league of nations. before the treaty got underway, the talks got underway at versailles, wilson had the occasion to visit great britain where he was received by king george v actually at buckingham palace. had his birthday and he was presented with portraits here that we see here in the drawing room. wilson would become the first american president to have an audience with the pope. wilson met with pope benedict xv who wilson had corresponded. benedict was concerned about the area of peace and finding a peaceful solution to the end of the first world war which was devastating europe, and corresponded with wilson prior to the war's conclusion, and prior to our involvement in the war. so wilson, when in rome decided that he would make an official visit and have first american president to have an audience with the pope. to mark the occasion, pope benedict gave wilson this

wonderful mosaic that was done in the vatican workshops. painting over the mantel. wilson acted in 1918 and sent american troops to help quell the turkish invasion of armenia. and for this, the people of armenia gave wilson this wonderful painting called hope. the largest object in the room, aside from the piano, is the tapestry. the tapestry was a wedding gift since wilson married edith in december of 1915. he chose not to have a large, elaborate white house wedding. they had a small private ceremony from edith's house on 20th street, however, the gifts were certainly quite magnificent. the french ambassador sent this tapestry over to mrs. wilson to chose after she returned from her honeymoon. ike hoover who was the famous

celebrated usher, chief usher at the white house for over 40 years called mrs. wilson down and said, madam, the french ambassador is here, and he has some gifts for you to chose as a wedding gift. edith says, oh, well, by all means, escort the ambassador upstairs, and hoover said, no, madam. you'll need to come down to the east room. that should have been an indication that it was no small gift. the ambassador had brought along three tapestries here at the united states at the panama pacific exposition in san francisco in 1915. wilson, we may add, opened the panama canal in 1915 to trade. in the french pavilion were these works of france including these tapestries. so edith came down to the east

room and the usher had rolled out these beautiful full length tapestries, and the ambassador said, please, choose whichever that you like, and she was particularly fond of this one, which actually depicts a marriage scene. the marriage from greek mythology. it's a riotous occasion. and the tapestry would become a little bit of a problem, because edith wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to do with it. certainly there was not even a place to hang it in the white house, and she quietly asked the ambassador at a later occasion, well, you know, i'd love to leave this to the national museum, to the smithsonian and perhaps they can display it. the ambassador protested and said, no, madam, the french government gives plenty of things to the national museum, this was a wedding gift. this was a personal gift.

so when edith set out to find a suitable home for her husband to move to after leaving office she had the dimensions of this tapestry written down on a little card. she did okay. she was able to fit the width of the tapestry here in the new drawing room. however, the length certainly. she kept it very dramatically puddled on the floor. we have it conserved on an aluminum frame today to protect it for future generations. this tour of the woodrow wilson house was part one of a two-part program. you can learn more about woodrow wilson at woodrowwilsonhouse.org. all day today, american history tv is featuring america's first ladies. who do you think was our most influential first lady? vote and join the conversation with us on facebook at facebook.com/c-span.

>> lisa kathleen graddy is the curator for women's political history here at the smithsonian. tell us where we're at in american history museum. >> you're in the first lady's exhibit. welcome to the newest version of the exhibit, by my count, the ninth version of the first lady's exhibit since it began in 1913. so we're almost 100 years old and the longest lived exhibit at the smithsonian institution. >> and this iteration just opened up. so tell us the concept behind it. >> we tried few new thing. the challenge the first ladies collection and exhibit is always to balance. to balance the great interest in the dresses and the china with other kinds of stories about the first ladies, and we're always trying to find a way, i hate to say marry, they love to talk about marrying the presidency in

the first ladies' exhibit, but to marry the two things so you get a fuller picture of the first ladies but really get a picture of what you want to see when you come here which are the beautiful dresses and the fine china. we tried a different arrangement in here which is the color scheme. the idea was to make the object stand out. the only color in the exhibition, a very colorful show, comes from the objects, not from the paint on the walls, and we really feel highlight the gowns and the china for the first time, really, make them the star. >> talk more about the exhibit and your role in creating this latest edition. >> the first ladies exhibit was brought about by these two.

they wanted women in the museum. there were not exhibitions dedicated to women. they started a costume collection. the idea was to show women's costume throughout time. a hook was born. we'll use the first ladies. they sought out the first ladies and presidents and asked for clothing. they amassed a good amount by 1932. they had something to represent every former first lady. but it did create what i call the smithsonian's definition of first lady. that is not necessarily the spouse, the wife of the president. it is the person who played the official role of white house hostess. usually it's a wife or daughter or daughter-in-law or niece. it has been all of those things over time.

it featured the clothing of the mistresses of the white house. >> there are examples of those that weren't the spouse of the president. talk about them a bit. >> yes, as i look behind me to see who is in the exhibition or in that case. this case is mostly wives. in the back section where we do case studies, you will see dolly madison. she served as the first lady of the widow thomas jefferson. he also, his daughter, would also serve as his hostess, but so did mrs. manson. in mixed company at the time, you had to have a hostess. you could not entertain ladies unless there was a hostess. there was a need to have a woman in the white house to perform that function. so much even now, so much of washington life, is carried on not the floor of the house, but

at parties in formal gatherings where you can talk in a more calm manner. all of the women of washington were responsible for keeping those networks open and that life happening. >> is that sort of the point of showing the dress? that there is much more meaning behind the dress? >> there is more meaning behind the dress. we show it because it is beautiful and people love them, but it does say something about the woman. why do we care? why are we interested in what the first lady wears? why do we care what the first lady wears? we look to her clothing for clues about what she is like as a person. about what the administration may be like, both in its style. is it formal or informal? is it extravagant or simple? is it the politics?

is it american made? do you proudly say you only wear american made? caroline harrison, the burgandy gown only wore american made clothing. if you look to the back, you see a beautiful dress of eleanor roosevelt. that was her inauguration gown. she had a busy life. she made a point that busy women like to buy their clothes off the rack. she said you shouldn't buy clothes from sweat shops. >> what is the oldest gown? >> the oldest gown in the collection is martha washington's. it has been on display for a long time. it is having a rest right now. in this gallery, when we round the corner, the oldest dress will be dolley madison's. >> fast forward to today. michelle obama. she donated her personally?

>> she came in and presented the dress and jewelry and shoes. they were actually donated and she -- it is interesting. this is the first time we had the designers donate. mrs. obama had them donate the pieces. jason wu and jimmy choo donated the pieces. mr. obama came to present the pieces to the museum. >> what goes into deciding which dress to wear and are they thinking about the influence that will have on their husbands' administrations? >> we would like it to be more political than it probably is. there is a video playing in the exhibition. we were lucky enough to interview rosalyn carter and mrs. bush. thinking there was a symbol i.

mrs. carter, in reality, wore the dress again that she had worn when her husband was made governor of georgia. mrs. bush just remembers collaborating with the designer michael faircloth and you wanted a pretty party dress. the first lady wants it to be beautiful and comfortable. she wants it to be appropriate. i think appropriate is the word when first ladies are dealing with clothes. they want to be appropriate for the occasion, appropriate for their age, appropriate for the circumstance and i think appropriate as a symbol of the united states pause we still do look at the first ladies as representing women in the united states. even when she is not functioning in duty hours, she represents the united states. >> let's take a look at some of the first ladies, about four of them, that you featured here at the exhibit and talk about their

roles. >> wonderful. it's this way. before you walk into this room, though, you have a quote from first lady michelle obama. >> uh-huh. >> where she's talking about there's no formal job description for this unofficial role of the first lady. talk about that quote and how you think that impacts the first lady's decision of how they go about doing this job, if you will? >> the quote itself really wraps up in a lot of ways what this exhibit is about, and oddly we found it very close to the end, but it set so well in here, because it really is an amorphous position. there is no job description. each first lady remakes the job. we like to say based upon her own interests. the needs of the presidential administration and expectations of the american public, all of which can aid her or hinder her at any point in time. so it's a trial and error kind

of thing, and each first lady has come up with her own version of the job. and yet they play off of each other. they build on each example before them, and each one of them creates a new example to follow. >> there are no rules, but are there boundaries? >> no rules but there are boundaries. there's always tension about how politically involved the first lady can be. that sort of, who elected you? what are you talking about? when we can't see you? both i think from the public and we've read in varying books from presidential advisers themselves. the first person the president sees in the morning and the last at night whose words they're hear. there's always an interest in whether the first lady's goals and frequently stories about whether the first lady's goals and ambitions are the same as the president's and if they're running in sync and if she's running the administration.

many first ladies have been able to dovetail their interests with the administration's interests and really work hand in glove with the president to put forward the administration's goals with her as part of that administration. >> we'll talk more about how these four first ladies individually walked that tightrope, but tell us why these four, and what were you trying to do in this room? >> well, the four first ladies, you'll notice, as you see the dates as we go through, it's roughly 50 years between. we wanted to show different points in time, because we very much wanted to show the first lady's relationship to that period and to women in that time period. edith mayo, who was my predecessor as curator and really my mentor as first ladies' curator did a groundbreaking show. first ladies in public image that looked at the first time in first ladies in the context of american history and the roles

played by first ladies. so we wanted to take another step with that and this time instead of looking at roles specifically as hostess, as political partner to look at how each different woman summed that all up and combined those roles what they stressed, what they did. so look at all the case studies. we wanted to give you a more intimate view of each of these first ladies. the kinds of things they safe. be they a piece of china, a watch, a scrap of fabric. the kind of things we save to remember our lives. we call them the high boys, show memories. like we say things in our bookcase or our credenza or china cabinet. we wanted to show the things that people say and use each one to sort of link to a memory and to a little bit of a story. you won't come away way full idea of this first lady, but you'll come away with a pretty good idea of what she was like and hopefully will find out more

about her and the rest of the sisterhood. >> so dolley madison what kind of first lady was she? what does the story tell us? >> dolley madison is the first, first lady to really establish the role of the political hostess. and she's the friendly face of the madison administration. james madison is a serious and he and dolley madison is his front. dolley madison is the person who sets up, has the parties. james is in a corner, and she can have everyone coming who needs to talk to him, coming to talk to him. has a wonderful environment. she stirs up support for her husband. she doesn't create enemies for her husband and she's a real master of that, the sort of -- it's often called the parlor politics of the time period, where women are setting up their own networks of social links

that keep information flowing. dolley madison has her finger on the pulse of what's being said in washington and can bring that information back to her husband. she can bring that information out to other people. she has a series of friends. she finds jobs for friends of friends. it creates a support group for her husband, and for her husband's administration. >> what does her book shelf, if you will, if you're in this part, tell us about who she is. i mean, what are some of the artifacts in there? >> some of the most amazing artifacts, the one that's resonant, a piece of burnt wood. a piece of timber burned during the ward of 1812 at the white house and came to us from a collector that references while dolley madison didn't save it, it references dolley madison's heroism, the thing we all remember that dolley madison saved the portrait of george washington and other pieces from the white house that she was the last one there as the british were advancing, and really left just a little in front of the advancing british troops who then burnt the white house. >> in 1814. >> in 1814, although we call it

the war of 1812, you that was left, the skeleton of the white house. you can see in the graphic behind the dresses, a period picture of the burnt white house. >> and her action following that to keep the capitol? >> there was talk about moving the capitol to what seemed to be a safer place or easier place -- something that didn't have to be rebuilt. dolley madison made it back to the capitol in four days, rented the octagon house and set up shop there and proceeded to have parties again, gatherings and make a statement that said, we're here. we survived and we're staying here. and began the rebuilding of the presidency. >> the role of women at this time and political rights for women in dolley madison's era. >> women had played possibly a looser role one might say during the revolution. women's rights began to be curtailed a little bit more after the revolution. a lot of people's rights were curtailed with the constitution.

women don't have a legal a leg apart from their husband's. married women. so they can't vote. and they don't have a -- an independent legal standing so they have to find the parlor politics, they have to find a way to maneuver around that. to have influence within that sphere which really comes to influencing the power players. and creating the back channels and the second network that can influence things that are going on. really keep washington moving. >> let's move on to mary lincoln. what's her story? >> she comes in at a very vexed day. mary lincoln is probably looking to someone like dolly madison, this is what the first lady is is supposed to do i'm going to be a political hostess. i'm going to have the influence. i'm going to be an adviser to my husband and a war starts so she

had to retool what she's doing. following the idea of dolly madson and the hostess, she believes that she needs to know a powerful presidency, that foreign governments should support in the war. you want to be on our side, not the confederacy side. to demonstrate to the union that the government is powerful. and that things are things are progressing as the they normally would. >> how did she do that? >> well, the white house was a mess, so compare it to a third-rate hotel. so she did a lot of redecoration, rebuilding of the white house. it was considered to be very -- a very successful redecoration. but it went overbudget. she bought beautiful new china you see it in the china section with the purple china with the arms -- the arms of the -- the seal of the united states. but in war time, this didn't go over quite as well.

it was seen as being extravagant. instead of having large parties she had hand shake days, the receptions that the public could come and see the president. but then some people criticized that because it was a little too egalitarian. poor mary couldn't seem to win. she wanted to be and had always been an adviser to her husband. but this was a new arena and a bigger issue. he was facing larger problems and so she didn't have the contact with her husband and the influence she had wanted to have, so that was a disappointment to her. although she did play a role in his re-election. she wrote letters to state leaders to fry and -- try and have them support her husband. she tried to have influence. it just wasn't the right environment for first lady that she was trying to be. >> let's talk about the dress. who made her gown? >> elizabeth keckly made the dress. she has been a slave.

she purchased her open freedom through money she made as a seamstress. she moved to washington, d.c. and set up a very successful business. she was also the dress maker for the wife of jefferson davis who asked her to go south with them when the confederacy moved to richmond. she chose not to. she interviewed basically for a position as mrs. lincoln's dress maker, and the two became much more than client and entrepreneur. they really became friends. and equal friendship to be sure, but they became friends. she was really mary lincoln's closest confidant all that time in the white house. >> some of the other artifacts in the mary lincoln section. the watch. >> we talk about mary lincoln and her philanthropy, because she was an active supporter to raise money for wounded soldier, she visited hospitals. and that watch was actually won by her husband for giving the money as a contribution to a

sanitary fair. so up with talks about her philanthropy, but one of the organizers of the fair said i need you to give money. >> anything else about mary lincoln's bookshelf? what's notable? >> i think a wonderful piece on the bookshelf references elizabeth keckly as well. it shows her friendship. mrs. keckly established the contraband aid association which was to raise money and help slaves -- former slaves who had crossed the lines and made it to washington, d.c. mrs. lincoln gave money and supported elizabeth keckly in her efforts to do this or give her moral support. there's a beautiful little ink well, that mrs. keckly asked for a memento of the president and she gave her the ink well. there are such beautiful pieces. the stories one remembers of mary lincoln are of the elegance and of the spending and the

possessions. we do have some beautiful pieces that came through the family. a beautiful diamond and gold enameled wristwatch. china. but also, because it's the kind of thing you save, a scrap of fabric from the decoration of the red room that was saved by the decorating firm. eventually found its way to the museum. so we know -- we get a little bit of an idea of the fabric used in the room and what her style was. >> edith roosevelt, what was her style? >> well, she redid the entire white house. the white house that we know first came into being. edith roosevelt and theodore roosevelt wanted it to evoke its sort of colonial roots. so it's a very federal, formal white house. the beautiful pillars. the great entryway, the new

grand staircase that she put in. it helps to bolster, the roosevelt brought in the regal, formal worldwide presidency. this is when america moves into the greater world as a power. this was to command respect for that and to show the power of the presidency. and mrs. roosevelt was in charge of the decoration of that white house. >> she added a first lady's portrait gallery? >> she did. she consolidated the portraits of first ladies. commissioned hers to be added to it and added a first lady's portrait gallery. >> politically, policy wise, what is known for? >> she steps away from policy. certainly is someone that can restrain her husband and i'm sure had words to say to her husband.

she had young, large family. she was concentrating on that family. she wanted time for her family and for her husband. and so she actually -- we think of in a lot of ways as one of the first managerial first ladies. mrs. roosevelt wanted time so she decided what things to delegate to someone else. so she has a social secretary who takes care of press. huge press interest in her family. great cover material and great photographs. she didn't like that prying of the press, but she knew she'd have to accommodate them. she and her social secretary would release certain pictures. pose pictures. you can't come in and takepictures, we'll release photograp photographs. she had the first press secretary. >> is that the first time that happened? >> yes. she delegates a lot of household

duties. she has a caterer do the food. she has the chief ushers take care of hold house arrangements. she approves everything. but she has other people handling a lot of detail work. she concentrates on putting the white house back at the center of washington social life. over the last few presidencies, it had moved away from the white house. mrs. roosevelt with two hands seized it back into the white house. and had meetings with cabinet wives to discuss social schedules to make sure nothing was impeding the white house or conflicting with the white house's particular social agenda. >> what was the impact of all this? >> mrs. roosevelt had a control over washington that i think some of the more recent prior first ladies had not. she formalized things. she had a definite code of behavior. if you don't follow the code of behavior you didn't exist in her

code of washington. she did bring grandier back to entertaining that bolsters theodore roosevelt into international politics and bringing power back to the presidency. >> lady bird johnson? >> lady bird johnson, i have to say, i'm from texas and she is one of my favorite first ladies. she's first first lady announce -- not only her own political agenda, but own inaugural agenda. she announces leading up to the 1965 inauguration she goes public with her agenda and she says she's going to concentrate on beautification. which really now we call environmentalism. mrs. johnson was not thrilled with the word beautification, but it was a doable word. she was going to concentrate on the great society. on helping her husband's efforts to promote the great society.