harriet lane had been both a popular socialite and impeccable style setter. mary klemmer, one of the dragon ladies of d.c., gave lane very high marks and remarked her superb physique gave the impression of intense harmonious vitality, her eyes of deep violet shed a constant steady light as they could flash with rebuke rebuke, kijd withndle. her mouth was her most peculiar beautiful feature while her classic head was crowned with masses of golden hair. mary's goal when she took over the executive mansion focused on erasure of memories of when this blonde younger model made washington society dance to her tune. klemmer suggested that mary had an impossible task to fulfill and further she was doomed at the outset. in reviewing the character of presidents' wives we shall see that there was never one who entered the white house with such a feeling of self-satisfaction. to her it was the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition. and mary lincoln made her journey to washington a triumphal passage. and with all of mary's faults as pulitzer prize-winning historian margaret l

harriet lane buchanan's niece who assumed the role of white house hostess left the lincolns a very detailed list on how to manage the executive mansion. she met with mrs. lincoln in advance and arranged a meal for the newcomers on inaugural day. but she was not impressed, and she wrote cattily that lincoln resembled the irish door keeper while mrs. lincoln is awfully western and loud and unrefined. araving into town with such rigid social snobbery mrs. lincoln immediately placed a addressmaking order with mrs. keckley. elizabeth keckley was a prominent mixed race seamstress favored by the washington elite. it was perhaps no accident that one of her former clients was varina davis. assuming the role herself soon of first lady of the confederacy. however, mary lincoln's first battleground would be the inaugural ball. this invitational ball was held in a large tent dubbed the white muslin palace of aladdin where 5,000 would be on hand to rub shoulders and inspect the lincoln entourage. mrs. lincoln glided into view wearing silk bedecked with gold and diamonds and pearls while lincoln left at m

poor kate chase sprague never got a white house biography as mary lincoln and harriet lane did, even though she spent most of her adulthood discouraging her father from any remarriage and encouraging him to run for president. kate and her sister nette were two of the seven women and the many hundred men who attended lincoln's white house funeral while mary lincoln pleaded she was too ill to attend. later that year kate gave birth to her first child, a son and she and sprague had three additional children, three daughters over the next ten years. she revived her father's hopes for the presidency as he campaigned from the bench of the supreme court an appointment lincoln had graciously granted him in december of '64. the chases switched parties with kate working the democratic convention of 1872 trying to secure her father's candidacy, another failed campaign. things went downhill for kate when her father died in may 1873. four months later the sprague fortune was wiped out by black friday. after years of living apart with kate enduring williams philandering and alcoholism she sued her

. >> and here we have harriet lane. she was the niece of james buchanan. is that correct? >> the niece. she was considered to be an absolute beauty, elegant member of the white house. she actually entertained the prince of wales and rather scandalously had gentlemen giving her presents and her uncle had to she used to hide things because she knew her uncle wouldn't let her accept some of the jewelry and other things that gentlemen were trying to give her. >> and as the niece of the president, was she considered a first lady in standing? >> she was the first lady, served as first lady and is one of the first ladies to be called first lady. >> that's interesting. >> by the press, in magazines. dolley madison is referred to as the first lady of our land in a eulogy but this is the first lady in media, really. and she did. he was unmarried his entire life, she lived with him most of their life and served as hostess and therefore became first lady. >> do you think they called upon the term first lady, the press, because it was awkward and she's not a wife and she's not a consor

so harriet lane. it isn't necessarily a wife. it's the person that fills the particular role. so we will actually have to wait and see how the white house, that presidency deals with the role of first lady and who will be serving that function. you're always going to be the host and hostess in your own home, but who will be taking on the roles traditionally played by the first lady? and will that person be the first lady? i am looking forward to putting that first inaugural woman's suit in the presidency exhibit. >> hi. >> hello. thank you so much for this. and my question is, if we could talk more about how shoes and accessories factor into this? seeing that's something we all care about and it's a huge part of the fashion industry as well. >> it's that head-to-toe look, not just the apparel. >> true. >> there have only be a few occasions where the accessories have come to the fore. notoriously, of course, with mrs. kennedy's pillbox hat and conversely when jack kennedy did not wear a hot, which put one more nail into the hat industry. but it was going out anyway. with shoes,

one of the things is i told you about the grand ball and her grand aspirations for dethroning harriet lane. that was the night her son's illness became evident. she and the president kept checking in the bedroom. if you go to the lincoln library, it is a moving exhibit they have of going into the room to check during the ball. here was her great social triumph. within days her beloved willie was dead. i think during that period if you contrast her next trip to new york with 64 i think you find she was trying to find her way back to being the social creature that she was. but also writing letterers and taking care of the bonds between families during the wartime dislocations was something she very much did dedicate herself to. she took flowerses from the white house. she took fruit. she was, indeed serving the role which she thought was a political role. we nolin con did it as well. they didn't go in as a couple. they went in separately and made tear way through the wards. when people came to her to try to publicize it, when someone mentioned it, she wrote to them saying please don't. we do