Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Wit and Wisdom of America's First Ladies: A Book of Quotations
    Wit and Wisdom of America's First Ladies: A Book of Quotations
    Wit and Wisdom of America's First Ladies: A Book of Quotations
    Ebook94 pages1 hour

    Wit and Wisdom of America's First Ladies: A Book of Quotations

    By Dover Publications

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    "The one thing I do not want," quipped Jacqueline Kennedy, "is to be called First Lady. It sounds like a saddle horse." This lively collection includes more than 350 revealing and thought-provoking remarks by White House wives, from Martha Washington ("I live a very dull life here, and know nothing that passes in town.") to Melania Trump ("Together, let's encourage children to dream big, think big, and do all they can to be best in everything that they do.")
    Humorous and heartfelt reflections include Abigail Adams's thoughts on partnership ("No man ever prospered in the world without the consent and cooperation of his wife."); Dolley Madison's attitude toward gossip ("It is one of my sources of happiness never to desire a knowledge of other people's business."); and Eleanor Roosevelt's comment on accountability ("It is often the people who refuse to assume any responsibility who are apt to be the sharpest critics of those who do.").
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateSep 8, 2014
    ISBN9780486798646
    Wit and Wisdom of America's First Ladies: A Book of Quotations

    Related to Wit and Wisdom of America's First Ladies

    Related ebooks

    United States History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    Reviews for Wit and Wisdom of America's First Ladies

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Wit and Wisdom of America's First Ladies - Dover Publications

      Wit and Wisdom of AMERICA’S FIRST LADIES

      Wit and Wisdom of AMERICA’S FIRST LADIES

      A Book of Quotations

      Edited by

      JOSLYN PINE

      DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.

      Mineola, New York

      DOVER THRIFT EDITIONS

      GENERAL EDITOR: MARY CAROLYN WALDREP

      EDITOR OF THIS VOLUME: JIM MILLER

      Dedication

      For Sharon, the Golden Rule personified

      Copyright

      Copyright © 2014 by Dover Publications, Inc.

      All rights reserved.

      Bibliographical Note

      Wit and Wisdom of America’s First Ladies: A Book of Quotations is a new work, first published by Dover Publications, Inc. in 2014.

      International Standard Book Number

      eISBN-13: 978-0-486-79864-6

      Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation

      49887501 2014

      www.doverpublications.com

      NOTE

      IT MIGHT COME as a surprise to some—especially to those who associate the words First Lady with power, glory, and glamour—that the following excerpt from a 1901 article in Munsey’s Magazine* is nearly as true today as it was then. Entitled Our Four Year Queens, it starts by defining the First Lady’s role as an exacting position whose duties few have fulfilled with zest and enjoyment, and continues:

      Our national boast that any American girl may be a four years’ queen has been the source of endless day dreams under blue checked sunbonnets, and even behind dotted veils; but after a sober study of life in the White House, the glory of being First Lady in the land becomes a little dimmed. It even begins to look like very hard work; and of those who have occupied the republican throne during the past hundred and twelve years, many have approached it with reluctance and left it with relief. Some have shrunk under their own inadequacy to its duties; some have resented the sacrifice of quiet home life; many have been broken in health, too worn with a life of struggle to find pleasure in their late triumphs. A few, like Dolly [sic] Madison, have been thoroughly equal to the position, and have enjoyed its opportunities heart and soul.

      Looking closely at the history of the role, a complex and often fascinating picture emerges that transcends the notion of First Lady as presidential wife—and not only in the political sense. Since several men had lost their wives before they were elected president, close female relatives or friends were often called upon to fill in as White House hostesses. For example, Thomas Jefferson had been a widower for nineteen years when he became president in 1801; and it is generally believed that his two daughters assumed those responsibilities for their father. However, his friend Dolley Madison is also credited with acting as Jefferson’s First Lady, before she attained the position officially when her husband James Madison succeeded Jefferson as president.

      The book at hand includes only presidential wives who served in the role, and probably more than anything attempts to present what it feels like to be the First Lady. And to a great extent, it inevitably reflects the role’s evolution as it was changed and shaped by the times and the individuals who filled it. In the years since 1900, there were probably two factors that contributed more than any others to a transformation of the First Lady from relatively passive to very active, and even politically powerful: the explosive growth of the media; and Eleanor Roosevelt: Greatness in a president tends to be associated with great national crises; the same is true of Eleanor Roosevelt and her ability to rise up with the American people and face the Great Depression.† After Mrs. Roosevelt, the job of First Lady would never be the same.

      One of the greatest challenges of compiling a book of quotes is finding worthy material that can stand on its own without an immediate context. That fact, to a great extent, was a guiding principle in the selection of both the individuals and the quotations included—and excluded. So the process by necessity had to be a purely subjective one. Furthermore, as already indicated, this collection includes quotes only from First Ladies who were presidential wives.

      Please note that the names of the First Ladies as they appear herein reflect the content and arrangement found on the National First Ladies’ Library website (www.firstladies.org/), since there is a remarkable abundance of variations.

      Because a wide variety of sources were used to assemble this compilation, spelling and punctuation have, for the most part, been modernized and standardized for the sake of clarity and consistency. And since four different references might each contain a different version of the same quote, every effort has been made to present the version closest to the spirit and substance of the original.

      Joslyn Pine

      May 2014

      * Marian West, Our Four Year Queens, Munsey’s Magazine, October, 1901, 907.

      † John B. Roberts II, Rating the First Ladies: The Women Who Influenced the Presidency (New York: Citadel Press Books, 2003), xi.

      CONTENTS

      Martha Washington

      Abigail Adams

      Dolley Madison

      Louisa Adams

      Sarah Polk

      Mary Todd Lincoln

      Julia Grant

      Lucretia Garfield

      Caroline Harrison

      Edith Roosevelt

      Helen Taft

      Ellen Wilson

      Edith Wilson

      Florence Harding

      Grace Coolidge

      Lou Hoover

      Eleanor Roosevelt

      Bess Truman

      Mamie Eisenhower

      Jacqueline Kennedy

      Lady Bird Johnson

      Betty Ford

      Rosalynn Carter

      Nancy Reagan

      Barbara Bush

      Hillary Rodham Clinton

      Laura Bush

      Michelle Obama

      Index

      Martha Dandridge Custis Washington

      Born June 2, 1731—Died May 22, 1802

      1st First Lady, 1789–1797

      There were no precedents for the role Martha Washington had thrust

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1