that will do it for today on the "washington journal." see you back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. have a great day. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] -- >> c-span live programming got underway about half an hour ago with the look at 2014 elections with charlie cook, speaking at american university. you can watch his remarks live on c-span2. join us later for more from q&a, levin talked about

modernizing conservatism. here is a brief look. >> in 2001, before september 11, one of the big issues that the new president faced was whether and how the federal government should fund embryonic stem cell research that involves the destruction of human embryos. to all of us, this means of the taking of a human life. whether it was moral to spend money on that public research. the president made a decision that said you could spend money on cells that already existed but not new ones, you would not be using federal dollars to encourage the further destruction of human embryos. he said these kinds of issues are going to stay with us, they are not going away and we need help in thinking about them. he called together the bioethics commission, a group of 18

scholars, almost all of them academics. they would come together several times a year and consider a bioethical question with how it -- public policy applications and provide advice to the administration and the country in the form of report. they were reports on cloning and stem cell research. on enhancement technologies, enhancing human abilities. they wrote reports on caring for the aged, dementia and other issues. the council did very important work. long run.rtant in the it's direct effect on public policy is hard to judge. the president called the council after he had made the stem cell decision, they did not shave that. -- shape that. their work was useful in a number of ways and certain junctures where those questions were central.

there are more important influence is in the reports they did. levin, watch the entire interview tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> we are in the gallery of the light catcher building at the museum. alpine at vanishing ice, and polar landscapes and are. -- in art. the purpose is to highlight the rich cultural heritage of the planet's frozen frontiers, the alpine, arctic, and antarctica. this is a photograph of the sheet by ace german artist from 2008. it is exhibited side-by-side by -- fromograph

easter greenland -- from east greenland in 2006. people understand the horns of -- people understand the importance of ice for the planet. many are unaware that there is a collective consciousness in western culture about the regions. it was important within the context of climate change to let people know that these regions are fundamental to our identity. >> more from the whatcom museum this weekend as c-span looks at the history and literary life of billing -- bellingham, washington. ♪

>> over the next two hours, the public and private lives of the first ladies of the 20th century. from season two of "first ladies, influence and image." conscientious about her family's well-being, first lady edith roosevelt bought a family refuge outside of washington called pine knot. >> she sought a place for rest and repairs for the president, close enough to d.c. to get out here as often as needed, but far enough away there was wilderness. she bought the cottage and 15 acres. her renovation she prescribed, $280, the deed is written in her name. the renovation she did include this porch, which she called her piazza, and specified that they be supported by the untrimmed cedar posts. these are the original, most of

what you see is original. the color of the house now is the color that it was when the roosevelts were here. the interior is completely unfinished, they are bare, because it edith wanted them to be left that way. she wanted a total rustic feel, just as the porch, and natural in every sense. this room was originally divided into two, and edith opened it up into a lodge-like room. she wanted the family to be here together. they cooked their meals by the fireplace. generally t.r. would do the cooking and edith would boil the water for the tea and the children would get what was needed for getting the meals together. when edith saw the cottage for the first time, there were no fireplaces. the cottage was unfinished. these fireplaces were done to her specification. she designed these wonderful

little stone ledges into the fireplace to provide functionality and interest. the stairs were originally in the center of the room. they kind of took up the whole thing. edith specified, she moved them to the side for two reasons. one is, she wanted the bottom floor to be an open room. the other is, she wanted to create a room upstairs. this is the tiny room that edith -- created for ethol. it had a door so that ethol could shut off her brothers from entering the room. his is where edith and t.r. slept. this was the master bedroom. you can see the light streaming through the boards, so it is no better appointed than any of the other rooms. this is the boys room. all four boys would have slept here when they were here. it also has a wonderful mantel, and even better is it has the stone supports that edith would have designed. this was a family place, unique

for the roosevelts, because sagamore hill was a place where t.r. had people and a hub of activity. this was the one place where it was private family time. the roosevelts made it very clear they do not want anybody here besides family. >> sagamore hill was their primary residence. the first 5, 6 years they were married, they lived here. they lived here year-round. after the white house, they live d here year-round again, even though it was hard to heat in the winter. it was the center of their life. it was where their hearts were. edith ran the household, not only sagamore hill, but all of the places they lived. in albany and washington dc, she managed the family's accounts. she managed the family's investments. what we have here is an account

book. this is an example of the annual accounts, from 1891, i think it is, and basically every family member is listed. then she kept track of the expenses she paid for each family member every month of the year. but it is also broken down into grocery bills, what she would buy from the butcher, what she might pay for a plumber to do repairs. she counted every penny and kept very good track of what the household was spending. sagamore hill was different than earlier presidential homes because it was never a commercial venture. they did not try to be self-sufficient. what edith wanted from sagamore hill was basically to offset the expense of living there. so they raised hay and alfalfa and rye, grains they could feed their horses and reduce the cost of having horses. they had a lovely garden that

produced everything from corn to strawberries. they had an arbor with eight different kinds of grapes, strawberry and blueberry fields. the idea was to both feed the family and the staff that lived on site and also reduce the costs of maintaining a property like this. we are holding the book, the sagamore hill guest book. and people would come up to see t.r. and edith, they would sign their names just like they were visiting the white house. it is a casual list, not as formal as the white house, but usually there would have been politicians or government officials. even family signed the book. here in 1904, or anna roosevelt visited, and that is t.r.'s older sister, and douglas robinson, who was karen's husband. that is a family visit that day.

there are signatures from them. so sometimes, i mean, i don't think these people signed their name. i think edith went back and made note of who was visiting, with a wonderful illustration done by one of the visitors, "showing hope at sunset" is what the illustration says. it was a wonderful way for the family to keep track of who went to see them. when their family and friends were here and what they were up to while they were visiting. edith roosevelt came to sagamore hill in 1887 as a young bride. she lived here until 1948, the end of her life. this was done in the 1920s. it is a charcoal sketch done at sagamore hill by john singer sargent, the famous american portrait painter. edith was obviously a widow in the 1920's. she traveled a great deal in that time, visiting foreign

lands and her children, just a -- just basically seeing the world. she spent a lot of time away from sagamore hill. i think fulfilling her curiosity. she was always interested in the world. after looking at it in books for years, she got onto boats and planes and automobiles and went to see it. what we have here are two of the edith roosevelt's diplomatic passports. the first was issued in 1919. right after theodore roosevelt's death. her first trip noted in it is to france, where she traveled after two weeks after his death. she went to france to visit the grave of quentin roosevelt, who had been killed the previous july. she wanted to see his grave, dedicate a marker to him. this later passport is from the 1930's. it is wonderful because it has a lovely picture of the edith, but it also has stamps from her travels to europe, portugal,

france, italy, and south america, el salvador, mexico, brazil. it shows some of the breadth of her interest in the world and the effort that she went to to get there. >> first lady helen taft's long-lasting influence is seen every spring and washington, d.c., because she was the driving force in acquiring 3000 cherry blossom trees from japan. >> when helen taft became first lady in 1909, she was addressing having cherry trees planted around tidal basin. the tidal basin was a mess. there was a speedway where people live race their carriages at 15 miles per hour. there was really nothing to draw people or make it a beautiful place for people to gather and enjoy nature. helen taft wanted to change that. so one of the first thing she did when she became first lady was to ask for trees to be planted. they were requested from nurseries in pennsylvania.

but the japanese heard about her interest and they decided to give 2000 trees to the united states in her honor, from the city of tokyo to the city of washington, as a gift honoring the american support of japan war.e russo-japanese 2000 trees arrived in january of 1910. everyone was shocked. the trees that were sent were older and very tall and bug infested. it was decided they would have to be burned. president taft himself made the decision they would have to be burned. the japanese were very accommodating and understanding and decided to send 3000 trees , which arrived in 1912. it is those that we still have a few of around the tidal basin. this is the north section of the tidal basin, with a view of the washington monument, where many of the original trees have been planted. you can tell the older ones are wider and they have gnarly trunks, overarching branches, typical of the dominant type of

cherry tree around the basin. this is where helen taft would have planted the first cherry blossom tree that came in the shipment in 1912. these cherry blossom trees would not be here if not for helen taft. will many people were enchanted all things -- with all things japanese, it was due to her the trees are here today. >> the smithsonian has very few pieces that belonged to helen taft. but the piece we do have is i think the most significant, actually one of the most significant pieces in the first lady's collection. we are going to open it up for you. helen taft was a woman of firsts. helen taft was a woman of combinations. this to me symbolizes all of that. this is helen taft's inaugural gown. she had the dress embroidered in the philippines to wear for the inaugural ball. the inauguration was very important to helen taft.

she saw it as her husband coming into the white house and herself coming into the white house. it was a very ceremonious occasion for her. she marked this occasion, not only her entry into the white house but really then added it as a mark for first ladies of the united states when she became the first first lady to to theher inaugural gown smithsonian institution. she happened to be the first lady when the founders of the first ladies collection were putting the collection together. they met helen taft at a lunch commemorating dolly madison. they asked her if she would be interested in the exhibit they were putting together on first ladies. they were trying to acquire something from every first lady, every presidential administration. mrs. taft offered to lend and then donate her inaugural gown.

she is really the founding patron in many ways of the first ladies collection and established the tradition first ladies would donate their inaugural down to the collection. every first lady after helen who had and inaugural gown has donated it to the smithsonian institution. >> she loves to travel. when howard taft got a chance to be chairman of the philippine commission, she jumped at the chance, encouraging him to take the job. they took the family into the philippines, where taft was later governor general of the philippines. she had a chance to travel the world. she also introduced her children to the travel. she learned different languages. banquets were a big thing. in fact, before she and the children, william howard taft cabled about some of the banquets, and mrs. taft like to have some of the banquets and incorporate the military people, the philippine people, and these are programs from those. the philippine people loved william howard taft and his family.

they treated them just like equals. mrs. taft invited them to dinners, they attended a lot of the celebrations at the luneta, where she like to see the bands play. entertainment was a big part of the things she did over there while she was in the philippines. we are about to go into the collection storage area, where we keep some of our more valuable artifacts as well as things that are not on display. as we come in, we see this philippine chest. mrs. taft collected a lot of philippine items, chairs, furniture, and this is a storage chest they bought while they were over there. it was one of the items they picked up while they were there. what i have here are some photographs from some ladies in the philippines. they took some formal photographs here.

and they wrote inscriptions, gave them to mrs. taft. "best wishes, december 22, 1903, manila, philippines." it goes to illustrate the admiration that the philippine people had for the taft family, especially mrs. taft as she worked to make them feel integrated in the greatest society, make them feel equal to the other people, inviting them to parties, putting on musicals, those types of things, helping with education. so they really love the tafts, and to this day we still get people coming from the philippines who have that connection with the taft family and the things they did while they were there. >> while they were courting, first lady ellen and president wilson wrote fervently to each other expressing their undying love. >> here on the shelves are the correspondence between woodrow

and ellen, love letters, and it has to be the largest collection of love letters between any future president and future first lady. these letters were sealed in a trunk when the wilson's moved to prospect house and 1902, and the truck was not open until the 1960's. it is a time capsule shedding extraordinary light on the wilsons' life together. woodrow is living in baltimore, going to johns hopkins. he writes in january, 1894, "my own darling, when you come to my study and kiss me as i sit at my desk, it is as if this attachment seems a force of my mind. darling, i trust it is not wrong to worship you as i do. you are the presiding genius of both my mind and heart, and in that fact insists the happiness and the strength of your own woodrow."

i think in this letter we see the extent to which woodrow wilson not only loved ellen, but acknowledged in this very clear way his intellectual debt to her. in how many cases can you say that, that the first lady and husband, that he is stepping forward and saying i acknowledge you are the source of so much of not only my happiness but intellectual development? you introduced me to literature, to wordsworth, to browning. they would sit together on the campus and they would read wordsworth together sitting on , the grass. he acknowledges this important role that ellen plays in his life. she writes back to him, "how can i thank you, dearest, for the sweet things that you say in this letter? how happy it makes me when you say such sweet things even when i think how unworthy i am of it all. i, too, trust it is not wrong to

worship you as i do. it would be wrong to question it as it would be to breathe. both are inevitable fim to live at all. am, with every breath altogether your own, ellen." often she does not respond to him as exuberantly, because she is somewhat melancholy. this is really delightful. she was so devoted to him. she puts herself second to his needs again and again. throughout their life together. she is serving him, helping him. that was her conception of her role as woodrow wilson's wife. as she is dying in the white house, that tragic summer, august 1914, the world about to enter into a great international convulsion with world war i about to break out, she is dying in the white house and she grabbed the hand of dr. grayson

and whispers to him, "doctor, if i go away, promise me you will take good care of my husband." this was the home of woodrow and ellen wilson from 1902 to 1910. he was president of princeton university. they lived here until he entered politics and became governor of new jersey in 1910. then ran for president and became president in 1912. let's take a look inside. it is in this reception hall that ellen wilson would have greeted many guests that came to prospect, including at the time of woodrow wilson's inaugural in 1902 as president of princeton, she greeted mark twain right here. sun -- the son of the slain abraham lincoln, jpmorgan, and also booker t. washington. all were entertained right here by ellen wilson. this is the reception room.

here in princeton. this is the grand space where ellen would have entertained people who came to the home. it could've been anyone she was entertaining, everyone from visiting foreign ministers to very significant college presidents, all the way down a freshman. she entertained 300 freshmen in this room every fall. ellen wilson is the first 20th-century person to live here, and she strips away a lot of the victorian detail. she tries to make it modern, current. for example, she loved this marble mantel piece from 1850 that was here, but it had decorative roses. she did not like roses. she thought they were too victorian. so she had them chiseled away, keeping the mantle but chiseling off the roses. she also adds heavy detailing, the chair rail and the molding that came up the wall. all of these are original ellen

wilson details that she personally supervised along with the architect. on the second floor of prospect, we are in the private family part of the house with the bedrooms all around. she would recognize these rooms. she would recognize the details. her bedroom around the corner has the original ivory door knob that she would have turned every day. it is these details that bring her very close to us. they make ellen wilson seem quite real and immediate. this is the porch of prospect house. it has been more than a 100 years since they lived here, but it is extraordinarily similar today to how it looked back then, the same beautiful view and lovely garden that ellen wilson designed and would certainly recognize if she came back. set --son family love to to sit out here and have tea. we have records of them having long conversations on this porch, debating everything from is kindergarten a good idea to should women be allowed to vote. they would often sit here in the heat of the summer underneath

the veranda, the same wisteria vine growing across as was growing there in the wilsons' day. ellen wilson enjoyed the architecture of prospect tremendously, dating from 1850. it was lushly victorian. she simplified and tore out some of the victorian so the house -- the victorian details so the house could be more modern and classic. we are in prospect garden here in princeton, new jersey. this is a garden that ellen originally designed when she was the resident from 1902 to 1910. i think here we see the full expression of ellen's aesthetic vision. she is an oil painter, very competent. she knows a lot of the american impressionistic painters of the day. she loves to paint landscapes and as a corollary to that she lays out this beautiful garden at prospect house. she plans cedar trees, roses and

all kinds of flowers. in fact, she loves this garden so much, she hates to leave it when the wilsons enter politics and leave princeton. when ellen wilson is in the white house, she brings the white house gardener back here to this garden at the prospect house and says to the white house gardener, let's re-create the rose section of this garden at the white house. because ellen wilson could look out of her bedroom window at prospect mansion, she could look down and see flowers all day. similarly, she wanted the president of the united states to be able to see roses when he looked out of his window at the white house. of course, this becomes the famous rose garden at the white house. ellen tragically does not live to see the rose garden completed. she is dying in the summer of 1914. she is wheeled out into the space outside of this, in her wheelchair, watching as the gardener works, but does not live to see the completion of

the vision she had for roses blooming at the white house. that is a vision that really begins here at prospect garden in princeton. >> the daughter of a judge, first lady edith wilson grew up in a small rural town of whiteville virginia. >> this is the birthplace and childhood home of the edith wilson. today it looks very much like it did when they lived here from 1866 until 1899. originally, in the 1840s, this was two houses. they were joined together, which connected the upstairs home. the downstairs was used as retail space. the upstairs was the home of the bowlings. this is the original front door to the bowling home. this is where the bowling family would have entered. let me take you inside. this is the birth room of edith bolling wilson, the bedroom of her parents. she was the seventh of 11 children, born to the bollings.

she was one of over 20 family members who lived upstairs in the home. two of the most interesting pieces we have are the bolling cradle, which belonged to the family. the cradle their children would have slept in. the other piece is a child's chair we know was actually here in the home. we can just imagine all of the bolling children sitting in the chair. the cover is original and we are so happy and has not been reupholstered over the years. this is the bedroom of grandmother bolling. we know that edith as a little girl slept in the room with her grandmother. her grandmother was invalid and had back problems. she was quite spoiled by her grandmother. she was her grandmother's favorite. but along with that came the responsibility of being her caregiver. this is the back sleeping porch.

this is where edith would gather with her family, where they would enjoy evenings together. i think one of my favorite pictures is the picture of young edith at age 13. she is actually sitting on a stool in this corner. she has her books in her lap. we are very fortunate to have this picture of her. we see what she is dressed like, we see her books, we see how her hair is fixed. we see her in a place where she was very comfortable and spent a lot of time as a young girl. this is the library of her father, judge bolling. her parents sent her to washington, d.c., to keep her away from an older gentleman that was wishing to court her. they sent her to her sister in washington. there she met and married her first husband, norman, and it really changed her life. >> we have a letter in this box

morgenthau who was , wanting to write a book about his experiences. so he is asking grayson if he can use certain information. he wants to use in the book the information you gave me about president wilson, and you're having come to the conclusion that he should resign and how he was influenced by mrs. wilson to give up this plan. so mrs. wilson was very concerned that her husband would not get better if he did not have something to engage his mind, that he would just deteriorate if he was forced out of the presidency. while president wilson was ill, it has been speculated among historians that mrs. wilson essentially became the president. we have one document here that sheds a little bit of light on that.

it is a telegram from henry morgenthau, the ambassador to turkey, and he is writing to dr. cary grayson, asking if the president has any objections to a citizens meeting to protest against turks being left in control of constantinople. henry morgenthau has been asked to speak at this meeting and he is asking permission, he does not want to embarrass the president, he is asking for advice. at the bottom of the telegram is handwriting that is edith's handwriting. we are familiar enough with her handwriting to recognize it as such. at the bottom she writes, "thinks it well to postpone speaking on such subjects." what we don't know is, did edith take this telegram in two wilson ask his opinion, then write , that, or did she just come to that conclusion herself? the public was very interested and curious to know the condition of wilson's health.

so there were rumors that were rampant in the papers, even congressmen did not know what was going on. they only knew what they read in the papers. after it was all over, cary grayson later wrote a summary of what happened from the time of the stroke into -- until wilson left the white house. on the last page, the decision was made to announce that wilson was suffering from nervous exhaustion. there were no other details given as to what was wrong with him. really, nobody knew the extent of his illness, that he really was not capable of doing anything. "i, dr. grayson, thought it was wise to issue general statements only. further, mrs. wilson, the president's wife, was opposed to any other course." she did not want it to be known that he was really suffering. again, she was protecting her

husband. she wanted him to be able to fulfill his duties as president. she was worried about his legacy. she ultimately was concerned about his health, and she felt if he left the presidency, left the white house, he would just waste away and die. this is woodrow wilson's 1919 presidential limousine. loved writing in this car. she liked finer things. having been married to a jeweler and owned a jewelry store after her first husband passed away. i imagine she relished the luxury of being transported in a car such as this. edith was very independent. she was one of the first women in d.c. to have an electric car. she drove around town in it.

to give you a better sense of her style and fashion i can take you upstairs and show you some clothing that belongs to her. edith wilson was a stylish lady. she was a lady of society and she dressed the part. one of my favorite pieces -- we have photographs of edith wearing this -- the fox still -- the fox stole. it was very fashionable in the early part of the 20th century. a lot of high-society women were -- were these. fur edith would have worn. to go to an evening event. another piece is this black evening dress. this is a perfect example of an evening dress that would have been complemented by one of the furs that she owned. two very special pieces we have

are two gowns. these two are from the 1920's , 1930's. it would've been after wilson passed away. these are not of the wilson. -- of the wilson period, but they did belong to edith. they look rather shapeless hanging on a hanger, but the idea was that the shoulders would've hung and just draped and kind of clung to the body. from this, you can tell that edith was a large woman. broad shouldered, broad chested, rather buxom. fur,these clothing and the we can tell that edith was a member of high society, a woman of fashion. she was very comfortable wearing expensive fabrics, expensive

clothes. she enjoyed going out on the arm of the the president wearing such gowns. >> first lady florence harding played a major role in it -- in her husband's campaign. she managed his contacts and help right public remarks. >> all of the action took place on this very porch here. would speeches, war and would stand- warren on the steps here. they would wave to the crowd who were parading down mount vernon avenue towards the house. this was a perfect backdrop for the campaign. not only did it show the human side of the hardings, the fact they did not live in a mansion, they lived in a very normal house like most of the folks coming to see him speak. they wanted to feature this town as well.

warren himself often said that this campaign was taking main street to the white house. florence was very much a part of the message. she was a visible part of the campaign. she was always near him on the front porch when he was speaking. she gave interviews herself to magazines, especially women's magazines. she alternated between being the savvy politician to being the homebody, the wife, the caretaker of the candidate. she knew how politics works. she knew the different sides of her that would have to be portrayed as part of the campaign in order to make his campaign successful for him. she is not afraid to wade into a crowd. she is not hanging back. she is in the line, shaking hands alongside the president. going through hundreds if not thousands of people. standing there as long as it takes to shake hands and greet

people. we see a florence harding who knows how her husband is going to get to the white house -- through the vote. it is very important politically, but she absolutely believes in the people of the united states. >> every detail is thought-out. you put a lot of energy and a lot of time into those little things that make your house different from your neighbors. this house is really florence's house. all the things in the house -- the stained-glass windows, glass by the front door, parquet floors, tile around the fireplace -- that is all florence. she is bringing her influence of what she has experienced in life into this marriage, into the house. this really is a very, very personal space for them. this key is a very special key.

it is hinged, so it fits in your pocket. it folds up, and that is neat. mr. harding carried this key for almost 40 years. it was the key to his newspaper building, "the marion star." was the official owner of "the marion star," you cannot speak about it without bringing florence into the picture. she manage the books and headed the circulation department for 12 years. it was very much a joint enterprise between the two of them, certainly a sense of pride. it was something that was kind of their baby. i would like to take you into the press house, the museum on our site to other things connected to "the marion star. let me show you what is in here. mrs. harding kept the books that -- at the "star."

this is an accounting book in her handwriting. she's keeping track of the money going in and out. warren worked the editorial side. she is running the business. she's keeping the books, running the circulation department, assembling newsboys and starts home delivery of the newspaper for the first time. so you don't have to come to the newspaper office to buy your newspaper. you can have it tossed on your front porch. also, in this case, we have the timecard stamp from "the marion star." we have a stamp as well. a picture of the building at that time. that does not stand any more. florence harding at a very -- a very businesslike mind. she's a little bit out of step with other women it in her time period because of that. her father was a businessman and taught her about giving

-- keeping books and mortgages and other parts of the business world, things that most women would not have an interest in nor would have anyone taken time to teach them, as well. this sets her up nicely to help warren at the "marion star." he needs help keeping the place afloat. he finds it difficult to hound people to pay their bills. she does not. she does not shy away from that at all. that frees him up to do what he does best, which is the editorial product. the relationship with advertisers in town. all the things he does best. it is a win-win situation for really works and well for the two of them. >> after graduating from the university of vermont, future first lady grace coolidge work at a school for the deaf. it was the place where she met her husband. >> this is the school for the deaf were calvin and grace met for the first time. she was a teacher living in a dorm here. he was a tenant on a boarding

house on the property. we are standing outside the building she lived in as a teacher. she lived up here in the second floor of this building. in the dormitory. we are standing in a courtyard area. there would have been a flower garden. roses that she would have tended to in her free time. where right beside us is calvin coolidge lived as a aarder while working as lawyer in northampton. his room was up there. he would've stood there watching grace in the flower garden. she caught a glimpse of him standing there watching her in his undershirt. he would watch her tended the rose garden. >> we are now in grace's bedroom. this window is where she would have looked out and seen calvin in the next building. she would have put a camera and

this window to signify that the parlor room below them was able -- was available for them to meet up in. we are now in the parlor room of the dormitory that grace coolidge lived in. in this room is where calvin and grace, when they were courting, would meet up and be able to sit and talk and have some time together. despite him being in his 30's and her in her 20's, and they had to abide by the rules of the school and needed to meet somewhere where they could be chaperoned. they would sit and talk and get to know each other. >> plymouth notch is the birthplace and boyhood home of calvin coolidge. he was born in a little house attached to the back of the store that his father operated. when he was four, he moved across the road to the building we now know as the coolidge homestead. this was an old-fashioned town for many americans of the

roaring 1920's. quite even back then. grace loved to will and would go down to the cemetery, especially after her son calvin junior died. to visit the gravesite there. she did a lot of knitting and other types of handwork was you -- while she was here. she just enjoyed the country air. she was a burlington girl, grew up in the biggest town in vermont. when she was growing up her house had electricity and plumbing. when she came here, this is very much a country home. no electricity or plumbing in the house where she stayed with her husband. this is the kitchen. this is where they would've had breakfast and lunch and some suppers, too, i'm sure. there is no real dining room in the house. it is very simple. a rural home. in here, there was one running faucet in the kitchen and i was -- that was the only plumbing in

the entire house. this is quite a contrast to a grace had been experiencing not only as a child growing up in burlington, which was kind of sophisticated at the time, as well as in the white house years when she had all of the modern luxuries. this is a two-hole privy. it was the only sanitary facility in the house. coming here with calvin was a throwback to the previous century. this is not what she was used to. hearing all the reports about grace, she probably took this in good stride and regarded this as part of her experience with her husband. the furniture in here is the bedroom set that grace and calvin used when they were here at the coolidge homestead. here in plymouth notch, vermont. it is a simple set of furniture. it is very typical of furniture circa 1870's or so.

it is country style. the rooms were small in this house and not the spacious rooms they were accustomed to at the white house, certainly. she was among the select group in the family sitting room that was witness to the swearing-in . this is the sitting room of the coolidge homestead. we now know this room was the oath of office room. this is where the family gathered were president coolidge was administered the oath of office. all the furnishings in here are original. the group gathered around the central table. the original lamp the pen that , was used to sign the documents, the bible that was here but not official use in the swearing because that was not required by vermont law. grace would have stood about where i am now and there is a famous painting by arthur keller

of the homestead inaugural. it shows the group gathered around and she is right next to calvin's side. >> let's head into the vault where we keep specific things about the coolidge family. grace coolidge's earlier life for her marriage to calvin coolidge as well as documents about her relationship with her family, specifically her sons and grandchildren. grace is not only a loving wife, she was also a loving mother. we have some wonderful correspondence. in 1922 grace wrote to the head of an academy were both of her sons were. she writes, is there a way in which we can arrange for calvin junior to have a soft boiled egg for breakfast or a time without great inconvenience? he had had a minor surgery and grace was very worried about his health. the other low for -- the other letter we have is written by

calvin junior. this is written in 1924. like many sons, he talked about his schooling, his close, , which needed up to date because he was growing out of them, and traveling back to d.c. to visit his mom and dad. with love, calvin. here is an interesting side note -- obviously, he forgot to put something in the letter. "send me some socks." it is sad because we see it at the last documented letter that we have before he suddenly passes away while in washington dc, less than a month later. shortly after his death, people wrote to the president and first lady in the white house sending their condolences. as was common at the time, grace and calvin a knowledge there -- acknowledged their sympathies by sending letters in reply thanking them for their condolences and sympathy. these letters were always

bordered in black as a way of showing they were in morning. mourning. we have quite a few of those letters in our collection. grace and calvin had two sons. calvin junior was the younger. john coolidge did not die young and lived to an old age. we have a wonderful letter from john to his mother on her birthday. is a wonderful letter where it describes his love. "dearest mother, just to let you know i am thinking of you on your birthday and loving you as no boy has ever loved his mother." john and grace had a very close relationship. he never really said much about how the passing of his brother affected the family. he was very quiet on that. you can tell from the letters between john and grace until her passing -- there were letters many times a year and they were very, very close. whether that was increased by calvin junior's passing or not, there is no way of knowing

although i would assume that is the case. >> i wish you both a very happy christmas and a bright and prosperous new year. >> it is a pleasure to greet you, mr. santa claus. and to help you open the sale of sears which begins on thanks giving day of this year. >> would you mind autographing some of the christmas seals as a special favor for santa claus? >> why, i should be delighted. it is one of the things that i do best. it is a good thing you have, santa claus. >> my father, santa claus, give it to me. >> oh! it has some of the dog's hair in it. >> brought up a tomboy, first lady lou hoover got her fondness for the outdoors from her

father. >> her father wanted a boy, which is why we think the name lou -- it is not short for anything, it is actually lou -- as a result of that, he takes her out. she becomes a tomboy of the era. she was out learning how to fish, shoot, camping. they are up in the mountains a lot. she is learning about the outdoors and loving it. this is a 1914 .22 rifle owned by lou. what i love about this is that you have this photograph. it is an early photograph of her on top of this mule looking pretty rough and tough there with a bunch of provisions. then she has got this gun. very annie oakley to me. that type of independent girl. one of lou's most famous essays is "independent girl."

written january 1 of 1890. the interesting thing is that she is talking about being someone independent and doing her own thing, but at the end, "sooner or later she will meet a spirit equally as independent as her own." then there is a clash of arms and mortal kombat -- moral combat or they will unite and take on the world." this is her diary from 1891-1892. she is talking about her life. one of the things she talks about a lot is her botany classes and going out hiking. she really likes to be in the outdoors. she refers here -- mrs. palmer and i were a good match for climbing. beat the others -- we others all to pieces. we found a lot of flowers. lizards and frogs. all these things that are just a

lot of fun to be outside in the world. as part of that class, they are also drawing sketches of flowers. this is her sketchbook, there are flowers and butterflies. different kinds of things. they had the latin name with them as well. something she had learned from her class. lou does not write about herself, necessarily. she writes about the experiences of her life. she is a highly educated woman at this time period. her parents -- both her mom and dad created a loose, open edge -- open, here you go, if you would learn something we will encourage that and allow you to do that. she was able to do that and explore that as fully as she could. >> the first time mr. hoover came to rapid end camp, they came in on horseback on a horse trail and came up to the

headwaters with at the river where there was 164 acres for two sandwiched between streams. in those days, it was five dollars an acre. for less than $1000 they purchased 164 beautiful acres here in the mountains. she was instrumental in the design of this camp. it very much shows her love of nature and her simplicity, we what she enjoyed about being outdoors. it is all wrapped up into buildings that were opposite of what they had in other aspects of their lives. they were trying to create a retreat where they could relax and get back to nature. lou wanted the house to be as much outside as possible. she had it designed where the windows would open, the panels would fold down, screens would let the air in. so that she could smell the outdoors smells coming through right into her room.

she could be inside but at the same time have a feeling of being outside. the sun porch was her office and it is a beautiful room with windows surrounding it so the light can be natural all day long. in fact, there are not any light in there at all. no electric lights hanging from the ceiling. all-natural sunlight coming in. she had a desk and there were she would spend hours writing letters. much of we know about the camp comes from the letters she wrote there. had this fireplace built so they could enjoy campfires all day and all evening. many guests would sit out here. we have lots of pictures with the hoovers and guest sitting right here on this porch. mrs. hoover loved to smell the smoke of a campfire and she wanted to have that smell in camp all day long. mrs. hoover wanted her gardens to be different than what she

had at the white house. she wanted them to be very informal. in fact, she is quoted as saying she wanted them to be a little bit wild-ish. she did not want formal beds. she wanted everything out there randomly. she wanted her paths to be lined with rock so you could find your way but nothing very outstanding. she wanted it to blend in. the rock structure behind me is lou's fountain. it is a rustic fountain made out of rocks from the local area. this was a rock garden. she referred to it as her rockery. she emphasized rocks because that was her love of geology. >> we are at the lou henry hoover house here on the campus of stanford university. it is significant because this is the primary residence of the hoovers. this was known as family headquarters and it is significant as it relates to lou hoover because she was the one who designed it.

she worked with several architects to come up with the plans and they gave her advice. she was the driving force behind the design of the house. it was something that impressed the architects that helped her with the formal blueprints and plans. she had such a strong grasp of design and how she wanted the house to look even though she was not an architect. that was not her professional training. she was a geologist, but she had a very good sense of space and design, how she wanted the house to look. it was something that she instantly -- intimately involved in. we're lucky to have a lot of the original documents and correspondence relating to the design and construction of the house. back at the archives and the stanford archives. we are looking at the documentation related to the building and design of the lou henry hoover house. it is especially important because it shows how involved lou henry was in designing the house. here are some the earliest

drawings we have from the design of the house. here we have some details about the cabinets they were going to be installing. a little footstool, here. some design details that were likely sketched by lou henry herself. a lot of lou henry's influence came from her travels in the southwest of the united states. pueblo architecture. also from her travels in north africa when she traveled with herbert hoover, so there is definitely an influence of native cultures, non-american cultures, but also native american cultures influencing the architecture of the house. you can see here that there was an initial design for arches above the doorway. that was changed. there are definitely a lot of arches in the house, as well. what we have here are some floor plans of the house. they show details of the rooms.

the living room, there, the terrace. you can see the rooms are designed in a way where they easily exit out into the outside, the outdoors. it is a great legacy of lou and she designed the house, she inspired it with all aspects of her creation. >> [indiscernible]

and who are going to continue helping as long as we are here. clicks encouraged by fdr, first lady eleanor roosevelt bought a residence to develop her own world job ideas. and later, it became her home after his death. >> let's go upstairs to where the bedrooms are located. we will climb a tricky staircase. this room is eleanor roosevelt master best -- master bedroom. room,s particular franklin roosevelt has the largest portrait in the room. the bed is somewhat interesting in its depiction. it shows how mrs. roosevelt preferred her laundry to be delivered by the household staff

, folded and placed upon her bed. she would place it throughout the cottage. close examination of the laundry reveals that it is all monogrammed. some of the linens are jointly monogrammed with the initials emn, eleanor marion nancy. when i look around this room, it surprises me that a lady who was born into wealth, that married into wealth, and generated wealth in her lifetime would live in such a simple fashion. is surely not an elaborate bed. not for a lady who was five feet 11 inches tall. a simple lifestyle, and

that stands out. this is eleanor roosevelt's sleeping porch. area herery important at the cottage. this is where mrs. roosevelt would come in the evening, approximately 11:00 after saying good night to her guests. it was private space for her. the little scottish terrier dog that is so famous within the roosevelt story would accompany mrs. roosevelt to this area and spend the night here with her. sit, dowhere she would some last-minute letter writing, maybe some last-minute reading, and then retire for the evening. area asrred to this ,eing like a tree house surrounded with glass, screened in areas. she could overlook her popper -- her property, her fall kill creek to my the fire pit where the picnics were held, the tennis and that in, the cutting garden, the stone cottage.

which was so important in nearly years. this is her private space where she could get away from the activities of the kill college -- of the cottage for a while and be herself. when she fell in love with franklin roosevelt back in 1905 when they got married, they would move in with franklin's mother, sarah. she operated this estate since the year 1900, when sarah's elderly husband, mr. james roosevelt had passed away. because this was sarah's home, she made the decisions here. she also handled the finances of the family and was most definitely the matriarch of the family. this is where the family gathered for the daily mail, the activity of the room in porton -- are important because it

reflects the interaction of the family. sara roosevelt sat at the head of the table, franklin roosevelt at the upper end, and eleanor roosevelt would find whichever seat was comfortable for her. she did not have an assigned a seat at this table. this is the bedroom that franklin and eleanor shared as adults. up until 1918, when infidelity was discovered within the marriage. from that point on, mrs. roosevelt insisted on not sharing the same bed with franklin roosevelt. at that time, mrs. roosevelt chose a bad room right next to this room, and it has a doorway coming right in. this was an area where she could eat by herself. it was -- this was an area where she could be by herself. it was a bit of a private space. the furniture in this room was used by mrs. roosevelt, one of the fear areas where she could -- one of the few areas where she could get privacy.

when they were both here, it was given they would vote here in -- both sleep here in the big house. if for some reason franklin was not at hyde park, mrs. roosevelt here on her own was spent her time a couple short miles away from the site. in this direction we have the entrance to sara delano roosevelt's room, sandwiched between sarah and her husband franklin, the same as in their lifetime she was sandwiched between franklin and his mother, sarah. the involvement of mrs. roosevelt in the political career of franklin roosevelt is right from the beginning. but she becomes much more active in her role after 1921, when franklin roosevelt contracted polio. she would encourage franklin roosevelt to continue with his political ambitions and she would join forces with political strategist.

a gentleman by the name of lewis howe. this was the room where their strategies were laid out. it was important because lewis howell and mrs. roosevelt did not have a real close relationship until the polio came into the story. lewis howell was with franklin roosevelt since 1910, when he started his political career. it would encourage franklin, it in a sense against the wishes of franklin's mother, sarah. sarah felt as franklin contracted polio, thinking of the resources of the family, that franklin could very easily live his life out here at springwood in the role of the gentleman estate keeper. mrs. roosevelt and howell would encourage just the opposite and motivate franklin. louis howe would be a big influence because he would tutor mrs. roosevelt and her public speaking and teach her how to put emphasis on certain words, how to control her very

interesting voice that sometimes went high-pitched. soon, mrs. roosevelt would be comfortable with her public speaking and realize the power of that ability. some i think it was a self- serving of mrs. roosevelt, because when you think of the gentleman estate keeper, his wife would also be confined to the estate. by franklin roosevelt pursuing his political ambitions, mrs. roosevelt would enjoy a certain freedom. her tutoring relative to our public speaking was very important because very shy eleanor roosevelt was a little intimidated by public speaking. she was suddenly realize she had the ability to conquer that fear through the tutoring and she would realize the power of public speaking. and in this case, the power was it kept franklin roosevelt's image alive to the american public until he addresses the

democratic convention in 1924. >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. i'm speaking to you tonight at a very serious moment in our history. the cabinet is convening and the leaders of congress are meeting with the president. the state department and army and navy officials have been with the president all afternoon. the japanese ambassador was talking to the president at the very time that japan's airships were bombing our citizens in hawaii and the philippines, sinking one of our transports loaded with lumber on its way to why you. -- to hawaii. by tomorrow morning, the members of congress will have a full report and be ready for action. in the meantime, we the people are already prepared for action. for months now, the knowledge that something of this kind might happen has been hanging over our heads. yet it seemed impossible to believe, impossible to drop the everyday things, and not

preparing to meet an enemy in a -- and feel that there was only one thing that was important, preparations to meet an enemy in a matter where he strikes. that is well over now. there is no more uncertainty. we know what we have to face and we know that we are ready to face it. >> as a young woman growing up in missouri, first lady bess truman would often be paid a visit by her neighbors relative, harry truman. >> when my grandfather visited independence, 26 miles from where he lived at the time in grandview in 1910, he often stayed across the street at the nolan house, which is where his aunt and two cousins lived. one afternoon he was over there with his cousins, with the family, and his aunt brought a cake plate. that my great-grandmother, madge wallace, had given her a cake. mrs. nolan had cleaned the cake plate and was asking if anybody would take it back over.

and my grandfather moved with what my mother once described as approaching the speed of light and grabbed the cake plate and moved over here, rang the front -- and ran over here, and rain the front door in the hope, of course, that my grandmother would answer the door. and she did. and she invited him in, and that is the beginning of their formal courtship in 1910. they first met in sunday school, when my grandmother was five and my grandfather was six. they were baptists. my grandfather's family was baptists, but the first purpose carry in church -- but the first presbyterian church demonstrate -- down the street had a good sunday school, and that is what my great-grandmother was interested in, a good sunday school. so she took grandpa over there one day to talk to the reverend. as she was talking, sunday school was in session. as she was talking to the reverend, my grandfather noticed this little girl sitting in sunday school class with what he described beautiful blue eyes anlong golden curls.

he sort of fell in love with her right then and there. as far as i know, as far as anybody knows, never look at another woman. we are on the back or choke my -- the back porch of my grandparents home in independence, missouri. as is the way that we came in. this is weighed the family came this is the way the family came in, through the kitchen door. came into the kitchen. the first place iowa's head it -- i always headed was back here to the pantry. and i don't see the 10, but tin. but there was always a tin in here on one of the shelves of nice round tin filled with brownies. i was made sure that was in here before i went anywhere else in the house. once i made sure the brownies were in the tin, the next stop

had to be my grandfather's study. because whenever you came into the house, he did not meet us at the airport when he got older, but when she came into the house, you had to stop here and say hi to grandpa. this is where you found him most of the time as he was getting older and i was getting older. if i wanted to talk to grandpa, is where i looked because he was always reading. my grandmother and my mother sat in those chairs and often read in here with him. apparently my grandmother and mother always used to start fights where my grandfather would read down to the end of the page, mark is place with his finger, he and look up and tried to decide if the fight was escalating to the point where he had did get out of the room. if everything was ok, he would read down to the next page. sometimes he left, sometimes he stayed. this is the formal dining room. this is where we ate the evening meal every day. we had breakfast in the kitchen, a sandwich or something for lunch, but this is where we ate all formal dinner meals. my grandmother sat at that end of the table is where she sat. closest to the kitchen, i think.

so if we go through here, in the center of the house, in the foyer, you'll notice that the biggest portrait in the house is that of my late mother, margaret truman daniel. she was their only child, only conceived after my grandmother suffered two miscarriages. my grandmother was 39 when she was born, so she was very precious to my grandparents and they were very close as a family unit. my grandfather kind of spoiled her. my grandmother was more of the disciplinarian. the three of them were very, very tight as a family. because she was their only child. and if we go through this way, we are in the living room. this chair is where my grandmother later in her life, this is where she did her reading. after my grandfather passed away, this is often where my grandmother sat. she read a murder mysteries. she loved murder mysteries.

she had stacks of them on either side of the chair. she would have a stack on the side, that she had not read yet, and she had an outstanding. -- and then out-stack. it would be donated or put on the shelf after she read them, but this is where she spent a lot of her time. she gave a lot of those cast-off murder mysteries to my mother, who do the same thing, reading with stacks on either side of the chair, and mom, of course, eventually became a mystery writer. this painting was originally painted as my grandmother's official white house portrait. in the 1960s, lady bird johnson went looking for portraits of first ladies to hang, re-hang in the white house. she thought that was important. she looked high and low and cannot find my grandmother's official portrait. so she called my grandmother and said, mrs. truman, do you know where the painting is, what can i find it. -- we cannot find it. the grandmother said, yeah, it's on my wall. mrs. johnson said, you really

should not have that, it belongs in the white house. my grandmother said, no, that is my painting, it is on my wall, and that is where it is going to stay. i think mrs. johnson tried a couple of more times but eventually gave up. there were two copies made by the artists. one of them hangs in the truman library down the road, the other is in the white house, but those are the copies. as is the original portrait. -- this is the original portrait. >> first lady mamie eisenhower's sense of style got her noticed by the fashion world. >> she often worked with one of her favorite designers for her suits and they wear outfits. -- day-wear outfits. this is the outfit that she wore to the formal opening of the saint lawrence seaway, where she and ike met prince elizabeth -- princess elizabeth and prince philip. this is a printed cotton fabric with many of the houses the eisenhowers lived in during their marriage. it also includes the five-star

symbol. for the five-star general eisenhower. these are a few examples of mamie's day dresses. she was very fond of the color pink. many of the dresses are sleeveless. she always said that her arms were ike's favorite feature, so she chose to show them off. his is a handmade rest that shows her attention to budget. this has an exceptionally long ham that she would raise and lower. jackie kennedy is well known for the little like dress. -- the little black dress. here are two examples of mamie's little black dress. mamie always said that she would never dress like a little old lady. these gowns show her love of bright colors and wild fabrics. like any high-fashion lady of the day, she loved hats. this is a small sampling of some in the collection. one of her favorite is honors -- designers is sally victor.

no one outfit is complete without a fabulous pair of shoes. nobody knew that better than mamie. her love of fashion to not begin -- did not begin in the white house. this dress and undergarment from the mid-1920s shows her love of fashion. she was about 30 years old, too old to be considered a flapper, but still stylish for the day. let's look at some of the exhibits that focus on her style. mamie is well-known for her trademark hairstyle. you could even purchase fake bangs to put into your hair at all of the drugstores in the 1950s. she would regularly go to the elizabeth arden salons. elizabeth arden had one of her hair stylist create the drawing so that she could take them with her so she had to go to another stylist, her hair would always be perfect. unlike ike who grew up in a poor family of all sons, she was from a well-to-do family of all daughters. she attended a finishing school and we have her report card from

the school in denver, colorado. woolcott-- from this school in denver, colorado. while she got a b in english, she actually got a c-minus in european history and a c in french. who knew that in later years as a military wife and future first lady that she would be so well traveled and have so much to do with european history? we actually have a special passport issued to mamie. in 1945. this is when she could go join her husband ike when he was the first military commander of the u.s. occupied germany at the end of world war ii. while in germany, she actually purchased this sterling silver pin. mamie renewed her passport one more time a few years later to travel with ike. we have her inoculation card.

this is from 1951, when he was commander of the naval forces, -- of nato forces stationed in , france. mamie loved charms. early on, ike bought her this west point football charm showing the army and navy game scores in 1913 and 1914 when ike was coach of the army football team. this calvary-themed sterling silver pendant was purchased by ike for mamie when he was stationed in the philippines working for general macarthur. mamie could not always travel with ike, but she was often on his mind. these bangles were purchased in north africa in 1943 during operation torch in the invasion of north africa during world war ii. as first lady, her military connections continued. as she christened the uss nautilus in 1954, the nautilus was the first nuclear-powered naval vessel and the silver

sleeve of the champagne bottle that she smashed against the hull. as a military wife, she took great pride in creating a home in each of the 36 places they lived during their marriage. as a young girl, mamie was diagnosed with a heart conditions. in later years, she was ordered to stay in bed three days a week. that was a little much for her, so she compromised and stayed in bed every day until noon. she was a busy lady. she would get up in the morning, do her hair, put on her makeup, ben wear a lovely bed jacket and -- and then where these lovely bed jackets and lay back in bed. while wearing the bed jackets, she would often meet with her secretary to plan the day. as first lady, she ran the white house with military precision. her schedules were often blocked out in five minute permits per -- increments for a day. we have schedules from every year that mamie was first lady. on the schedule, we see not only

did she have a diplomatic dinner, but the next morning she was cutting the ribbon at the national presbyterian church czar. - -- church bazaar. some of the things that she would discuss with her social secretary were of a personal nature. here she is shopping for christmas gifts for their grandchildren and notes to buy this doll for her granddaughter, susan. she was always good with figures and would keep notes say she would not go over budget. >> having a keen sense of fashion, jacqueline kennedy was admired for her clothing ensembles. >> mrs. kennedy is known as a style icon. the first ensemble that she wore as first lady, of course, was on inauguration day. this grayish color dress and coat designed by oleg cassini.

i think it is a wonderful example of her simple elegance. the only thing that she wore to adorn the ensemble was a beautiful ruby brooch by tiffany that jfk gave her to celebrate the birth of john junior, right after the swearing in. and of course most famously finishing the ensemble was the hill-box hat. she wore that on the back of her head so her face could be seen. that actually set a fashion trend. whereas the hat would normally be worn on the top of the head, she had a pushed back to sort of free her face. -- frame her face. displayed here at its storage boxes perhaps one of mrs. kennedy's best-known dresses, the breast that she wore during

-- the dress that she wore during her televised tour of the white house in february 1962. visitors to arm easy them when we have this dress on exhibit -- to the museum when we have this dress on exhibit are quite surprised to realize it is red, because of course the program was filmed in black-and-white and broadcast in black and white. but i like to surmise that she chose red for that program, knowing it would be televised on valentine's day 1962. let's go into the museum and look at other examples of jacqueline kennedy's clothing we have on display. mrs. kennedy put an awful lot of thought into her wardrobe when she was representing the country, both at the white house and while traveling abroad. she would think about what colors would mean something to the country i'm about to visit. so for her visit to canada in 1961, actually the first state visit the kennedys made as president and first lady lady, she chose this red suit ip or cardin -- by pierre cardin, also knowing that she would be

greeted by the canadian royal mounted police. it was a gesture of respect to the canadian maple leaf as well. here we have a green coat and hat worn by the first lady lady for her arrival in bogotá colombia in december 1961. the president and first lady traveled through south america on that visit, greeted by hundreds of thousands of people, overwhelming response. particularly when mrs. kennedy would address the crowds in spanish. i really admire the thought that mrs. kennedy put into her wardrobe. she would think about the event she was attending or the country she was visiting. was there a style or particular color that she could wear that would mean something to her hosts, and she also knew the advantage of choosing a color or style that would make her stand out in a crowd. in her oral history, mrs. kennedy speaks at greatly about president kennedy's love of

reading, love of history, his belief in the power of words. and that is something, that is a believe they both shared. what i like about this story here is it shows -- it is an example of that believe in the power of words. it's a great example of the collaboration between husband and wife. this is very early in his presidential campaign, late 1959. in those early days, mrs. kennedy traveled with him on the campaign trail as much as possible. this is a reading copy of a speech he presented in washington state in june of 1959. mrs. kennedy was with him at that dinner. president kennedy obviously had a speech writer, but he would often rewrite and edit his speeches up until the moment he was about to deliver it. at this particular dinner, as he was waiting to speak, he wanted to close his speech with some verses from "ulysses."

so we actually asked mrs. kennedy, give me the last lines from "ulysses." and the following in her hand is the rest of the poll him which poem which she knew from memory -- is the rest of the poll em which she knew from memory, giving him the words. from a young age, jacquelyn love to write. she would often create poems as gifts to her parents. on christmas and birth a's come she would write a poll him and illustrated. we have some early examples when she was about 10 years old. while at school in connecticut where she went to high school, she wrote a really wonderful essay called "be kind and do your share." " be kind and do your share, that is all there is to it." and she goes on about helping others in life is so important and how it is easy to just say a kind word to somebody, all the

difference it can make to that person. this scrapbook is called "one special summer." after graduating from school, jackie's parents, her mother and stepfather, sent jackie and her sister on summer through europe. as a token of appreciation for that gift, they collaborated together on this scrap oak to -- scrapbook to give to their to let them know about their inventors. it is a combination of snapshots they took, and written descriptions of the different places they visited, the people they met. these really wonderful, whimsical sketches done by jackie. in the fall of 1950, jacqueline entered "vogue" writing contest. here we have her hand written application as a student from george washington university.

she won the contest. her winning essays, one was a self-portrait where i think she wonderfully describes herself as tall, 5'7", with brown hair, square face and eyes so unfortunately far apart that it takes three weeks to have a pair of glasses made with a bridge wide enough to fit over my nose. as an example, i think of her love of writing, the power of words, she is asked in question three of the essay, who are three people in history that you wish you would have known? the first two that she mentions are charles baudelaire, the french poet, and oscar wilde, the author, in edition to a russian ballet impresario. in the early 1950s, jacqueline bouvier was hired as the camera girl for "the camera girl for "washington times" harold. on display at the camera that she used as she went through the streets of washington,

interviewing people, asking questions, creating columns. one column we have on display is prophetic because she is interviewing vice president nixon and senator john f. kennedy, who of course would be adversaries in the 1960 presidential campaign. i think all of these examples of her early writings -- and she did right through her life -- did write throughout her life, but a think if her life had been may be somewhat different, she would have been a writer of some kind may be professionally. as we know when her later life, the last part of her life she was a very prolific editor of books in new york city on books of several different topics. >> first lady lady bird johnson enjoyed the time she and the president could spend at their ranch resting and relaxing. >> the living room is the oldest room in the house, dating back to the 1890s. she would refer to this as our heart home. have a few things that speak to

her connection to the room. one of the things that she wanted to highlight was the native american heritage in the hill country. have a small collection of arrowheads. mrs. johnson actually had her daughters, linda and lucy, look for arrowheads, and mrs. johnson would pay them one dollar each for each arrowhead. linda was doing quite a bit better collecting them, and it turns out she was paying her schoolmates $.50 per arrowhead, then collecting a dollar from her mother. she had a knife or copper and -- she had an eye for copper and collected various items. one of the things that draws attention, three television sets. at that time, the three major networks would all show the news at the same time. the president would turn down the volume on the television set he did not want to watch. mrs. johnson's favorite program was "gunsmoke" and she routinely altered their schedule so she could catch an episode of her favorite western. shortly after lyndon johnson

became president, the ranch was called the texas white house and life at the ranch revolved around the home. the johnson's return home 74 times during his five years as president. mrs. johnson as first lady love to show off the texas hill country and her home. guests would often informally gather in the den and various heads of state came to visit. the president of mexico, the west german chancellor and the israeli chancellor to name a few. they would visit with the johnsons right here in the den. the dining room was a special place for lady bird johnson, where she entertained, she picked out the wallpaper depicting a country seen very similar to the hill country. very similar to what she would have seen out of her picture window that she had installed at her request. this is johnson gave a tour of -- mrs. johnson gave a tour of the house in 1968 that was filmed, where she featured the

china uc purchased here in mexico. -- the china that you can see, purchased in mexico. the president would sit down at this end of the table, where we have the cowhide chair. typical mrs. johnson at the other end of the table. one feature that you will notice next to the president, a telephone. president johnson loved working the telephones, and in the middle of a meal could take a call or answer a call. mrs. johnson was not necessarily happy with that but she got used to it because lyndon johnson was such a workaholic. as first lady she spent a lot of time at the ranch. it is very important because it was a respite from all of the turmoil of washington, particularly later in the presidency where they could recharge and make the connection back with the land and this place they valued so much. this is mrs. johnson's private bedroom. it was part of the 1960 seven -- 1967 remodeling. she specified to the designers she wanted this to be her forever room. she specified certain elements

that she wanted, a fireplace, east facing windows, and a large bookcase to display so many mementos and keepsake she gathered through the years, the birds, the china, and also cameras. lyndon johnson gave mrs. johnson a camera for her wedding gift. she became quite the furtive -- photo journalist. she had an eight millimeter camera to capture home movies. we have hours and hours, as well as the recorder where mrs. johnson every night at the white house would record her daily observations. this became the basis for the book "the white house diary" a very insightful commentary of -- chronicling of the tumultuous years of the 1960s. in her later years, she kept up with her correspondence here at this desk.

have mrs. johnson's closet with all of her clothing. with the ranch, clothing -- the ranch clothing, boots, hats, her colorful outfits. one of my favorites, her straw hat with the bluebonnets painted on top. all of the photographs and those who mattered so much to her. to hurt grandchildren and great- grandchildren, she was known as mimi, a special person in their lives. lady bird johnson had a great sense of history. and during her years in washington, she would often be a tour guide. i had a chance to meet her while working at the harry s truman worksite and i was very impressed knowing that one day, her story would be told here at

the lbj ranch. office ofin a private mrs. lyndon johnson at the lbj library. i worked as her social secretary from 1976 to 1990. a typical day would be her coming in in the morning probably around 9:00. each hand filled with some of these things on her desk. some of these things on speechwriting, event planning, whatever she was working on. she said she felt like a little borough. and she would come in and get to work and her desk was always very orderly. kept files on her desk, file suit was working on. .rips she was taking

she would keep it -- a large envelope with the dates on them so she could pick them back up and put every thing back in them. and she worked on her desk with letters that she was processing. when she completed things, she would put them on the floor. she stayed at the office most of the day. and working calls on projects that she loved so much. she loved this office again she could look out on her alma mater. and then through to the capital in this city that she loved so much. she would stay here all day, and that was pretty much monday through friday. when we were having guests at the ranch, she would sometimes go out a few days early and stay to check on the water and the lights and electricity to make sure everything would turn on in the different rooms. and we would make a stop out to the ranch to pick up magazines

that were guest specific, for whoever was coming for the weekend. very thoughtful, meticulous, and gracious. we had three office staff at the time. we had a person who handled her calendar. we had a person who came from the white house as her press secretary, who were out -- who helped her work on speeches. and then i was in the office. that chair was usually occupied by one of us a good part of the day. as we rotated in projects she was working on. by friday afternoon, she was ready to leave and go to the ranch, which she really called home. about 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon, she would say, do i have anything else to do? us when shed tell was ready to go. she would pack those saddlebags up and take off and head off to the ranch for the weekend am a to be back here on monday morning. i was so fortunate to be here, and i learned so much from her in the way that she did things, in a way that she entertained.

and i liked the way she entertained. i think that is one reason we did so well together. i really loved her sense of making people feel at home. she was so, so good at it. up on a small farm in southern california, first lady pat nixon learned the value of a strong work ethic at an early age. >> mrs. nixon had very humble beginnings. she spent a lot of time working at the farm. she has an account from 1941, she kept the books. she was 19 years old when this was happening. totallks about how , none made just a year ago, january. it shows you how difficult it is to make ends meet. as a teenager in the depression, mrs. nixon took on a lot of

jobs, from becoming a pharmacist and x-ray technician, to a personal shopper. she became a model. did call casting. she actually got on the list from paramount pictures to be an extra in films. wholeso as part of this -- jumping from job to job -- she also had a speaking role in fromm called "vicki sharp" 1955. you can see her dancing in the film, but her speaking role was cut out. past shows her name and the restrictions one had to go through. she had enough money to change her degree and she became a teacher. of the nixon was one most widely traveled first

ladies in our countries history. this is her diplomatic passport that was used during her time at second lady. here, the photos. in totalort has 53 from 1953 to 1961. to goixon really wanted out into the field and see the people. she wanted to work with them, see what she could do to help. she wanted to go to hospitals and orphanages. these tags were used by mrs. nixon on her second to last trip as first lady. she visited australia egypt, saudi arabia, israel, and jordan. it was the first time a first lady had ever been to israel. you can see some of the items on display related to her travels as first lady in the museum.

>> here in the museum, we have examples of gifts given to mrs. nixon during her foreign travels. to mixes nixon from golda maier in 1965. it is 12th or 11th century bc. and here we have an example of a belgian lace tablecloth given to her in 1969 by his excellency of the belgian kingdom. and a beautiful watch made out of gold. it is made out of rubies and diamonds. this was given to her by the prime minister of columbia in 1979. during her historic trip to her extensive travels took her to the beijing zoo. then known as the taking zoo. ng zoo.

she learned about the pandas on display. the president and mrs. nixon were meeting with their hosts. notice how this is nixon was looking at the package of sisters. -- of citrus.s they had pandas on them. and they noticed this and noticed she was also admiring the pandas at the zoo. and she said, yes. had some sure she going home. the president and mrs. nixon were interesting going on a foreign trip. it was important for her to uphold and support her husband. just her being here -- being there was so much goodwill. and it was always at the end of would talkat they

about the president, but always say what a wonderful job pat nixon did. >> this is a very special place, because it was here, june 20 6, 1993, that mrs. nixon's beautiful was held. the casket was here underneath a lovely tent with flowers. a nixon family sat right over here. and on the other side, the presidents reagan and ford, and their first ladies. this is the pat nixon rose garden at the nixon library. it was a very special place for the nixon, in particular he does mrs. nixon was instrument till in designing it for the grand opening of the library in 1990. she loved gardening and had a special affinity for roses. instrumental in opening up the white house for garden tours in the spring, which is a tradition that has continued to this day. this was a rose that was developed in 1972 by a french designer when mrs. nixon was first lady, the pat nixon rose.

it is the only rows that will continually grow at the white house. this is the final resting place of both president and mrs. nixon and only steps away from the present humble 1910 farmhouse. there is a great story behind the epitaph on mrs. nixon's memorial site, which she chose herself. it dates back to the trip to peru that she took in 1970 as the ambassador of goodwill. she wanted to meet the people that were affected by this devastating earthquake that had rocked peru. she wanted to see the devastation. she wanted to find out what she could do to help. reporters said to her, mrs. nixon, what good will any of this do it the people you are speaking to cannot understand what you are saying? and she replied, even when people cannot speak during -- your language, they can tell if you have love in your heart. >> first lady betty ford also wanted to elevate fashion designs made in america. >> hand-in-hand with mrs. ford's

love for dance was her love for design, for fashion. and particularly, she wanted to promote american fashion. these are some of her dresses and gowns from her first lady timeframe. this is a down -- a gown that she wore to a first heads of state event. named designed by a lady becky welch who had a boutique in alexandria, virginia. this next one is also a frankie welch dress. mrs. ford wore this for her official portrait as forced -- first lady. that some people might recognize. she wore this gown for a portrait that was taken of the family, and featured on the cover of "time" magazine.

also liked fretful design as well. a fellow from new york designed a number of dresses and gowns for her. very practical, very inexpensive, but for her very functional. she would wear these outfits, both ro -- both of which are the , to arrivalr ceremonies, dignitaries, and also to church, on trips, campaign events. they were those that she could get most comfortable in. this is a piece that she wore for the "60 minutes" interview. we know a lot of this because one of the things mrs. ford was very careful about, as organized as she was, was that she kept what we called secretaries cards for each of these dresses.

there would be notations made on where she wore them, when she wore them. and you can see that for many of them, she wore them multiple times. some of this is in the handwriting of her secretary. some of this is in hearst -- her handwriting. many of these extend beyond the first lady timeframe into the post first ladyship timeframe. she would wear these into the early 1980s. and her love for design, her promotion of american fashion herto -- in 1976 -- receiving the prestigious parsons school of design award. accolade she received for her promotion of american designers. from age eight, betty ford, then betty bloomer, knew what -- knew

she wanted to do something with dance. she was fascinated by dance and so much of her early life was organized around that. she went to different camps. this was her traveling trunk that she would take in wisconsin, where she would put on skits and plays, dance with .er friends and that led to bennington, vermont, where she studied at the school of dance. ,hese are some of her note card spiral notebooks where she kept notes. each of these is dedicated to a different subject. this is dance technique. inside here you would find names of her teachers and the notes she took about the different things she was studying. much of it about choreography. some of them had dance figures that she has drawn with little stick figures or diagrams that showed how the stage is supposed to be organized.

other material we have of hers includes record albums. she, like teenagers even today, collected music. and she collected the popular tunes of the time. these are some of the records you would find. "i'm a big girl" by gertrude neeson. " by't we talk it over carmen cavallaro. mrs. ford was a very organized person. this demonstrates that. please, when using these records, put these back in the same folder. thank you, as it is very important, that he bloomer. betty bloomer. this is her organize her that she carried with her to vermont, back to grand rapids, off to new york where she studied with for theraham and work

powers modeling agency. and then back to grand rapids again. in a you will find a whole host of things that you would find in just about any organized there. names of different people with different dance troops, and their telephone numbers, dance composition notes with ms. martha hill and her class that was from 9:00 to 10:20 a.m. one of her sketches of a costume for one of the dance for teens that she wanted to put on. again, choreography notes that she made four different dance for teens. a whole wealth of material in how -- heralks about love for dance and how deeply she was involved in it, especially in her new early years. in 1974, vice president ford was sworn in as president of the united states. this is the dress that mrs. ford was wearing at the swearing-in

ceremony in the east room of the white house. she was less than excited about becoming first lady. president ford encouraged her, saying we can do this. she resolved, if i'm going to have to do this, i'm going to have fun doing it. and the fun for her started almost immediately. within 10 days, she had a state dinner to entertain king hussein of jordan. it was something that she had to prepare for in her role as first lady, and she hit the ground running. while she was first lady, she had a number of opportunities to entertain, because president ford administration over the bicentennial, some of the most coveted events at the white house, were held during that year. people wanted these invitations. this is for the may 17, 1976 event when they entertained the then president of france.

peopleere a number of who came to the white house. and among them, the emperor of japan. received fromer him in appreciation for hosting him in 1975. the first time and emperor had .ver left japan here are some of the imitations, dinner menus of probably the biggest event, and that is when we hosted queen elizabeth in july of 1976. this is the gift that the queen of england presented to president and mrs. ford, and to the people of the united states. it is a gilded and enameled soup terrine. imagehand-painted with an of the white house. it was the official gift of great britain to the united the 200thebrating

anniversary of the united states. and she wrote a nice letter back to the fords, thanking them for their hospitality, and for their friendship that they extended to the queen and to the people of england. and in this letter, the queen rights to the president and mrs. ford, "it was the greatest pleasure for us to visit the united states and to be able to join in the bicentennial celebrations." send ourigned it "we warm good wishes to you and mrs. ford. your sincere friend, elizabeth." born and raised in a small southern town, first lady rosalyn carter also helped run the far out -- the family business. how much hasn't changed since the president and mrs. carter grew up here in the 20s and 30s. away theseto take stores and have a dirt road right in front of them, it would be very similar to the

photographed circa 1925. the story begins here in this house. she lived here with her mom, dad, two brothers, and a sister. one of her favorite memories of this house is when her dad would come home from work, go into the kitchen, and meet her mother, give her a big hug, swing her around and give her a kiss. at a veryt her father young age. jimmy carter's mother, ms. ,leming in, -- ms. lillian helped take care of mr. edgar throughout his illness. she was a trained nurse and on the night of his passing, she actually took young roselyn smith out to the jimmy carter farm to be with jimmy carter's sister, ruth. this is the farm. it is important to ms. roselyn's story because she would spend a lot of time out here with jimmy carter's sister, ruth.

of jimmyhe room carter's. when roselyn came out to see her friend, ruth, she would -- this is where they would hang out together, play games, do homework, and just enjoy each other. outly when mrs. roslyn was visiting jimmy carter sister, she would see jimmy carter and have many interactions with them. >> this is where roslyn smith carter and jimmy carter would attend first through 11th grade. of going tomory school here is, she made straight a's the first quarter. she went home and showed her dad, edgar smith, and her mom, ms. sally -- ms. ally, her straight a's and they were so proud of her that her dad gave her a dollar for her, was meant. later on in seventh grade, a local businessman had a contest for the student that had the

best grade point average throughout the year. whoever had the rate point fivege, he would give them dollars. in the 1920s and 1930s, that was quite a bit of money. after that seventh grade year, ms. roselyn had won the five dollars from that local businessman. a lot of the activity that roslyn carter was engaged in was basketball. she was so excited when she made the varsity basketball team year. we have a picture here in her uniform in her plain haskell letter jacket. was a very good accomplishment for ms. roselyn at the time. this is the plains united methodist church. whereonly steps to president carter asked ms. roselyn out on a date for the first time. it is also where they got married. it is a very special place for president and mrs. carter. this is the train depot in plains, georgia. it is the oldest building here in plains.

in 1976, this is the logical jewel -- logical choice for headquarters. in. carter was a key figure his campaign. and as you can imagine in 1976, the hustle and bustle of all of the activity in the campaign with tables and desk and phone going off and letters coming in and out. here helping run the campaign. and the whole family had a part to play in the campaign. sons and his daughter had a role in the campaign. and of course, his mother, ms. lillian, and ms. roselyn's mother, ms. ally. they would have sat out here on the platform, greeting visitors. this is where roselyn carter helped organize the peanut brigade. technique used during

his run for governor. it was basically a way to get the word out about jimmy carter using volunteers, going door-to- door, shaking hands, giving out literature, and spreading the word. it was so effective that it helps him get elected to the presidency. >> i got upset with the president because they covered my mental health for the first few meetings i had. up then they never showed anymore. in one of the things i wanted to do was bring attention to the issue of how terrible it was and what few services there were. just getting it out in public, that is what i did in georgia. i developed a good program in georgia, by the way. but they just didn't come. i met this woman who was one of i said no one ever goes to my

meetings. she said mrs. carter, mental health is just not a sexy issue. i never did get very much coverage for it. what wasund out needed, developed legislation and pass the mental health law of 1980. passed one month before he -- an voluntary removed from the white house. one of the greatest disciplines of my life. >> more from our first ladies series tonight. the first series on betty ford. tomorrow