This book introduces young readers to the life of Grace Coolidge, beginning with her childhood in Burlington, Vermont. Readers will become familiar with her outgoing personality as they learn about her early career as a teacher at the famed Clarke School in Northampton, Massachusetts, and her marriage to Calvin Coolidge. Details of Mrs. Coolidge's time as First Lady, including her reputation as a hostess, are also discussed. Informative sidebars and full-color photos accompany easy-to-read, engaging text. Includes timeline, fun facts, index, and glossary.
Tadeusz Lewandowski presents the articles, stories, speeches, dispatches, letters, poems, and statements of Arapaho advocate Sherman Coolidge and his New York City society wife, Grace Wetherbee Coolidge.
When Grace Anna Goodhue wed Calvin Coolidge in 1905, she thought then that marriage "has seldom united two people of more vastly different temperaments and tastes." Warm and vivacious to her husband's dour and taciturn, Grace was to be a contrast to Calvin for years to come. But as Robert Ferrell shows, their marriage ensured her husband's rise to high office. Ferrell focuses on Grace Coolidge's years in the White House, 1923-1929. Although the president did his best to rein her in—even forbidding her to speak on public issues—Grace quickly became one of the most popular and stylish of first ladies. Among the best-dressed women of her time (famously in red), she became the nation's fashion leader. She also opened the White House to the public, sponsored musicales within its walls, and worked on behalf of the deaf and disabled-all despite a less than supportive spouse. Ferrell recounts how she accomplished all of this, finding strength through the years in her Burlington background, her family, and her faith. In this lively book Ferrell provides a perceptive and often moving account of Grace Coolidge. From his insightful portrait of her Vermont roots to a frank assessment of the Coolidges and their sons, he offers a fresh perspective on a much-admired woman who was perhaps her husband's greatest political asset. Ferrell also takes readers inside Grace's strained marriage to the famously taciturn president who kept his wife in the dark about his plans, both political and personal. He offers a much more subtle look at the Coolidges and their relationship in the public eye than we've had, shedding new light on how she managed to deal with his irascible temper-and how the marriage ultimately triumphed over difficulties that Calvin could not have handled alone. Alternately charming and analytic, Ferrell's narrative will leave readers with the real sense of Grace Coolidge as a human being and a contributor to the historical legacy of presidential wives. For she did more than simply enliven a quiet White House-she set the tone for a nation and for first ladies to come.
Grace Coolidge was considered the perfect balance to her husband, Calvin Coolidge, renowned for his shy, cautious and restrained nature (nicknamed Silent Cal). The first lady was to emerge as a fashion trendsetter, cordial social mixer and the one who remembered names and faces - a great political asset. This book is to provide readers with an overview of Grace's life and her time in Washington. Her own values, as seen through her personal letters, form the new material for this book, which will be beneficial to those interested in first ladies and women in American history.
At once funny and poignant, dramatic and illuminating, this anecdotal history covers every First Lady from Martha Washington to Hillary Rodham Clinton. "A marvelously entertaining work".--"Newsday".
"Betty Boyd Caroli's First Ladies observes the role as it has shifted and evolved from ceremonial backdrop to substantive world figure ... This [is a] expanded and updated fifth edition ... covering all forty-three women from Martha Washington to Melania and Ivanka Trump and including the daughters, daughters-in-law, and sisters of presidents who sometimes served as First Ladies. Caroli explores each woman's background, marriage, and accomplishments and failures in office. First Ladies is a portrait of how each First Lady changed the role and how the role changed in response to American culture. These women left remarkably complete records, and their stories offer us a window through which to view not only this particular sorority of women, but also the role of American women in general."--Provided by publisher.
This volume presents thirty-nine interpretive biographical essays on all first ladies, from Martha Washington to America's newest First Lady, Laura Bush. This new edition contains updated material on all the living First Ladies and updated bibliographies for each entry, as well as a portrait of the newest First Lady.
Meet the First Ladies of the United States—sometimes inspiring, sometimes tragic, always fascinating—women who, though often unsung, helped hold the nation together in its infancy and advance it as a world power. More than simply serving as America's "hostesses," many of the nation's First Ladies played vital roles in shaping their husband's presidency and serving as political activists in their own right. From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama, their inspiring stories come alive in this handsomely illustrated encyclopedia. Within its pages, the First Ladies are revealed as human beings who, one day, awoke to find the eyes of the world upon them. The book differs from others by showcasing America's First Ladies in their own words, as flesh-and-blood individuals. Readers will discover which First Lady held off Napoleon's army with a toy sword, why women had to be "pale, frail, and ailing," and which First Lady was called "Sunshine" and which was "Hellcat." Each entry includes a biographical essay that details the life of the woman and places her within the political, social, and cultural context of her time. Each also offers a related primary document that helps define the First Lady's legacy as well as a short bibliography for further information. Written in a lively, compelling style, this highly readable volume is perfect for junior high, high school, and college students as well as the general public.
Presents a collection of chronologically arranged entries of America's first ladies, from Martha Washington, to Laura Bush, and includes brief biographical information, as well as explaining their roles and responsibilities in the White House.
