Presidential WivesAs his previous books Presidential Anecdotes and Presidential Campaigns clearly proved, Paul F. Boller, Jr. has a remarkable eye for the telling detail that humanizes history and gives it life. In this new book, he brings that gift to bear on the women our Presidents married, and the result is a biographical feast--at once funny and poignant, dramatic and illuminating, covering every First Lady from Martha Washington to Nancy Reagan. In these vivid and entertaining pages, we encounter the trend-setter Dolley Madison's "unfortunate propensity to snuff-taking"--a propensity that soon had Washington's other women doing the same. We learn that Mary Todd Lincoln held such harsh opinions of some of her husband's appointments that he felt compelled to tell her, "If I listened to you, I should soon be without a cabinet." We meet Edith Wilson in a Red Cross canteen after America's entry into World War I, dispensing candy and cigarettes to the doughboys departing for France. We find Eleanor Roosevelt on the night of FDR's election to his first term, lamenting, "Now I'll have no identity," and then going on to become the greatest of all the "Woman Doers" to occupy the White House. And we hear Lady Bird Johnson's advice to her two young daughters prior to a State Dinner in honor of the President of Sudan: "Read all you can in the encyclopedia about the Sudan. And don't drink any of the wine at dinner." In the manner of his earlier books, Boller devotes a chapter to each of his subjects, featuring an incisive biographical essay followed by a selection of revealing anecdotes. The book portrays a diverse group of women--shrinking violets, passionate partisans, spotlight-loving hostesses, and devoted helpmeets who remained silent in public but actively advised their husbands in private. Once again, Boller delightfully demonstrates how much the institution of the presidency and all that surrounds it tells us about ourselves as a people and our life as a nation. |
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Page 36
... North Carolina , May 1768 ) in the strict discipline of their faith . They christened her Dorothea , but she was soon being called Dolley ( sometimes spelled Dolly ) , possibly because her little brother William called her that . Dolley ...
... North Carolina , May 1768 ) in the strict discipline of their faith . They christened her Dorothea , but she was soon being called Dolley ( sometimes spelled Dolly ) , possibly because her little brother William called her that . Dolley ...
Page 76
... North Bend on the Ohio River , fifteen miles below Cincinnati . A few months later Anna met Captain William Henry Harrison , twenty - two , at the home of her older sister in Lexington , Kentucky , and promptly the two fell in love ...
... North Bend on the Ohio River , fifteen miles below Cincinnati . A few months later Anna met Captain William Henry Harrison , twenty - two , at the home of her older sister in Lexington , Kentucky , and promptly the two fell in love ...
Page 77
... North Bend to dinner on Sundays right after the morning service and serving food raised on the Harri- son farm . Anna was proud of her husband's achievements : his rise from lieutenant to major - general in the U.S. Army , his ...
... North Bend to dinner on Sundays right after the morning service and serving food raised on the Harri- son farm . Anna was proud of her husband's achievements : his rise from lieutenant to major - general in the U.S. Army , his ...
Contents
Martha Jefferson 17491782 | 31 |
Elizabeth Monroe 17681830 | 49 |
Hannah Van Buren 17831819 | 73 |
Copyright | |
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