Covid-19 Life: Vaccinated! and Some Interesting Handkerchiefs Find a Home

Hooray! My spouse and I have both received our second Covid-19 vaccinations. April 8 is the day we can begin to cautiously reenter the world: missed doctor appointments are first up on the list. 

New on my TBR NetGalley shelf is

• Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change by Thor Hanson
• The Magician by Colm Toibin, fiction about the novelist Thomas Mann 
• Rooted by Lynda Lynn Haupt whose Mozart's Starling I deeply enjoyed
• Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, story of a daredevil female aviator
• Theater for Dreamers by Polly Sampson

The pandemic has motivated me to think about 'last things' and where 'things' will at last end up.

In other words, its time to find homes for some things I have collected.

First up, three handkerchiefs signed by First Ladies.

In 1993 a signed handkerchief collection belonging to Mrs Mildred Maulding was sold off on eBay. I purchased three of the handkerchiefs signed by First Ladies, including Bess Wallace Truman, Patricia Nixon, and Betty Ford. I believe I paid about $15 each.

The handkerchief signed by Betty Ford came with a letter from the White House that is dated February 5,1975. It is addressed to Mrs. Mildred Maulding, 1301 Northeast Glendale Avenue, Peoria, Illinois 60603 and is from Nancy M. Howe, Special Assistant to Mrs Ford. The letter confirmed that the handkerchief was from Betty Ford. The handkerchief signed by Bess Wallace Truman is dated 6/7/68.

The seller, Nancy Ashburst, included an appraisal of the collection in a letter dated 1993. In the collection were handkerchiefs signed by astronauts John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, James Lovell, Frank Borman, William Anders, Wally Schirra, and James McDivitt; actors and entertainers Mary Pickford, Jane Withers, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Grace de Monaco, and Richard Chamberlain; Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Lady Bird, Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower, Harry S. and Bess Truman, Hubert and Muriel Humphrey, Everett Dirksen, and Eugene McCarthy; religious leaders Billy Graham and Norman Vincent Peale; authors Zane Grey, Pearl Buck, Edgar Guest; famous physicians Jonas Salk and Charles W. Mayo and Christian Barnard, the first transplant patient; and from the world of music, Robert Merrill, Herb Alpert, and Meredith Willson. The total collection was valued at nearly $3,000.

I would have LOVED TO BUY THEM ALL! But I did not have much to spare. These three hankies were a steal at half their appraised value.

The collector, Mildred Dorothy Maulding, was born February 6, 1897 to Charles Sturman and Minnie Alice. She married Charles DeWitt Ashby and they had two children, Charles DeWitt and Billy Dee. On June 11, 1949, Mildred married Emory Maulding.

Mildred died at age 80 in 1977. Her obituary shows she was born in Shawneetown and was buried in McLeansboro, that she was a member of the Baptist church, Eastern Star, and White Shrine.

I got in touch with the presidential museums for each First Lady and have arranged to donate the handkerchiefs to them.

I also got in touch with the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum. I want to donate a rare campaign souvenir handkerchief to them, sold on eBay as a 'circus elephant' for a dollar or so. It is silk, with a Republican elephant wearing a blanket with a bit 'H' for Hoover and a 'C' for his VP Curtis.

So, a trip to the post office is also in my post-vaccination to-do list.

Next it is time to clear out some quilts. I have a double closet and a linen closet filled with them...

Lady Bird Johnson Hiding in Plain Sight by Julia Sweig

In 2013, The Rachel Carson Award was posthumously awarded to Lady Bird Johnson for her "outstanding contributions to the conservation and environmental movement." If this surprises you, like it does me, it is because Bird's environmental agenda had been tweaked to the more acceptable "beautification" project. 

In Lady Bird Johnson Hiding in Plain Sight, Julia Sweig explains how people like me remember the roadside wildflower plantings and attack on roadside bill boards and not the deeper issues Bird was promoting--issues of environmental justice and racial equality. 

Every biography offers some new slant, some new insight. And Julia Sweig did not disappoint me with a new understanding of Lady Bird, her relationship with LBJ, and their experience during a tumultuous time.

Sweig does not mince words. She calls white supremacy by it's name. We see history, the landmark legislation, the white backlash, the Civil Rights movement, the riots, and the domestic terrorism from a 21st c. perspective.

Sweig presents Bird as a strong, determined, committed, intelligent woman who was necessary to her husband's well being and career. Bird's work of transforming urban environments for physical and mental health, from eliminating pollution to the beautification of  schoolyards, leaves us impressed by Bird's deep knowledge, dedication, and passion. 

Bird was a workaholic like her husband. She campaigned across the country, edited LBJ's speeches and acted as a sounding board. As First Lady she brought together talent and money to develop her dream of healthy neighborhoods, and she mothered two daughters on the verge of adulthood.  

It was interesting to learn about the private contract between Bird and LBJ concerning his running for another term of office, and how their daughters reacted to his decision.

It is thrilling to read a book that does not diminish Lady Bird to an abused, underappreciated, complicit wife. Sweig shows us a true partnership of equals--or perhaps I should better say, the balanced and insightful woman necessary to her man's success.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Lady Bird Johnson on Remember the Ladies
by Nancy A. Bekofske

Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight

by Julia Sweig
Random House Publishing Group - Random House
Pub Date March 16, 2021  
ISBN: 9780812995909
hardcover $32.00 (USD)

from the publisher

A magisterial portrait of Lady Bird Johnson, and a major reevaluation of the profound yet underappreciated impact the First Lady's political instincts had on LBJ’s presidency.

“An inviting, challenging, well-told tale of the thoroughly modern partner and strategist Lady Bird Johnson, whose skill and complexity emerge fully in this rich tale of history and humanity.”—John Dickerson, author of The Hardest Job in the World

 “This riveting portrait gives us an important revision of a long-neglected First Lady.”—Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of Eleanor Roosevelt, vol 1-3

In the spring of 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson had a decision to make. Just months after moving into the White House under the worst of circumstances—following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy—he had to decide whether to run to win the presidency in his own right. He turned to his most reliable, trusted political strategist: his wife, Lady Bird Johnson. The strategy memo she produced for him, emblematic of her own political acumen and largely overlooked by biographers, is just one revealing example of how their marriage was truly a decades-long political partnership.

Perhaps the most underestimated First Lady of the twentieth century, Lady Bird Johnson was also one of the most accomplished and often her husband's secret weapon. Managing the White House in years of national upheaval, through the civil rights movement and the escalation of the Vietnam War, Lady Bird projected a sense of calm and, following the glamorous and modern Jackie Kennedy, an old-fashioned image of a First Lady. In truth, she was anything but. As the first First Lady to run the East Wing like a professional office, she took on her own policy initiatives, including the most ambitious national environmental effort since Teddy Roosevelt. Occupying the White House during the beginning of the women's liberation movement, she hosted professional women from all walks of life in the White House, including urban planning and environmental pioneers like Jane Jacobs and Barbara Ward, encouraging women everywhere to pursue their own careers, even if her own style of leadership and official role was to lead by supporting others.

Where no presidential biographer has understood the full impact of Lady Bird Johnson’s work in the White House, Julia Sweig is the first to draw substantially on Lady Bird’s own voice in her White House diaries to place Claudia Alta "Lady Bird” Johnson center stage and to reveal a woman ahead of her time—and an accomplished politician in her own right.

Eleanor by David Michaelis

"All her life, Eleanor believed that she had to earn love--by pleasing others, by undertaking ever more numberless duties, by one more tour of useful Rooseveltian doing.~ from Eleanor by David Michaelis

Compared to her beautiful parents, she was plain. Her mother was a social butterfly and her father was charming. Her mother nicknamed her Granny. Her alcoholic father could make her feel like a princess, but he was unreliable and could not save her. She struggled with confidence all her life.

She found happiness with her grandparents and while away at school where she was mentored by a progressive, free thinking lesbian. She would have liked to become a nurse, but was fated to 'come out' into the marriage market.

She married her cousin when he was still a priggish outsider. She saw him become a handsome ladies man determined to follow their uncle Teddy's career path to the White House. 

She bore nine children. She lost family to alcoholism and disease. When she learned of her husband's infidelity, her mother-in-law forbade divorce. She found love outside of her marriage and family with women and younger men.

"Martha Gellhorn thought of her as 'the loneliest human being I ever knew in my life'."~from Eleanor by David Michaelis

Remarkably, this unfortunate woman turned tragedy into strength, depression into action. She had been ignorant of politics and world affairs and had accepted the status quo understanding of status, race, religion, world affairs. She threw herself into the work of understanding human need. As she traveled the world and the country, she learned, expanded, and became a powerful voice.

She pushed her presidential husband toward positions of equity and inclusiveness and empathy and morality. She expanded the role of the First Lady, a tireless campaigner. 

She was a leader in the United Nations as they forged the first statement of human rights. On the President's Commission on the Status of Women she "identified the issues that soon became the agenda of the women's movement."

David Michaelis has given us a marvelous, empathetic biography of this complex woman. He does not spare Franklin Roosevelt or shroud Eleanor's deep love for Lorena Hickok in doubt. 

Eleanor is a timeless role model who should inspire each generation. Life did not break her, the times did not discourage her, public opinion did not stop her. Eleanor rose above it all to follow her innate moral compass and lead us all to compassion and a just society.

I was given a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Eleanor
by David Michaelis
Simon & Schuster
Pub Date: November 1,  2020   
ISBN 9781439192016
hardcover $35.00 (USD)

from the publisher

Prizewinning bestselling author David Michaelis presents a breakthrough portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt, America’s longest-serving First Lady, an avatar of democracy whose ever-expanding agency as diplomat, activist, and humanitarian made her one of the world’s most widely admired and influential women.

In the first single-volume cradle-to-grave portrait in six decades, acclaimed biographer David Michaelis delivers a stunning account of Eleanor Roosevelt’s remarkable life of transformation. An orphaned niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, she converted her Gilded Age childhood of denial and secrecy into an irreconcilable marriage with her ambitious fifth cousin Franklin. Despite their inability to make each other happy, Franklin Roosevelt transformed Eleanor from a settlement house volunteer on New York’s Lower East Side into a matching partner in New York’s most important power couple in a generation.

When Eleanor discovered Franklin’s betrayal with her younger, prettier social secretary, Lucy Mercer, she offered a divorce and vowed to face herself honestly. Here is an Eleanor both more vulnerable and more aggressive, more psychologically aware and sexually adaptable than we knew. She came to accept FDR’s bond with his executive assistant, Missy LeHand; she allowed her children to live their own lives, as she never could; and she explored her sexual attraction to women, among them a star female reporter on FDR’s first presidential campaign, and younger men.

Eleanor needed emotional connection. She pursued deeper relationships wherever she could find them. Throughout her life and travels, there was always another person or place she wanted to heal. As FDR struggled to recover from polio, Eleanor became a voice for the voiceless, her husband’s proxy in presidential ambition, and then the people’s proxy in the White House. Later, she would be the architect of international human rights and world citizen of the Atomic Age, urging Americans to cope with the anxiety of global annihilation by cultivating a “world mind.” She insisted that we cannot live for ourselves alone but must learn to live together or we will die together.

Drawing on new research, Michaelis’s riveting portrait is not just a comprehensive biography of a major American figure, but the story of an American ideal: how our freedom is always a choice. Eleanor rediscovers a model of what is noble and evergreen in the American character, a model we need today more than ever.

Michelle & Me

I am one of the 175,000 people who bought Becoming Michelle Obama in its first week of publication. I am not going to review the book--it feels unnecessary. But I am going to talk about my personal reaction.

My interest in the book is part of a long-held interest in the First Ladies dating to the creation of my redwork quilt Remember the Ladies. I read books on the president's wives and individual biographies and memoirs while developing my patterns. I find the role of First Lady fascinating and at times even familiar.

Remember the Ladies by Nancy A. Bekofske

The president's spouse is thrust into the limelight. The layers of expectations and the deluge of attention and isolation, criticism and idolation, are unsought and unwelcome. The president's spouse is not elected and garners no salary and yet is expected to represent the country as an ambassador, hostess, and representative. The president's spouse cannot choose the family's home. Their spouse works long hours and travels a lot.

Michelle honed telling her story on the campaign trail, a way to forge bonds with diverse groups of people. On the surface, Michelle has nothing in common with people like me. But I felt a connection over and over.

Michelle's dad was a blue-collar city employee with MS. My dad was an auto mechanic who worked in his dad's gas station. He lucked into a job in the auto industry as an experimental mechanic. My mom was crippled with Psoriatic Arthritis.

Michelle grew up in a multi-family home, shared with her aunt and uncle. I grew up in a multi-family home, shared with my father's siblings and his parents. When I was five my grandmother moved in with my family. Michelle shared a bedroom with her brother, separated by a wall and enclosed with folding doors. My grandmother and I had side by side bedrooms, once a larger room that was divided, and enclosed with folding doors!

Michelle had piano lessons. So did I. She has a brother. So do I.

Michelle had children in her thirties. I had my son in my thirties.

When Michelle's husband went into politics it meant he was away much of the time, leaving her to juggle a career, running the home, and raising their kids. My husband took a job where he spent four hours a day commuting and was home only a few hours a day. He frequently traveled across the states and several times a year was abroad. I juggled the homefront and raised our son.

Michelle's husband's career left her with difficult choices between stability for the family and being together. She found herself thrust into the spotlight, but also in his shadow with her own accomplishments sidelined to her role as Barack's wife. My husband's career as a minister meant frequent moves, some dictated, with no choice of the house we lived in or the school district our child was in. At gatherings, people surrounded him and ignored me. It was expected that I attend events and take on leadership and act as a figurehead. I often did not meet expectations as I tried to be true to myself.

When Michelle wrote that she and her husband had always been sounding boards for each other and how Barack had perfected the ability to set boundaries between work and family, being fully present even when they "lived above the shop" my respect grew deeper than ever. Living in a church-owned home with a husband on-call 24-7, parishioners' happiness dictating housing needs and raises, it was hard to have boundaries between our family life and my husband's career. When churches were in crisis it affected us all deeply.

Michelle Robinson Obama may strike you as someone charmed and glamorous.  But, I related to her. I got it.

After all, she grew up in a divided bedroom with folding doors.

First Ladies of the Republic: Creating a Democratic Style

I began reading about the First Ladies while designing my quilt Remember the Ladies. I have read many biographies and general books on these amazing women.

The wives of our presidents are not elected. They have no job description. Some come to the White House unwillingly, although some did push their spouse into office. They face the deepest public scrutiny and share with their husbands both fame and criticism.

The first First Ladies had the hardest (unpaid) job: everything about the office of the presidency had to be invented. And a lot of it fell on the ladies, for they handled the social networking. If the president and his lady appeared to ape European courtly traditions they were accused of being monarchists and anti-Democratic. But we could not appear to be backwoods rubes to the foreign ambassadors, either.

First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role by Jeanne E. Abrams shows how these women responded to the challenge of creating a Democratic social style for the presidency.

Martha and George Washington were revered figures when George became the first president. Don't think they were exempt from criticism! The political in-fighting and party politics started up right away. Like many presidential couples, the Washington's personalities balanced each other. George could be stiff, but Martha was beloved by everyone, America's sweetheart-- "the mother of our country."

As the wife of the first Vice President, Abigail Adams became very close to Martha. When John Adams became president, Abigail followed Martha's pared-down, understated formality. Abigail was a very different personality, of the highest intelligence and not afraid to speak her mind. She was an important sounding board for John. Frail health plagued her and when her health required her to retire to the Adam's home in Quincy, John sorely missed her counsel.

Thomas Jefferson's wife had tragically died during the war after she fled from their plantation shortly after giving birth. His daughter Patsy sometimes played hostess. Sometimes his Secretary of State's wife Dolley Madison stepped in. Jefferson downplayed his elegant and sophisticated taste with a forceful display of anti-elitism, welcoming guests in bedroom slippers.

With the intellectual James Madison's election, his younger wife Dolley Madison took the capital by storm. A brilliant extrovert with a high social IQ, she notched the style up a few ratchets. Her 'squeezes' included all of Washington, bringing together political enemies, men and women. Dolley had high style, refined and dignified but with real bling. Well, she wore pearls instead of diamonds, so we give her that. When Dolley died her funeral rivaled that of George Washington's!

Each woman advanced the role of First Lady, politically for their influence on the president and their ability to tweak the granting of political office, and by promoting causes. All three valued the traditional role of women but also understood that it was women who determined social manners.

This book is a nice introduction to these ladies and their influence.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role
by Jeanne E. Abrams
NYU Press
Pub Date: 06 Mar 2018
ISBN: 9781479886531
Hardcover $28.95

Remember the Ladies: The President's Wives in Redwork
by Nancy A. Bekofske

Remember the Ladies from Quilts Presidential and Patriotic
by Susan Reich

My Patriotic Quilts at the Library for Election Day!

My political and presidential textiles are on display at the local library! I also included some stereoscopic cards from my husband's collection.

Remember the Ladies by Nancy A. Bekofske

The Presidents Quilt by Nancy A. Bekofske

Giddyup by Nancy A. Bekofske (and help from Dustin Cecil who made the Giddyup block!)

Bicentennial Memories by Nancy A. Bekofske

The display case photos didn't come out too well so I included better photos of the handkerchiefs.

1965 President Kennedy scarf, We Want Roosevelt (for FDR), and Al Smith campaign hankys

Hanky signed by First Lady Pat Nixon
Stereoscopic cards of Teddy Roosevelt in his office and at his inauguration,
President Lincoln's log cabin and the theater where his life ended

Ida McKinley stereoscopic card, Martha Washington cabinet card
handkerchief signed by Bess Truman

Handkerchief signed by Betty Ford
President McKinley and Ida stereoscopic card
Bicentennial fabric on the shelf

I needed to keep the display party neutral, but I have two more in my collection to show you

Remember what is important.

And whatever your party, VOTE!

Lady Bird and Lyndon: The Hidden Story of a Marriage that Made a President

For close to twenty years now I have been fascinated by the First Ladies. It started when I designed my Redwork quilt of the First Ladies, Remember the Ladies. I read book after book about these women. They are the most extreme example of thousands of women who marry men in the public eye, women who find their private lives invaded, their public image weighed and scrutinized, who watch their spouses deified and abused. Politician's wives, pastor's wives, those married to celebrities or business icons, are all married to more than a man.

Lady Bird from my quilt Remember the Ladies

One of the most fascinating presidents was Lyndon Baines Johnson. Bill Moyers called him "thirteen of the most exasperating men I ever met." He was charming and he was abusive; a womanizer who loved his wife; he believed in equality, education, and giving the poor a chance; if you got on his bad side he'd snub you for ever. The best thing he ever did in his life was to marry Lady Bird. She could soothe the savage beast. She knew how to deal with his depressions. She mended fences and kept political alliances intact. She managed their business and made them wealthy.

First Lady scholar Betty Caroli's book Lady Bird and Lyndon is a deep exploration of the relationship between Lyndon and Lady Bird. The contention is that without Bird behind him Lyndon may  never have been able to achieve his goals. Some biographers have deplored Lyndon's treatment of Lady Bird and wondered why she never stood up to Lyndon. Caroli puts their relationship in perspective and helps us to understand Lady Bird's motivations and appreciate her inner strength and surety of her husband's love.

Early on in the book I realized that Lyndon's mood swings sounded Bi-Polar in origin. I had not encountered that understanding before. During his presidency LBJ had major triumphs but also faced criticism and hatred that left him immobilized and dejected. Ever the workaholic, his health suffered, and knowing his time was swiftly running out LBJ spiraled into an angry depression.

The book covers the Johnson's families history and background, explaining their personality traits that made them 'right' for each other. Lady Bird was bright and ambitious, expected by her classmates to be the 'next Halliburtan.' When LBJ met Bird he immediately started the pressure for marriage. They had known each other a month when she agreed to marry him. They both knew Bird was the stronger, and she was going to rescue him with her love.

Theirs was a complex relationship, lived in the public eye. It makes for addictive reading.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Lady Bird and Lyndon: The Hidden Story of a Marriage that Made a President
Betty Caroli
Simon & Schuster
Publication November 3, 2015
$29.99 hard cover
ISBN: 9781439191224

"The coach, the advisor, the steady soothsayer to an erratic man--in these pages, Lady Bird Johnson bursts from history's shadows to her rightful place at the heart of a stirring story...Caroli establishes the prominence of a gripping and mysterious relationship--one of the critical intimacies of the 20th century. This is a tremendous work of scholarship and storytelling." Joshua Wolf Shenk, author of Power of Two

Remember the Ladies, an original Redwork quilt by Nancy A. Bekofske

Louisa Catherine Adams:The Other Mrs Adams by Margery M. Heffron

"...many undertakings which appear very difficult and arduous to my Sex, are by no means so trying as imagination forever depicts them--energy and discretion, follow the necessity of their exertion, to protect the fancied weakness of feminine imbecility."

When I was researching the First Ladies for my Redwork quilt Remember the Ladies I was fascinated by Louisa Catherine Adams. So when I heard about the first biography written on her I knew I had to read it.


Louisa reminds me of an 19th c version of Eleanor Roosevelt in that she was intelligent but spent her younger years battling self doubt. Both faced a domineering mother-in-law. And both women blossomed late in life. Each had troubled marriages, but was a political helpmate to their husband. Both advanced women's rights.

One huge difference: while Franklin Roosevelt cheated on Eleanor, John Quincy, following his father's example, was a true and life-long lover to Louisa. Their tempestuous romance is a story that rivals Elizabeth and Darcy in misunderstandings, stubborn willfulness of spirit, and intellectual duels.

Remember the Ladies designed by Nancy Bekofske

Louisa was born in England to an American merchant father and a British mother...who married after the birth of several children. She was raised in luxury, was well educated and cosmopolitan, speaking fluent French. Louisa played the harp and sang beautifully. Her family were long time friends of the Adams clan. John Quincy was a frequent guest, and fell in love with Louisa. But took his sweet time proposing to her, as he felt the heavy burden placed upon him to ACHIEVE, and marriage would keep him away from applying himself to achievement. Their courtship and engagement was full of misunderstandings. John kept Louisa uncertain when he would set a marriage date. It could have easily ended their future together. But passion prevailed, and the 30 year old John Quincy married the 22 year old Louisa just before he left for his assignment in Russia.

John Quincy Adams as a young man in 1796

Louisa and John Quincy shared many intellectual interests and a deep passion, but each suffered from feelings of inadequacy. They were perfectionists who fell short of both their own and the other's expectations.

John and Abigail Adams raised John Quincy for public service. Their expectations were extremely high. This perfectionism was passed down even to their grandchildren's generation. It was not a healthy Adams trait.

Louisa Catherine Adams at marriage

Whenever they were separated, or Louisa was ill, John showed a great affection towards Louisa. But he was also often self-absorbed in his career and his drive for continual self-improvement kept him isolated from his family, physically and emotionally.

Rarely in good health, the petite Louisa suffered nine miscarriages, a still born child, the death of her beloved little girl, separation from her sons for six years, and the suicide of a son. The medical attention available was blistering and bleeding, laudanum and other 'cures' we shudder at today. She also suffered from a reoccurring painful and disfiguring bacterial skin condition, erysipelas.

As the wife of an ambassador, she was exposed to the courts of Europe with all the glitz and glamor of royalty, yet was unable to afford the wardrobe to suit her position. Louisa made friends easily and was readily taken under wing by American Ex-pats. Her husband was oblivious to her gifts as a social ambassador early in their marriage. At a time when it was considered ill mannered to campaign for political office, Louisa did all the footwork, managing his presidential campaign through social affairs, the 'parlor politics' used so successfully by Dolley Madison.

One of the most thrilling adventures ever undergone by any First Lady was Louisa's 40 day, 3,000 mile trip across post-war Europe in 1815. John had been called to Paris to aid in the Treaty of Ghent, leaving Catherine and their son Charles in St. Petersburg. After nine months apart he learned he would not return to Russia, assigned to London. He wrote for his family to join him at once. Louisa had to arrange the sale of their home and goods, plan their travel and arrange for protection as they traversed Russia, Prussia, and France. It was the middle of winter. The roads were terrible, unmarked rutted dirt or deep mud. Robber and murders haunted the open roads and the hamlets along the way. All her money was secreted on her person. She lost her male guard and had to make do with a fourteen year old boy. As she neared France, traveling in a Russian carriage with Russian and Prussian sidekicks, a new concern arose. Napoleon had escaped from Elba. Russia and Prussia were bitter enemies of Napoleon. The travelers feared attack by the crowds in the streets.

Louisa in mid-life had blossomed into the strong and capable person she was meant to be. Her husband came to respect and trust her as an equal partner and she became his personal secretary for a while.

As many First Ladies have experienced, life in Washington was stressful and isolated. Etiquette Wars over who called on who first had started with Elizabeth Monroe. When Louisa followed the precedent of not calling first on everyone in Washington no one was pleased and her socials were boycotted. Her health often kept her from attending events or accompanying her husband socially.

John Quincy Adams was a scholar of great intellect with a remarkable career, starting as a teenager who accompanied his father on his diplomatic missions. After graduating from Harvard and a brief career in Law, John Quincy was minister to the Netherlands; Secretary of State of Massachusetts; taught at Harvard; was minister to Russia; represented America at the Ghent peace talks; served as plenipotentiary to Great Britain; and was Secretary of State under President Monroe. After serving as President he served as Senator, arguing for abolition. He died on the floor of the Senate.

John Quincy spent years researching and writings the most thorough, and un-readably dry, exploration of weights and measures. He was compulsive about keeping a diary, and  alphabetized his personal letters. During a more peaceful and contented time, he indulged in composing poetry and  thought had he been able to choose his own path he would have made a great poet

After John Quincy's death Louisa wrote several books about her life, "Adventures of a Nobody," "Record of My Life" and "Narrative of a Journey from Russia to France 1815". She corresponded with Sarah and Angelina Grimke' and was interested in the nascent movement for women's rights.

Margery M. Heffron saw Louisa's portrait at the Adams National Historical Park in the 1970s and wrote,"Her level, appraising glance challenged me to pay her respect." This book is her response. The author passed away while writing this biography and was unable to finish Louisa's life. Sadly the story ends at John Quincy's bid for reelection to the presidency.

"The Other Mrs. Adams" was a fascinating and complex woman.

I thank Yale University Press for e-book access through NetGalley.



Louisa Catherine: The Other Mrs. Adams
Margery M. Heffron
Yale University Press
 ISBN: 9780300197969
Cloth: $40.00