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Bio
Jane Pierce
Jane Appleton was born on March 12, 1806, to parents Elizabeth and Jesse Appleton. Following the death of her father, a Congregationalist minister and president of Bowdoin College, Jane attended boarding school in Keene, New Hampshire. She later met a Bowdoin graduate, a young lawyer with political ambitions, Franklin Pierce. Although he was immediately devoted to Jane, they did not marry until
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Bio
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce became president at a time of what seemed on the surface like domestic tranquility. The United States, by virtue of the Compromise of 1850, seemed to have weathered its sectional storm. By following the recommendations of southern advisers, Pierce—a New Englander— hoped to prevent another outbreak of that storm. But his policies, far from preserving calm, hastened the disr
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Bio
Barbara Bush
Rarely had a first lady been greeted by the American people and the press with the approbation and warmth accorded to Barbara Pierce Bush. Perhaps this was prompted by the image she called "everybody's grandmother." People were comfortable with her white hair, her warm, relaxed manner, and her keen wit. With characteristic directness, she said people liked her because they
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Bio
George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush brought to the White House a wish to make the United States “a kinder and gentler nation.” Coming from a family with a tradition of public service, George Herbert Walker Bush felt the responsibility to make his contribution both in time of war and in peace. Born in Milton, Massachusetts, on June 12, 1924, he became a student lead
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Bio
Laura Bush
From the moment her mother introduced her to the wonders inside the Midland (Texas) County Library, Laura Bush developed a passion for reading and a love of literature that heavily influenced her life. “Little did I know,” she recalled, “that my mother was paving the way for my success in school, while teaching me the value of a good education.” As an on
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Bio
George W. Bush
George W. Bush became the second presidential son (after John Quincy Adams) to assume office. Although initially focused on tax cuts and education reform, Bush's two terms became defined by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Bush was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on July 6, 1946 where his father was attending Yale. When George H.W. Bush entered the oil business, the family
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Bio
Betty Ford
Elizabeth “Betty” Bloomer was born on April 8, 1918, in Chicago, Illinois, and spent most of her childhood in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was raised by her parents William and Hortense Bloomer. As a young girl, Betty took up dancing, which quickly became her passion. After graduating from high school, she moved to Vermont to attend the Bennington School of Dance and soon
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Bio
Gerald R. Ford
When Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office on August 9, 1974, he declared, “I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances.... This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts.” He told Americans, “Our long national nightmare is over.” Ford was the first vice president chosen under the Twenty-fifth Amendment. In the aftermath of the Watergate scandal,
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Bio
Frances Cleveland
Frances Folsom was born on July 21, 1864 in Buffalo, New York, only surviving child of Emma C. Harmon and Oscar Folsom—who became a law partner of Cleveland’s. As a devoted family friend Cleveland bought “Frank” her first baby carriage. As administrator of the Folsom estate after his partner’s death, though never her legal guardian, he guided her education with sound
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Bio
Grover Cleveland
The first Democrat elected after the Civil War, Grover Cleveland was the only president to leave the White House and then return for a second term later. One of nine children of a Presbyterian minister, Cleveland was born on March 18, 1837 in Caldwell, New Jersey. He was raised in upstate New York. As a lawyer in Buffalo, he became notable for hi
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Bio
Elizabeth Truman
Elizabeth Wallace, better known as Bess, was born to David and Madge Wallace on February 13, 1885, in Independence, Missouri.1 Bess was a bright young woman who excelled in sports. After graduating from Independence High School, she attended finishing school at the Barstow School in Kansas City.2 At the age of five, she met Harry S. Truman at Sunday school at the
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Bio
Harry S. Truman
During his few weeks as vice president, Harry S. Truman scarcely saw President Roosevelt, and received no briefing on the development of the atomic bomb or the unfolding difficulties with Soviet Russia. Suddenly these and a host of other wartime problems became Truman’s when, on April 12, 1945, he became president when Roosevelt died. He told reporters, “I felt like the moon