First Ladies
Article
A Tribute to Pat Nixon on the 100th Anniversary of Her Birth (March 16, 2012)
Early YearsBorn Thelma Catherine Ryan on March 16, 1912, in Ely, Nevada, “Pat” Nixon acquired her nickname from her father who called her his “St. Patrick’s babe in the morn.” The Ryan family moved to California and settled on a small truck farm near Los Angeles—a life of hard work with few luxuries. When her mother died in 1925, 13-year-old Pat assumed hous
Article
Mrs. Nixon and the White House Collection
When President and Mrs. Richard M. Nixon took residence at the White House in 1969, the wear and tear of thousands of earlier visitors and guests necessitated improvements. From the beginning Mrs. Nixon was keenly aware of the need to support a program for the acquisition of artwork and objects for the collection and played a major role in fulfilling this
Scholarship
An Activist First Lady in Traditional Washington
The following excerpt is from Nancy Beck Young’s Lou Hoover: Activist First Lady, University of Kansas Press, 2004. The White House Historical Association provided a grant to support the book project.Despite all her preparation and planning, Lou Henry Hoover encountered controversy over the issue of race and White House protocol. On June 12, 1929, Jessie DePriest was a White House guest at