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Richard M. Nixon
When Richard Nixon was elected in 1968, he declared that his goal was “to bring the American people together.” The nation was divided, with turbulence in the cities and war overseas. During his presidency, Nixon ended American fighting in Vietnam, improved relations with the Soviet Union, and transformed American's relationship China. But the Watergate scandal brought fresh divisions to the country and
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Bio
Nancy Reagan
Nancy Davis (Anne Frances Robbins) was born on July 6, 1921, in New York City. Her parents, Kenneth Robbins and Edith Luckett, separated after their daughter’s birth. Anne was sent to live with Edith’s sister, Virginia Gailbraith, and her husband Audley for the next six years. After Edith married Loyal Edward Davis in 1929, she and Anne reunited in Chicago, Illinois. Anne
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Ronald Reagan
Through Ronald Reagan's eight years in office, the cold war came to an end, the country seemed to regain its morale, and Americans enjoyed an extended economic boom.Ronald Wilson Reagan was born to John Reagan, a shoe salesman, and his wife Nelle in Tampico, Illinois, on February 6, 1911. He worked his way through Eureka College. There, he played on the
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Bio
Lucy Hayes
Lucy Webb was born to parents James Webb and Maria Cook in Chillicothe, Ohio, on August 28, 1831. As a teenager, she took classes at Ohio Wesleyan University and later enrolled in Cincinnati Wesleyan Female College; her graduation in 1850 makes her the first first lady to graduate from college.1 Webb first met lawyer Rutherford B. Hayes on Ohio Wesleyan University’s campus, an
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Rutherford B. Hayes
Beneficiary of one of the most fiercely disputed and controversial elections in American history, Rutherford B. Hayes brought to the Executive Mansion dignity, honesty, and moderate reform. To the delight of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Lucy Webb Hayes carried out her husband's orders to banish wines and liquors from the White House. The couple, married since 1852, had eight children
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Bio
Theodore Roosevelt
With the assassination of President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, age 42, became the youngest president in the nation’s history. He brought new excitement and power to the presidency, as he briskly led Congress and the American public toward progressive reforms and an aggressive foreign policy. He took the view that the president as a “steward of the people” should take whatever action
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Bio
Martha Jefferson
Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson was born on October 30, 1748 at her father’s plantation in Charles City County, Virginia. At the age of 18 Martha married Bathurst Skelton on November 20, 1766, but following his death two years later, she returned to her parent’s home with her young son. When Thomas Jefferson came courting a few years later, the 22-year-old widow had lost her
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Bio
Julia Grant
On January 26, 1826, Julia Dent was born to parents Frederick and Ellen Dent in St. Louis, Missouri.1 One of seven children, Julia grew up at her family’s plantation, White Haven. There, she interacted with and was served by enslaved servants.2 From age ten to seventeen, Julia attended Misses Mauros’ boarding school in St. Louis, studying literature, history, philosophy, and other subj
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Anna Harrison
Anna Harrison was too ill to travel when her husband set out from Ohio in 1841 for his inauguration. It was a long trip and a difficult one even by steamboat and railroad, with February weather uncertain at best, and she at age 65 was well acquainted with the rigors of frontier journeys. Anna Symmes was born on July 25, 1775 in Morristown, Ne
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Bio
William Henry Harrison
"Give him a barrel of hard cider and settle a pension of two thousand a year on him, and my word for it,” a Democratic newspaper foolishly gibed about William Henry Harrison “he will sit ...by the side of a ‘sea coal’ fire, and study moral philosophy.” The Whigs, seizing on this political misstep, in 1840 presented their candidate Harrison as a simple fro
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Bio
Helen Taft
As “the only unusual incident” of her girlhood, “Nellie” Herron Taft recalled her visit to the White House at 17 as the guest of President and Mrs. Hayes, intimate friends of her parents. Fourth child of Harriet Collins and John W. Herron, born in 1861, she had grown up in Cincinnati, Ohio, attending a private school in the city and studying music with ent
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Bio
William Howard Taft
Distinguished jurist, effective administrator, but poor politician, William Howard Taft spent four uncomfortable years in the White House. Jovial and conscientious, he was caught in the intense battles between progressives and conservatives, and got scant credit for the achievements of his administration. Born in 1857, the son of a distinguished judge, he graduated from Yale, and returned to Cincinnati to study