The last one was obviously too easy, so let's try again - who is this?Roswell, Georgia, located about about 20 minutes north of Atlanta, was and is the site of Bulloch Hall, the Bulloch Family estate. Mittie's southern roots, her two brothers fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, brought an added dimension to the Roosevelt household. TR's father did not fight actively in the War, although he supported the Union war effort in many other ways, largely, it is believed out of sensitivity to his wife's relatives. Mittie, surreptitiously sent "care packages" of medicine and supplies to the southern effort.
TR's mother, Mittie, and his first wife, Alice Lee died in the same home, on the same day, a few hours apart. Mittie died of typhoid. This double tragedy, 2 days after the birth of his first child, also named Alice, affected TR greatly. At the time, TR was an Assemblyman in the State Legislature of New York State. He returned there for a few months and then made a temporary career and life change. Leaving his infant daughter in the capable hands of his older sister Bamie, he headed west to Medora North Dakota and for a few years lived his life as a rancher.
Both the impact of TR's southern roots and his experiences after the tragedy of his mother's death, contributed to his understanding of the dynamics of Americans of many walks of life as he served in the various national offices he held during his lifetime.
Want more information on the Roosevelt women? Check out these posts!The idea for a "Mother's Day" is credited by some to Julia Ward Howe (1872) and by others to Anna Jarvis (1907), who both suggested a holiday dedicated to a day of peace. Many individual states celebrated Mother's Day by 1911, but it was not until Wilson lobbied Congress in 1914 that Mother's Day was officially set on the second Sunday of every May. In his first Mother's Day proclamation, Wilson stated that the holiday offered a chance to "[publicly express] our love and reverence for the mothers of our country."
In 2002, President George W. Bush echoed Wilson's sentiments by acknowledging mothers in his official statement on Mother's Day in 2002. He commended foster mothers as well as his own "fabulous mother" for their "love and sacrifice." He also mentioned past presidents' expressions of appreciation for their mothers. He quoted John Quincy Adams as having said "all that I am my mother made me" and Abraham Lincoln's sentiment that "all that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother ?[my mother's prayers] have clung to me all my life." Bush's own mother, Barbara, was a popular first lady when the elder Bush served as president from 1989 to 1992.
By the end of her husband’s first year in office, Mrs. Reagan had acquired a number of unflattering nicknames, among them “Queen Nancy.” But in early 1982, an opportunity arose that enabled Mrs. Reagan to show the press corps a different side of her. The Gridiron Club, an exclusive, century-old organization representing journalists, holds an annual dinner designed to bring together the press and the politicians of Washington for an evening of entertainment and humor. Members of the press perform skits poking fun at the politicians, and the President often gives a speech at the conclusion of the evening. Mrs. Reagan’s staff knew the press planned to present a skit about the first lady and what the media considered to be her expensive taste and fashionable ways, and decided she should perform a skit of her own. That evening, Mrs. Reagan arrived with her husband in evening clothes as expected. During dinner, as the skit about her played out onstage, she excused herself momentarily. Some in the room thought she was upset about the ribbing she was receiving and had walked out. But in truth, she secretly went backstage and donned a ridiculous-looking costume consisting of mismatched clothes – a navy polka dotted blouse topped with a red print housedress and a blue Hawaiian-print skirt, yellow rubber rain boots, a feather boa, a long strand of pearls, and a red straw hat with feathers and flowers. She surprised everyone, including her husband, by marching out on stage and performing her own number, “Secondhand Clothes.” In lyrics set to the tune of “Secondhand Rose,” she mocked the media’s criticism of her fashion sense, and dramatically concluded her performance by smashing to the floor a replica plate from the new White House china. She received a standing ovation – and demands for an encore – from a newly-appreciative and admiring press corps. The next day the headlines read, “First lady floors ’em with song and dance,” “She sings, she jokes, she’s a hit.” And the Washington Post wrote, “…the sophisticated audience of journalists, politicians and their friends responded to her performance as though she had undergone a major change. A number of those image-makers left the ballroom saying that Nancy Reagan’s song-and-dance number had transformed her image.”
I have to give her that this was a gusty move and one that really shows some humor and finally got her some good press on her clothes!
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