audience members, we ask that you silence all electronic devices. and now, to begin our first session, entitled "paving the way," will you please join me in welcoming the moderator for the session, the director of education and special events lucinda. >> [applause] >> thank you. >> [applause] >> thank you, and thank you, everyone, who is involved with the harding symposium.

you have absolutely no idea how thrilled my colleagues and i are all to be here. anytime we get a chance to present first the ladies, we always -- first ladies, we always present our mission, -- you can tell i'm really good today. [laughter] which is to to get the public about the lives and the activities of the first ladies of this country. and believe me, they were all wonderful. and as i was talking to somebody last night at the reception, we think all the presidents were quite intelligent. everyone of them. because they were smart enough to marry the woman who'd -- who became the lead partner and the first ladies of our country. we want you to be wowed. thank you. [laughter]

a re-all right? -- are we all right? and as we are every day, it is a privilege to work with them. so, i would like to introduce friends that we know very well through the years. as a introduce each one in the order of -- of florence harding followed by grace coolidge followed by hoover, their representatives will give a brief biography to you of how wonderful they really were. first, a good friend of ours, sherry holmes. of the warren g. harding presidential site. this is very unusual. sherry is a former journalist. she is one of the two

newspapers, -- [indiscernible] but she also was at the canton repository. [bad audio quality] she is a lector and an author. and has authored several books. would you please introduce ms. harding? >> i would be happy to. [indiscernible] -- was a native of marion, ohio. born in 1850 -- she and her two younger brothers -- [indiscernible] an industrious and self-made businessman, -- [indiscernible]

she attended the cincinnati conservatory of music as a teenager, studying piano. and it shocked her parents when she awoke at the age of 19, literally, with the boy next door. the marriage produced a son, marshall, before imploding in divorce. in 1891, 30-year-old florence married 25-year-old warren harding, editor of the "marion daily star" newspaper. lawrence -- florence embraced newspapering as a family business and quickly jumped in to revamp the circulation department. she was not a woman to make housekeeping and cooking her life possible. for whatever reason, the harding's did not have children other own. i mention that this life-threatening malady severely impacted her quality of life and her philosophy of how to the for life. as her husband entered and 60

did in national republican politics florence was always his most enthusiastic supporter. the harding's entered the white house in march of 1921, following the presidency of woodrow wilson. they spent just what a nine-month there before his first term was over. president harding died of a heart attack and congestive heart failure in august of 1923. florence died just 15 months later. she died of kidney disease and heart failure in november of 1924. she was 64 years old. >> cynthia. cynthia is the former executive director of the calvin coolidge memorial foundation. she is a lector and author, as well as we found out a commentator. and you have a column of your own now and then that keeps you very active. cindy has authored the book,

"race coolidge," southern star, and when i'm really excited to get a hold of. cynthia, will you please introduce -- grace? >> grace was born 10 we third, 1879 in burlington, vermont. one of vermont's larger cities. you probably know vermette does not have very many large cities. she was an only child and her very middle-class parents could afford to send her onto the university of vermont. she graduated in 1902 and immediately set out for northampton, massachusetts to be trained to teach deaf children in the oral method. which is a very, very tough way of teaching. she then taught until her marriage to calvin coolidge, a young lawyer in town. her mother had wanted her to stay in burlington so she could find a nice, handsome doctor for

her, but grace said you was going to northampton, the home of smith college where there weren't hardly any men. but she found the one guy in town. they lived in a two family house in north hampton and raised two sons there. she stayed at home while her husband commuted by train to boston to the legislature. when calvin was tapped to run for vice president, they relocated to the willard hotel in washington dc. i think we'll hear through our discussions today what happened at the white house next. >> thank you. and another dear friend of ours. an historian, lecturer, and author. her books, one of my favorite because she is a near and dear to my heart, the story of frances wilson cleveland america's youngest first lady. she has also written a book that is very personal to her.

the busy ms. dunlap here has a few books to come out very soon. 2016 charles g dodd. the other in 2017, i can't wait to get a hands-on, is -- i'm sorry, i have the right title today. she is working on -- a biography. [a woman among women." -- "a woman among women." >> her middle name, short for louise, was born on march 29 1874 in waterloo, iowa. her parents were charles and florence henry. and, yes, daddy wanted a boy. and so momma allowed her eldest

daughter to be named lou. we all think that that is modern. in many ways lou was raised as a boy. she was touched or hunt, shoot, fish, and read a horse, but her mother also major she learned how to sew cook. the fact that she was brought up with those twin threats from both of her parents contributed to the quite unique woman that she did eventually become. when she was 11, her father took a banking job in california. they moved there in 1885. and lou pretty much consider there to be her home. she entered originally los angeles normal school. then when her family moved, she transferred to san jose college where she got her teaching certificate. she wanted to teach the upper grades because of her love science and because she was so

young and a woman, she could not find a position in that field. she was attending lectures that were available there in the area by the recently opened stanford university. and she heard a series of lectures by dr. grammar on matters related to the allergy. stanford, when it was opened, was coeducational and was one of the first private universities founded in this country that was not affiliated with a religious institution. it is also completely tuition free. and so, lou wrote to dr. brenner and asked if it would be possible that she, as a woman, could come study theology. she was admitted and became the first woman to receive a bachelors degree in geology and that university. it was there that she met hoover, whom she is actually older than, but because she had

had her previous -- excuse me, teachers education, she was obviously a freshman when he was a senior. the courtship eventually developed. he graduated and left for australia, where he found a position in mining. and the two of them continued their correspondence and lou eventually agreed to marry him. dr. brenner, who is tying to find her a job after she graduated from stanford, learned of the engagement and wrote them a letter saying, here i am trying desperately to find you a job and yet you have decided to get married and to leave us. and he signed it, your loving professor in law. >> [laughter] >> the hoovers were married on february 10, 1899. and the left the very next day for china. where bert had a mining job. over the next several years, the couple traveled all over the

world. lived in many different places. lou went into the minds with bird. she was kind of like the -- what we see so often with many women of professional men who had the same educational background -- she was sort of the unpaid employee. they lived in london for a number of years. lou was very instrumental and active in helping when world war i broke out, which will get to later, and then when they return to living full-time in the united states, she was involved with many organizations here until they eventually came to the white house. >> thank you. these ladies were outstanding in their own way and a time when women really were not supposed to succeed on that level, and they did. the first question i would like to pose to the lady of the day mrs. harding, this is the harding symposium, that it is also important.

abigail adams, if we can go back to her, she wrote to her husband when he was in philadelphia -- remember the ladies, we have all heard this. however, she was really angry with john because he didn't remember the ladies. he thought she was kidding when she said make sure that you make as part of the laws of this new nation because, you know, we don't have rights like to in education, really. you don't have rights to our own property. lady washington -- to give you an idea, lady washington did inherit money from an inheritance from her first husband, but lady washington really needed to get married because it had to be in the hands of a man because a woman couldn't. this was the way it was for women. so, when he called her, oh, you are so soft, she wasn't too happy. well, we, many years later to

another first lady -- we come many years later to another first lady, florence harding who is the very first first lady to cast a ballot to vote for her own husband as president of the united states. yes, the 19th amendment has passed. and cynthia, we are going to follow it do because they were on the same ticket. and this is -- you have to forgive us. it is not about the presidents. it is about the ladies. she was the vice president's wife, but she was to secede mrs. harding into the white house. can you please talk about the campaign a little bit and how and a time when women were not supposed to be out in front, and they weren't, mrs. harding was it true that she rather knew that women would kind of be instrumental? is that safe to say to echo> i -- to say?

>> i think it is very safe to say. all three of these women were in the same administration. mrs. hoover, the wife of herbert hoover, he is the secretary of commerce in the harding administration. so all three of them knew each other and were linked in that harding administration. mrs. harding, of course, is reluctantly put in the place of campaigning for her husband. so she says. as she is not enthused about him running for president at first but once he decides that throw his hat in the ring, she is at 110%. and she really demonstrated that through the campaign. she was comfortable with the press. because she considered herself to be a newspaper woman. she wasn't a writer for the newspaper, as her husband was, but she knew all the newspaper

editors, she knew the reporters at a lot of different newspapers, she absolutely thought it was her business as much as it was her husband's. she knew all the slang, the lingo of the newsroom. so she could talk they easily with the press. and by 1920, you really have the press stepping up. and we had news we -- reel footage, newspaper reporters are working out of the press house which was built especially for the press r and to theear of the harding home -- press at the rear of the harding home. wouldn't we like to have that today, a three-month presidential campaign? >> [laughter] >> so she gave interviews, but she didn't call them interviews. she chatted, she says, with the newspaper reporters. saying she did not want to be quoted, but knowing all the time she would be. and that was ok because she knew

how to play the game. it would have been unseemly if she had gone out in front and culture own news conference. that would have been undermining her husband. so she goes around the back door a little bit. sure, i will chat with you. her weight until last, she knew how to play the game. she was not someone who is nit in real knife -- life. she played the game. but at other times, she could play up the other parts of her life. like all of these women, they are complicated, multilayered women. and she could talk the business game. she said i love working women because i did it. she knew what that felt like. during the time between her two marriages with her young son she did try to support herself and giving cano lessons.

and it didn't work for a well. she knew about that loneliness. she knew about that heavy responsibility. she could identify with those women and they could identify with her. and with this whole new contingent of voters, the women voters in the 1920's, she felt this a very vital role very adequately in relating to those women voters. and bringing them into the game. she thought it was important for them to know about politics and government. she is right there, front and center. >> thank you. said the, a very different, very opposite in the way. what was horrible, if any? -- what was her role, if any check of -- any? >> there was no governor's mansion in boston, so even

though a friend of calvin coolidge said, i will buy you a brownstone, i will put in 32 servants, i will set to all up can you just moved to boston? and grace should be released to entertain and help you with your will as governor. and calvin coolidge said, no that is beyond her means and we will not do that. so when it came to the vice presidency, grace did not campaign. again, she stayed home. and calvin did a little campaigning, since the harding's were on their front porch. and then when it came to calvin running in his own right, their son had just that. and i will be telling you about that a little bit later. so, there was not a whole lot of -- [indiscernible] but thomas edison, buyers done, -- byerstone, all came to visit. i don't know how many of you

have been to plymouth, vermont. when they came to town they talked and grace coolidge was right there talking with these folks and talking about politics. so she seems to have come into her own a little bit in this time period, and then when they did win and went back to the white house, she had a little bit more of a role. in terms of campaigning, i would say this. william allen white said, when looking at the campaign, one flag, one country, one conscious, one wife, and never more than three words will do calvin all of his life. >> [laughter] >> and in the "washington post" article said, mrs. coolidge is really dollar smile is the greatest political asset. >> there we go. we would agree with that. and in that, correct me if i'm wrong, but of the panelists here, the hoovers were not political. they do not have a political background. is that truthful to say?

yet, these brilliant people -- were running for president. >> the interesting thing is that hoover did attempt to run for the president in 1920. and there was a campaign that was written, if my memory serves me correctly, by vernon kellogg, a friend of the hoovers, and lou oversaw the writing and editing. so then when the selection of harding was made, being good republicans, and loyal to the party, the hoovers obviously stepped back and supported harding. but the hoovers' loyalty was named because he was named secretary of commerce and the harding administration and held that position through both the harding and the coolidge administrations. their politics was of the covert

type. instead of the overt type. so they were working the relationships and the connections behind the scenes. so when -- once quilish announced that he was not going to run bird rose to the top pretty quickly as the top candidate. and once the nomination was secure, as i artie mentioned this was a very well-traveled couple and very comfortable traveling. so they hopped a train. and many times, it would stop and they would come out of the back and wave to people. lou would say a few words, birds would give his speech, and they would go on. she was an advisor, monitoring with the press was saying about him and keeping the two sons abreast of what was going on. so she was active and likely more active than her two immediate predecessors. i would just piggyback on what

we have said about florence harding being the first -- first lady to be able to cast a vote. we have to realize we are just now to the third election. where women are given the opportunity to vote. and we are just beginning to see changes in the role that women are playing in candidate selection and being delegates to the national convention. so there is a lot going on under the radar that we sort of need to keep in mind when we look at the political involvement of these women. >> they really are paving the way. >> very much. >> ok, ladies, we have to talk about it fashion. let me get right now to the campaign because actually and truthfully, let's be honest, the first impression we sometimes get of a candidate cost wife is -- candidate's wife is at the

convention or on the campaign trail and it kind of sets the tone. mrs. kennedy once said, in private, referring to her gorgeous ensembles as her state clothes. it was much more casual in private life than anyone ever realized it these ladies had to have -- and these ladies had to have it. i think i'm going to start with cynthia because mrs. coolidge, she was younger, 40 some years old, a fashion plate. a beautiful woman. and was of wonderful -- kind of like dolly madison. she was the foil for calvin. how much did that physiology play for her? >> well, the fashions of the day were quite something. this was the boring 1920's, folks.

we have lepers and shorter skirts -- flappers and shorter skirts, and your arms show. i know we are all hearing about michelle obama letting her arms show, but grace did a little bit of that. her husband was very concerned -- with being -- >> her are not cool -- her official portrait -- >> that is right. and i have just been back to plymouth vermont and looked at some of her gowns and some of her purses and so on. and i did know from reading her letters that she made her own dresses at the white house. but calvin did not like this. he said that his two frumpy -- too frumpy. as grace said, i think it is the happy secret to married life, you have to dress good to please one's husband.

and the social secretary said i have never known any man more interested in his wife's clothes than mr. cool it. and the more elaborate her dresses were, the better he liked it. so, i have just seen to magnificent gowns. one is all gold. and these were ordered from garfinkel's. of course, stern was a great friend. maybe he gave them a discount. and then she had a beautiful code. on the back of it as a peacock in gold and blue, all the way down the back. these are very, very nice. but she didn't worry too much about her clothing. but since she didn't give interviews, they did take a lot of pictures of her. she was happy to pose and that is how the nation knew a lot about her. and calvin wanted her to wear something different every day. i don't know how they could do

that, but he said that is what -- where we are going to spend our money. >> i like that kind of guy. >> [laughter] >> well, fortunately or unfortunately, this photograph of lou in her girl scout uniform, there is a quote by someone unattributed that says that this is the only way he has ever remembered lou and that is she always wore her girl scout uniform. and that is fortunate in one respect because it was great promotion for the girl scouts. not so great because he was quite a fashion plate. if any of you particularly you women, have ever noticed the magazines, you will notice there was always a cover of a first lady at least in all of our lifetimes. the first lady to be photographed for "folk" magazine -- "vogue" magazine was lou

hoover. so she was actually quite fashion conscious. she designed a lot of her own clothing. she loved color, she loved fabrics. there are some gorgeous gowns that are in storage at the hoover library with gold metallic and silver metallic spreads -- threads woven in to bouquets and other very expensive fabrics. and i contacted a fashion historian and ask about that, and she said these were highly fashionable garments and designs at the time. lou wore a lot of velvet for the gowns that she wore for state dinners. but when the price of cotton dropped, in 1931, she ordered a gallon of calico -- gown of

calico made for the state dinner for the officials from the department of agriculture and the department of labor in february of 1932. do her best to try to promote the cotton industry. and she was assessed by the society editor for not wearing either velvet or satin. >> -- [indiscernible] >> well, florence comes into the white house at age 62. she is well aware that she is a lot older than grace. and she dresses what is described as very appropriate for her age. she wears a lot of great, lilac -- grey, lilac. she likes clothes. when warren was in the senate she spent quite a bit of money on clothes. but when she entered the white house, her -- she -- she has a

contradiction here. she still knows she needs to dress like a first lady and she says, even in letters to her daughter in law, that the public expects her to change her clothes several times during the day or she would get criticism she knows, if she had the same thing on in the morning as she did at a function later in the afternoon. so she has to have this wardrobe. by this time, though, in the white house, her kidney disease makes it hard for her to change clothes several times a day. physically difficult for her. so clothes don't have as much meaning for her in the white house as they did in the senate years. she was asked by a woman journalist, she liked get -- to give preference to, what is your opinion on the length of skirts? they were creeping up. they wanted to know, specifically, what would you tell these young girls across the country who have skirts

almost up to their knees? and she said, i am not going to even utter a comment about that except to their mothers. >> [laughter] >> that was pretty smart. >> her skirt like tended to be just a few inches above the tops of her shoes. because she is mindful of her age and she has swollen ankles. because of her kidney disease. >> ok. >> now, when she goes into the white house, there is all this fuss made about the harding blue. she has a gallon made an harding blue and there is all this description -- gown made an harding blue and there is all this description how it is not quite what real blue. it is in between electric blue and, you know, i don't know. there was also a marion blue, which was a navy.

there was also a florence lavender. and these colts were being made in these colors -- clothes were being made in these colors. grace could come at the same time, she had a veil designed, the grace coolidge avail in navy blue. -- vaeil in navy blue. you could just like your first lady or presidential life, i guess. a big fuss is made about this. but she is going to cover her arms, usually. again, mindful of her age. she is great to just appropriately. she does get a little bit of criticism from the washington society pages about being a tad on the funky side. but by and large, women across america think she is just just kind. >> it was liked, it was very possible -- popular. ladies, i kind of went to combine these next peers.

i want to make sure we get in every question. you can take this anywhere you want to go. but this has to do with the press, the relationship with the press, the public and private persona of each, and how each coped that way, which kind of goes into their partnerships somewhat with their husbands on how they supported them and policies with how did world politics -- or how did world events shape what happened? i would like to start with you because we were talking about this. >> yeah. >> i mean, lou hoover is just mind blowing. really. i'm not kidding. this is a woman who spoke mandarin chinese. she was, at the time of the boxer rebellion, she had no fear. the chinese were hiding out in a little common where they were staying and lou is the one going

out and getting the supplies and her tires being rated with bullets on her bicycle. >> and then she writes to a friend and says you missed all the excitement. [laughter] >> she has traveled to country after country. she is an organizer in london, you mentioned this. if anybody should have succeeded, it should have been these self-made couples. they were wealthy and generous to a fault. here we have the press going along with how they are using the press or not being used. the public is seeing them, not seeing them. and will defense or -- world events, or maybe something else interfering and changing the road that the couples took. can you start that off? i know that is a lot to go on, what it is kind of tied in. >> the hoovers inherited an extremely booming economy, which will hear about when we talk

about florence and grace. the roaring 1920's were also a time of enormous prosperity. and when herbert hoover comes into office in 1929, part of what he says in his inaugural speech is that he has great optimism for the country. and there is just no hint, at least in the hoover horizon that -- the waters underneath maybe a little bit troubled. so there was a bit of a stock market crash on october 23rd or 24th. and it is giving an inkling that there is going to be some problems. then the day that we now refer to as black tuesday, october 29 1929 hits, and the stock market tanks. and you have to understand that after coming out of these years after met his prosperity, it is really difficult, at first, to determine whether or not this is

just a blip on the economic radar screen, or if this is the beginning of a problem. of course, as we know, as we had the benefit of 20/20 hindsight it was the beginning of a very severe problem. it becomes very clear in the 1930's that the economy is in very dire straits, with the depression that probably hadn't been experienced in most of the lifetimes of those people. probably the last time there had been a depression of that's a very would have been -- that severity would have been doing the harassment, cleveland years. so the white house was scrambling on how they were going to deal with this. and hoover is dealing with the very uncooperative congress. there were several different reasons for that lack of cooperation. he is tying to get them to pass a variety of release measures. hoover was not a republican, in the sense that we think of many republicans today where as you

want to reduce the amount of government involvement in what is going on, hoover was very much someone who said find ways for government to be beneficial and let's facilitate that. he had a lot of enemies in congress for a lot of different reasons. and there was not that support. he formed what was called the president's emergency committee for employment, which got this acronym peace. if any of you ever read the story -- i forget it's now, but it is about the dozen children, some of you may remember that. "cheaper by the dozen." she was an engineer. and a close friend of lou's. and lou recruited lillian to try and find employment for women. lou used to relationship with the girl scouts because she had been national president of the

girl scouts, she got on the radio and she encouraged girl scouts to look for ways that they could help and volunteer in their communities. lou used the radio to try encourage volunteerism amongst communities, for people to help one another and support one another during this difficult time. and what is lesser known about her and really wasn't known until after her papers became opened was that she was privately supporting people who would come to her attention. as my colleagues appear are well aware from looking at the correspondence, everything go -- every single first lady gets memo -- letters from the public. and lou was no exception. she had enough of a radar to figure out what was legitimate and what needed to be passed on to a staff member to handle. she got a particularly interesting letter. she had a network of people all across the country and should pass that led to somebody in that geographical area.

and basically she was asking them, would you look this person up? and do it anonymous mostly -- anonymously, but let me know if this is legitimate. lou was privately sending money to a variety of people, particularly women across the country, anonymously through these conduits to give support including a lot of african-american women to help them fund college educations. and much of this about lou did not come into the public arena until after her papers were opened up in 1984. to get to the press question that is really the downfall of both hoovers. their press secretary bags most of them to go public with many of their private philanthropic acts because bert had been an orphan and he would periodically invite children to the white house and just let his hair down, so to speak, and play ball with them and entertain them and

allow them to have meals and enjoy themselves in the white house. he was a doing at the -- doing it as president. and particularly when the 1932 campaign started to get really heated, there was just pressure on the part of their press secretary, let us to some photographs, hold some press conferences, let people see this human side of you because people perceive both of you of being -- as being very stiff and stuck up and rich and not caring. the press secretary knew the whole other side. and both of them said no. bert had been raised a quaker, lou had taken on a lot of the quaker teachings and they both said, no, we are not doing this for press. we are doing it because it is the right thing and we don't want to explain the systems two. in the end, their decision not to play to the demands of the press played a pretty significant role in the public pass perception -- public

possible -- public's perception. >> thank you. >> grace coolidge? >> basically, when the college's came in to the white house -- coolidges came into the white house, there was a. of mourning -- p there was aeriod of mourning for 90 days -- there was a period of mourning for 90 days. remember, this is an interwar time period between world war i and world war ii. so they were cutting back on the budget, scaling back the navy. it was not time to engage the world. it was isolationism. grace carried on florence's devotion to the veterans and having musicals with them as guests and visiting walter beat

hospital, visiting the veterans there. she wanted to highlight american music, -- she followed florence's lead on having wonderful music of the white house. but say coolidges didn't really stick with the times. she and her husband were in an age of excess. she was warm and gracious, and that was very important. that gave stability to the nation. when the flood of 1927 came, it did devastate vermont and she and her husband toured the state afterwards. they waved at people and their train stopped many times. at one time, calvin coolidge went out and said, vermont is the state i love. and gave a wonderful homily of what he loved vermont because it is where he got his bride, grays. -- grace. and grace turned to the

newspaperman and said, did you get that? that is really good. and she was right. she also devoted herself to death children, since she had taught -- deaf children, since she had taught deaf children. when she came back from europe, calvin sent a destroyer to pick them up. i thought that was kind of wonderful. and also the coolidges had introduced their morals, so we know what came out of that was a marriage of charles lindbergh and anne. and they were very happy about that. in terms of the press grace did not try to cultivate any kind of press relation. but she allowed herself to be photographed. she did say to the press, leave my boys alone. the children of the first family , and we have seen that i think continually, should be left alone. but she was happy to pose at

about 12:00 noon on the steps take questions, and pose with people who want to do visitor. she said she was a national hugger. she wanted to hug everybody. just as calvin would take his jokes and be a little bit more remote, she wanted to be the warm one. her radiance came across. and i think the nation did appreciate that. >> what about the press lady herself? >> [laughter] >> well, i think we have to start with the time period that the hard things arrived at the white house. old or one, still very fresh on everybody's mind. nearly everything in the hiding administration relates to that. as far as policy and everything that they are doing. some kind of a reaction to the experience of the soldiers or the women in this country during the war. and think of the wilson

administration, particularly at the end when, you know, the public didn't know how ill he was. but the white house is silent during the last couple of years of the wilson administration. there is no entertaining. and a lot of that is due to wartime, but it is also due to president wilson's health. so, one of the things that i think florence was most proud of is saying, you know, and she said this very early after the election, even to close friends was, i really want to open the gates of the white house as soon as i get there. it is time for the people to be allowed back in. and she believed that fervently. as did warn, too, that it was the people's house. and the president's first order of business was issuing that proclamation that, yes, the gates are to be open and people

can come on the lawn. a lot of the white house staff thought that was really out of line. and they said, well, the blinds are open. and florence famously said, let them look in. it is their house. she had the marine corps band play concerts every saturday afternoon. and as a member of the public, you could just come on the grounds and spread a blanket and listen to them. she thought that that was her job. as first lady, coming out of that were experienced, coming out of the wilson years, that was her way of bringing back normalcy. florence working on the policies , bringing back at normalcy to the american people. and that meant bringing light back to the white house. she immediately has 60 vases of

flowers filled every day. flowers is her communication device. there are no cell phones then. and she used the white house -- green houses -- and because of her love for flowers, she says, well that is going to bring color in the white house. that is the way for me to express my care for your. if she sent to a box of flowers and she did to just ordinary people -- sometimes people, as cindy was saying, people would read to her with her problems -- their problems. sometimes there would be a windows messenger bringing a box of files to the door. and a whole neighborhood would say, wait a minute, you got something from the white house because he that would make someone feel special. and she did that quite a that. more than anybody realized.

and, as far as the press, she was an open door policy, really. she, you know, she was in summer is more open with the public than she was in revealing her own life. her private life. and, again, she thought this was her duty to do this. she would often, when the public was taking a tour of the rooms, she would come down the stairs, to the shock of everybody, and say, i will guide you through. how thrilled these people were when that happened. of course, her favorite -- famous handshaking. when they would stand in line sometimes for hours, shaking hands. she would have her gloves on, but sometimes her hand would become so swollen she said, forgive me, i'm going to shake with my left hand. and then have to switch gloves sometimes because her hands were so swollen they would have to

cut the gloves off. and this is a woman, again, that kidney disease who should not be standing on her feet for that long anyway. but she says, i don't want to disappoint anybody. i am going to say until that last person in line comes through. it is not a token just a for her. it is not, i will put in my appearance for five minutes and then i'm out of here. she is going to stay until that last person comes through. and she is not going to just shake their hand, she is quick to say something meaningful to you. she is going to ask, how are you? and she rates until -- wait until your respons. -- respond. i think that does come through and i don't think she is given enough credit for that. the president, everyone knows he has that very outgoing personality. where what you saw was what you got. but florence often is -- is given the impression that she is

aloof. that she is rather shrewish, and she is not. she is different from her husband, but she engages with people in different ways. >> i have always thought she was fabulous. what i have read about her, and never thought -- >> i didn't, either. >> i want to combine two more, if you don't mind. before we get to the questions which i hope you have. we have been talking here, there are stresses involved certainly, in being locked out of normal life into a next ordinary position. we are normal americans, as are these ladies. and the second level has to be terrible. i want to go to how they relieved their stress, but also, if you would preface it, so we

could lighten it up a little, we know they had pets, some of them loved sports, we already talked about florence and her music. is it true that mrs. harding i'm sorry, mrs. hoover played the piano in the private quarters? is that a true thing? >> i don't remember, but she was definitely a lover -- enter your reason why they were therefore times, there was a gentleman who worked with, i believe, the steinway company who is responsible -- had insinuated himself into the various administrations of the white house to secure the performers for white house social event. and that is likely why he was therefore times because -- there four times because this gentleman walked towards with lou. lou wanted american musicians.

and he was not always willing to promote american musicians and would write her letters explaining why that particular person she wanted wasn't that the same caliber as perhaps a non-american board virtuoso that he was attempting -- born virtuoso that he was attempting to promote. >> one of the visitors to the white house said, he looks like a convict. but plays like an angel. >> [laughter] >> well, you could lighten it up with all these other things that certainly they used. i want to go to each of them with they had on the public stage. awful for them. i will let anyone of you start that sad affair that wants to take it on first. and then go right to stress release, if you will. >> i will take it on because it has happened so rarely in white

house history. the loss of your child. and calvin and grace had this happen during their time at the white house. the two boys john and calvin junior, played tennis and he loves tennis with the assistant white house position and i think it person from the secret service. after that, young calvin, had been wearing socks, had a blister and he really didn't tell anybody about it. it seemed to move into an infection. by the time the white house physicians saw him, it was too late. and already, the infection had moved up its leg -- his leg. within just a few days, calvin junior dies. at the white house. and both the parent were absolutely devastated. and so was his brother. i interviewed the brother because john cole at, the surviving son, lived quite a long time, into his 90's.

but the whole family was extremely upset. grace carried it this off with -- she reminds me of kennedy's behavior after the assassination of her husband. grace coolidge and her husband have people come to the white house and have a service in north hampton. then the 16-year-old is buried in plymouth, vermont. and grace had to move on because the campaign was coming and with her faith, she was very religious, and with her joy in life, she carries on. i really think the president could not have carried on without this a very strong woman. so it is very important to note the role of a first lady when tragedy strikes of this nature. >> is this when her interest in

baseball really began? >> yes, her interest start. she did enjoy her baseball. she listened on the radio. she had her own booth -- when the senators played in washington and when she eventually went to boston with the red sox. some people called her the first lady of baseball because of her interest in it and also how much the players adored her. >> and we see right behind her she has her dark with her. she dressed her dogs up. >> more than that, she and her husband had many pets. they were given a raccoon for thanksgiving dinner. and they did not wish to eat rebecca. >> [laughter] >> so they trained her to cope with life at the white house. this is the only time i have really read in my studies that

the staff was not happy. rebecca jumped in the top and through the soap out. rebecca was difficult, so they got ruben tuesday stay with rebecca, another raccoon. that was even worse. >> [laughter] >> then he sits down and draws an outside house for them to live in. that doesn't work, either. eventually, rebecca has to be given to israel. so that was so cute because rebecca was brought to the easter egg rolling would take the dogs and make little easter bonnet for them. they did love the pets. for the president, it was a real relaxation. lucinda: can we talk to the loss of a husband? sherry: i like to start with the relaxation part.

and it will pull the bottom out. florence had a lot of different interests, should played the piano beautifully and she would often play the end of a perfect day, she was known for that signature song. she loved tennis, sports, very interested in history and political affairs herself. she always had been. she loved to use the white house yacht, the mayflower. she found that very relaxing. again, i don't like to keep going back to the kidney disease, but on days when she felt good, that was a good place to entertain close friends and relax a little bit. she also, i think, relaxed a lot because she invited different people to the white house read she was very interested in hearing your views.

this was in the days when he was still leave a calling card. she would pick one at random and invite them for to you that afternoon. it could be anybody. she is described as always listening to people very intently. she always said she looked in their eyes to see their soul. that was her way of knowing if you were being genuine with her. she would always class per hands around her knees and lean forward and intently pay attention to what you are saying. that was even a former relaxation for her. she likes mah-jongg, should like to play bridge, she loves to go horseback riding as a younger woman, but didn't get to in the white house. she loves to write in automobiles and like to go as fast as possible. likes to go motoring, as they called it. her tragedy, we saw a reputed again with the kennedys is

husband dies in office. the ironic part always is that her health was always considered to be much worse than his. they didn't publicly know then that their president suffered from congestive heart failure before he took a very famous trip across the country to the western states in alaska. she had nephritis, kidney disease. she had a couple of scares during the trip, but it amazed me that she even endeavored to take the trip. i think a lot of us if we had a chronic condition like that would say i think i will stay close to home. she says we are going to alaska, let's go. she loved to travel. she had a sense of adventure and that feeling that i know i have bad health, but i'm going to cram as much as i can into my life. she exemplified that.