History Buff's Guide to the Presidents (50 page)

True to her word, the young forty-one-year-old made no attempt to host lavish galas or redecorate. What was good enough for the Tylers, she contended, was good enough for the Polks. Instead, she insisted that the White House take on an atmosphere befitting its purpose—serious, focused, and sober. A strict Presbyterian, she forbade dancing and drinking, and though she received the nickname “Sahara Sarah” for her temperance, she charmed her critics by turning the mansion’s dining hall into a round table of meaningful discussion. Having cultivated friendships in Washington while her husband was Speaker of the House, Sarah Polk simply solidified her network as first lady. Among her closest personal friends were Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, the widow Dolley Madison, and Brig. Gen. Franklin Pierce.
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While Sarah was generally healthy, her husband was not. Eight years her elder, he worked incessantly and refused vacations. To work faster, he often had his wife read through piles of governmental paperwork to mark only those passages worthy of his attention. She also edited his major speeches, wrote correspondence for him, and gathered valuable insights in her conversations with congressional guests.

That he became president, and a successful one, did not surprise Sarah. Yet as perceptive and farsighted as she was, she did not anticipate his untimely death only months after leaving office. She lived out her days in Nashville, surviving her partner by forty-two years. Symbolic of her stature in the country, her home was declared neutral territory during the Civil War, respected and visited by Union and Confederate officers alike.
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When she was growing up, Sarah Childress frequently had the pleasure of spending time with family friend Andrew Jackson.

4
. DOROTHEA “DOLLEY” PAYNE TODD MADISON

(VIRGINIA, 1768–1849)

Lucky for James Madison, he was born before the age of mass media. The shortest president at five feet four inches, a hundred pounds, and with a low and whispery voice, he was also terribly shy, a virtual opposite of the man who would succeed him. But he married well, and when the time came to move from secretary of state to head of state, he had an astute wife to guide him along the way.

Dolley had but one liability—her son J
OHN
P
AYNE
T
ODD
from a previous marriage. Otherwise, she was everything Madison was not: charming, extroverted, embracing, and a skilled conversationalist. She was also a veteran of White House affairs before the couple ever moved in, having served as acting first lady for widower and fellow Virginian Thomas Jefferson.

To casual observers, Dolley’s worth resided in the superficial—extravagant parties, haut French attire, the first to have an inaugural ball, the first to serve ice cream at state dinners. A graceful woman, seventeen years younger than James, she certainly warmed the room with her deep azure eyes, porcelain skin, curled raven locks, and Botticelli buxomness.

A closer examination revealed a woman of far greater depth, one who understood the power of political networking far better than her mousy man “Jemmy.” She was the first first lady to grant a newspaper interview and the first to use her fame to promote a philanthropic cause (in her case, the Washington Orphans Asylum). She also hosted large dinners for the wives of legislators, establishing good relations with the families of Capitol Hill and gathering valuable insights on the inner workings of Congress. At diplomatic soirées, she knew to soothe rivalries with her charisma (especially between the British and the French), while the antisocial James Madison often showed dangerous indifference. As Washington Irving described the president, when it came to social settings, “he is but a withered little applejohn.”
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Dolley was also a woman of conspicuous courage, never more so than in 1814, when British forces were marching on the national capital. Madison departed to direct troops in the field, while she stayed behind in the Executive Mansion. Hours before the city fell, and long after most of the guards had fled, she resolved to leave her home, but not before taking every vital document she could stow into a single carriage. She also managed to save Gilbert Stuart’s masterpiece portrait of George Washington, one of the few works of art to survive the ensuing fire.
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For six years, Dolley Madison made the White House the social epicenter of Washington, a feat not repeated until Julia Dent Grant in the 1870s. She also softened the opposition to her withdrawn and reclusive husband. Foremost, Dolley accomplished something most first ladies never could. As historian Betty Boyd Caroli observed, Dolley presented a presidency as both democratic and regal, open to the whole of the spectrum, rather than just the party in power.
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In 1794, Dolley Payne Todd and James Madison were formally introduced to each other by mutual friend Aaron Burr.

5
. JACQUELINE LEE BOUVIER KENNEDY

(NEW YORK, 1929–94)

“What does my hairdo have to do with my husband’s ability to be President?” Actually, Jacqueline Kennedy knew the unfortunate answer. Even George Washington knew the power of appearances, although he opted for stately stoicism rather than a fabulous bouffant and sultry sophistication. For the Kennedys, the emergence of television only solidified the importance of style in lieu of substance.
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Only thirty-one when she entered the White House, she was the youngest first lady of the twentieth century. She was also exquisitely photogenic, physically fit, and had immaculate taste in French fashion. After eight years of the traditional Mamie Eisenhower, the country and the media were ready for regal sophistication. Never mind that Jackie did not champion a single philanthropic cause, other than art and furniture restoration in the White House. “Why should I traipse around to hospitals playing Lady Bountiful when I have so much to do around here?” she said. The fact that she did not pander to the public seemed to add to her mystique.
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If she brought class and respectability to the Executive Mansion, she did the same for her husband. For a wealthy man, he was notoriously stingy, and his tastes were solidly pedestrian. But she imposed her elegance upon the both of them, entertaining the elites of the fine arts world and staging grand White House performances featuring celebrated musicians. She knew better than he did the enormous leverage of the presidential image.

Her impact may have been greater in foreign affairs. A former student at the Sorbonne, she enchanted the gruff Charles DeGaulle with her fluency in French language and culture. At the 1961 Vienna summit, her husband performed poorly, appearing timid and inexperienced in front of the Soviet delegation. Jackie, however, utterly dazzled the smitten Nikita Khrushchev with her graceful charms. She conducted repeat performances in Central and South America, Greece, India, and Italy, giving her husband second and third chances to work with nations otherwise suspicious of American intentions.
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Unquestionably the greatest contribution to her husband’s presidency came after it had ended. In describing their shortened life at the White House, Jacqueline christened the administration “Camelot.” With the help of many sympathetic journalists and biographers, she proceeded to weave that idealized image into the collective conscience, turning a marginally successful conservative Democrat, who was less than respectful of his marital vows and who escalated U.S. involvement in Vietnam, into a youthful idealist, struggling for all that was right and just. Her title for the time was definitely perfect, as it was a story of wandering knights, adored damsels, and fiction.
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In 1962, Jacqueline Kennedy’s personal wardrobe bill was $121,000, which was more than the president’s gross salary for the year.

6
. ELEANOR ROSALYNN SMITH CARTER

(GEORGIA, 1927–)

In 1982, the Siena Research Institute asked a number of historians to rate the qualities of the first ladies. Not surprisingly, Eleanor Roosevelt ranked first in nearly every category, from integrity to leadership. But in the role of “Value to the President,” Mrs. Roosevelt finished second—to Rosalynn Carter.
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Looking back on their marriage, Rosalynn observed, “Jimmy and I were always partners.” When her husband first entered politics, the couple soon realized they could canvass twice as much ground when they campaigned separately. To stay informed, she often conferred with him on all political matters. In adopting a cause as first lady of Georgia, she chose the substantive issue of mental health, and she served on a commission that scrutinized medical facilities in the state.
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When entering the White House, she continued to pursue her goal of greater public awareness toward psychological illness. She was the first first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt to speak before a congressional panel, and her testimony influenced the passage of the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980.

Unlike other presidential wives of the era, she refused to confine herself to the role of simple advocate. In the first two years alone, she gave 154 interviews, took part in 641 briefings, and traveled to three dozen countries. She hired 20 percent more staff than her predecessor and created E
AST
W
ING
offices to handle her research and press. She also insisted that her chief of staff receive pay and rank equal to her husband’s. From 1978 onward, she regularly attended cabinet meetings.
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As a national figure, she was not adored. She did not possess the refined glamour of a Jackie Kennedy or the edgy punch of a Betty Ford. Her involvement in political affairs brought much criticism from more conservative elements of the press and electorate. But she brought an element of intelligence and professionalism not seen since the Second World War, and at times, her approval ratings were twice as high as her husband’s. Her well-earned credibility enabled and inspired her husband to do something not yet attempted by a president. For the first time, nearly one in four executive appointments went to women, including three cabinet positions.
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The 1980 Mental Health Systems Act, which Rosalynn Carter championed, eventually lost most of its funding under the Reagan administration.

7
. EDITH BOLLING GALT WILSON

(VIRGINIA, 1872–1961)

It is a myth that Edith Galt Wilson ran the country after her husband’s stroke. But she did literally save the man and his legacy—twice.