>> dolly madison is the first amazing social first lady. she was the go-to touch stone of the successful first lady. she had decorum. there was a little bit of casual and formal and fun to her events. if you had a card of introduction, you could come to her weekly crushes or receptions. people mixed and talked. it was said you couldn't tell who her friends or enemies were because she was lovely to everyone. a lot of business got done at mrs. madison's white house. some first ladies have been less successful because they were awkward in the job and their taste didn't jive with public state at the moment. nancy reagan came in for a more formal, what she thought more

appropriate white house. she got some pushback for the increase in formality. as that went on, people began to admire what the reagans were doing in terms of the tone of their white house. >> so does the criticism, the praise sort of reflect the politics of the time? the culture at the time? maybe the public polling of the president at the time? >> i think it reflects popular culture at the time. where we are all in culture. we expect a higher standard at the white house. we know it is not our house. we know it is a more formal style. it can't seem too formal. it cannot seem too austentatious. it can't be showy. >> given that, which dress in here do you think reflects the times? eleanor roosevelt's dress for example. another dress that comes to mind, maybe? which reflects the times?

>> i think they are all pretty representative of their time period. roosevelt's is a simple dress that reflects the period of time. she is walking a line of the first inauguration ball. it is during the depression. she has to look elegant and appropriate. she doesn't want to look too rich. that is an elegant, but simple dress. any one -- you could visualize yourself in that dress and you might be able to wear it. most people look at the pictures of her and see that they could -- that this was something they could relate to. j an acqueline kennedy, this is the dress of the first state dinner.

mamie's dress. that speaks to the formality of the new look and the '50s. when you look at something like the flapper dresses or actually nancy reagan's wonderful suit. you look at that and you know it is the 1980s. >> it seems very '80s. yes. >> they want to be appropriate for the occasion. appropriate for their age. appropriate for the circumstance and appropriate as a symbol of the united states because we still do look at the first lady as representing women in the united states. even when she is not functioning in duty hours, she represents the united states. >> this is the photograph part. >> excuse me. we will have two photo opportunities. the first is for the still photographers and then that will be followed by the television

cameras. we ask our guests to please be patient. all day today, american history tv is featuring america's first ladies. who do you think was our most i influential first lady? president woodrow wilson and his wife edith left the conclusion of his second term and moved into a rowhouse on s street. operating on the historic preservation, the woodrow wilson house is now a museum. frank aucella gave a tour of the home and discussed the presidency of woodrow wilson. this is part one of a two-part program. >> woodrow wilson moved into the house 90 years ago on the old inauguration day. he left the white house,

attended the ceremony for president harding and then immediately moved in to a private home here in washington d.c. really, among few of our presidents ever choose to live in washington d.c. in their post-presidential years. woodrow wilson decided that this would be the perfect place for him to reside since his send wife edith was a washingtonian. here in the entrance hall of the house, visitors who visited wilson were greeted at the front door. wilson's brother-in-law served as his secretary, took his appointments. few visitors visited the house, however, people who did arrive would see wilson generally at about 3:00 in the afternoon. wilson would then either accompany them on a motor ride through the parklands in and around washington, d.c. if they were family guests, certainly, they would be invited to dine here in the house. and on saturday evenings they would attend the theater. they'd go to keith's vaudeville

house here in washington, d.c. wilson was a regular attendee, and each saturday evening the crowds would wait expecting the president. the former president at that time, to take his seat up in the balcony. the house was built in 1915. the wilsons were the second occupants of the house. mrs. wilson had the task of finding a suitable home for her husband. wilson had received the nobel peace prize in december of 1920, and along with that came a $50,000 cash award. wilson used that money to put a deposit down on the house, and ten friends, friends from princeton and white house associates helped make the $150,000 asking price for the house. the great thing about the house and the collections here at the wilson house is that everything was brought in with the wilsons when they moved in in 1921. so items from wilson's home in princeton, items from edith wilson's home here in

washington, and the things that they had acquired together in the white house, including gifts of state, personal gifts, wedding gifts, were all brought here to s street. they remain here today and so we serve as the presidential museum for woodrow wilson. great things in the collection including his cabinet chair that we see behind the desk. again, as tradition, the cabinet on the last day of a president's administration reach into their own pockets and pay the government for the president's chair, and that was brought here to s street along with other great items including his inaugural bible. one of the treasures certainly here in the case, unfortunately, it's too delicate. it's just a soft-bound bible, and so it's usually kept closed here in the case, but inside there's an engraved sheet, has wilson's signatures for the governorship of new jersey, in 1910, as well as two signatures

for each of his inaugurations in 1913 and 1916. the painting, again, really sums up wilson and his career. it was done in 1945. and mrs. wilson added it to the library here. it shows a map of europe and those countries outlined in red are really the countries that came into being at the time when world leaders gathered with woodrow wilson to redraw a map of modern europe. so countries like poland, czechoslovakia, yugoslavia, many of which were called out in wilson's 14 points, his terms of peace he issued in january 1918 came into being after the versailles peace conference in 1914. as scholar, author of over 28 volumes, countless articles you see in the glass case towards

the back of the room here, a collection of wilson's writings, along with his -- his library of books. there were 9,000 volumes here in the house. wilson had promised his collection of books to the library of congress, and after his death, the books moved over to the library of congress. his papers, also, were given to the library of congress. the last of our presidents in the jeffersonian tradition to give their library and papers to the library of congress. now our presidents have presidential libraries and museums operated by the national archives, or national park service unit. wilson house is a private nonprofit organization. we're operated by the national trust for historic preservation. mrs. wilson gave the house to the national trust in 1955, and lived here until her death in 1961. we opened as a museum in 1963. mrs. wilson called this a small

home for the needs of a gentleman. you see his very comfortable chair, along with one of his walking sticks would sit there close to the fire in the winter months. edith sat in this very comfortable rocker here. wilson would greet his guests, who would be seated at either one of the chairs here in the room, or across the way on the very comfortable sofa. friends from his administration, cabinet members were frequent visitors to wilson here on s street. lloyd george, the prime minister of great britain visiting wilson here. it was as i said, a regular routine. you would meet with wilson about 3:00 in the afternoon. and then you would have about 45

minutes with him. again, wilson was recovering from that illness that forced him to leave office, and, however, was able to entertain guests with conversation. if you weren't invited to the theater, wilson's secretary john randolph bowling would go down to the local movie house and get a feature film. and douglas fairbanks and mary pickford actually gave that projector to wilson. the first of our presidents to have a theatn house, and over the library bookcase they put up a movie screen. so guests would gather again, pull up some chairs and watch films. if you visit our website today, woodrowwilsonhouse.org, you can see a list of the films that the wilsons enjoyed here in the house, along with john randolph boling's daybook. so we have a great understanding

of the day-to-day activities that wilson lived here in the house. gave a few press interviews from the house, when he moved in, he really wanted to not use his status as a former president as a means of influencing anyone. he actually told a reporter that he wanted to teach former presidents on how to behave. that was his whole aspect of how he wished to no longer influence policy, but he did still have opinions. he did give, from this room, a, actually, a radio address. it was actually the first remote, non-studio broadcast ever given in the nation here on the anniversary of armistice day in 1923. where wilson was still fighting, still fighting for our participation in his league of nations. woodrow wilson became president in 1913. war erupted in europe a year later. america entered in 1917. when the war was won, wilson sailed for france to receive

there a heartfelt welcome. at the peace conference, he worked tirelessly to weld the covenant of the league of nations into the versailles treaty. the president returned to america a newer claim for his own people. still more honors were heaped upon him. for his labors of peace, he was awarded the nobel prize. but his endeavors had taken a severe toll. although the president continued to toil with his remaining energies for lasting world peace. >> let's go over to the dining room. on our way you'll see the beautiful solarium sun room. we are here in northwest washington d.c. off massachusetts avenue and embassy row. unlike the older neighborhoods in washington, capitol hill or georgetown. embassy row is a 20th century plan.

so there's wonderful gardens, landscapes. we see beyond the terrace garden a busy massachusetts avenue. and here you turn around, 24th street on to a very quiet residential street. 2340 s street. during the summer months, wilson and mrs. wilson enjoyed this room, taking in the sun, going through his mail and reading up on the latest newspapers. they had a small radio set, where wilson could listen to the broadcasts of baseball games.he. through here, howeves ng rm. woodrow wilson was a very formal man. the table not being fully dressed, and since he had suffered the stroke in 1919, it was a grueling activity for him to be dressed in his dinner jacket and formally attired and then able to sit through the rigors of a three-hour meal. so wilson would generally excuse

himself from dinner after guests were entertained in the library. perhaps viewed a film in the library, and then edith wilson would have her seat here and preside over dinners. as she does with the portrait hanging over the dining room of the house. a lot has been said about edith wilson and her stewardship of the country. and it was really the stewardship of woodrow wilson in that period after wilson's illness. the cabinet member was running their agencies, congress was doing its business, and it was through edith and dr. grayson that messages were getting in and out of the president's sick

room. and, again, scholars are telling us now that it was generally only that four-month period between october of 1919 and then just after the first of the year when wilson regained his ability to sit up and to attend to matters directly. so that whole issue of, was edith wilson the first president of the united states, certainly warrants a lot more scholarship. however, i certainly believe that she was basically stewarding the health of her husband, and not running the country. here in the dining room, again, we have it set for a small family meal. edith was a member of the bolling family of virginia. a large virginia family. her mother still lived in washington, d.c., and as i mentioned earlier, her brother, john randolph bolling actually lived here on s street. so they were frequent guests to

the house. wilson's physician dr. grayson was also a frequent visitor to the house along with his wife would dine on many occasions here in the household. wilson's daughter margaret who was living in new york would be a frequent visitor as woodrow's other daughters. jesse, who married a promising diplomat named francis bowes sayre and eleanor mcadoo, and the kitchen is on the ground floor of the house. so isaac and mary scott who the wilsons brought with them from the white house service continued to help maintain the house and cook the meals. the service pantry is towards the weathered door towards the back of the room and very, very a formal house. edith may have called this a

small home suited to the needs of a gentleman, but there are 28 rooms in this small house, and though the scale is small and comfortable, it's a rather large house. wilson enjoyed as a southerner born in virginia, grew up in georgia, south carolina, north carolina, enjoyed his hams. each meal was always started with a soup. edith wilson was particularly fond of mock turtle soup. there were always cheese straws and various other tid bits on the table. and each meal was followed by a light dessert. wilson wasn't fond of heavy cakes and sweets, however, he did enjoy a simple custard or a pudding at the end of most of his meals. certainly, you know, this room has been called one of the most beautiful serving spaces in all of washington, d.c. the butler's pantry here on s

street enjoys this beautiful palladian window in order to maintain a balance on the front of the house. the architect thought he would -- felt that he needed to include another full palladian window. this was not a public part of the house, it was a service space. he didn't, however, want people to be able to look in from the street and see folks washing dishes, so he moved the sink into the room a little bit, and to maintain the sense of symmetry, that was one of the hallmarks of his work. he made sure he created balance by putting two pipes. one does absolutely nothing, the other does vent the sink, so that again the sink would still be functional. it is the original sink. it's a zinc sink. this soft nickel-style metal that is coated in zinc that was

meant to be quiet and not damage the fine china and crystal. which never left this floor of the house. edith wilson had certainly many, many, many services to choose from. including a set of dessert plates that were given to her by the king and queen of belgium, which depicts scenes of belgium. much of which had been devastated during the first world war. we have on loan to us a piece of a set of the wilson's state service. again, edith wilson was the first first lady to actually choose an american company to create a state service. she chose lenox of new jersey. still used today, and certainly the hallmark of many of the state services at the white house to follow. she never had a chance along with president wilson to use it,

since the war had intervened. the order had to be put on hold and it wasn't really delivered to the white house until after the wilsons had left office. going downstairs we continue on the servant's part of the house. a very functional metal stairway. had the best communication from the servants quarters on the fourth floor, all the way down to a wine cellar that is in the basement. this is a great treat for your viewers to be able to see. a president's wine cellar, and indeed, a president's wine cellar during the prohibition years. you know, the '20s were roaring when woodrow wilson lived here. the other great historical note is that you could own liquor, have and possess spirits. you couldn't sell or trade spirits.

and so wilson was able to move the contents of his cellar from the white house, the treasury agents came in and inventoried the contents of wilson's wine cellar and transported it here to s street just after they moved in. we have one bottle which is great fun, which actually is whiskey and it says there beneath the dust, "for medicinal purposes only." so there were some exceptions to prohibition. some great bottles of french wine going back into the 1920s. and then some of the items certainly remain in the cellar. some vintage from 1949 that edith wilson probably enjoyed in her time in the house as well. we associate woodrow wilson with prohibition, but as a constitutional amendment, wilson

really played no large role in its promotion, and, in fact, wilson actually vetoed the act. it passed over his veto and the act was what meant -- led to the -- how the amendment would be enforced. so wilson said there was no prohibition. there was no temperance in the prohibition amendment. he was certainly in favor of temperance, but not of strict prohibition. this leads us into the kitchen here. again, a dumb waiter brought the food up to the second floor and, again, sort of inconvenient to have a kitchen below your dining room, but indeed was very much practiced at the time. we see an old ice box. we also know from that tax

inventory that the wilsons also had an electric refrigerator. here are some of mrs. wilson's grandmother's china. a full set of blue porcelain. we have the servant call box. again, it was a very modern house. ran very efficiently, and as you can see. a servant could be called from anywhere in the house. the nurse's room, the dining room. it would ring and it still rings today, as you could push one of the little mother of pearl buttons that are discreetly hidden in some of the door jams and molding in various rooms of the house. you press the button and someone would appear. most likely it would be isaac. here we see isaac scott as i mentioned accompanying president wilson and one of wilson's

walking sticks here on the front of s street. isaac here with his wife mary. and mary served as the cook here in the house. and they lived on the fourth floor of the house. our curator john powell has done a lot of great work in the lives of isaac and mary scott. they actually had been -- brought to the white house by edith wilson and worked at the white house. and then here to s street and stayed with edith wilson until she bought them a home in the 1950s. so actually stayed here on s street. here in the kitchen in the house, again, state-of-the-art for 1920. in the pantry you can still see some of the early packaging. campbell's soups and kellogg's products. bottle of tobasco and heinz

ketchup and maxwell house coffee on the range there. this was, again, a modern house when it was built in 1915. again, always electrified. always had a modern heating system. oh, an old steam coal fired steam boiler system, and we still use these old radiator, today. part of our modernization that we are envisioning for the centennial is to do a new geothermal state-of-the-art system that will be certainly more energy efficient. perhaps offset with solar panels up on the roof on the top of the house. that would not be visible from the street. all right. well, beyond the beautiful brick facade of the house on s street in north west washington, d.c., is the drawing room. two great grand palladian windows that overlook s street,

but one floor above it's an american-style townhouse. the architect built the house in 1915 for henry parker fairbanks and his family. the wilsons used the room as a drawing room. a formal room as it would have been for any family in the 1920s. the large piano that's in the room came from the white house family quarters. it was actually used in the family quarters at the white house, and the wilsons moved it here. wilson's daughter margaret was a pianist and accomplished musician. margaret never married. she had her singing career, she recorded for columbia records, did a red cross tour during the first world war and used this piano. both at the wilsons homes in princeton and as well as the white house for eight years. on the piano we see some music popular music from the time,

including some campaign songs. one of our favorite, certainly, we "take our hats off to you, mr. wilson," and "four more years in the white house should be the nation's gift to you" re-election songs for the campaign in 1915, 1916. wilson was on many, many occasions seen walking out of the white house grounds. he actually purchased this painting in 1915 from the corcoran gallery of art. which again is still across from the white house today. it's an elliott clark landscape, and elliott clark was a contemporary of wilson's first wife ellen who in her own right was a painter. she painted the painting that we see across the room here of the madonna and child. this is a painting she painted in the 1890s, while wilson was a professor at princeton university, and it hung at each

of the wilsons' homes, at library place in princeton, and prospect house when wilson was the president of princeton, university. and then in the white house for eight years. we know from the accounts of wilson's funeral, which was conducted in this room in 1924 that this painting hung above the casket. the gifts of state that wilson received, again, the first of our american presidents to travel to europe while president, less than a month after the signing of the armistice in november of 1918, woodrow wilson boarded a ship and headed off to europe to personally negotiate the treat they would bring an end to the first world war anto