The Real Housewives of the White House

And not the president this time

Welcome back to another week of history class. I am #unmotivated because I have #senioritis and want to #bedone with school. I use hashtags like how my grandma uses quotation marks. We need to bring hashtags bag. Anyway, I’ve been especially slacking on history class this week but this idea came to be as I looked at a blank screen which feels like a win. I have a list of ideas, but none of them were really speaking to me. I was going to do Princess Diana, but I kind of liked having a bunch of little things like last week. Also I feel like people don’t really talk about the First Lady nearly enough. This show is going to be a mix of weird and also beneficial things the first ladies have done. I will also, and only during my LIVE broadcast which is Tuesdays at 11am PST be doing a “Would I Put Up With That” rating of 1 being yes totally and 10 being divorce and beheading so tune in to hear that exclusive content. You can listen on KSDT. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s first lady!

When’s the last time you’ve heard the name John Tyler? Up until 8:11pm on Sunday night I’d say maybe never. Guess what! He was the tenth president of the United States from 1841 to 1845. He’s not really important though. However, chances are if you didn’t remember John Tyler then you probably wouldn’t know Julia Gardiner Tyler, his second wife. She was the first lady for only one year, 1844-1845. She was famous before she married John. She was called the “Rose of Long Island for her beauty. She was from an upper class New York family and formally trained to debut in society. She went to Washington D.C. in late 1842 for the social season which was where she met the President who was enamored with her. Everything was great until her father, David, died due to the explosion of a naval gun (what you might call a cannon). Julia was obviously inconsolable. John saw an opportunity. In consoling her, he also proposed and they had a secret engagement. They married on June 26, 1844. The news was announced to the public some time after that. It was definitely the scandal of the decade. They had a 30 year age gap which was considered a lot even back then. Julia was a big socialite and loved being the First Lady where she could throw the grandest of parties. When the Civil War broke out, the Tylers sided with the Confederacy. She was a big proponent of slavery. John died in 1862, during the war, and Julia was devastated. She didn’t let that stop her from being pro-slavery until her death! She went broke defending the Confederacy. There was not yet a law providing for Presidential widows. Julia used the pension given to Mary Todd Lincln as precedent in requesting her own. She received $1,200¹ annually which is (according to davemanuel.com) $41,379.31 today. It’s so interesting that a woman from New York, who likely had not experienced slavery firsthand growing up, would feel so attached to it as an adult. I’d be willing to bet $1,200 of 2025 money in 1880 (so $34.80) that you hadn’t known any of that. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

Dolley Madison is a more well known First Lady. You might’ve heard of her for saving a famous portrait of George Washington, but let’s start from the beginning. Dolley was born in 1768 to a Quaker family in Virginia. Her father was actually a Quaker convert. In following Quaker order, he sold his slaves and the family moved to Philadelphia to enter the starch business. She got married in 1790 to another Quaker, lawyer John Todd. He died three years later, as did one of her sons, due to the yellow fever epidemic that swept Philadelphia. She married James Madison 11 months later. There were A LOT of myths about Dolley. If People were around back then, she would’ve been making headlines weekly. One of the biggest rumors was that Dolley, and her sisters, slept their way through Virginia. Another rumor was that Dolley was the first to serve ice cream in the White House, though this has been proven false as both Thomas Jefferson and Abigail Adams served ice cream at dinners. Now for the rumor about the painting of George Washington: Dolley didn’t actually save it. The portrait was screwed onto the wall and could not have been removed without tools. Dolley acknowledged this in a letter, claiming she would not leave until the portrait was secure, but two gentlemen broke the frame and rescued the canvas under Dolley’s orders. Some believed Dolley took the painting for her own home, but this has also been disproven, in this case by one of the Madisons’ former slaves. Dolley overall was wildly popular within Washington society. She was most famous for her Wednesday night parties at the White House. Dolley was known to be seen with “‘a smile & pleasant word for every body’” (according to Washington Irving).² At this time in America, the people liked Dolley’s penchant for partying and considered it to be a positive mark on the country’s image. She was otherwise uninvolved in politics, though she definitely had the instincts for it. She was a model First Lady, at least as what that meant in the 1800s). Don’t believe all the rumors you hear.

Bess Truman was NOT happy when Harry got the news he’s be the next President. She was most worried about losing her family’s privacy and about the exposure of a terrible event she did not want public. Of course, the event was made public. It was her father’s suicide which occurred in 1903, when Bess was 18 years old. While her mother provided money, Bess was really the one running the family in Independence, Missouri. She and Harry grew up together. He insists he was in love with her since he was six. However, they were in different social classes, with Bess being the royalty of Independence while Harry was from a farming family. Harry returned a cake pan borrowed from Bess’ home and they began dating from there. She modeled her marriage to be the opposite of her parents’. She believed the lack of closeness between her mother and father in part led to his death. As a result, though she did not want to move to Washington for Harry’s successful Senate stint, she did so anyway. When Harry became the President, Bess was in agony. However, she hid it well. Harry was receptive to all of her political ideas and she was a very influential First Lady. The White House was practically crumbling to the point where the Truman’s piano nearly crashed through the floor. Bess took it upon herself to get Congress to fund a remodel. She was successful, leading to the grand White House we know today. One of the most interesting parts of Bess’ time as First Lady was how she did her laundry. She always felt tied to Independence, and was so dissatisfied with the laundry situation at the White House that she shipped her laundry back to Missouri to be washed.³ At first, I thought that was really crazy. The more I read about Bess, I realized she had a really sad life. If sending her laundry back home made her happy while dealing with all the sludge of being the First Lady then so be it.

Betty Ford’s boost to First Lady came at a surprise after Nixon’s (rightful) resignation. Born in Michigan in 1918, her true love was always dance. She was supposedly very talented and moved to New York to attend a prestigious dance school. She also modeled on the side for extra money. She moved back to Michigan and worked as a dance teacher and fashion coordinator. She married furniture dealer William Warren in 1942. His job forced them to move often. She eventually filed for divorce and moved back to Grand Rapids. It was back at her job as a fashion coordinator where she met Gerald, former Michigan football star. They married in 1948. She learned politics as her husband rose through the ranks, but his higher position meant he was rarely home. Betty was both physically and mentally ill, suffering with anxiety, depression, and a range of physical issues. While she went to therapy and received painkillers for her conditions, this quickly turned into an addiction. She hid this well for many years. Shortly after becoming the First Lady, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. However, her diagnosis completely changed how breast cancer is talked about in America. For the first time, breast cancer became something the public talked about. Betty would speak out about her experience for many years. She received countless letters thanking her for her influence on the topic. Betty was also a major proponent of women’s rights and worked hard on the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. She highly encouraged feminism. Many though Betty was too outspoken. After Gerald lost to Carter in the 1976 election, Betty’s life took a turn for the worst. On top of her addiction to painkillers, she turned to alcohol. After some time, her family got involved. She became clean and again was very public with her experiences. The result was the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, CA. She headed the center until 2005. Now here’s something interesting, the Fords were the first presidential couple since 1929 to share a bedroom. Ironically, this was considered inappropriate.⁴ The great thing about Betty was her honesty. She didn’t shy away from topics deemed inappropriate by whoever. The best part is that her honesty actually made a difference. Her impact on how we talk about breast cancer is important, as is her candor about her addiction. It’s actually really impressive. Gerald is so eh but we should be talking about Betty Ford more.

Nancy Reagan is just like her husband: kind of the worst, at least when it comes to the First Lady. Ronald was evil, the worst, corrupt, a big spender, had bad policies, and did I mention that he’s the worst? Nancy was no Ronald, but she shouldn’t get off without some classic history class Reagan criticism. When she entered the White House, she was coming off of Betty Ford and Rosalynn Carter who both pinched pennies when it came to glamor. Nancy clearly didn’t believe in saving, something you’ll learn by the end of this section. She grew up rich under her mother’s second husband, who formally adopted her when she was 14. Like her husband, she was an actress and very accomplished, but all she really wanted was to be a full-time wife. She met Ronald while he was recovering from the divorce of his first wife, Jane Wyman with whom he had two children. Nancy was also suffering with the death of her fiancé who was run over by a train. They had a small wedding in 1952. Nancy was a very devoted wife to Ronald. I’m not convinced he was completely devoted to her, at least before his presidency (after elected I feel pretty confident he was faithful). Nancy felt that the best way to support Ronald was to be glamorous. At his inauguration, she wore an outfit worth over $20,000. Keep in mind, America wasn’t at its best economically. A lot of people felt like Nancy was mocking the rest of the country with her extravagance when many were struggling just to survive. Things got worse when she insisted on redecorating the White House, spending $200,000 JUST on a china set. She was deemed out of touch with society, a sentiment which only gained prominence with the ridiculousness of “Just say no”. You don’t have to be a genius to know that drug addiction isn’t a matter of just saying no. Nancy’s strong devotion to “Just say no” only emphasizes how little she actually knew about the struggles addicts go through. The problem isn’t totally that youth are making bad choices and turn into drug addicts after smoking weed once. The problem is that there is no support for people going through addiction. Sure she gave speeches about the dangers of drugs but she didn’t actually make an effort to solve the problem. This isn’t all the surprising. Nancy was never in touch. She didn’t even know Eleanor Roosevelt frequented Smith College for visits while she was a student. I’d describe her as ditzy at best and obtuse at worst. Her stepchildren didn’t like her either and called her “the Dragon Lady”. When her car rolled off a hill and was totaled, her stepson admitted he wished she was in it. It then comes at no surprise that she was really into astrology. She had her own astrologer on staff who she used to make important decisions after Ronald’s near death by assassination. Her calendar was marked between good and bad days, all marked by her astrologer. Nancy tried to hide the influence of her astrologer on her life. Once the public found out, it was a major embarrassment. Classic Reagans! An even bigger embarrassment was how much fraud Nancy committed. She’s a perfect match for Ronald. The First Lady wears dresses on loan from designers. Nancy was unique in that she never gave them back. This is a violation of the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act of 1966 which prohibits gifts in an amount greater than $480 to be kept by any government staff without approval from Congress. Nancy did not have approval. She also didn’t mention any of these ‘gifts’ on her taxes. Being the First Lady, no real legal action happened, but she did have to pay the IRS over a million dollars for unpaid taxes so I guess it worked out.⁵ Now I can officially say I hate both Reagans for being out of touch and into fraud!

It’s not that no one talks about the First Lady because people do, rather they aren’t remembered in the same way as their husbands. It’s especially disappointing when for most of them, but not all (see Nancy Reagan), they actually did good things and had interesting lives. While this post is title “The Real Housewives of the White House”, most were not simply housewives and did meaningful work. They deserve their flowers too. I plan on reading the rest of Secret Lives of the First Ladies. I’m going to see if my local library has it when I finish The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. Things are about to get a little crazy with graduation coming up but there’s still at least three more live shows to go so make sure to tune in before history class becomes solely an online project. Listen live before it’s too late and I’ll see you next week for more history class!

1. “Give Me Novacaine” by Green Day

2. “Dancing Queen” by ABBA

3. “Out of Touch” by Daryl Hall & John Oates

4. “B.A.S. (feat. Kyle Richh)” by Megan Thee Stallion

5. “Luxurious” by Gwen Stefani

6. “Upgrade U (feat. JAY-Z) by Beyoncé

7. “National Anthem” by Lana Del Rey

8. “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) by Katy Perry

9. “Not a Second Time” by The Beatles

10. “(You Drive Me) Crazy” by Britney Spears

1. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1600/first-ladies/juliatyler

2. https://www.whitehousehistory.org/unraveling-the-dolley-myths

3. Secret Lives of the First Ladies: Strange Stories and Shocking Trivia from Inside the White House, Cormac O’Brien, 226-233

4. Ibid., 268-276

5. Ibid., 286-294