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In yesterday’s Quick 10, Stacy Conradt discussed the pre-political lives of second ladies. Today let’s move to the top of the ticket and give you a chance to win Cormac O’Brien’s Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of the White House (published by Quirk Books).
We have two copies, which will be awarded to the two readers who supply the most interesting (and true) First Lady facts. We’ll also go ahead and feed some of your facts to the Amazing Fact Generator. In order to give you proper credit, leave us your name (first, first/last, nickname, pseudonym, whatever) and location. We’ll announce a winner over the weekend.
Update:
We have a winner! (Click here.)
Comments (36)
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Here’s an interesting first lady fact for you- Edith Carow Roosevelt, Teddy’s wife, was in a “baby race” with friend Helen Taft (William H’s wife), as they were both pregnant at the same time. Helen gave birth first, on August 1st, 1981, and Edith followed two weeks later.
posted by Dan on 9-4-2008 at 12:49 pm
1981? That IS amazing. :-)
posted by ? on 9-4-2008 at 1:01 pm
Harriet Lane was the first First First Lady to have a warship named after her – the Revenue Cutter Harriet Lane, commissioned in 1857. The Revenue Cutter was the forerunner of today’s US Coast Guard. Harriet Lane was the niece of our only bachelor President, James Buchanan and served as his hostess. She became such a huge fashion and social icon of the day, that she was referred to as America’s First Lady. Thus began the tradition of referring to the President’s wife/hostess as the first Lady.
posted by Jean Butler on 9-4-2008 at 1:10 pm
Julia Grant was severely cross-eyed. She would only pose for pictures that showed her profile.
posted by Andrea on 9-4-2008 at 2:16 pm
Potential first lady, Cindy McCain, was a USC cheerleader.
posted by kzafran on 9-4-2008 at 2:24 pm
Frances Cornelia Cleveland was the youngest First Lady at the age of 21 and there was a 27 year age difference between her and Grover Cleveland. It was also the first marriage in the executive mansion.
Christina, Colorado
posted by Christina on 9-4-2008 at 2:53 pm
Abigail Fillmore was Millard’s teacher before she was his wife. He was her student at Baptist Academy in New York. They were married 7 years later.
Amanda, Virginia
posted by Amanda on 9-4-2008 at 2:57 pm
“Jane Appleton Pierce had never shown much interest in politics, and from the time of her marriage to Franklin Pierce in 1834 she expressed clear dislike for the city of Washington. She blamed the capital’s full social life for tempting her husband to drink to excess, and she concluded that his political success had exacted its own price—the deaths of two of the Pierces’ young sons. She was distressed to hear of her husband’s nomination for president in 1852, and she prayed for his defeat. In January 1853, President-elect Pierce, his wife, and their only surviving son, Benjamin, were traveling in Massachusetts when Benjamin was killed in a railroad accident. Grieving Jane Pierce refused to attend her husband’s inauguration in March, and she did not take up residence in the executive mansion for several weeks. After she did move in, she relied on female relatives to assist her with hostessing while she kept a low public profile throughout her husband’s term.”
AND
James Buchanan never had a wife. His partner of at least 15 years, William Rufus King, died 4 years before Buchanan became President. King was the Vice President of the United States under Franklin Pierce, which was of course the president immediately proceeding Buchanan’s term in office. Thus Harriet Lane, James Buchanan’s niece, acted as his first lady.
posted by Lisa on 9-4-2008 at 3:04 pm
Oh, yeah… and I’m from Jamestown, NY (forgot to add my location, sorry!).
posted by Lisa on 9-4-2008 at 3:06 pm
Besides Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant, Lucy Hayes was the first person to use a telephone. Bell came to the White House to demonstrate his invention and Lucy talked to Bell’s assistant on the phone.
posted by Amanda on 9-4-2008 at 3:06 pm
I forgot my location… Indiana
posted by Andrea on 9-4-2008 at 4:12 pm
When Herbert Hoover was a mining engineer in China, he and wife Lou were caught up in the Boxer Rebellion. Lou would bicycle to help out at the hospital and once had her tire shot out.
Womelsdorf, PA
posted by Camille on 9-4-2008 at 4:22 pm
Only one first lady was born outside the USA. Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams was born in London,England to a American father and a English mother. She married John Quincy Adams in 1787 but did not arrive in the USA until 1801.
posted by Owen on 9-4-2008 at 4:34 pm
Why should I be different, I forgot also. I’m in Walden NY
posted by Owen on 9-4-2008 at 4:37 pm
Lady Bird Johnson was responsible for the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, which she campaigned for vigorously. Her legacy is permanently etched into the medians and hill sides along Texas Highways in the spring when the Bluebonnets bloom.
Don Stakes Spring, Texas
posted by Don on 9-4-2008 at 4:45 pm
First lady Rachel Donelson Jackson was the only first lady to commit bigamy. She was married to a Lewis Robards in 1784 and separated in 1790. He filed for divorce but only received permission to file for divorce. In 1791 she married Andrew Jackson and they lived happily for 2 years. Then the first husband reappeared and informed the couple that there never was a divorce. Lewis Robarts now filed for divorce citing adultery and bigamy. It was granted and Rachel and Andrew were married again in 1794.
posted by Owen on 9-4-2008 at 4:50 pm
When in public, MARTHA WASHINGTON dressed in the latest fashions, but at home often wore house dresses made from used curtains or stockings.
posted by Amy on 9-4-2008 at 7:35 pm
When her husband suffered a stroke in 1918, it was EDITH WILSON who decoded war messages and issued orders to the military in the name of her husband
posted by Amy on 9-4-2008 at 7:45 pm
FLORENCE HARDING carried a red “grudge book” and kept notations on those who made adverse comments about her or the president
posted by Amy on 9-4-2008 at 7:46 pm
All above, from Greensboro NC
posted by Amy on 9-4-2008 at 7:48 pm
Julia Grant, 1826-1902
Ulysses S. Grant’s wife owned slaves during the Civil War while her husband served as general of the Union Army.
Birmingham, Al
posted by Emily on 9-4-2008 at 8:11 pm
Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt ate three chocolate-covered garlic balls in the morning. Her doctor told her it would help improve her memory.
Birmingham, AL
posted by Emily on 9-4-2008 at 8:14 pm
OK – not a first lady fact – but true nonethless – Tina Fey sorta looks like Sarah Palin. Too bad she is not on SNL anymore – maybe she will do a guest cameo for it.
posted by Down Comforter on 9-4-2008 at 10:33 pm
Bess Truman spent a lot of time in Missouri while Harry was in the White House. The morning after one of their reunions in DC she found it necessary to call the White House steward and request that the bed be repaired, as it had somehow broken during the night…
posted by Julia on 9-5-2008 at 9:52 am
Drat. I’m in Omaha, NE
posted by Julia on 9-5-2008 at 9:53 am
I just checked back to read other interesting first lady facts and saw that I didn’t give my location. It’s Juneau, AK.
Since I’m here again, I’ll add another Harriet fact. There’s a pediatric medical handbook titled the Harriet Lane Handbook, named for her after she donated generously to the Johns Hopkins Hospital for the care of invalid children.
posted by Jean Butler on 9-5-2008 at 12:50 pm
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was a VERY heavy smoker. She smoked all the time, but she did not allow any pictures of her to be taken while she was smoking. Once at Merrywood, Jacqueline was smoking and heard her mother, Janet, coming. Before Janet got to her room, she threw the cigarette under a chair. Janet of course figured something was wrong when she smelled the chair burning.
Jamestown, NY
posted by Lisa on 9-5-2008 at 3:36 pm
Rachel Donelson Jackson’s first marriage to Captain Lewis Robards lasted approximately 3 years before they separated. Due to confusing laws, Rachel was NOT divorced by the time she married Andrew Jackson, making her a bigamist. Soon after discovering this scandal, she obtained the first divorce in the state of Kentucky.
Lisa
Jamestown, NY
posted by Lisa on 9-5-2008 at 3:58 pm
When actor Richard Boone (Have Gun, Will Travel) was a student at Stanford University, he and some friends devised a prank in which they put a dummy in the road and yelled “You hit my brother!” when cars went by. Unfortunately, one victim of the joke was so rattled that she broke her ankle when she hastily got out of her car to see what happened. Unfortunately for Boone and his companions, the lady was the wife of the President of the university and they were expelled. The lady’s name was Lou Henry Hoover.
posted by Harold Dickinson on 9-5-2008 at 7:09 pm
Why should I be any different? I’m from Birmingham, Alabama (ROLL TIDE!)
posted by Harold Dickinson on 9-5-2008 at 7:12 pm
No one said I couldn’t enter twice. One day in 1903 a young lady was watering her flowers when she looked up and saw a young man in the boardinghouse next door and saw a young man shaving wearing nothing but a pair of long-johns and a hat. She laughed and he turned to look at her. Two years later they were married. Her name was Grace Goodhue and his name was Calvin Coolidge. I approved this message and I still live in Birmingham, Alabama.
posted by Harold Dickinson on 9-5-2008 at 7:22 pm
I don’t know if this counts but after Jackie Kennedy married Onassis she apparently liked to swim nude at this one beach every day at the same time. She and Onassis did not have the best marriage, and he had photographers take pictures of her in the nude, which were published in European tabloids. She was not happy and wanted to sue, but he persuaded her not to.
posted by Elizabeth on 9-5-2008 at 7:55 pm
Eleanor Roosevelt was a champion of the war against poverty. She traveled extensively throughout Appalachia for the cause. President Roosevelt’s New Deal included housing in poverty stricken areas. known as Homestead Communities. One such community, the
“test run” for the project, Red House Farms in West Virginia, wished to honor the champion who brought attention to the cause and therefore renamed the community to Eleanor.
-Genoa, WV
posted by Botanycreek on 9-5-2008 at 11:14 pm
Lady Bird Johnson was such a fan of the show “Gunsmoke” that she sometimes left official functions early to watch the show.
Falls Church, VA
posted by Amanda on 9-6-2008 at 11:25 am
After the shooting, First Lady Nancy heard from her part-time astrologer, Joan Quigley, that they could have and would have predicted that March 30 (the day of the assassination attempt) was destined to be a bad day for her husband… if only Quigley had been on the payroll. Rather than risk a similar incident happening, Nancy decided that it would be prudent to keep the astrologer in the loop. She ordered dedicated phone lines be installed at the White House and Camp David, just so she would never be without the wisdom of the Zodiac.
Lisa
Jamestown, NY
posted by Lisa on 9-7-2008 at 11:37 am
(continuation of previous):
For the next eight years, Quigley determined the most opportune timing for all of the President’s crucial activities. The First Lady would furnish Ronnie’s tentative itinerary, which the astrologer would optimize and return. Then the White House staff would make the necessary adjustments. This tinkering affected the scheduling of press conferences, Air Force One departures, even the timing of international summits.
posted by Lisa on 9-7-2008 at 11:38 am