Presidents and First Ladies Trivia

[Eva Elisabeth]

Another wild guess: Lemonade Lucy?

[RJNorton]

Good try, Eva. Still not the right lady though.

[RJNorton]

Hint #1: She had more education than her husband, and she tried to help him with refining his written and spoken communicative skills.

[L Verge]

Mrs. Andrew Johnson?

[RJNorton]

Brilliant, Laurie. That is an early image of Eliza McCardle Johnson.

I spent the bulk of the afternoon watching the Chicago Bears finally win a game against Minnesota. Unfortunately Washington lost today. You win my very best wishes for a victory next Sunday when Washington plays San Francisco.

[L Verge]

The Redskins are going to have to wake up, smell the roses, dump 1/2 the team (including their treasured quarterback, whom the owner and coaches are going to keep pushing until they kill the kid!), and rebuild. Fan spirit can't do it for them.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thank you, Roger - due to this question (I knew Andrew Johnson was a tailor and not well educated, but not that his wife was - so I was curious...) I came across some (to me) interesting asides:
- that Mordecai Lincoln presided over the nuptials of Andrew Johnson (aged 18) and Eliza McCardle (aged 16) on May 17, 1827,
- that Eliza Johnson married at a younger age than any other First Lady
- that Hawaii at that time had a beautiful Queen named Emma (Emalani Kalanikaumakaʻamano Kaleleonālani Naʻea in Hawaiian, or Emma Alexandrina Francis Agnes Lowder Byde Rooke Young Kaleleokalani in English),
...and I learned of the inventor of baseball, Alexander Cartwright, who lived and is buried on Hawaii - very interesting that such a popular "public" game like baseball was indeed officially recognized as an invention by an individual*.

Ms. Johnson was not able to serve as First Lady due to her poor health and left the social chores to her daughter. She appeared publicly as First Lady on only two occasions - at a reception for Queen Emma of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1866 and at the president's birthday party in 1867.

I've never heard of Queen Emma, and her name and story made me think of my favorite fictional character in childhood - Pippilotta Rollgardinia Victualia Peppermint Longstocking, who became Princess of the tropical island Taka Tuka.

* Alexander Cartwright was officially declared the inventor of the modern game of baseball by the 83rd United States Congress on June 3, 1953. In 1849, Cartwright headed to California for the gold rush, but ended up in the Hawaiian Islands instead, where he became an advisor and friend of Queen Emma and the King, and encouraged the growth of baseball on the islands.
Queen Emma and Alexander Cartwright:
       

[RJNorton]

Wow, Eva, thank you for this fascinating post! I think I once read that Andrew Johnson was staying alone at the Kirkwood House in 1865 as Eliza was back home due to ill health.

[Gene C]

I've read some people question whether he was staying alone, and that someone might have been sent with the purpose of keeping him somewhat occupied for the evening of April 14th.

[RJNorton]

(11-18-2014 11:35 AM)Gene C Wrote:  I've read some people question whether he was staying alone, and that someone might have been sent with the purpose of keeping him somewhat occupied for the evening of April 14th.

Same here, Gene. I can think of one book that says Ella Starr was sent to keep the VP occupied on the evening of the 14th.

[L Verge]

Well, he certainly would not have been the first one - and definitely not the last one - of our heads of state to seek female companionship!!

[RJNorton]

In the Johnson chapter of his book Through Five Administrations, William H. Crook (who was working at the White House when Lincoln was president) wrote, "Johnson had an amiable weakness for women, particularly for pretty women. Those of us who were on duty in corridors and anterooms saw many evidences of this fact."

[Eva Elisabeth]

Can you name these gentlemen and/or say what unique feature they have in common?
1. 2. 3. 4.
               
5.
   

[Gene C]

1. Walter Mondale
2. George Bush
3. Dan Quayle
4. Al Gore
5. Richard Cheney

All Vice Presidents's

[Eva Elisabeth]

A+, Gene! Was a try...
Just for the icing - what unique feature excludes any further former vices?