Doug Wead's

Mothers and Fathers of our Nation's Leaders

http://www.dougwead.com/  

They were First Ladies 
and First Mothers: 

Abigail Adams

(Nov. 22, 1744 - Oct. 28, 1818.) Abigail Adams was the wife of President John Adams and the mothers of the sixth president, John Quincy Adams. Her grandson became Ambassador to the Court of St. James in England.

Barbara Bush

Born Jun 8, 1925, Barbara Bush is one of America's most popular First Ladies.  She took on the cause of literacy.  Barbara is the wife of the 41st president, George H.W. Bush and the mother of the 43rd, George W. Bush.  Two of her sons served as governors of Texas and Florida respectively.

The Dark Side:

The parents of the American presidents were not all saints.  Some were neurotic and abusive.  Sarah Delano did not let her son Franklin have a bath without her supervision until he was nine years old.  Thomas Lincoln used his fists to knock his son Abe to the ground.  He called the boy lazy saying that all he wanted to do was read books. 

Abe Lincoln was estranged from his father. When his wife insisted they name one of their children after his father he finally relented but called the boy Tad, not Thomas.

Sara Delano was criticized for having her son wear dresses. She would say to Franklin, "You are a Delano, not a Roosevelt."

George H.W. Bush, Sr. Defends His Son !

The only couples to see their son's sworn in as President.

Joe Kennedy and his son, the new President. Joe and Rose were the first father and mother to see their son inaugurated.

George and Barbara Bush were the only other couple to see their son inaugurated president.

Jesse and Hannah Grant

Only three Presidents had both a living father and mother when they took office Grant, Kennedy and George W. Bush. Only two had both parents present at the inauguration, Kennedy and Bush. 

Ulysses Simpson Grant was inaugurated on March 4, 1869; his father, Jesse Root Grant, who attended the ceremony, died on June 29, 1873; his mother, Hannah Simpson Grant, who did not attend, died on May 11, 1883.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was inaugurated on January 20, 1961; his father, Joseph Patrick Kennedy, and his mother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, both attended the ceremony. President Kennedy was assassinated on November 23, 1963; his father died on November 18, 1969; his mother died on January 22, 1995.

George Walker Bush was inaugurated on January 20, 2001; his father George Herbert Walker Bush, and his mother, Barbara Pierce Bush, were both in attendance at the ceremony.

Presidents are Mama's Boys

Great Stories of Presidents and their families

The Reagan's build a snowman

Michelle Obama, First Mom. Life in the White House.   How a First Lady puts her children first.

Malia and Sasha: Summer fun. What did you do last summer?

Chelsea Clinton for president?  The "fun boomlet."  The Garbo of presidential children opens up.

Caroline Kennedy? Compared to Robert Todd Lincoln.  Should she be Ambassador to the Court of St. James?

Jenna Bush, was she the most beautiful White House bride?

Julie Nixon Eisenhower is  interviewed about life in the White House and after.

Jackie Kennedy's last note to JFK, Jr.  "You, especially, have a place in history."

Where are you Amy Carter?  Where are all the first children now?  And what are they up to?

Royal weddings in America? Doris Kerns Goodwin reports on Chelsea Clinton's wedding.