![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It is curious that a Johnny-come-fairly-lately republic like the United States should so much want to envelop in majesty those for the most part seedy political hacks quadrennially “chosen” by the people to rule over them. When twenty-four-year-old Miss Julia Gardiner of Gardiners Island became the doting wife of senior citizen John Tyler, she insisted that his stately arrivals and departures be accompanied by the martial chords of “Hail to the Chief.” Mary Todd Lincoln often gave the impression that she thought she was Marie Antoinette. James Monroe took a crack at regal status, receiving guests on a dais with something suspiciously like a coronet in her tousled hair. Martha Washington contented herself with the unofficial (hence seldom omitted) title “Lady” Washington. ![]() E********* always insisted on being called that.”Īccording to one Ralph Geoffrey Newman, in a note to the recently published The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant, “the term ‘First Lady’ became a popular one after the production of a comedy, The First Lady in the Land…December 4, 1911.” The phrase was in use, however, as early as, the Ladyhood of Mrs. “I keep telling the operators at the White House not to call me that, but they just love saying ‘First Lady.’ And of course Mrs. “Oh, how true!” said that lady, after the tiniest of pauses. Some years ago a friend remarked to a brand-new President’s wife (a woman of unique charm, wit, sensibility, and good grooming) that there was no phrase in our language which so sets the teeth on edge as “First Lady.” ![]()
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