gained a perspective on the complexities of these issues, developed after years of their own professional work in these fields.

Just before Betty Ford delivered congressional testimony on the matter, the former First Lady also personally lobbied her successor Hillary Clinton, who was then heading the Clinton Administration’s health care reform initiative.

Mrs. Carter delivers Mrs. Ford’s eulogy. (Getty)

As was true of their husbands, their years of working on public endeavors together led to Betty Ford and Rosalynn Carter developing a genuinely personal friendship. This was poignantly illustrated when Rosalynn Carter delivered a moving eulogy for her friend, a request Betty Ford had specifically made before her death in July of 2011.

As Laura Bush and Michelle Obama demonstrated last week in Tanzania when they joked about living an existence as a national symbol, as they face the  unique peculiarities of life as First Ladies and then the often undisclosed but eternal challenges they must continue to face as they then slip into their post-White House years, these women alone tend to best understand each other.

The First Ladies. (Getty)

This is regardless of whatever superficial differences and identities they public may label them by.

One largely unreported anecdote especially reveals this dynamic, as well as how First Ladies can sometimes even unwittingly join in purpose together to enact change.

Incumbent Lady Bird Johnson with her predecessor Mamie Eisenhower in 1966. (carlanthonyonline.com)

In 1968, as her beloved husband lay recovering from one in a series of heart attacks that would take his life a year later, Mamie Eisenhower kept stalwart vigil at his Walter Reed Hospital bedside.

It was only at the insistence of First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, who arranged for a small motorcade to speed her to the White House and back again, that Mrs. Eisenhower took a necessary break and accepted the invitation from her successor to attend a luncheon.

Mrs. Eisenhower at a public White House luncheon hosted by Mrs. Johnson. (Associated Press)

Shortly thereafter, as the elderly former First Lady anticipated a solitary existence as a widow, unguarded on the isolated Eisenhower farmhouse in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, her despondent anxiety became obvious to Lady Bird Johnson.

By the time she resumed her hospital vigil, Mamie Eisenhower learned that the President had authorized Secret Service protection of former Presidents extended to include former First Ladies – at the urging of his wife.

Gathered in 1991 for the dedication of the Reagan Presidential Library were Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush (Reagan Presidential Library)

by Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Historian of the National First Ladies Library

Some institutions define those who have held this unofficial position as being strictly those women who’ve been the wives of U.S. Presidents or relatives who served as a President’s public partner at social events in the White House or ceremonies. While initially the term “First Lady” was meant to describe the “official hostess” of the White House, over time it has come to include a broader definition.

For over a century, the Smithsonian’s collection of First Ladies’ clothing has been popular with the public. (Smithsonian)

Still, not every institution uses the same criteria to determine just which women members of presidential families would qualify as being called a “First Lady.”  The reasons for these different parameters of the term are usually related to the objectives and collections of different institutions.

The Smithsonian Institution, for example, is famous for its collection of clothing worn by “First Ladies” (although contrary to popular misconception, not all of these items are Inaugural Ball gowns). This accounts for the Smithsonian’s more limited list of those it considered to be First Ladies.

The Library of Congress seems to make its determination by those women whose images are part of their Prints and Photo Division, and it means that some relatively obscure women (like Helen Bones, who is mentioned later on) are included while others more familiar (like Martha Wayles Jefferson) are not.

The Library of Congress has a definitive list of what they consider First Ladies based on those for whom they own an original image. (Library of Congress)

Since the mission of the NFLL is not defined by either the objects or images in its collection but rather the lives and legacies of these women, it is information which largely defines us. Thus, as you will find if you explore the biographies of those representing each Presidential Administration on our website under the “Research” tab, the NFLL identifies “First Ladies” by the most inclusive definition of that now-familiar yet still-unofficial title.

Four American Presidents were widowers (Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren and Chester Alan Arthur) yet among three of them (Jefferson, Jackson and Arthur) the posthumous influence which their late wives had on aspects of their political reputations and appointments was significant.

Hannah Van Buren. (National Park Service)

That’s the reason why Martha Jefferson, Rachel Jackson and Ellen Arthur (as well as Hannah Van Buren), are classified as First Ladies.

This is in addition to the presidential family members who served as hostesses in the White House for these four Presidents: Jefferson’s daughter Martha Randolph, Jackson’s niece Emily Donelson and his daughter-in-law Sarah Jackson, Van Buren’s daughter-in-law Angelica Van Buren and Arthur’s sister Mary “Molly” McElroy.

In addition, Presidents James Buchanan and Grover Cleveland were elected as bachelors. Each of them brought a family member who served as hostess. Buchanan’s niece Harriet Lane and Cleveland’s sister Rose Cleveland served as their First Ladies. Cleveland did marry while he was President and his wife Frances Folsom Cleveland went on to serve as his First Lady,

Further, there are several presidential wives who shared some aspects of the public roles played by First Ladies for different reasons. Elizabeth Monroe, who was in poor health, relied on her daughter Eliza Hay to assist her.

Letitia Tyler. (Smithsonian)

Letitia Tyler was unable to serve any public role as First Lady since she had suffered a stroke and relied on her daughter-in-law Priscilla Tyler and her daughter Letty Semple to fulfill the public duties of presidential hostesses.

Betty Taylor Bliss assumed only the task of appearing with her father the President at public events while her mother managed the White House and hosted events in the private quarters; both women are considered the First Ladies of the Taylor Administration. (cyberstamps.com)

Margaret “Peggy” Taylor consciously chose to serve as hostess at private events and although she appeared at public ones, it was her daughter Elizabeth “Betty” Bliss who presided over these events.

Abigail Fillmore served in every capacity as First Lady, but with an inability to stand for long periods due to a chronically sore ankle, she was often accompanied or relieved of duties involving receiving lines by her daughter Mary Abigail “Abby” Fillmore.

Jane Pierce, who suffered from depression and observed a partial rite of mourning for her son who died just before her husband’s presidency began, was aided by her uncle’s wife and her childhood friend Abby Kent Means.

Andrew Johnson’s wife Eliza Johnson suffered from intermittent bouts of tuberculosis. When she was well she appeared at formal public events. However, it was their daughter Martha Patterson who became the primary hostess of the Administration. She was aided by her sister Mary Stover.

William Henry Harrison’s daughter-in-law Jane Harrison served as his hostess. Although his wife Anna Harrison was alive and expecting to come to Washington, her husband died after serving only one month as President.

Besides Letitia Tyler (mentioned above) two other First Ladies died in the White House. Following the 1892 death of Caroline Harrison, her married daughter Mary McKee fulfilled the role of White House hostess for the remaining five months of her father’s presidency.

Helen Bones, President Woodrow Wilson’s cousin served as a White House hostess for him for a period between the death of his first wife and marriage to his second wife. She is seen here with President Wilson’s son-in-law and daughter, Will and Nell McAdoo. (Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library)

After Ellen Wilson died in 1914, her unmarried daughter Margaret Wilson and the president’s cousin Helen Bones, played the part of First Ladies for him until his 1915 marriage to Edith Bolling Galt.

And, lastly, on the National First Ladies Library website, under the research tab where one finds the individual Administration First Ladies, one will also find three women who were wives of Presidents but never served in any role in the White House.

The first wife of Theodore Roosevelt, Alice Lee Roosevelt, died before his presidency began and his second wife Edith Carow served as his White House hostess.

Also included are Caroline McIntosh Carmichael, the second wife of Millard Fillmore, who was widowed just weeks after his presidency ended, and Mary Lord Dimmock, the second wife of Benjamin Harrison, widowed in the last months of his Administration.

And just who is not a First Lady?

As one learns the details of any presidential administration, a few surprises on the subject of First Ladies will sometimes arise, including several instances where there was what might be called “substitute” or “adjunct” First Ladies.

Susan Ford with her father, President Gerald Ford, before the October 1974 state dinner at which she accompanied him in her mother’s absence. (Ford Presidential Library)

When First Lady Betty Ford was recovering from breast cancer surgery in September of 1974, for example, her daughter Susan appeared with her father at a state dinner held in that period. The First Lady and the Social Office of the White House had planned the event, however, and the President was technically the official host. Susan Ford was there in support of her father, but not to preside as hostess or with a protocol ranking equal to the President that evening.

In the year 2000, while First Lady Hillary Clinton was conducting her own unprecedented political campaign for the U.S. Senate seat from New York State, President Clinton made an official state visit to Australia. He was joined by his daughter Chelsea Clinton and while she appeared at several public events alongside him, she did not assume the sort of active schedule of public appearances First Ladies usually make during foreign trips.

Like Susan Ford, Chelsea Clinton too was there in support of her father but not to serve as an official sort of First Lady in her mother’s absence. Had Susan Ford and Chelsea Clinton continued to appear with the President on a regular basis they might well have been thought of as First Ladies, but those were the only circumstances of them appearing as escorts of their fathers, the Presidents.

For well over the first year of his presidency, the widower Chester Arthur had no woman family member or friend regularly appear with him as host of official White House functions. At the 1882 New Year’s Day Reception, once a staple of White House social events, President Arthur did invite several Cabinet and Senate wives to stand with him and receive guests.  The press of the day speculated about this, unable to determine if one or all of the women that day should be considered the new “lady” or “ladies of the White House.” Not until the President’s sister Molly McElroy shortly thereafter came to live for several months in the White House and begin to host social events there, however, did the Arthur Administration have a bona fide “First Lady.”

Chelsea Clinton accompanied her father on a 2000 state visit to Australia. (zimbio)

In the years immediately preceding those of Chester Arthur’s presidency, the popular presidential spouse Lucy Hayes had assumed a highly visible public role, even becoming the first incumbent First Lady to travel to the West Coast following completion of the trans-continental railroad.

When she hosted social events in the White House, Mrs. Hayes invited visiting women relatives, friends or other political spouses to stand with her on the official receiving line and welcome guests.

About sixteen years later, in June of 1896, one of these women who acted as social aides to Lucy Hayes, wife of a former U.S. Congressman, told a reporter that she had served as “First Lady” when the President’s wife had to leave town, a claim disproven by the well-kept records of the Hayes Presidential Library in Fremont, Ohio.

Ida Saxton McKinley and her husband in 1881, when he was serving as a U.S. Congressman. (NFLL)

While surely her times as a social aide at exciting White House receptions were unforgettable experiences, it hardly qualified her as a “First Lady.”

The anecdote illustrates the coveted political status held by the few women with legitimate claim to being called First Lady, especially in an era before women were elected to national office on their own.

It also reveals the high ambition of the woman who made the claim, even though just nine months after saying it, Ida McKinley would become First Lady in her own right.