Transcripts For CSPAN3 First Ladies Influence Image - Eliza

It was used as a place to stay and it was basically destroyed. Eliza being ill with tuberculosis wasnt able to get out much. Eliza received many gifts she brought her to. This was the room she returned to after years in the white house . She was obscure, as she probably would have wanted it, but shes who he needed. Abraham lincolns assassination just weeks after the warravaged nation and brought Andrew Johnson and andrews wife e lizza was thrust into being the first lady and reconstruction in the south and his own impeachment. This week on cspans first ladies, the life and times of Eliza Johnson. Good evening and thank you for being with us. As we learn per about Eliza Johnson let me introduce you to our two guests who will help us do that. Jacqueline berger is in the midst of midst a threevolume series and she joins us from her home in southern california. Kendra hinkle is a greenville, tennessee, native as Andrew Johnson is and longtime employee of the National Park service and serves as a Museum Technician at the Andrew Johnson National Historic site and thanks for being with us tonight. Jacqueline, we will start with setting the scene. The country had lost president s before through natural death and this was the first assassination. So what was it like in washington, d. C. , the capital and in the white house . Was it an orderly transition or chaos or something in between . As you can well imagine, susan. In the beginning it was disbelief and they being not believe that it happened and secretary stanton took charge immediately and he decided that the president was going to be a funeral in the east room and he went ahead and had, i believe, that johns name was major french set up the funeral and do everything for it and he went into work immediately to elaborate, you know, this most beautiful funeral for the president and unfortunately the first lady was upstairs constantly in tears and in mourning. They were building this beautiful setting for this funeral and they were banging and hammering and all night long she would call downstairs and ask them to please stop because she thought gunshots were going off inside the white house. So it was pretty terrifying for her. Well, to the transition in government, how is it, Kendra Hinkle, that a republican president ended up with a southern democrat as a Vice President . A unique situation. In one sense, Abraham Lincoln was trying to appeal to a broader segment of the population and in another sense, i think he was making good on a second inaugural to bind at the nations wounds so he was trying to bring the north and south back together again because johnson was a southerner. He was a democrat and intensely loyal to the union and he was the only senator who retained his seat when the other senators from the south left and hed spent time as tennessees military governor restoring a Union Government there and freed the slaves in tennessee while he was military governor. How prepared was he for the job of president . He had held nearly every Political Office that you can hold on the rise to the presidency. It was just a completely different situation going in after lincolns assassination and just a very chaotic time. But in pack, the new president s graciousness toward mary lingeron made it difficult for him in his transition. How did that all work . It was difficult in the beginning and mary was upstairs in total hourning and she remained there for six weeks so the new president was gracious enough to not set up his office in the white house so that he could give her time to make the adjustment and it was pretty difficult on him and in the very beginning he was obviously shaken to the core and he started to get into action very quickly and he was prepared to take over the presidency. Where did he work at the time, and at the Treasury Department and his wife was not here. In what were his early days like . Do you know how quickly he assumed his control of the country. At one point it was tumultuous because high had the grand review shall the lincoln trials and it was his golden hour because congress wasnt his session and he tried to implement the variations of lincolns very lenient plan of restoration for the south. There were still in the early days skirmishes going on in the civil war. Im sure there were, but that was hardly settled in a lot of peoples minds, and the taking over this job at this particular time in this city. He had a cabinet that he inherited thats correct. What were his challenges . He made the decision to keep the cabinet. He said this is what i have and im going to live with it the best i can and he discovered that may not have been the best decision for himself because he was constantly struggling with them. They thought for sure he would go ahead and have more of a harsher stance on the south and johnson did not. He had a very lenient opinion of how he wanted the south and the north to get back together so he had a very, very difficult time with congress, with the senate. We used tumultuous in many of the weeks of the series, but these four weeks in particular seemed to deserve the description. Here are some of the highlights of the first years he spent in office. In 1865, his first year the 13th amendment was ratified and those of you will remember that was the great fight. In 1865 vetoes the office act which led to his impeachment and suspended secretary Edwin Stanton and in 1868 the 14th amendment to the constitution was ratified and that was one of the reconstruction amendments and among other things it had a citizen overturned and as we mentioned his impeachment proceedings were held and thats just a look at the kinds of things the Johnson Family had to deal with. Did he have a Vice President . No. Was there any provision for selecting a Vice President at that point . No. And if if the impeachment had resulted in conviction the presidency would have gone to the president pro them of the senate. So lets move on to eliza and her story. So eliza arrives when . It was probably four months later that she finally came with her family. They had set up a situation where she took care of the home and took care of the finances and her life was pretty well set and the fact that her husband became president and didnt change things instantaneously, but she did follow. She did bring her entire family with her. Of course, she had two daughters and one was married and had two children of her own and her other daughter was now a widow at this point and brought her three children with her and it was very, very crowded upstairs in the white house and we do know that eliza was invalid when she got to the white house, but people think that she, in fact, didnt participate much and that isnt exactly true. She was very, very involved and she set up her own bedroom upstairs right across from the president s office basically and she was able to hear always going on and she was very active and she read daily newspapers and brought different points of view to the president and was able to calm him down constantly and of course, she was the grandmother of the house as well as taking care of her daughters and her grandchildren. Her Health Status is what she discussed and the only known Public Statement which we have on screen is my dears, i am an invalid. After making it, what did she do . She went upstairs and her face showed interest and no enthusiasm and another quote attributed to her is i do not like this public life at all and ill be happy when were back where i feel we best belong. What was the source of her best problems . Consumption, tuberculosis. Her health seems to have weakened after the birth of her last season which was 18 years younger than his brothers and sisters and by 1860 there are many references to Mothers Health in letters. Here is our first question for our viewers and before i take it i want to remind you if you are you. To the series, the best thing about it is your paris pagz. You can also send us a message on twitter using the firstladies and as a third choice, go to cspans Facebook Page and we have a conversation already under way with questions from viewers around the country and well try to mix a number of those in throughout the 90minute program. Gary asked the question was eliza concerned about her husbands safety after the lincoln a saassassination . His life was in danger when he was a senator because he, in fact, did not want his state to succeed from the union and so he himself was considered a traitor and oftentimes his life was in danger and of course, when the president was assassinated she was absolutely terrified. Her daughter and one of her daughters wrote her father when they were in the white house, and she said mother is deranged that you would be assassinated. So she was extremely worried about it. What was the reason for her worry other than the general atmosphere in washington. Some suggest that there was, in fact, part of the overall plot, someone assigned to kill johnson. And he had some heavy drink before hand and lost his nerve. He did stalk the Vice President. He was stalking him that whole day and he was planning to assassinate him that night and he did. He went out and had too much to drink, lost his nerve and thankfully did not follow through on his plans. Is there any historic documentation about how the president reacted to the threats on his life . You know, i have never heard any. We just know that grave concern for lincoln took priority and people tried to tell him not to go to the Peterson House that night himself because of all of the danger out there and he went anyway. The Peterson House was where the president was taken when he was shot and he was told to stay away in case there were more threats of their lives. Because news was coming in of seward being attacked and they knew this was an attack on highranking, government officials. It was not the first time in history. There was an a sass nation attempt on George Washingtons life and many other president s. I think they lived with that fact and hair retruman said it just goes with the territory and you need to go about your business and do what you need to do. President ial on twitter, did they have any relationship with mary lincoln . Not to my knowledge. She stayed at home quite a bit. Its not like she traveled to washington. Oftentimes other wives did travel to washington and spent time with their spouse and eliza didnt, she did not have a relationship at all. My understanding, as well. Eliza did come to washington for a couple of months, but ill health forced her back home. You describe a very active public floor in the white house even though the public didnt see Eliza Johnson and the centerpiece room for the family is whats today called the yellow oval room which was turned into the library by a former first lady. We have a photograph of what we are showing it today. What was their personal life like at the white house . They were an extremely closeknit family and the grandchildren adored both grandparents and they were very, very close and oftentimes whether they were doing studying or with tutors theyd always come back in and visit their grandmother and the president spent his mornings visiting with her to do his business and everything seemed to revolve around liza. Jenny webber on facebook is asking, can you tell us more about her two daughter and they helped her as roll. . Martha was the official hostes and mary supported her back and forth to greenville. She was like her mother, i think, preferred to be with the children. My understanding is when she was at the white house she was responsible for a lot of their education and training. She did step in with her sister, but they didnt like the public life. The entire family didnt care for it at all and by that time, she, too, herself was a widow. Shed lost her husband in the civil war. So that was difficult on her, as well, having three children and being a widow herself. What did it mean to be official hostess in the Johnson White house . There was a period of mourning. It definitely was and that says a lot about eliza. Even though it was a state of mourning and of course, the war had just totally ravaged the white house completely and i cant describe in what disarray, was there mold in the state dining room and lice in the rooms and the carpeting was filthy and it gave martha a couple of months while congress was not in session to get the house cleaned up and she scrubbed it down from top to bottom and was astute to that, and then they would have levies on thursday nights. Which is a tradition weve seen all of the way through from the washington administration. Thats in many cases for how it is. Martha washington set the role and many of them followed along with it and it was johnsons intention to have the common man and the Common People come to the house. He didnt want to have such formal dinners where they were by written invitation, but more inviting people to come in on a regular basis and just see the president s home, the peoples house. Just in that note, to capture the johnsons approach to it, this quote from martha johnson. Mary lincoln was criticized southboundly in the press for her extravagance and how did the nation respond . Saying were plain folks and well respond in many ways. I think people were craving that war to know people who had suffered like they had and who were not going to bes on 10 tas tashs, but were respectful. That was one of the things that martha did first thing in the morning. She was go downstairs and supervise the dairy operation and shed come back and have ann of the state floors, the downstairs make sure everything was in order. But, yes, they did. They werent obviously the first family that brought animals to the white house with them. They did bring their own cows. Were the johnsons very religious and did their view change over time with the war and assassinations . Mrs. Johnson attended church. Johnson did not because i think there was vague lines between politics and religion a lot of time at that time period. We do have a letter when he thought he was dying of cholera in the 1870s where hes done his duty and by god and his nation and he is at peace. And so, it shows that while not practicing at a church in particular, he was still a religious man. And before we leave this life in the early days of the white house, tell us more about how the white house ended up in such a state. Mrs. Lincoln spent a lot of money and was criticized for refurnishing. That is true. After the president passed away, she went upstairs and she was there for six weeks. But the white house was still open to the public. As soon as the doors opened in the morning until literally they have to push the public out at night, people were constantly coming through. There was a tremendous amount of traffic. And there was a lot of vandalism also. They wanted little pieces of the carpeting or their drapery and they would take pieces of fabric. China was missing. And it was just in disarray. Also during the war years, theres a lot of people coming through the white house. Where was the security . The security wasnt paying much attention. And i think part of it is, number one, they didnt really know or maybe have enough support to go in and Say Something about it. Either they didnt feel like they had enough control or they just didnt chose not to. And thats where the confusion came in. Mrs. Lincoln was upstairs. The president , was, of course, not in the white house. So for about six weeks it was just run a muck actually. Congress recognized this and gave the family a 30,000 appropriation, which is a lot more money than the lincolns got. How did the johnsons use that money in the white house . Very carefully. Martha oversaw every cent. She refurbished furniture. She would take up strips of carpet, have it cleaned. If it was a smaller section still good, put it in a different area. So, she took down the wallpapers and she just had guilt decor put up that was simple but very elegant. And again, the official washington maybe even the larger country must have reacted well to this after the lincolns. I think they did. Number one, they were very simple people. And i think even Washington Society appreciated that. They oftentimes said that they were dressed simply but elegantly. And i think what martha did, she did a lot with flowers. And she made slip covers for the furniture as opposed to reapollstering it. I think they respected her thifttyness. One of the rooms she particularly refurbished ones on the state floor and referenced with official events the blue room and also the famous east room. One of the traditions i understand that she created was by finding portraits of past president s and bringing them into the white house. That is correct. What did she do there . Well, many times when a family moves into the white house, they just stay on either the public floors or the private floors. Martha went down into the basement. She went up into the attic. She was all over. She found these portraits. They werent framed but she did show them to her father and her father thought it was a great idea to frame these portraits and hang them up. President johnson loved to walk through the walls with individuals and refer to a president and tell a story about that. And one other thing i wanted to mention about the thriftiness. Eliza said when her husband kept going off to whether it be congress on the senate, she said i remained at home caring for the children and practicing economy. So, thats where she learned it from, martha. I said margaret it was martha. Those president ial paintings remained there. They become part of the white house and one of the more iconic, you see movies about the white house, you often see the first family walking down with all the president ial portraits its called the cross hall in the state floor and that began with the johnson administration. Well, during this program youre going to see videos from the johnson National Park and National Historic