First ladies library, lucinda fraley. [ applause ]. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, everyone, who is involved with the symposium. You have absolutely no idea how thrilled my colleagues and i are all to be here. Any time we get a chance to present first ladies we always put forth our mission, which is to i cant think of our mission. You can tell im really good today. It is to educate public about the lives and the activities of the first ladies in this country. And believe me, they were all wonderful. And as i was talking to somebody last night at the reception, we think all the president s were quite intelligent, every one of them. Because they were smart enough to marry the woman who became their lifes partner and the first ladies of our country. We want you to be wowed. We want you to be wowed by the first ladies. And as we are every day. So i would like to introduce friends we know very well through the years. As i introduce each one in the order of Florence Harding, followed b
And he told her a white house China Service for 200 people. Thats what she went about doing and i used the line just say no program on drugs. Mrs. Barbara bush, her promotion of childhood literacy and literacy for adults increased support for the White House Committee for preservation of the white house and the redecoration efforts throughouti the executive residence and establishing the White House Endowment fund, a 25 million fund so that private funds are available to keep the public rooms of the white house the way you see them when you go and visit. Closed and certainly mrs. Clinton was a major supporter of that effort and closed out that effort. Thor 20 million endowment which is handled c by the White House Historical association. And mrs. Clinton expanded on that idea and people who wanted to give money for specific acqu purposes, now there is a white house major acquisitions trust. N so that when major paintings or if theres a piece of furniture, people can give money for a bu
I owe the thank you to the president s that kept me there. I wondered what your typical day was like as far as how many hours a day you worked and if you have children, did they get to interact with any of the family members . Yes. My typical day was not very typical. Lly i usually got to work at about 6 15 in the morning. To establish the routine for the day, pick up notes that came in overnight. And i never knew what time i was going to go home in the around. It depended on the president and the first ladys schedule, what activities were going on. Certainly if theres a world situation that occurs, i have spent three, four, five days there at a time. At th so i really cant say that thera is a typical day. They were all memorable and i cant say they were all enjoyable, but most of them were very enjoyable but very tiring. D the staff was the same way. Theyw i knew that i could count on them. They had regular hours. They were there from such and touch time to such and such time. But i k
First of all, thank you for the most enlightening session. Ae i was wondering if theres something you can share with us, the most outrageous or memorable request that was ever made. Pres ive never had an outrageous request by the president of the United States or his wife. At least none that ill share. Ie your remarks, i think, are yu incredible because they humanize the people in the white house that the American People dont see. You plan to write your memoirs or at least this kind of thing and put it in print for people to read . At this time, no. I was able to get and was probably the only person that spoke to both the president and the first lady on a daily basis. And i believe that their privacy is more important than my telling that part of the story. A most of there things that i related here today, either the president or the first lady have mentioned in casual conversations with friends and r know that that information is out there. Or and i just believe that it is ym their hi
And also the coolidges had introduced the morrows and the lindbergs. We know what came out of that was a marriage. And they were very happy about that. In terms of the press, grace did not try to cultivate any kind of press relations. She did allow them to photograph her. She did say to the press, leave my boys alone. The children of the first family, and we have seen that continually, should be left alone. But she was happy to pose at 12 00 noon on the steps, take questions, and pose with people who wanted to visit her. And she said she was the national hugger. She wanted to hug everybody. Just as calvin would say jokes and be a little more remote, she wanted to be the warm one. And that came across. Her radiance came across. And i think the nation did appreciate that. And what about the press lady herself . Well, i think we have to start with the time period that the hardings arrived at the white house. World war i, still very fresh in everybodys mind. Nearly everything in the Hardin