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Bio
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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Bio
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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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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Bio
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
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Bio
Hillary Clinton
During the 1992 presidential campaign, Hillary Rodham Clinton observed, “Our lives are a mixture of different roles. Most of us are doing the best we can to find whatever the right balance is....For me, that balance is family, work, and service.” Hillary Diane Rodham, Dorothy and Hugh Rodham’s first child, was born in Chicago on October 26, 1947, and raised in suburb
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Bio
William J. Clinton
During his two presidential terms, Bill Clinton presided over economic expansion and achieved the first budget surplus in decades. Unemployment, inflation, and the crime rate decreased during his administration. After attempting a major reform of the health care system, Clinton shifted his policy focus, declaring that "the era of big government is over."The son of a nurse, Clinton was