The Bridgeville Area Historical Society continued its program series in May with a special treat, a discussion entitled “An Insight into the Relationships of Presidents and Their Wives” by Layla Asbury, a Sophomore at Chartiers Valley High School. Layla and her grandfather are regular attendees at programs in this series. Her presentation was outstanding and very well received by everyone in the audience. As impressive as her extemporaneous presentation was, her overall knowledge of her subject, as demonstrated in the extensive question and answer session following it, was even more impressive.
She began her talk with John Tyler, our tenth President. He was running mate for William Henry Harrison, on the rebellious (anti-Martin van Buren) Whig ticket in1840 in the famous “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too” campaign which exploited Harrison’s reputation as the general who defeated Tecumseh at Tippecanoe in 1811. One month after Harrison’s inauguration as President, he became ill (typhoid fever) and died; Tyler abruptly became President. He, his wife Letitia, and their seven children (an eighth child, Anne, had died young) moved into the White House. Eighteen months later Letitia died of a stroke, leaving him a widower. After a suitable period of mourning he married twenty-two years old Julia Gardner; Tyler was fifty-four years old at the time. This marriage produced another seven children, all born after he left office, clearly establishing his claim to have fathered more children than any other President. So much for Washington being acclaimed “Father of our Country”! Remarkably, John Tyler, President from 1841 to 1845, has a living, ninety-six-year-old grandson maintaining the family home, Sherwood Forest Plantation, in Charles City County, Virginia, today.
The next Presidency the speaker discussed was that of William McKinley. He was born in Niles, Ohio, where his family had moved from their home in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Poland Seminary, he enrolled at Allegheny College in Meadville. A decline in family finances ended his tenure there after one year. When the Civil War broke out, he enlisted as a private in the 23rd Ohio Regiment. His military career was impressive, including participation in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, and in the Shenandoah Valley. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1863, ended the war as a breveted major. Following the war he began a career as a lawyer in Canton, Ohio, where he met, courted, and married Ida Saxton, a vivacious daughter of a prominent local family. They had two daughters, both of whom died young, an experience that initiated severe depression in Ida, followed shortly by epilepsy. By the time McKinley became President, she was essentially an invalid, highly dependent upon him, He remained a devoted husband, tending to her needs for the rest of her life. His assassination, in 1901, was a terrible shock for her; she lived with close friends until her death in 1907.
Layla’s next subject, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s marriage, was a direct contrast with the two earlier ones. Fifth cousins, the two were members of branches of the Roosevelt family that had prospered separately. Franklin’s family lived “up the Hudson” at Hyde Park. His mother, Sara Delano, and his father, James Roosevelt, were sixth cousins; Franklin was their only child. His mother was a strong influence on him for most of his life. Eleanor’s family, including her uncle Theodore Roosevelt, lived in Manhattan. She and Franklin met in 1902; their engagement the next year was opposed by his mother. Nonetheless they married in 1905, with President Theodore Roosevelt “giving away” the bride. In 1910 Franklin’s political career began with his election as a New York State Senator, followed by his appointment as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1913. Six children, one of whom died in childbirth, were born to the couple between 1906 and 1916. In 1918 Eleanor discovered that Franklin was having an extra-marital affair with her secretary, Lucy Mercer, and that he was planning a divorce, which his mother and his political advisors persuaded him to forego. He promised to end his affair with Miss Mercer, and announced that he and Eleanor would remain husband and wife. In 1921 Franklin was diagnosed with poliomyelitis, a disease that would leave his legs permanently paralyzed. Eleanor nursed him through his recovery and encouraged him to continue his political career. During his presidency she supported him in public, while initiating her own career as a journalist and activist. When he died in 1945, in Warm Springs, Georgia, she was shocked to learn that Lucy Mercer was with him.
The speaker closed with the story of Harry and Bess Truman. Born in 1884 and 1885 respectively, they were childhood friends, dating back to early days in Sunday School. Bess turned down Harry’s offer of marriage in 1911, but relented in 1917 when he went off to war as an artillery officer. They were married in 1919 and had a daughter, Margaret, in 1924. By then Harry was deep in Missouri politics, having been elected District Judge in Jackson County. This was an administrative post, much like County Commissioner in Allegheny County in those days. He was rewarded for his loyalty to the Party by being elected to the U. S. Senator in 1934 and then Vice President in 1944. The following year he became President when Franklin Roosevelt passed away. Throughout all this, Bess supported him completely, even serving as his secretary. During the 1948 election campaign she accompanied him on his “whistle-stop” tour of the country, where he regularly introduced her as “the Boss”. They both were happy to return to a normal life in Independence, Missouri, in 1952. The contrast between their relationship and that of the Roosevelts is striking.
Thanks to Layla for an interesting presentation. The next program in this series will be Tuesday, June 25, at 7:30 pm in the Chartiers Room of the Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Department when Glenn Flickinger discusses “The Berlin Airlift”.