Mother. She doesnt neglect her children but she also embraces the life. Lucy wrote womens minds are as strong as mans, equal in all things and superior in some. Born lucy wrote womens minds are as strong as mans, equal in all things and superior in some. Born in 1831 in ohio she was the first, first lady to earn a College Degree, and her life tells us much about the times in which she lived. Experiencing the civil war reconstruction and the guilded age and social forces usher in an era of enormous change. Welcome. Tonight we learn about the 19th president s. She is the author of the first ladies of the United States of america, a collection of biographies published by the White House Historical association. Welcome. And 1876, this country is joy usly celebrating what the 100th centennial and its an election year. The election is greatly contested with no clear victor. Tell us about the atmosphere with which they arrive at the white house. Its pretty schizophrenic, to tell you the truth. Theyre coming to the white house but they dont even know if theyre actually going to move into the white house because the election is not yet decided. Whats happened is that tilleden and hayes were in the closest elections and tilleden wins the popular vote. But there are three states where the vote is so tight that the parties are tackling each other. Each person the republicans are saying we won, the democrats say we won. So he goes to bed and thinks hes lost and gets up the next morning and finds out that the republicans are challenging the vote in throw states. And if they actually win he gets the number of votes he needs to become president. Well, they go through all these negotiations back and forth. Theres congress is involved. But literally its not decided until he arrives in washington. When the deals are finally set. So when you can only imagine sort of the schizophrenia. The joy fear, disappointment, everything you feel on this train coming to washington. And so worried were they about the possibility of a democratic coup the inaugural day was sunday and so there was a private swearing in at the white house. Absolutely. And then he gave his address on monday the next day. But the country itself is still very unsettled. The civil war, even though its been over for 1 years, is very much in peoples minds because its such a personal war. I mean, everybody has been affected by it. And now youre trying to figure out how are you going to end reconstruction for him its how do you i mean, end reconstruction and try to stay true to your principles. For the democrats its how can we hold his feet to the fire to get rid of the troops down there and give us back our land and our customs. While shes got all this technological revolution. And try to stay these new kinds of engines being done. Labor unrest. Great railroad strikes. You have the telephone just gets premiered in philadelphia. You have the typewriter. Youve got all of a recession thats got everything sort of the first major depression that we have. So the country is trying to figure out whats going on. So they come to the white house with a great deal of government experience. Yes. Threeterm governor of ohio, has served in congress, very popular governor of ohio. What do they do to establish their credibility when they get to washington . Well, they just their personalities take over and they begin to tribe to acknowledge the fact that the election is really controversial. They know that hes being called your fraud lnsy. Theyve been called names. What he does with his inaugural address is really set the tone for this. He makes overtures to the democrats, he opens the white house up. They begin to really try to engage in a public conversation and tackle the issues that sort of tarnished the Republican Party, if you will. The corruption of the Grant Administration when he says he is says he is going to do Civil Service reform. When he really pledged to pull the remaining troops out of the south assuming that the governors that the government in new orleans and columbia will honor their commitment to black rights. So hes trying to really extend an olive branch to people to say im addressing your concerns. I hear you. And im only going to serve one term so lets figure out how we can make the most of this together. How did lucy assist him in this effort . Well, she was very true. She understood politics, how to entertain, how to facilitate conversations between people that were difficult, how to really bring people at the table in a way that would advance her husbands career. She was charming. Everybody liked her despite the no alcohol edict in the white house. So she was able to grease the skids for him in a way that made him seem appropeable and ethical and blunt. We have mentioned that she was the first first lady to have a College Degree. But this is a time of enormous change for women. At the fair, the world fair, all kinds of new devices labor saving devices are being introduced for the home. The vacuum cleaner, early washing machines, and women were beginning to take advantage of this by beginning to move into the workforce. How is lucy she seen a symbol for this kind of woman . I dont think so. Because i think its very easy to overstate the importance of the new labor saving devices and how many women went into the workforce. I mean, the women in the workforce already have the work. And the women who really entered the workforce by their own volition and their own interest really are the generation after her. So when she comes to the white house, only 5 of women who work are working in what we would consider today white collar jobs. Like sales and stenographers and secretaries and you know professors. And educators. Its still very, very closed. Shes on the cusp of that. What shes to me the thing thats really interesting is how shes sort of stuck in a middle in a way that doesnt make her stuck. I know that sounds weird. But the movement is totally dieded along the lines of race and whether women can vote or not. And lucy is the First College educated first lady. Shes nursed during the swars. Shes seen more wounds, battle, scars, oompleties, more suffering than probably any first lady other than maried to lincoln. But yet shes dash Mary Todd Lincoln. But she is not an avanity guard reformer. She is trying to find her own voice. So its hard to put her in a pigeon hole. Thats tricky. Washington looks on her as a temp rans issues. But they also look at her, as lovely vivacious, happy, congenial and then she does, shall we say, exent rick but gorgeous china and the press goes insane over it writing as your credits opened about how difficult it is to eat food and move and see a quail in the middle of your plate. You mentioned the press. We had a point in history where the press is covering the first ladies and they become an object of national interest. The press really is taken with her. They call her they use the title first lady more for her than they have for anybody. Even though it was referenced to Mary Todd Lincoln. But they really they like her. They see her as vivacious. They see her as somebody who is different. Theyre fascinated that she went to college. So they really do follow her in her own right. Were going to take you to their home in freemont, ohio. You see a picture on your screen. The home where Lucy Rutherford and her family lid. And the home library and museum help inform visitors as to what they were all about. Our first segment takes us inside the home to learn about lucy as a political partner. And about some of the causes that were important to her throughout her adult life. This is a painting that shows lucy tending to a wounded soldier during the civil war. Two causes very important were veterans and soldiers and also orphans, children who had been made orphans as a result of the civil war. This painting was created to hang in an orphanage here in ohio of which she was very supportive. So it kind of reflects those two issues that were important to her. When People Associated with those causes would come here and visit, they would sit here in this formal par legislator. It was host to a number of reunions of civil war veterans. The 23rd ovi was the unit that rutserford served in. Future president mckinley was a member of the 23rd ovi so he and his family were frequent guests here. Veterans groups were always welcomed here. And when they would gather here on the grounds, when they would come into sit and talk they would sit in this formal par legislator. Lucy was such a wonderful hostess. She wanted people to feel very, very welcomed here. So this is where they would sit. This is where they would discuss the issues of the day. They would have hosted a number of political figures here for dinner including taft and mckinlly. Also sherman was a guest as well as a number of other local and National Political figures. So as a political partner with her husband entertaining these figures and serving in that role as hostess at these dinners would have hostess at she was a important. Partner to rutherford. She was a sounding board for him. She was a gracious hostess. She was able to engage people oneonone. And to make anybody that she talked with think that they were the only person in the room and the only person that she really wanted to talk with. Now, oneonone. And to make anybody the contested election didnt end after they were sworn in. And there was a congressional inquiry. We have one of many quotes from her. Heres one where she said sometimes i feel a little worried this press and annoyance going on but i keep myself outwardly very calm but inwardly there is a burning venom and wrath all under a smiling or pleasant exterior. Shes very defensive of her husband and his image. And that she does have a little bit of anger in her. But sounds like a good politician in her own right. Yes. Able to mask the inner wrath. Right. One of my favorite things about that is that shows her passion and her ability to sort of hold it in is at the a burning end of the civil war she was just furious that everybody could Start Talking about reconciliation and forgiveness. And she was saying mercy is one thing but we have to have justice and mercy. I would like to invite you as we do each week to be a participant in our program. Theres several ways you can do that. Send us a question or comment by twitter. Please use the hash tag first ladies. And you can go to our Facebook Page on cspan. Theres already a discussion under way. Now, to illustrate what kind of a person she is. She had a lifelong interest in helping her hub band. In 1879, an old 1812 soldier came to the white house received an honor and he is supposed to have his picture taken. When he arrived his uniform came separately and he was disstressed that the sergeants stripes were not on the uniform. So lucy grabbed her sewing kit, put them on and the british minister came in saw the first lady of the United States sitting on the floor. At the white house. At the white house putting on the gentlemans rank. Which is how we learned the story i would imagine. Yes. So its important for us to move on for a bit on lucy and the testimony prance movement happening. First of all, today we often see the expression or nick name lemnade lucy. Was she known at the prance Movement Time by that . Not at all. In fact, tom and i were talking earlier. We cant even find where the reference first appeared. But its one of those things thats just become apock cabble about her. One of the things thats interesting about lucy is that she supports tem prance but never affiliates with the womens union which was founded in ohio her own state by people that lived within two hours drive from her. And theyre always trying to coopt her. So shes she comes to this from her mothers father. Her maternal grandfather who was a member of the state legislature who really made her sign a pledge when she was young not to drink alcohol and that just sort of carried over with her. But she was never really a carry nation type follower. So dave asking on twitter. First, did she ban alcohol from the white house . Actually, no. Her husband made the decision to ban alcohol from the white house. And it was a decision partly political. He wanted to keep the republicans within the party who were defecting to the Prohibition Party. He also wanted to set the morme tone because alcohol was the who were defecting to the Prohibition Party. He also wanted to set the morme tone because alcohol was the drug of choice in those days. There were many families that were ruined, youve heard in this series, about the sons of president s who managed to ruin their lives with alcohol. And he was never a prohibitionist. He never thought actually, you should outlaw alcohol. He was he thought that the people who were running the Prohibition Party were political cranks who would outlaw dancing and card playing. And he just was wanted people to learn by education. How popular was the tem prance movement . At his time not vary. It really takes off at the end of the century. They come in at the beginning. The thing that the reason that it begins to really take off is when it merges with the Womens Suffrage Movement because at the time of when they first move into the white house, only 23 states allowed women to control their own property. And so one of the big problems with alcohol was if women worked their wages legally belonged to their sons brothers or husbands. They could not cash their own pay checks or collect their own wages. So men would take that and go into the is a loans and spend the womens money on alcohol. But also not just on the sloons also gave you shelter and gave you food. And were political basis. They also gave you really cheap beer. And so it was its a complicated issue because its really easy to say oh theyre just turning everybody into alcoholics when what theyre doing is feeding people, organizing people, giving them a place to party and encouraging them to drink and not having womens recourse over their own money. So thats why it really takes off. Because it leads to prostitution, it leads to bankruptcy. And it leads to veernral disease. Lucy was officially lobbied by the tem prance movement to become a public advocate for their cause. Did she agree . She did not. She stuck with her husband and didnt feel that women should be allowed to vote and it was not a she was not an advocate of womens suffrage. When womens suffrage came to the white house she showed them around gave them a tour but did not buy in. Here as quote that really helps to illustrate that. She said it is a great mistake to suppose that i desire to dictate my views to others in this matter of the use of wine and such drinks. I do not use them myself, but i have no thought of shunning those who think and act differently. We learn that first of all she as fabulous politician. The second thing is that she is not an absolutist or a moralist. What shes got is she has made her decision. She believes that moderation is good. And that like her husband shes in no way interested in outlawing everything. And that she is views to others in this matter of the use of wine and such sticking to her own beliefs while trying to be respectful of others. How is it that the womens christian tem prance union came to create an official portrait of lucy . Well, they wanted to memorialize the decision not to serve alcohol in the white house. And lucy was not pleased by that decision. The first thing they wanted to do was build a fountain and she said i dont want my memorial to be a water fountain. I want to be in the hearts of people rather than on a piece of canvas or particularly the irony of it being a water fountain would certainly be galing. She was also not happy that they were trying to raise some money to do this, a dime at a time. She said i think im worth more than a dime. But it became the official white house portrait. And we are showing to you on screen so you can see how we have for history preserved lucy. How different is that view of her from the woman youve come to know . Very different. I mean, i just think the woman that tom has so eloquently described is an enigma. Shes trying to figure out how to be her own person. Shes been stereo typed in a way that Mary Todd Lincoln was stereo tippede. And it doesnt show the courage and the incredible guts she had. I mean, i just wish america understood. If i could tell them one thing about lucy that i find stunningly haunting is how much violence she saw up close during the war. In surgery and out. Not only in i could tell ohio hospitals but going to her hub bands camps where her brother joe was a surgeon. She went in and out of the operating rooms. She did well, they wanted to memorialize the decision not to serve alcohol in the white house. And lucy was not post operatives care. She saw people without anesthetics suffering. When four soldiers two of whom were wounded two of whom were significantly ill were late and mizzed their train to chicago, she opened what she called her back par legislator at her house so that they could stay. It makes perfect sense to me that she sewed that sergeants stripes on. I would be absolutely convinced that thats the least she owed that man for what she knew he went through. On the subject of violence. Well, there was a report that a bullet went through their par legislator window in columbus parlor window in columbus before they came to the white house. There was no secret service. They pretty much took it as it came. Their son web carried a pistol and well, she was an abolitionist right from the start. The Republican Party was the party of abolition. She was an admirer of john c. Freemont and his wife. And so it was logical that he be a republican right from the beginning. On the Womens Suffrage Movement which was really burgeoning, and the famous name Elizabeth Katy stanton, part of the women ds Rights Movement came to the white house to see the president and how did they react to her personal petition for them to be involved in the movement . They rejected it. They did not support womens suffrage. And Elizabeth Katy stanton at that point had become an exceedingly controversial person in republican circles. She had cast gated lincoln for his abandonment, her word, of women during the civil wa