Cormac OBrien - Secret Lives of the First Ladies

SECRET LIVES
of the FIRST LADIES

WHAT YOUR TEACHERS NEVER TOLD YOU ABOUT THE WOMEN OF THE WHITE HOUSE

BY CORMAC OBRIEN
PORTRAITS BY MONIKA SUTESKI

Text copyright 2009 by Cormac OBrien
Illustrations copyright 2009 by Quirk Productions, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Number: 2004112082

eISBN: 978-1-59474-478-5

Designed by Susan Van Horn
Production management by John J. McGurk

Distributed in North America by Chronicle Books
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San Francisco, CA 94107

Quirk Books
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Dedication

For Lauren, forever and always my first lady.

I never wanted to be the presidents wife, and I dont want it now. You dont quite believe me, do you? Very likely no one wouldexcept possibly some woman who had had the job.ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

So your husband has just been elected president of the United States. Kudos! Now its all black-tie dinners, gourmet cooking, government-paid protection, and servants at your beck and call. Outstanding.

But hold on a minute. Your hubby is beginning a demanding relationship with the American people. Hes surrounding himself with egotistical advisors who fill his harried head with harebrained schemesand do their best to interfere with your relationship. And then there are the ubiquitous media freaks whose very paychecks depend on their ability to run roughshod all over your privacy.

On top of all that, you dont even get paid for any of this. Yippee!

Now, before you get carried away, remember: Nobody voted for you. Its your husband whos expected to balance the budget, fight the wars, and make foreign heads of state feel wooed and bullied at the same time. Your job is rather simpler: You are to do... well, whatever it is that you feel is most important. But be careful. Everyones watching. Literally. If you want to stay home and cultivate a safe refuge for your husband, fine. Just dont appear to be a kept woman without any intellectual interests. If political activism is your thing, go crazyas long as you dont look like a person whos exercising power that was given to her strictly because she shares a bed with the chief executive. Naturally, youre wondering how youll know when youre verging into forbidden territory.

But dont worryyoull know. Jane Pierce had plenty of reminders that her gloomy spiritualism made the White House feel like a morgue. When Lucy Hayes forbade alcohol of any sort in the executive mansion, she was derided as a puritanical priss. And Edith Wilson caught holy hell when she ran the executive branch of government while her husband struggled back to health from a stroke. As youll soon find out, there is no shortage of people willing to offer instructive criticism. Its no wonder Pat Nixon said, Being the first lady is the hardest unpaid job in the world.

Still, you have to look on the bright side: Youve got one of the most vaguely defined positions in American government, giving you a very enviable freedom of purpose. Wanna tackle drug abuse? Falling literacy rates? The plight of an endangered species? Go for it. Because you cant possibly be fired. And if things get too hot to handle, you can always blame them on your powerful roommateafter all, hes the jerk who got you into this in the first place.

Finally, youre bound to achieve a certain level of immortality, a permanent place in history that allows you to be scrutinized and picked apart by books like this one. You just might find yourself enjoying the rideprovided that you keep your life in perspective. Betty Ford may have put it best: I dont feel that because Im first lady, Im any different from what I was before. It can happen to anyone. After all, it has happened to anyone.

June 2, 1731May 22, 1802

MARRIED: May 15, 1750 (Daniel Parke Custis); January 6, 1759 (George Washington)

PRESIDENTIAL HUSBAND: George Washington

CHILDREN: Daniel, Frances, John, and Martha (all with Daniel Parke Custis)

FIRST LADY: 17891797

ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Gemini

RELIGION: Episcopalian

SOUND BITE: I live a very dull life here and know nothing that passes in the townI never go to any public place, indeed I think I am more like a state prisoner than anything else.

In his twilight years, George Washington went to the newly founded capital city of the United States named for him, intent on buying a plot of land. The seller, however, wasnt keen on parting with the property and proved an obstinate negotiator. When the famous general and former president persisted, the seller snapped: You think people take every grist that comes from you as the pure grain. What would you have been if you hadnt married the Widow Custis?!

The impertinent fellow had a point. We tend to forget that Washington would never have become the Father of Our Country without the vast property holdings that secured his income and reputation. And that property was acquired by marrying a woman with whom he was probably never in love: Martha Dandridge Custis.

Born the eldest of eight children into modest Virginia aristocracy, Martha Dandridge was raised in a world of quintessential eighteenth-century paradoxesa landed society of hard-partying, tobacco-growing grandees who memorized the Bible, armed themselves to the teeth, and whipped their black slaves with vigor and impunity. Her education encompassed dribs and drabs of reading and writing combined with countless hours of domestic instruction, a curriculum tailored toward fulfilling her sole purpose in life: finding a husband, breeding heirs, and running a household of her own.

By the time Marthaat fifteenwas being paraded by her parents, John and Frances, before the eligible bachelors of Williamsburg society, she had grown into a rather pretty (if very shortshe wasnt quite five feet tall) young woman who impressed everyone with her kind, agreeable nature. She was considered a catch; her duties as eldest daughter on the Dandridges 500-acre plantation had turned her into a domestic powerhouse, and her decent education had bred a relatively refined lady. She was fond of polite conversation, music, and wearing finery that had to be ordered from England. It was enough to catch the eye of several suitors, but Martha latched on to a man shed known her whole life: Daniel Parke Custis, her godfather (and twenty-one years her senior). After getting Daniels notoriously irascible father to overcome his opposition to the match, the two were married in 1750.

Daniel was handsome, charming, one of the richest planters in the colony, and dead by 1757. His passing came on the heels of two other deaths: the couples eldest children, Daniel and Frances, were cut down in their youth by the pervasive sicknesses of the day. At twenty-six, Martha was a widow with two little brats left to raise, over 17,000 acres of land to run, and nearly 300 slaves to oversee.

Our first first lady shared a rival for her husbands affections. Many speculate that Sally Fairfax was George Washingtons true love, and wealthy Martha was just a way to increase his holdings.