#OTD in 1989, First Lady Barbara Bush decided to pull an #AprilFoolsDay prank on the guests at the annual Gridiron Club Dinner – an event where journalists join the president and first lady and joke about politics. 1/6
The dinner was slated for the first of April, so Mrs. Bush jumped at the chance to surprise the dinner guests. The first lady decided to make a joke using one of her signature features—her hair. 2/6
Barbara Bush’s famous white hair was the subject of fashion articles and interviews throughout the Bush administration, and became part of her image, along with her classic white pearls. 3/6
Image Credit: George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum / NARA
For the Gridiron Dinner, she decided to wear a wig. Mrs. Bush wrote: “I came out of our bedroom that night dressed to the nines for the black-tie dinner and wearing a strawberry-blond wig. So much had been made of my white hair, I thought it was the perfect joke.” 4/6
President Bush was not in on the joke and was “flabbergasted” when he saw the look. “You’re not going to wear that thing, are you?” he asked. She did! President Bush and his wife left the White House for the Capitol Hilton. 5/6
Image: George H.W. Bush Presidential Library / NARA
Newspapers reported that upon arriving at the dinner, “many guests had to look twice before recognizing her,” though some simply thought that the first lady had dyed her hair. 6/6
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One of First Lady Edith Roosevelt’s White House legacies was the introduction of garden parties (pictured). Before becoming first lady, she held extravagant garden parties at the Roosevelt’s family home in Oyster Bay, New York.
📷: @SagamoreHillNHS
@SagamoreHillNHS Mrs. Roosevelt’s White House garden parties gained such traction that local papers announced that her inaugural party as “the first time in the history of the White House that the mistress of the mansion has given this kind of function.”
🖼️: White House Collection/WHHA
@SagamoreHillNHS With hundreds of guests attending her inaugural party, she wore an elegant white taffeta and organdy dress, trimmed with ruffles and lace. Pictured is Mrs. Roosevelt’s 1905 garden party on the South Lawn of the White House.
It’s #FirstLadyFriday, and today we’re highlighting the life of First Lady Jane Pierce, born in New Hampshire on this day in 1806.
Image: Library of Congress
1/7
Jane Appleton married Franklin Pierce in 1834, though she was uninterested in politics and the spotlight that came with it.
Image: White House Collection/White House Historical Association
2/7
Their marriage was marked by tragedy, as they had lost two young children before Pierce’s election to the presidency in 1852. Unfortunately, death followed them to the White House.
3/7
Salvadore Catalano, a Sicilian-born sailor, became an American naval hero as a critical player in a secret mission during the First Barbary War.
A native of Sicily, his composure and knowledge of Tripoli Harbor were essential to the mission.
Image: Library of Congress
1/7
In one of the most courageous actions in American naval history, Catalano piloted the Intrepid for Lieutenant Stephen Decatur’s destruction of the captured USS Philadelphia in Tripoli Harbor in 1804.
Image: U.S. Naval Academy Museum Collection/U.S. Navy Photograph
2/7
The mission to destroy the USS Philadelphia was perilous. Pirates (also called Corsairs) on board the Philadelphia hailed Decatur, but it was Catalano who answered, buying time for the Intrepid crew to attach ropes to the Philadelphia to pull the vessels together.
3/7
This #FirstLadyFriday, we recognize the many women who served as “surrogate” White House hostesses. Typically, first ladies are the wives of presidents, but daughters, nieces, sisters, daughters-in-laws, and friends have stepped into this significant role.
1/6
President Thomas Jefferson, whose wife, Martha, passed away nearly two decades before his inauguration, was the first president to be joined by surrogate hostesses at the White House.
2/6
His daughters, Martha Jefferson Randolph (pictured here) and Maria Jefferson Eppes, welcomed guests to the Executive Mansion, dined with visitors, and managed enslaved and free servants.
After his farewell speech at the entrance to the White House on September 7, 1825, an emotional Marquis de Lafayette embraced President John Quincy Adams, signalling the end of his yearlong triumphant return to the United States.
Image: White House Historical Association
1/5
Originally intended as a four-month tour, the general’s visit stretched into a thirteen-month journey to all twenty-four states, and inspired patriotic celebrations and expressions across a young country during the waning days of the “Era of Good Feelings.”
2/5
President Adams could not allow the general to leave without one last celebration in his honor. Adams celebrated Lafayette’s September 6 birthday with a White House dinner.
Image: White House Collection/White House Historical Association
Vice President John Tyler, a former Democrat from Virginia, ascended to the presidency as a member of the Whig Party following the death of President William Henry Harrison in 1841. (1/6)
Image Credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
As president, Tyler vetoed a bill to recharter the Second Bank of the United States, along with several bills proposed by fellow Whigs and sponsored by Henry Clay, a prominent Whig member of the U.S. Senate. (2/6)
Image Credit: Library of Congress
Following his veto, members of his party expelled Tyler from the Whig Party, and every member of Tyler’s cabinet eventually resigned, with the exception of Secretary of State Daniel Webster (pictured here). (3/6)