Let's talk about the First Ladies of the United States

Mamie had such dreadful hair, thin and sparse, and she came to prominence in a time of such ugly hairstyles.

Why didn't some kindly gay advise her to make darling little hats her fashion trademark?

This is Frances Cleveland, who married Grover Cleveland while he was in office. She was 21 and he was president of the US, he was a friend of her family and had literally known her since she was a baby, which is kind of icky when you think about it.

She was remarkable for being one of the few women who could photograph well, in an era when women didn't pluck their eyebrows or wear makeup.

Dolly Madison got it goin' on with the rainbow sherbet, y'all!

A frequent topic of discussion in my family was best looking First Lady. I would pick Jackie Kennedy, Mom went with Hilary Clinton, and one time Dad said Barbara Bush. When we burst out laughing he hastily said he meant Laura Bush.

Fancy Nancy.

Always image conscious.

Always the sow's ear.

This is one of my favorite photo's. Nancy Reagan turns her back on all of them and gives us a Jack Benny look of dismay!

Love to know what Hillary if whispering to Lady Bird. And Rosalyn left out in the cold.

Julia Dent Grant was a writer and the wife of US Grant. I'm related to her! So whenever somebody pulls that joke on me, "Who's buried in Grant's tomb?" I always say, "My distant cousin."

Every First Lady since Jacqueline Kennedy has been pro-choice

Betty Ford. Very down to earth and honest. Her rehab center has helped many people.

Too bad her husband was such a dodo bird of a President.

R7, that's probably because she'd rather be with her friend John Wayne Gacy.

Why didn't Mamie wear wigs? I think she had the most atrocious hairstyle ever. A decent wig could've helped.

Rosalynn Carter. Another very down to earth First Lady, not looking for glory, fame and fortune. Now 91.

I like the pic R7 posted. No ones talking to Roselyn.

The help didn't like Roselyn. They didn't like Jimmy much, either.

Here's Helen Taft, wife of our second-biggest president, William Howard Taft

I wonder what's making her look so pained... her corset, or the thought of her husband being on top again?

Bugger. HERE's Helen Taft!

Was Bess Truman hotter than Mamie Eisenhower?

Let's not.

Vairst Leddy mekk very byootiful Bhatgurl!

Did Mamie know that Ike was having an affair with his attractive driver during the War? I really can't blame him. There were letters that surfaced much later, right?

I know it was a long time ago but couldn't Mamie have done something about those teefs?

[quote] A frequent topic of discussion in my family was best looking First Lady. I would pick Jackie Kennedy, Mom went with Hilary Clinton, and one time Dad said Barbara Bush. When we burst out laughing he hastily said he meant Laura Bush.

Every member of your family was a 60 yr old gay man.

R20's picture made me laugh so hard.

She never got to be First Lady because she died before her husband got elected, but Ellen Herndon Arthur was a beautiful woman for her day.

Ida McKinley was an invalid who suffered from epilepsy and "nervous" conditions and had an unflattering hairdo. She sometimes had seizures at social functions.

The Helen Taft iPhone case is this Holiday Season's perfect stocking stuffer.

Lou Henry Hoover was multilingual and graduated from Stanford with a geology degree. She was also a cover girl for [italic]Dowager Quarterly.[/italic]

Rare shot of Nancy and Jackie together at a JFK tribute event in 1985.

^Caroline and Ethel are the only ones still alive.

Betty Ford invented heterosexual anal sex in Grand Rapids Michigan in 1948.

R7, That photo was taken on May 11, 1994, just 8 days before Jackie died.

Hillary and Lady Bird were the only former FLOTUS invited to Jackie's funeral.

Mommie wanted to be Jackie so badly she arranged to have me shot.

R31, Ford was Betty's second husband.

R26, I read that McKinley would place a napkin over face when she had a seizure in public to allow her some dignity.

Jackie Kennedy, Pat Nixon and Laura Bush were all chain smokers.

R29 Caroline Kennedy looks desperately overdue for a head to toe fashion makeover. This was 1985 and she was old enough to know better.

Jackie should have said something.

Pat Nixon had been regarded as a beauty when she was young, actually did a bit of acting to pay her way through USC and was considered to be quite a catch for some lucky guy!

She must have regretted marrying Richard Nixon as much as a human being can regret anything.

Why was Nancy Reagan jealous of Barbara Bush? For what reason did she have? I've always thought that was crazy.

Who was JFK, Jr. fucking in 1985?

Michelle Obama is my favorite first lady. I find her really special.

Here's Pat Nixon's official portrait, where she is surrounded by dreary colors and looks absolutely miserable.

Jackie Kennedy is responsible for the white house being taken care of like a museum. It's the people's house and she thought it should be taken really good care of. So after that, it's been well managed and preserved. All thanks to jackie.

R40, Barbara had good and solid relationships with her children, Nancy did not.

Also, during the 1980 campaign for POTUS, Bush and Reagan vied for the nomination heatedly, which Nancy never forgot or forgave.

Melania Trump cannot measure up to any of the previous first ladies. Period.

Wasn't lady bird johnson a billionaire or something? I've always heard she was a very wealthy business woman before and after being the first lady.

Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, and Rosalynn Carter were all strikingly attractive and photogenic. They didn't have Jackie's glamour or high style (or voice, thank God), but in their own ways they were quite beautiful, and offset their homely husbands.

Bess Truman took her official White House portrait home to Missouri.

Lady Bird tried to get it back, but Bess told her to fuck off, so Lady Bird had a copy made which now hangs in the White House.

Flo Harding stabbed Harry Daugherty, her husband's longtime friend and political advisor, in the leg with a hatpin at the moment she learned that Warren G. Harding had secured the GOP nomination. It wasn't because, as has been reported, that she didn't want to be in political life, but because she [italic]did[/italic]—to the contrary, despite suffering from poor health, she loved politics, and when she saw what was happening at the convention, she accidentally stabbed Daugherty when she leaped out of her seat in a moment of joy (she had been holding onto the pin after having removed her huge hat).

Later on, she used the Secret Service to flush Warren's side pieces out of the White House.

Why was pat nixon called plastic pat? That name sounds more fitting for melania then anyone else.

R51, She was also called Cloth Coat Pat, both unfair nicknames.

Some people called her that because they thought she was insincere and fake-nice, although she reportedly really was a lovely person and among the best-loved First Ladies among the White House staff. Nixon was wracked with guilt after she died because of the shitty way he had treated her for so long.

Nixon was a horrible person. Fuck him.

Dick and Pat telephone conversation.

Pat Nixon's voice was similar to Eileen Heckart's.

On at least one occasion Dick beat Pat so badly she ended up in the hospital.

Why was that, R15 ? They seem to be nicer than most people.

R15, Roslyn Carter was so bitter about the 1980 loss to Reagan, she refused to participate in the traditional outgoing-incoming FLOTUS tea and family quarters tour. She had a secretary meet with Nancy.

R58 Really? I never heard that before. Wow!

The first ladies seem to be more fascinating then the presidents are. I guess it's because their women and there's so many layers to women and so many things to discus about them.

I suppose what I find interesting about first ladies is that they inhabit a hugely public role, but few of them chose to be there. There's something accidental about the position, for every Frances Cleveland or Jacqueline Kennedy who knew what she was getting into, there's a dozen Mamie Eisenhowers or Rosalind Carter, a gal who married some guy who was in a field other than politics, back when she was young. They can't have had any idea what they in for, in later life.

And look at the current incumbent, she can't have been thrilled to realize she was going to become a hugely public figure in her own right, and listen to constant repetitions of "I haven't been to sea for years, but they still call me Admiral".

R59, Nancy confirmed it to Larry King in an interview when asked about it. But, Nancy graciously added that she understood how painful the 1980 loss must have been for the Carters and did not hold it against Roslyn.

Mamie's hair STILL drives me to distraction!

[quote]She must have regretted marrying Richard Nixon as much as a human being can regret anything.

Why do you think she drank and chain-smoked at every opportunity?

I was the first First Lady to attend a Gay Pride Parade.

It's true that Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush didn't like each other and would only be in the same room together when it was absolutely necessary, like a state dinner or whatever. They had very little contact otherwise. Bar thought Nancy was tacky nouveau riche trash (which of course she was) and Nancy thought Bar was a snotty old money "not our kind, dear" bitch (which of course she was).

I always wonder what Pat Nixon endured after Dick resigned. He was a drunk and was taking pills for decades for his anxiety and insomnia. He beat her up several times. I can imagine he was even worse after he resigned.

My grandparents went to dinner at the White House when Nixon was in office. My grandfather was the president of the carpenter's union. After dinner, the men retired for drinks/smoking, and the ladies had tea and cookies. Very old-timey.

When my grandparents returned home, my mom and my grandmother spent weeks dissecting the event and dissecting Pat Nixon, even though Pat gave very little to dissect. My grandma's major observation was that Pat's hands were very cold. "When I shook her hand to leave, it was bitter cold." And that's the story my mom would always tell--with great drama--each time she recounted my grandparents' trip to the White House. "Here's all you need to know about Pat Nixon: She had ice cold hands." And then she would nod importantly.

My grandma stole some of the cookies they served at the ladies' tea and brought them home (wrapped in a White House napkin) for her us. I can still taste them. The most buttery butter cookies I ever ate.

[quote]Every First Lady since Jacqueline Kennedy has been pro-choice

Sshh, dat's not vat ve telling dem!

Pat Nixon hosted a small gathering for Jackie and her two children in the White House. Jackie was overwhelmed at her graciousness and wrote about it.

This really isn't the thread for this, but I have a great story about Nancy Reagan's step-father, Loyal Davis. My mom (mentioned in R68) went to Northwestern in the 1950s for nursing. She was friends with a lot of medical residents who served under Loyal Davis, who was a surgeon at Passavant Memorial Hospital, which is now a part of Northwestern.

All the residents hated Dr. Davis because he was a complete asshole and tortured his residents. He also was a racist. Refused to operate on Black patients.

At that time, residents were required to give free medical care on Chicago's southside, which had a large Black community (still does). When they delivered a baby, it was common for the mother to name the baby after the doctor as a tribute. So, to extract revenge on that racist asshole, Davis' residents would tell the mothers that their name was Loyal Davis. "So, there was a generation of Black boys with the first/middle name of Loyal Davis running around the southside," my mother said. I've always wanted to do research to confirm that.

Anyway, to tie this back to this thread: Nancy adored Dr. Loyal Davis, and convinced Ronnie to embrace his extreme Republican views.

Eleanor Roosevelt stands apart of course. But to mention one thing, she was the chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and is the one really respinsible for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That puts her up there with major world historical figures.

Eleanor could eat pussy almost as well as Hilary.

Eleanor was one of the greatest muff-divers who ever lived.

Mamie Eisenhower was awful towards mamie till, she wouldn't respond to her letter in 55/56 after what happened to her son in Mississippi. She completely ignored her.

That's what I always think of when I think of the Eisenhower's. just how racist they were. Being black during that time was no picnic.

Nancy Reagan and Jacqueline Kennedy were the best dressed, always looked great... in our modern history.

Why was Laura Bush so plain in her style? She was definitely a good first lady, but just very plain and modest when it came to clothes.

R58 good for Roslyn .

Nancy Reagan got bad press coverage when she was the first lady. She was viewed more as an extravagant socialite then America's first lady.

[quote]It's true that Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush didn't like each other and would only be in the same room together when it was absolutely necessary, like a state dinner or whatever. They had very little contact otherwise. Bar thought Nancy was tacky nouveau riche trash (which of course she was) and Nancy thought Bar was a snotty old money "not our kind, dear" bitch (which of course she was).

Bar threw zingers at Nancy like the shady ape she was every chance she got. Back in 2012 she said,

"I loved my little office because it was — besides being Nancy Reagan’s beauty parlor, which she didn’t like me to say, but it was — the dogs were born here and you could look out the window at Jackson Place and Lafayette Square and you could see all sorts of wonderful things"

Well, it seems that worked out quite well for her then.

R79 that's because the country moved from a modest, down to earth First Lady to one who was an extravagant socialite.

[quote] A frequent topic of discussion in my family was best looking First Lady. I would pick Jackie Kennedy,

I would too. Next for me is Rosalyn Carter.

Which were not ladies? I say Nancy Reagan and Melania Trump.

Was there ever anyone who wanted to be First Lady less than Bess Truman?

elegance and beauty (and sensible shoes)

What about me? 86 posts and you haven't mentioned how much money I spent on the Executive Mansion and bought a few items for myself. Some say I bought 300 pair of kid gloves. Goodness sake! My husband, the 16th president, was outraged at how much money I spent. At least I bought a bed that you in the 21 century still admire. And I wasn't crazy either. Just a little high-strung on occasion.

Melania is the new Nancy Reagan. Very extravagant. Remember when she wouldn't leave Trump Tower after Trump had officially become president? Six whole fucking months she cost the tax payers exuberant amounts of money because she didn't want to interrupt barrons school life in New York.

When you're husband becomes the president you have to make sacrifices and not be a burden on the tax payers dim. She didn't give a fuck how much money she was costing the state of NY. It was all about her and her son's comfort level. Damn the tax payers.

In my personal opinion, melania is worse than Nancy. At least Nancy did things as first lady and seemed to enjoy it. Can you imagine if Michelle Obama pulled what melania did and continues to pull? The right-wing never stop talking about it.

Dolly Madison in her later years:

Dolly Madison seems like a classy older broad.

[quote]A frequent topic of discussion in my family was best looking First Lady.

Really? “Frequent?”

Why? How much could you possibly say? Was it an ongoing debate? Much controversy? Did it all end in tears? Is your name Nixon-Eisenhower?

[quote]In my personal opinion, melania is worse than Nancy.

she's FAR worse than any

R90, ahem

Nancy and Melania both have a past.

A lot of these women are extraordinary -- I mean they are married to the men who became president. But I agree with several other posters that Michelle is my favorite. Love her personality and wit, so intelligent and sophisticated yet very down to earth and humorous about her life and husband.

I'm still in shock that American women decided to vote for the current resident of the White House, thereby making a bought and paid for Eastern European glorified escort the symbol of American women.

I think Nancy's extravagant socialite reputation came from the fact that she was a Hollywood figure in the movie business. Along with the fact that her very best friend was bel air socialite Betsy Bloomingdale. Who was also a very wealthy and extravagant socialite.

Those are the people Nancy ran with. And she loved $$$.

and cock

R89, Looks like a Roz Russell still from "Gypsy"

When Nancy Reagan died the media did a lot of revisionist history, running lots of puff pieces about what a great First Lady she was and how she was so popular and beloved by all of America. Please. I'm old enough to remember the Reagan era and nobody liked Nancy Reagan during her time as First Lady. As the above poster said, she was seen as an extravagant socialite who only cared about fashion and decorating and hanging out with her socialite friends. She was off-putting to the public, who just thought she was an entitled rich bitch. The "Just Say No" anti-drug thing was just a PR campaign dreamed up by the White House press office to try and soften her image and make her more palatable to the public.

Yes, Nancy got tons of heat in 1981 and '82 for swanning around in Adolfo and Galanos gowns and buying expensive china for the White House during a recession in which her husband proposed making a ketchup a vegetable while also cutting taxes on the rich. To her credit (sort of), she did poke fun at herself for it.

Has anyone noticed that Ida at R26 is a MAN?

Okay, Eleanor Roosevelt is undoubtedly the best First Lady of them all, the one who involved herself with the common people during times of war and disaster, and who did sterling work with the UN in her own right. I'm a huge fan.

That said... a style icon she was not! Someone once described seeing Eleanor at a formal event, and at first he admired her sleeveless formal gown and the fact that she could still wear the lovely fashions of the era after birthing six children. Then she danced with some dignitary, and when she raised her arms for the waltz he saw a forest of bushy armpit hair...

It really is a pity the old gal wasn't born into an era when she could dyke out.

pretty in pink

Eleanor Roosevelt was considered to be very attractive as a young woman, although of course her bitchy cousin Alice had to say that it was a pity about her teeth.

[quote]It really is a pity the old gal wasn't born into an era when she could dyke out.

I suspect that if Eleanor Roosevelt were living in this modern era she would have a very handsome butch style, like Rachel Maddow or Jane Lynch.

My beeg anti bulli campeen iz calld "Be best" vor a reezon az I eem best vairst letty!

Eef ju dizagri, I heet ju vit bag!

The Reagan China was bought with private donations.

Hillary Clinton was ambitious from day one. That's why republicans never liked her. They felt she didn't know her place.

I think people were just threatened by her. The crazy conspiracies continue to this day. It's also part of the reason she's not president. Cheating and corruption on the republican Trump side made that possible.

I assumed OP's comment about parslied potato balls was a joke, but I must admit, they look pretty tasty.....

Mamie liked her balls chocolate covered if you catch my drift.

Didn't Mamie have a pantry full of canned beets?

To be honest, Melania is probably the most beautiful first lady. Eleanor is definitely the ugliest.

No, R110, Mamie's parley potatoes were not tasty like that. They were canned and bland, 50s-style hausfrau cuisine like this.

[quote] Melania is probably the most beautiful first lady

you MUST be joking, she looks like a hardened whore through and through, not one thing about her is "lovely".

r110 Mamie served parslied potato balls at state dinners. I can't find it now, but a DLer on another thread posted a White House state dinner menu from Mamie and it was appalling. It looked like a potluck supper at some Midwestern church.

Our epic Mamie Eisenhower thread.

DL classic

That Mamie Eisenhower thread was wonderful. A combination of hilarious snark and genuine historical information. LOVED IT.

They all wanted to be moi.

Hillary was a very beautiful women, to bad she let herself go fat in the last ten years.

Lady bird johnson was racist and out of touch. What she did to eartha kitt and how she treated her was fucking disgusting. And her husband was pure white trash. They both we're.

Good riddance.

[quote]Nancy Reagan got bad press coverage when she was the first lady. She was viewed more as an extravagant socialite then America's first lady.

She was whore!

I Vairst Leddy be best!

Dolley Madison

Dolly Madison

When did they start handing book deals out to former presidents and first ladies? And was it only for them to memorialize their life stories? Or was it so they'd have enough money to live off of comfortably for the rest of their lives. Just in case they weren't already wealthy. I've always been curious about this.

I believe the first FLOTUS to write a post-White House book was Lady Bird Johnson.

R123 I thought Eartha was the one who started it. Not that she didn't have every right to do so, but her timing was shit.

R125 That is Angela Van Buren daughter in law of Martin, you dumbass.

R88 Mellie had to stay in NY through the school year. It's not easy to find a special school for a special little boy.

[quote], to bad she let herself go fat in the last ten years.

oh, dear. . .

[quote] It's not easy to find a special school for a special little boy.

it is in DC though

R133 you cracked me up! Sums up our call girl First Lady perfectly.

After twelve years of ball busters Nancy and Barbara it was a hoot when they called Hilary a bitch who didn't know her place. Babs even had a silver platter her mother gave her for her husband's nuts. Ran in the family.

R131 They we're the first family, with unlimited resources. Something could've definitely been worked out. You don't waste tax payers money because you don't want to be inconvenience.

And of course fiscally conservatives said absolutely nothing. Just goes to show just how political and biased everything in this country is. Depending on who from what party is doing what. But republicans are definitely the biggest hypocrites when it comes to stuff like this.

[quote]And of course fiscally conservatives said absolutely nothing.

they are cunts

Did any First Lady give a better BJ than Nan? She had decades of experience.

Probably about the same, but Nancy didn't charge for hers.

I often wonder about the sex lives of the early Presidents. For example, did George Washington ever eat Martha's pussy? Or did Dolley Madison take it up the ass? Just wondering.

In one of his letters Washington wrote "there was not much fire between the sheets".

It's all George's fault. He could have used his teeth as kindling.

I've heard that oral sex was not as common back in the old-timey days because of hygiene issues. Imagine going down on someone who hasn't washed in two or three weeks. OMFG!

The best-looking first ladies of the last century have been Jacqueline Kennedy and Michelle Obama. Both were attractive rather than beautiful women, but both were clever and stylish and knew how to look fabulous when looking fabulous was called for.

Some people might say Melania is beautiful and she certainly has a nice bod... but something about her looks gives me the creeps. She's had so much plastic surgery she barely looks human.

The private day school Barron attends outside DC caters primarily to special needs kids. I don't begrudge The First Whore letting him finish his school year where he was and then easing him into his new life and new school slowly over the summer. It really was what was best for the kid.

Michelle Obama is way too butch looking...those arms, ughh! Jackie Kennedy and Melania Trump were stunning. Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, Barbara Bush and Lady Bird Johnson were matronly (as was Betty Ford , to a lesser extent). I guess Rosalynn Carter and Laura Bush were the right mix of attractive and average.

George Washington was in love with Sally Fairfax - Lord and Lady Fairfax. There are letters. But she was a Tory and returned to England with her husband once the revolution took way.

I think he was fond of Martha. And he basically adopted her children. But she brought money and property to the marriage. I don't know if she knew about Sally.

I bet melania lies in bed all day watching reality tv. Like the housewives and kardashians. Those seem like her types of shows.

When it comes to her duties as first lady, she's no Michelle Obama. Not even close.

Melania looks like bru...sorry, caitlyn jenner.

She's had so much plastic surgery she can't even move her face. Look at before and after pics. Rhinoplasty, botox, fillers, lip plumping, eye job, breast implants etc she is probably the first 1st lady who has had plastic surgery.

MT is younger than Michelle Obama but looks a lot older. Michelle looks stunning on the cover of her book 'Becoming'. Has anybody read it yet?

Nancy Reagan had plastic sugery.

R151, So did Betty Ford, post-White House.

Nancy had a face lift when Ronnie was Gov. of CA.

Jackie had a face lift in 1989, when she turned 60.

R150 Not yet, but I plan on reading it.

Jackie smoked two packs a day, but was rarely photographed with a cig in her hand. She was pretty good at hiding it.

Rosalyn Carter famously had an eyelift.

Michelle Obama looks a little different now than when she first came on the scene. There's a bit of a difference from first term Michelle to second term Michelle. I'm not saying she had any work done because I don't believe she did. She just looks a little different now versus when she first came on the scene a decade ago.

But still beautiful.

Florence Harding was a bitch on wheels.

Guarding Tess is a homage to Florence Harding...

I posted upthread. Michelle's new book is excellent. Lots of new insight into the White House and how things work. Melania is so out of her league.

R156, Beautiful?

Rosalind Carter was the absolute worst. A woman of extremely limited intelligence who was probably the least truthful of all first ladies. What ever her par tin Camp David, I will always maintain it was one of the biggest mistakes in American history. Bribery at the very worst. Billy Carter had to register as a Libyan agent in 1980, and she said he had Billy to do it to help with the hostages. Well, Qadaffi had just murdered the Imam Musa Sadr, the leader of Lebanon's Shiites and a close associate of Khomeni (related by marriage.) . Either she was painfully ignorant or painfully mendacious; I suspect the latter.

Iran and Libya were nearly at war with each other at that point.

R161, Fun fact: Van Jones is in the process of divorcing Billy Carter's daughter.

R160= racist pig.

Hillary Clinton's youngest brother married Barbara Boxer's daughter in a White House wedding. He is/was a screw-up. Anyway, it did not go well. But Hillary and BB remained close politically.

[quote] What ever her par tin Camp David, I will always maintain it was one of the biggest mistakes in American history.

Apparently so, because what you wrote in the first clause makes absolutely no sense.

I meant whatever her part in.... DataLounge can really screw you up. The theory is that the Imam wanted too much money, to which Qadaffi took great offense.

R160 Is a straight up asshole. I can only imagine just how fat And ugly you are.

Why is Laura Bush always called pickles on DL? What's the story behind that nickname? Curious.

Barbara Bush was a mess, a hot mess.

Barbara Bush was a cold mass, not a hot mess.

R160, love that photo! Can't stand that woman.

Florence Harding was widely rumored to have had a hand in her husband's death during his term. (Ya hear that Melania? Just sayin'. If you wanted to, you’d be following in a proud tradition.)

R125 the picture you posted is not Dolley Madison. She is Sarah Angelica Van Buren, daughter-in-law of Martin Van Buren (our 8th president). She was married to his son, Abraham.

How could anyone hate Michelle Obama? A well-educated and smart person, who trys to make a difference.

A mistake was made by trying to make Michelle into Jackie II. She was pleasant looking and could be well put together, but sometimes she over did it and endured a fashion fail. I recall the white dress with the bodice that looked like a toilet seat.

She was at her best in relaxed "nice" dresses, such as the one she wore for the 2016 DNC.

157. no that is Grace Coolidge, not Florence Harding.

Melania Trump is like Nancy Reagan,a well known nympho-maniac married to a man who can't/won't satisfy her.The only difference is Reagan was not a mushroom.....reference Jane Wyman

R176, I was talking about her accomplishments- not a bad dress choice.

That's my point r179 -- her law career and the stuff she did while first lady were ignored and high fashion was the focus, and that aspect was one she couldn't always pull off.

Michelle Obama was a wonderful first lady, a total class act.

Many First Ladies but just one Queen.

Michelle's accomplishments outside of fashion were purposely ignored.Same with Clinton.The left is so misogynistic, they think only First Ladies should discuss clothes and makeup.They are stuck in the 1950s.An its bad because evidently they teach their women this madness too.Who indoctrinate it into their offsprings.Think Kavanaugh's daughters.I like both Michelle and Clinton....they really raised the bar for what First Ladies should look like.Hopefully,more girls emulate them as role models.An not the disgusting 1950s June Cleaver bots.

I think Eleanor Roosevelt raised the First Lady bar as high as it's gone to date.

Who was Jimmy Buchanan's first lady?

Michelle was making $120k a year right out of law school, and quit because she wasn't fulfilled. She took a 50% pay cut and went to work for Valerie Jarrett and the city, followed by non-profits. I'm loving her book.

[quote]Michelle Obama looks a little different now than when she first came on the scene. There's a bit of a difference from first term Michelle to second term Michelle. I'm not saying she had any work done because I don't believe she did. She just looks a little different now versus when she first came on the scene a decade ago.

It is indeed, not 2007 anymore.

r163 is not true.

R188 Amy isn't Billy's daughter.

Apparently Mary Todd Lincoln had mental problems, drug problems, and did not handle her finances well. A somewhat trouble First Lady.

R187 That and her eyebrows.

Eyebrows can really change a face. She had horrible eyebrows. Thin and harshly angled.

Now they look more natural and it has really softened her face.

Mary and Abraham Lincoln had 4 sons, 3 of whom died before she did. She saw a lot of pain in her life.

That horrid red dress and hairdo looked like something straight out of Walmart when Michelle moved out of the White House.

Not Michelle's finest hour...…..

[quote]Pat Nixon hosted a small gathering for Jackie and her two children in the White House. Jackie was overwhelmed at her graciousness and wrote about it.

Pat Nixon overcame a lot of adversity and it left her with great empathy for others. She understood how important it was for JFK's children to enjoy a pleasant (and private) return to the White House after the abrupt and awful way they had left it. Surely Jackie would not have wished to visit while the Johnsons were in residence.

I'll carry this over from the forgotten Presidents thread that inspired this, but Julia Tyler was the most royal aspiring first lady. She had ladies in waiting and tried to change the title from First Lady to "Lovely Lady Presidentress' and emulated the trappings of a European royal court. See link below. Here's key quote:

She wrote after her marriage that "this winter I intend to do something in the way of entertaining that shall be the admiration and talk of all the Washington world." She succeeded; thousands flocked to her grand receptions and socials to see their "Lady Presidentress." And what a sight she was. The First Lady, dressed lavishly in a long-trained gown and a peacock-feathered headdress, sat on a platform with her maids of honor to receive formally announced guests. Such European opulence and rigid protocol appeared elsewhere throughout the White House as Julia plied her guests with expensive wines and food, and outfitted coachmen and footmen in the elegant livery characteristic of the French court of Louis Philippe. She hostessed some of the most successful entertainments Washington had ever seen and waltzed and polkaed her way through many an event, having convinced her husband that dancing was not immoral.

R193, one doesn't dress up to meet a prostitute.

R188, Van Jones is divorcing Jana Carter, daughter of Billy, not Jimmy.

Why didn't Michelle make MS research one of her FLOTUS causes, the disease that ended her father's life?

Wow, R194. That photo is as good an argument that xe is trans-gender as any I've ever seen.

Michelle Obama has substance and smarts. Melania not so much. All of those silly photos of her in halloween costumes before she became first lady sums her up perfectly.

Melania's an empty plastic shell. There's nothing special about her. What is she going to do when her looks fade?

Michelle Obama will always be respected and history will always view her favorably.

[quote]Pat Nixon overcame a lot of adversity and it left her with great empathy for others. She understood how important it was for JFK's children to enjoy a pleasant (and private) return to the White House after the abrupt and awful way they had left it. Surely Jackie would not have wished to visit while the Johnsons were in residence.

It was a lovely gesture on Pat Nixon's part. But in reality it took weeks if not months for Jackie and her kids to vacate the White House and the Johnsons were furious about it.

As for Laura Bush, I remember an interview with her where she was obviously being bated. When asked whether the first couple knew any gay people, she replied

"Of course we have gay friends. Everybody does."

"Everybody does." I admired her for that.

Don't get me wrong. Jackie and Michelle are my two favorite First Ladies of memory, Eleanor was probably the best of all.

^ baited, not bated. Sorry.

"Lovely Lady Presidentress"

Rock on, Julia!

I see some people on this thread trying really hard to disparag Michelle Obama. But I don't think so! Michelle is an educated woman and a deep Individual as well as a lawyer. Along with someone who speaks truth to power every time she speaks.

I like Jackie Kennedy just as much as the next person. But she was no Michelle Obama. Not even close. She was shallow, materialistic, money hungry, although I understood why. And spent her life only making sure she and her children we're comfortable in a life of extreme luxury.

Everything Michelle and Barack have they earned. No one gave them anything. Even their wealth was and is being earned, through books, speaking engagements, and production deals. Everything Jackie had, was given to her by a man. Rather is was a step father, father in law, or the daughter of her deceased husband who wanted to just get rid of her for once and for all. Even if it meant giving her a $26 million dollar settlement to be done with her forever.

Everything was handed to jackie on a silver platter all the way from birth to the grave. Yeah she was a great writer. But she never really used her platform to truly make a difference in the world. Especially when she was in a position to do so. People would've definitely listened.

Michelle Obama is #1 for me.

R205 = Valerie Jarrett

Was Nancy Reagan the only US First lady to feud with a spouse of another head of state? Remember Nancy vs. Raisa Gorbachev?

R202 it did not take months, she was out in about three weeks according to many historians, including William Manchester who wrote about it in Death of a President. I think that was incredibly fast. She didn’t have a place to live, so there was some maneuvering among her friends to find a temporary arrangement. It took us three months to pack and clean out our 2 bedroom townhouse. The Johnsons told Jackie to take her time, but they were moving things out of the West Wing on Nov. 23.

Michelle Obama is an anomaly, nothing more.

Of the two, Jackie will be remembered far longer and more fondly than Michelle.

Jackie and JFK were a breath of fresh air after 8 years of Ike and Mamie and Harry and Bess before them.

I was a young child during the JFK administration, but Jackie and JFK were rock stars, the Obama's do not even come close to their popularity.

Neither of the Obamas were able to get Hillary elected in 2016, no matter how hard they tried.

In the recent mid-terms, every candidate Obama campaigned for failed to win election.

Just what did Michelle do for this country during her eight years as FLOTUS? That silly garden? Having salad bars placed in schools? Her Let's Move campaign? She seemed most concerned in promoting Hamilton.

In years to come, the Obama's will mainly be remembered as the first black POTUS and FLOTUS.

R209 59% of the candidates obama campaigned for won their elections this midterms.

Michelle is #1 with me too. Above all she cared about people. Her actions and words elevated the American people.

The other ladies are interesting but with the exception of Roosevelt, they kept themselves separate from us. Michelle is a person lots of us identity with. We felt her happiness and joy. We cried with her.

Anyway, I'd like more information about lovely lady presidentrrss. She's my kind of gal.

R210, "59% of the candidates obama campaigned for won their elections this midterms."

Yeah, go tell that to Stacey Abrams, Bill Nelson and Andrew Gillum. At least Beto O'Rourke knew enough not to invite Obama to campaign in Texas.

Michelle Obama was also a wonderful representative of the US every time she went abroad.

...and she went abroad A LOT.

New York Times this morning

Michelle Obama's book ,as of yesterday has sold 1.4 million copies

Seeth conservatives, her book will be rule bestselling lists.An you all calling her a "fad" will choke on your bigoted words.

Beyond belief. Nancy Reagan and Mr. T.

Every First Lady is supposed to have a pet priority/cause.

When Nancy Reagan got into the White House she decided that her cause would be about grandparents and that grandchildren should respect their grandparents and spend more time with them. The Press was not impressed, nor was the Public, and she and her aids came up with the Just Say No (to drugs) campaign.

With our current First Lady, we can all use the phrase, "Just say HO."

R214 You beat me to it. Michelle sold more books in her first week than Hillary and Laura. Michelle is definitely not a "fad" and conservatives cannot compete with the Obama's. They are a force to be reckoned with. Sold out arenas all around the world for a book tour? Unheard of.

Eat your heart out deplorables. Michelle has definitely "Trumped" Trump, Michelle is up there with Oprah and Beyonce. The three Queens.

Suck on that republicunts. And R209 you sound like a threatened hater. Always worried someone who doesn't look like you is going to take something that doesn't even belong to you in the first place away from you, never to be returned.

There's plenty of room for everyone. Jackie is special, a dime a dozen. But still special. Michelle is a breath of fresh air. She brings something new to presidential history. Something unique and exciting. She's actually using her platform to enrich the lives of so many around the world. And you disliking or disparaging her will never change that.

Michelle will be an even bigger historical figure than Jackie could ever hope to be. She's building a legacy Jackie could never touch. Sorry but it's true.

Underneath the chilly gray November sky

We can make believe that Kennedy is still alive

And we’re shooting for the moon

And smiling Jackies driving by

Tomorrow Wendy… Concrete Blondes

R218 = 12-years-old/born 2006

R220, that's right, it's me, Barron Trump!

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis is iconic.

During her 64 year life, she became the most famous woman in the world. She appeared on more magazine covers than any male or female of her era.

She did not have to write an autobiography. It wasn't necessary. Numerous books about her were written by others and still are today, nearly 25 years after her death.

Notice how Michelle Obama is only being interviewed by friends, Oprah, Ellen, Jimmy Fallon, Valerie Jarrett, etc. She's safe with their softball questions.

Michelle wouldn't dare allow herself to be interviewed by someone who would ask her tough questions about her life and the Obama years in the White House.

"Michelle wouldn't dare allow herself to be interviewed by someone who would ask her tough questions about her life and the Obama years in the White House. "

Like Melania would!

R223, Melania sat down with ABC's Tom Llamas for an hour long interview just last month, no questions out of bounds. He even asked her if she loved her husband.

[quote] He even asked her if she loved her husband.

Oprah wouldn't ask that of Michelle.

What is with this creep obsessing over Michelle Obama? Hillary should be grateful the obamas even bothered to campaign for her. God himself could come down and campaign for her and she still wouldn't be elected.

No one likes her. She's just naturally very off putting and has an angry aura about her.

And after 8 years of being dehumanised Michelle doesn't owe anyone shit. The left wing media certainly didn't defend her against the numerous attacks. Yeah shame on her for wanting your ugly fat kids to eat healthy and exercise. Burn her at the stake! Who does she think she is telling us to eat vegetables.

And that garden fed a lot of people btw.

I hope she earns billions or close to it in book sales and put her feet up, drinks champagne and eats chocolate covered strawberries while the country burns. She's earned it.

And oh yeah, if my husband got his brain blown out I'd hope to fuck I'd be remembered too.

There are like thousands of ugly kennedy spawns who will never let us forget.

[quote] [R210], "59% of the candidates obama campaigned for won their elections this midterms." Yeah, go tell that to Stacey Abrams, Bill Nelson and Andrew Gillum.

You may be a racist, but at least you're good at math!

[quote]Michelle is up there with Oprah and Beyonce. The three Queens.

That's really not something to be proud of. Some talkshow host for dumb women and a pop star who lip synced at the inaugural.

I liked Michelle's grace and decency, but honestly I wish she would have been a more active First Lady.

That both her and Obama didn't snow up for Aretha's funeral, left a bad taste in my mouth. Bill and Hillary went to both, Aretha's and McCain's funeral and Bill gave a great speech at Aretha's.

I am really a bit meh on the Obamas lately.

Betty Bloomer. Pretty, a girl next door.

Hillary Clinton was the most ambitious First Lady ever! Intelligent, and she had all the goods. Should have been President but the USA really messed up on that one.

I agree R230!

Can you take your Obama/Hillary shit to another thread, please? This is an historical thread.

I want to hear about what a cunt Grace Coolidge was.

This first lady had bigger balls than the current president.

In terms of decorating The White House, Jackie Kennedy beats them all. What she did for a run down, tawdry, White House was truly remarkable. Probably more so than any other time in the history of the White House. She understood historic preservation, she had incredible taste and style.

Now I loved Michelle Obama, but for totally different reasons. The speech she gave at the Democratic Convention was her best moment and I can't think of another First Lady who could have delivered that as well. Not a one. She really grew as First Lady.

However, what she did to that White House dining room was kind of sad. Makes me wonder what the private quarters looked like. But Nancy Regan's bird wallpaper was something out of Hitchcock. I don't know how the Reagans slept.

Nancy Reagan was extremely ambitious and was making decisions with President Ronald behind closed doors. She even had an astrologist working for them. She lived at a time when women didn't dream of becoming President but might have made a better one than Ronnie, especially when he started to go downhill in his second term. She could be ruthless but effective at times.

Ditto for Betty Ford. She was warm, down to earth, friendly, and intelligent compared to hubby Gerald who was accident prone, a lackey of Richard Nixon and pardoned Nixon as soon as he got into Office which destroyed his political career. Hail Betty!

Margaret Taylor was an interesting first lady. She didn't care for the public aspects of the position so passed on hosting state functions. This led political opponents of her husband Zachary to claim: "Nevertheless, false rumors began to circulate among the capital society leaders that Mrs. Taylor was something of a crude recluse from the frontier who smoked a corncob pipe and was kept hidden by her mortified family in the attic. Ironically, any sort of smoke made her "actively ill," her grandson recalled." When her husband died, an artist painted a picture of his deathbed and as he didn't know what she looked like she was portrayed as a woman covering her entire face in a hankerchief, grieving her husband's fate. She certainly didn't aspire to be a "Lovely Lady Presidentress".

R235 “She lived at a time when women didn’t dream of becoming President”

Geraldine Ferraro says hello.

Dear Jack

You are an atypical husband - increasingly so in one way or another every year since we’ve been married - so you mustn’t be surprised to have an atypical wife - Each of us would have been so lonely with the normal kind.

Love Jackie

R228 Michelle was a VERY active first lady. Did you not pay attention to anything she did in the last decade? When she gave her farewell interview to Oprah and she talked about her time as first lady, they showed a montage of her 8 years in the white house. I saw things I didn't even know she was apart of or that she did.

She opened the white house up in a way no other first lady had ever done before.

You need to really do your research on Michelle, she was hyper active as first lady. She was very visible and constantly on the go. She was so busy that people started bitching and complaining about her Health campaign and the gold stars on food packages.

You have Michelle mixed up with melania dump. She literally doesn't do shit, but sit on her ass all day. Michelle has always been a go getter.

R236 I agree, Gerald Ford should have never pardoned Richard Nixon. His ass should have gone straight to prison for the shit he pulled. That's what I hate about republicans. Their always talking about the rule of law and that their the law and order party.

But yet, their the biggest crooks and obstructionists in politics. And with ford pardoning nixon, what kind of message did that send to the country? That if you break the law you can get away with it if you're an elite member of society? And if you're poor and minority you'll be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law? That's exactly why we have to get as many white men as possible out of positions of power and authority. Their crooked as sin. They only look out for each other. Congress needs to be as diverse as possible.

Gerald Ford was trash for pardoning nixon. That should've never happened.

Betty Ford was the best first lady ever, in terms of lasting impact: She smashed the taboos about talking openly about breast cancer (and cancer in general) and addiction. After Ford's term, her active development of the Betty Ford Center reduced the stigma about addiction further.

In her time, it was a big deal that she was fine with premarital sex and abortion rights. She supported the ERA and brought attention to the arts.

And bitch was a REPUBLICAN.

Michelle Obama was flawless and is #2.

Wasn't Ford also on the Warren Commission?

I listened to Michelle read the unabridged audio version of "Becoming".

Why does she keep informing the reader that she's black?

Unnecessary and annoying.

R244 ask her, not us.

Pat Nixon got beaten up a couple of times and wanted a divorce. I am surprised they stayed together after Nixon resigned.

He was such a paranoid mess, a drunk, pill popper, vindictive, crude, criminal - nowhere close to the man he pretended to be.

R244 I'm sure it was necessary for her to mention it. I didn't see a problem with it.

[quote]Michelle Obama has substance and smarts. Melania not so much.

Melania speaks five languages. Michelle pronounces the word ask as axe.

SNL never went near Michelle's speech impediment, yet they savaged Barbara Walters for hers.

And what proof do you have the melania can speak five different languages? Because she haven't even proven that she can speak english properly. And she has whore photos on the internet of herself looking sleazy as hell.

R248 Michelle saying axe rather than ask, is more of a cultural thing than anything else. There's absolutely nothing with importance in melanias background at all.

She's trash, just like her husband and everyone else who surrounds her.

[quote]Michelle saying axe rather than ask, is more of a cultural thing than anything else.

A culture of stupidity where people mangle their native tongue because of their low IQ.

I architekt! Dat count!

You can tell which blacks play identity politics by seeing who constantly mention they are black, even when it has nothing to do with anything.

R253 Trump, Fox news, Tucker Carlson, talk radio, republicans, southern strategy, etc etc.

Are you paying attention yet?

White people invented identity politics. But you knew that already.

The racist here doesn't realize that people can be bidialectal or that white Americans also say "axe" for "ask" as a regionalism (it was the original Old English pronunciation of the verb, replaced in the standard language by "ask" but lingering in dialects). Such a simple soul.

Besides the beatings, Pat should have left Dick for his longtime affair with Bebe Rebozo.

Melania sucks cock in 5 different languages.

Martha Washington, the first First Lady. During her lifetime she was often referred to as Lady Washington.

The claim that Melania speaks 5 languages is such a joke. The woman has lived in the US for 25+ years and still can't speak English fluently.

In this portrait of a young Martha Washington, why does she look like a boy?

Granted she does look like the Blue Boy in that dress. Pity the Huntington Library doesn't have a portrait of her.

Her husband was a racist slave master, fuck george washington.

Abraham Lincoln too. All racist cunts.

Good riddance.

Along with so many others.

So you lot admire drunken Betty Ford over Michelle Obama

That really says alot.Ford admitted in her bio she was smashed more often then not and the press kept it quiet for her.Republicans, have you always lied to keep your dirty secrets out of the streets. Guess so......

R263 I wouldn’t characterize it as admiration. She was highly impactful, in just a few short years. Michelle is absolutely number one, along with Eleanor Roosevelt, in terms of character and excellence in the office.

Betty Ford could've spelled "a lot" as two words, even face-down drunk.

r263 you ignorant moron, the Fords would be considered centrist Democrats by today's standards. They were hardly like modern Republicans. Read some history, FFS.

I remember going to see Betty speak during the campaign near USC and she showed up drunk.

I remember Gerald Ford very quietly standing up for gay rights -- I don't remember Betty ever talking about it, though.

Think of all the first ladies who had gay children.

Like who?

Though it has often been treated as a statement of fact that Jacqueline Kennedy was disdainful of Lady Bird Johnson, I read in one of her biographies that the two maintained a very friendly correspondence and Jackie had a great deal of respect for Lady Bird.

It should be remembered, too, that Mrs. Kennedy was very young when her husband was elected president, with two young children. She stuck with what she knew as far as selecting her causes as First Lady, the arts and culture. And her spearheading the renovation/preservation of the White House has certainly had a lasting legacy.

Betty Ford was a breath of fresh air. As someone mentioned earlier, she was one of the first women in public life to talk about her breast cancer. It may seem strange to us now, but things like that were just not talked about in "polite" society. It wasn't too long after that Happy Rockefeller, the vice president's wife, announced her own struggle with breast cancer. And for Mrs. Ford to discuss her struggle with alcoholism really brought that subject out of the closet, as well. She also had one of the best facelifts of all time!

Betty Ford really did have a fantastic facelift.

And she talked about that at the time too!

She took a lot of flak for talking about all these taboos, but she said that's just who she was — she was a forthright person and wasn't going to change.

So was betty a drunk while she was first lady, or what? When was she getting drunk?

I don't think something like alcoholism could be hid today. Not with all the leaks coming out of the white house. Especially living in this TMZ world we live in today.

Honey, Betty would drink vanilla if she had to. She was right up there with Kitty Dukaksis, snorting hair spray.

At one point Michelle went from being too thin to looking like a tawdry cow.

That's the thing about First Ladies... they're diverse to the point of randomness!

These are generally the ladies that future politicians married when they were just starting their careers, so you get a Bess Truman who signed up to be a small businessman's wife in the same cohort as the intelligent and ambitious Hillary Clinton and the current prostitute, of course some of them are going to have a lot of trouble with the role.

Do First Queens of the U.S, count?

Fuck all the Michelle Obama haters. Donald Trump was clearly behind that national enquire piece on Mrs Obama. Especially since all of his dirty dealings keep coming out about payoffs and favors involving that dirty asshole who owns that trashy tabloid.

Emperors bowed to the Queen of America

[quote]So was betty a drunk while she was first lady, or what? When was she getting drunk?

Betty stayed fucked up all through her time in the White House. She and the President infamously did a Barbara Walters interview where she sipped from a drinkie-winkie she kept stowed under the sofa. She completely owned it in characteristic fashion when Barbara brought it up years later.

(Link below doesn't work with link previews on—turn them off in Settings to watch in a new window.)

I saw a clip of Betty Ford when she was first lady talking to reporters and she was obviously drunk.

Betty, bless her heart, gave the concession speech for her husband in the 1976 election.

No matter how much time and effort her stylists spent on her, Michelle Robinson Obama always looked like a gym teacher.

Gerald and Betty Ford were an attractive couple.

A damn good looking gym teacher too. Michelle is an attractive woman.

PERIOD!!!!!!

Betty Ford also gave birth to three strapping, big-dicked sons, some of whom liked to show off their baskets on the White House lawn.

Betty Ford, Cool First Mom

Day trippin'

Melania does not speak five languages. Pope Francis tried several times to speak to her in Italian, one of the languages she's supposed to be fluent in, and she didn't understand a thing and only responded in English after a translator jumped in. She's lying.

Jackie was fluent in French and Spanish.

R263, did you know that Joan Rivers claimed that Michelle Obama is transgender and "we all know it." She wasn't joking when she said it.

Did you also know that more than once while speaking in public, Barack Obama has referred to Michelle as "Michael"?

Passing yourself off as a cis-gender woman when you are not one would be a pretty big lie for Michelle to tell.

Young Betty

R291, don't wait for Vlad to kill you slowly with poison. Do it yourself tonight.

Young Jerry

Comedian Joan Rivers has sparked criticism for calling U.S. president Barack Obama gay and declaring First Lady Michelle Obama is transgender.

The 81-year-old was asked by a reporter on a New York City sidewalk if the U.S. will see its first gay president.

“We already have it with Obama,” Rivers replied. “So let’s just calm down.”

She added: “You know Michelle is a tranny.”

The Kennedy's we're all smoke and mirrors, wealth, and good public relations.

A complete Hollywood set up.

Gerald Ford was hot as fuuuuuuck when he was young.

And we all see how Joan rivers exited this world.

Now she's ashes.

It's true there was friction between Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush, but there was also friction between Nancy Reagan and Betty Ford, stemming from Reagan's attempt to steal away the POTUS nomination from Ford in 1976.

R286 Is that a photoshoot for the Sears catalog? Steve is hot, young, and restless, but even his outfit looks purely polyester.

Wasn't Eleanor Roosevelt a part time lezzie lou?

She, Jackie, Betty and Dolly (for her parties) are the only ones we should recognize.

Betty Ford was also the first First Lady to do away with separate bedrooms for presidents and their wives.

She made an announcement to that effect. In an interview soon after, she said reporters had asked her about everything except how often she and President Ford fucked. "And if they'd asked me that, I would have told them," she said, noting the answer would be, "As often as possible."

YAAASSSS BETTY GET THAT DICK. She was popping out kids until she was 40.

You can clearly see Steven Ford's underwearless, possibly semi-erect circumcised cockhead at R286. That was an official photo! Wild that the White House didn't have that airbrushed.

Bet her first husband was hot, too.

Elizabeth Anne Ford was the First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977, as the wife of the 38th President of the United States, Gerald Ford. As First Lady, she was active in social policy and created precedents as a politically active presidential wife. Wikipedia

Born: April 8, 1918, Chicago, IL

Died: July 8, 2011, Eisenhower Health, Rancho Mirage, CA

Children: Susan Ford, Steven Ford, John Gardner Ford, Michael Gerald Ford

Spouse: Gerald Ford (m. 1948–2006), William C. Warren (m. 1942–1947)

She really enjoyed Geralds dick. It must've been really good.

Remembered this and found it on YouTube - from quite a while ago! When young Melania was still slim and pretty sans surgery - and had big sreans! She was working hard at being charming and ignoring her boorish partner’s foibles - praising hin to the skies! Oh melania! Where did it all go wrong? (Also - is it just me or was her accent less pronounced back then?)

(Melania starts at around 21.30ish - Ruby Wax is a lit of fun!)

^^ Melania had big dreams i meant! Urgh! iPhone!

[quote]r302 Betty Ford was also the first First Lady to do away with separate bedrooms ... She made an announcement to that effect.

Jack Ford was always in the gossip columns when his father was POTUS. Jack ran with the Andy Warhol-Bianca Jagger-Studio 54 crowd.

a family of whores - -

Wow, Roger Stone seemed semi-nice in that clip at R306.

I don't sing. I don't dance. I don't like people who do.

Liza looks pretty good there.

3 addicts waiting for a fix ^^^

R312 She kinda sings and kinda dances here.

That was Betty's first public appearance after her facelift — a May '79 party at Studio 54. She brought Martha Graham. In the photo below, a Secret Service man is looming behind her.

That is a great facelift. Why do so many look so awful now?

[quote]r315 She kinda sings and kinda dances here.

That's not Taylor dancing around in the long shots. The cow couldn't dance, and claimed she had ha some back injury. So..

Cause I'm dead you moronic millennial. R317

There's a big Betty Ford Garden in Vail, Colorado. I found it during twilight, and there are no words to explain how creepy these sculptures are. You expect a "Wicker Man" sacrifice any minute.

Did the Fords retire to Vail?

Mystique ne meurt jamais.

R320 Apprepo the elegance of Mrs Ford.

r321 Jackie in Givenchy pink. He did the same gown in yellow for Audrey.

I'm not sure about the mountain stream and strewn daffodils, but Audrey wins in yellow and with a lot less hairspray.

It's an odd outfit choice for hiking - -

Michelle is speaking tonight at Boston's TD Garden and according to a local news report a few minutes ago, tickets are STILL AVAILABLE.

So much for her tour being a sellout.

I think Eleanor Roosevelt only got into a heterosexual marriage because of the times she lived in and the social conventions. If Eleanor had lived in today's world, she would've been a full-blown dyke from day 1.

Ageeed R327-Eleanor woulda been organising Michfests!

So glad the forgotten presidents thread inspired this. The First Ladies are really interesting, even if Nancy was a despicable devil-cunt.

On the FDR estate in Hyde Park NY, Eleanor Roosevelt spent a lot of her time in a secluded cottage called Val-Kill, two miles away from the main house, Springwood. Lesbian couple Nancy Cook and Marion Dickerman were frequent visitors.

Why does melancholia keep renting hotel rooms but doesn’t stay in them overnight? What is she doing exactly?

Actually, Mamie was the first to insist the President share her bedroom.

R331, meeting (and shagging) the Tiffany's security guy.

No wonder her command of the English language worsened over the years. With her parents being around and Barron being bilingual (and with the latter probably even feeling more comfortable speaking Slovene than speaking English), there's no need for Melania to speak English on a fairly regular basis.

The Fords retired somewhere near Palm Springs.

R332, And she decorated it mainly in pink, her favorite color. I'm sure Ike loved it.

R293 thinks Vladimir Putin made Joan Rivers publicly state that Michelle Obama is transgender.

It is useful to remember that any time someone invokes the name of Vladimir Putin on DL, they are basically admitting that they have no real argument.

Meanwhile, for those who believe their own eyes: What the hell is in Michelle Obama's pants?

It wasn't very nice of Joan Rivers to call Michelle a man.

But they should not have killed her.

Joan was a Repulicunt.

Joan's politics are not what gives Michelle Obama an odd and suspicious bulge in her crotch.

R340, do shut up.

No, R341, I won't shut up until our first Transgender First Lady is allowed to publicly reveal the truth about her gender. Michelle was born Michael Robinson and she was a college athlete as a male. Only transphobes want to deny Michelle xer truth.

[quote]And what proof do you have the melania can speak five different languages? Because she haven't even proven that she can speak english properly.

Melania's certificate in Any Language Besides Slovenian is with her architecture degree.

You know, I’m generally open to whatever opinions people have, but I have to confess, I’m all for banning people like r340, who talk out of their ass with the only goal being to annoy the people who have to read his drivel instead of well-reasoned opinions. It’s not enough to block him, tbh. Oh, R340? Go set your three brain cells on fire. It’s two more than most idiots have.

Just another hateful way to marginalize an accomplished Black woman. I had someone over to look at my sprinklers and he started in on "hot" Melania and how Michelle was a man. Fortunately he was already outside, but I told him to get lost- he wouldn't be working for me.

Très exquis.

I never believed the Michelle Obama as a Tranny stories, but I have to admit those two YouTube videos are....is "Curious" the right word?

Michelle was very well known from high school on, at least in Chicago. It is insane that someone believes this bullshit. Just like Obama was really born in Kenya.

Lady Bird doesn't get the attention she deserves. She was largely the motivating force behind LBJ's Great Society and civil rights support. She also was an early environmentalist and single-handedly got rid of all the eyesore billboards along Texas highways and got them replaced with wildflowers.

[quote]r329 So glad the forgotten presidents thread inspired this. The First Ladies are really interesting, even if Nancy was a despicable devil-cunt.

Special mention to whateever First Lady it was who loaded a lot of White House art and antiques into wagons and got them off ther grounds when war (or fire?) was approaching.

Which one was that?

Dolley Madison r350.

R350, It was Dolley Madison and she's famously credited for saving the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington.

I remember road trips in the late 60s early 70s after Ladybird's beautification efforts. We used to see highway medians planted in red clover. It was quite pretty.

Thanks, r351 and r352.

I also feel we need a silent moment of reverence for decorating doyenne Sister Parish, banned after she slapped bratty Caroline Kennedy across the face. Or maybe she kicked her. (History is vague on this point.)

At any rate, Frau Jackie was not amused.

[quote]r349 Lady Bird doesn't get the attention she deserves. She was largely the motivating force behind LBJ's Great Society and civil rights support.

First Name Claudia

The history channel has really gone to shit! They could be creating so much good content with America's rich history and fascinating historical figures we have throughout American history. And all they want to show is Hitler programs.

We need another "The men who built America" type of series to come out. I'd like to see something on presidents and first ladies. But it would have to be really well done. Their the history channel, their job is to get people interested and excited about history and their failing to do so.

I really like to see them do something really well put together on the first ladies. That channel needs to do something because the current programming is really poor.

R329 I'm the one who was in the "Forgotten presidents" thread suggesting we do a thread on the first ladies. I find first ladies more interesting most of the time than I do the presidents.

Your welcome.

Please r35$. Caroline Kennedy was a little child. She grew up to be a wonderful woman and mother. I don’t know who the hell Sister Parish is, but she was not Caroline’s mother and had no rights to do anything to Caroline.

^r354

Back when she was a little kid, QE2 got into an electrician's toolbox and messed it up, so he spanked her, with nothing said by the QM standing nearby.

Bess Truman hated Washington and went home to Missouri every chance she got. She also made a mean mac and cheese.

R360 This thread is about American First ladies, let's stay bon topic. There's enough royal threads on this site as it is.

Not this one.

Just suggesting Sister was of a different generation...

[quote]r358 I don’t know who the hell Sister Parish is, but she was not Caroline’s mother and had no rights to do anything to Caroline.

Sister Parish was a preppie interior designer of Jackie Kennedy's day, who first did rooms for that family when JFK was a senator living in Georgetown. Jackie called on Parish to head up the famous interior overhaul of the White House, 1961-1963.

From linked article:

[quote]During her life, designer and decorator Sister Parish was known for her unique taste. Today, her influence can be felt across the country. As the inventor of American country style, sometimes called "shabby chic," echoes of her style can be seen in Ralph Lauren catalogs and Martha Stewart Living magazines. "If you have a quilt," the New York Times wrote, "you probably owe it to Ms. Parish."

[quote]Parish was the first person who First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy hired to decorate the White House, and her influence can still be seen in several rooms in the building. In the end, Parish had a clash with the First Lady, leading her to move on to other well-known buildings–but not before she helped Kennedy found the White House Historical Association.

I thought bunny mellon also played a part in how the white house was decorated? There was also another decorator Jackie worked with too. A male interior designer. Billy baldwin?

When word got out about Sister Parish helping Jackie decorate the WH, there was actually a newspaper headline something akin to "Nun To Decorate White House." You have to remember there was a lot of anti-Catholic hysteria at the time.

Bunny Mellon was instrumental in designing the WH gardens.

The man chosen to assist with the decor was French decorator Stephan Boudin. To my knowledge, Billy Baldwin was not involved.

From a NYT interview:

[quote]On this day, Ms. Crater and Ms. Bartlett pondered an often-reported family legend. Did Mrs. Parish really swat a young Caroline Kennedy, precipitating a split between the decorator and her most illustrious client? "I don't know how it got started," Ms. Bartlett said. In fact, the story appears in their book, in an excerpt from Mrs. Parish's journal. "But we wouldn't want to get into that whole thing," said Ms. Crater, an artist. The girl "probably had her feet up on the sofa, and Sister probably swatted them away. That would not have been beyond belief at all." Ms. Bartlett laughed knowingly. "In a funny way," she said, Mrs. Parish "was just imperious."

r361, reading that recipe, I realized that was the one my mom always made, except she used Kraft singles. The giveaway was the milk and egg mix. I always liked it because the sauce wasn't as thick as ones which started with a roux. I'm going to have to make this now. Doesn't surprise me my mom would have used the recipe, as we were from Missouri and she started as a young housewife in the '50s.

Sister Parish was sacked by Jackie because she caught her looking under JFK's bed. What/who did she find? My stars!

R40. From first hand experience, I can tell you - Barbara Bush was hilarious and smart. She didnt put on airs, People liked her and she fucking hated that stick figure Nancita. Holy crap, that was a shock.

Like most Republicans, Barbara Bush was probably a very nice person as long as you were family or friend. If you weren't, and you weren't of her "class," she had no use for you. And if you were poor or otherwise underprivileged, there was no compassion for you.

Richard Nixon on Barbara Bush: "There's a woman who knows how to hate."

Takes one to know one.

R371. I spent a year with the Bush family and I’m definitely not of her class or in her peer group. I was low-end campaign staff, but she liked me and gave me a nickname. She had a wicked mouth and told the dirtiest stories. She horrified the old Eisenhower Republican ladies who adored Nancy. Barbara did not kiss their asses and could give two craps about fashion and frilly women’s crap. She was a tough broad who had lived a real life and had no use for you if you couldn’t take (or throw) a punch.

[quote]r373 Barbara did not kiss their asses and could give two craps about fashion and frilly women’s crap. She was a tough broad who had lived a real life and had no use for you if you couldn’t take (or throw) a punch.

She looked like a woman into anal.

R374. Thankfully, she never asked (or offered)

Odd that she, with her trademark pearls, was definitely not a pearl-clutcher!

They were imitation. She didn’t have any use for expensive jewelry and wore fake pearls because she actually liked them.

The young Diane Lane actually looks alarmingly like Kim Cattrall (??)

R378 I think you've got the wrong thread!

hahaha...YES!

But the WORLD SHOULD KNOW ! ! !

Fun article

[quote]r369 Sister Parish was sacked by Jackie because she caught her looking under JFK's bed. What/who did she find? My stars!

What I think actually happened is Parish and Jackie were not suited to working together, financially.

Sister Parish was a society woman who turned to decorating as a job purely to make money. She always kept her eye on the bottom line and looked to make a profit. She took the White House assignment for the prestige and to fulfill a patriotic duty, but would only be pushed so far.

Jackie is someone who wielded her position to aquire free luxuries. She was a user. (Arnold Scaasi was her first choice for official coutuier, but he refused to do it for free.) (Oleg Cassini would.)

Basically, when Mrs. Kennedy started dickering with the bills, Sister Parish walked.

Jackie

Angie .. ^^^

Jack had a type.

...was a whore, selling her box to the highest bidder.

Jackie Kennedy Onasis ^^

The most expensive box in Christendom. ^^

Sister alone refused to EAT JACKIE'S SHIT!

Deborah Mitford said Jackie was "oddly put together", and you can see what she meant in R387.

R388 Is that FDR JR?

Jakee iz that vat ze real boobies luks leeik?

What type of relationship did Barbara and Laura Bush have? Did they get along well. Did Barbara like Laura? Curious.

I want to be Jackie Onassis

I want to wear a pair of dark sunglasses

I want to be Jackie Onassis, oh yeah

I want to be Jackie Onassis, oh yeah

I said, I'd be happy to be Jackie

Oh yeah, oh yeah.. . I'd be so happy, then I'd be pleased!

I'd make Donald go down on his knees!

AMATUER ^^

My Dad met Eleanor Roosevelt in 1934. My grandparents were members of the National Geographic Society and went to all the monthly luncheons, which always had a guest speaker. One month my grandfather was ill so my grandmother took my Dad to the luncheon. He was 17. The guest speaker was Amelia Earhart.

After the luncheon my Dad and my grandmother were walking through the building, and they came upon Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart in a hallway. My grandmother introduced my Dad to them and they had a conversation. He said they were both polite and intelligent and interesting.

Amelia was someone my Dad admired because he wanted to become an aviator (and eventually became a pilot in the Marines). My Dad told me this story a few times throughout his lifetime. My grandparents lived in Chevy Chase, Maryland and were fairly active in D.C. social circles for decades, so they probably rubbed elbows with other First Ladies, but I wasn't very close to them so I never got any other stories.

Donald is increasingly bitter over the fact that Mel doesn't get as many magazine covers as Michelle did. Or any, really.

It does kind of stand out after a while. Michelle got a LOT of magazines because those issues sold magazines.

Sorry, Melania.

Melania can get nagazine covers. Do they still publish Penthouse or Beaver?

[quote]Michelle got a LOT of magazines because those issues sold magazines.

What's a magazine?

^^^^

No one wants to put that whore on the cover of their magazine. Especially editorial magazines. Everyone is waiting and holding their breath for the Trump era to end.

Just wait until we have our next democrat first lady, she'll be on the cover of every major magazine out there.

[quote][R388] Is that FDR JR?

No, this is FDR Jr., son of First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt

R401, He didn't age very well.

Ve stended veeth zee LGBT womans only !

R400 just made the conservative case for media bias.

No, that's just good taste.

In Gore Vidal's novel *The Smithsonian Institution* all the mannequins displaying the First Ladies' inaugural gowns turn into the First Ladies themselves at night and (along with their husbands) they party together. Would that he were still alive to write a sequel including Melania and the more decorous First Ladies' responses to her.

Jacqueline Kennedy (Onassis) was one of the few first ladies who knew that the job of first lady was likely to be part of her marriage. Jack Kennedy wasn't husband material, to put it politely, but in the early 1950s he was a US senator and knew that the US wouldn't elect a bachelor as president.

She didn't want to be a political wife but since Kennedy was the only millionaire offering to marry her, she agreed to be Mrs. Senator or the First Lady if she had to, and did a good job of both. If she could have snagged herself an Onassis the first time around she would have told Kennedy to shove his political ambitions, but no! She had to become world-famous in her own right before she could do that.

Elliott Roosevelt was pretty good-looking. All of the Roosevelts' six children had trouble carving out their own lives because of the accomplishments and legacies of their parents.

Jacqueline Kennedy (Onassis) was one of the few first ladies who knew that the job of first lady was likely to be part of her marriage. Jack Kennedy wasn't husband material, to put it politely, but in the early 1950s he was a US senator and knew that the US wouldn't elect a bachelor as president.

She didn't want to be a political wife but since Kennedy was the only millionaire offering to marry her, she agreed to be Mrs. Senator or the First Lady if she had to, and did a good job of both. If she could have snagged herself an Onassis the first time around she would have told Kennedy to shove his political ambitions, but no! She had to become world-famous in her own right before she could do that.

Dear Jack

I know everyone says married couples should never separate—as you get off the same wave length … but I think it is usually good when we go away from each other as we both realize so much." We are so different," "But I was thinking this trip—that every other time I've been away, you would write 'don't ponder our relation too much" etc.—and now I don't as one doesn't ponder anything that is a part of you."

You are an atypical husband—increasingly so in one way or another every year since we’ve been married—so you mustn’t be surprised to have an atypical wife—Each of us would have been so lonely with the normal kind. I can’t write down what I feel for you, but I will show you when I am with you—and I think you must know—.”

All my love

Jackie

Even in Theodore's time, it was known that the men of the Roosevelt family were likely to be either spectacular successes or spectacular failures in life. Theodore and Franklin were among the successes, obviously, but their sons followed the family tradition of suffering from depression and/or alcoholism and never amounting to much.

Quite a number of the Roosevelt men drank themselves to death, including Eleanor's father and Theodore's son Kermit, there were others. Did any of Franklin and Eleanor's children do so? I know one of them did something worse, Elliot wrote a series of godawful murder mysteries featuring Eleanor as the star sleuth, he should burn in hell for those.

R15, where did you get that information?

r408, six children and 19 divorces.

Elliott Roosevelt died of liver failure. John Roosevelt was also an alcoholic. In the late 1930s he drunkenly (physically) attacked the mayor of Cannes, France. It made headlines around the world.

Faye Emerson, Mrs. Eliot Roosevelt, ran off to Palma, Spain, with Mrs. John Roosevelt.

Let's compare potential First Ladies. Sherrod Brown's wife is a terrible frump.

Bernie Sanders' wife looks like a psychiatric patient and is a crook and if there's any justice, she'll wind up in jail.

Joe Biden's wife looks good but is incredibly pretentious. She makes people call her Dr. Biden. She has a fucking PhD in Education. Give me a break.

Does Kamala Harris have a husband? Klobuchar? Gillibrand? They keep low profiles.

Beto O'Rourke's wife Amy is upper-class, daughter of a maybe billionaire, went to Williams, was in the Peace Corps, attractive but seems like a hippy, no make-up type. She's 10 years younger than Beto but looks older than him.

Will Booker acquire a wife to run for Prez?

R53, you need to bone up on history. It was based on a Nixon campaign speech, where, trying to make a connection with the common man, he said Pat didn't need furs, that she was happy with a cloth coat.

Pat Nixon appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1960.

Pat Nixon always seemed so put-together in public, but in private she was a chain-smoking lush.

R66, the dislike had nothing to do with money. Nancy was very right wing. Ronnie had become so and didn't think bush 41 was sufficiently conservative. And Bush 41 was more moderate. Reagan also saw him as a bit of a weak sister and really wasn't interested in campaigning for him in 1988. Nancy was a style maven, self-absorbed and with bad relationships with her children and Ronnie's. Bar didn't give a shit how she looked and thought family was very important. Both women had strong personalities and were very different in their values.

Jackie K. Time cover 1961.

Lady Bird Johnson, Time magazine 1964.

Wow. Time's cover artists really sucked.

Nancy Reagan, 1985.

Bar Bush, 1989.

R88, that's not it. Melania is a bimbo who came into this country on an Einstein visa. Most dems are aware that she plagiarized from Michelle Obama. She was facing nothing but humiliation, because she had absolutely no idea of how to function as a First Lady. She was able to get away with being a sham in New York, but not so much in DC. with all eyes on her. She was simply too embarrassed to come and used her son's education as an excuse.

Sorry, skipped Rosalynn Carter, 1976. She only rated a People magazine cover.

[quote][R53], you need to bone up on history. It was based on a Nixon campaign speech, where, trying to make a connection with the common man, he said Pat didn't need furs, that she was happy with a cloth coat.

R417, it was much more complex and serious than trying to make himself relatable the common man. During the 1952 Presidential campaign he was accused of serious corruption and misuse of donor's funds. Eisenhower was widely reported as being ready to drop him from the ticket. He was fighting for his political life and gave a masterful performance which saved it.

It ended with his famous comment that there was one gift he refused to return no matter what. His little dog Checkers because his daughters loved him too much.

Kermit Roosevelt III, one of Teddy's great-great-grandkids, teaches at Penn Law School. He's also a cutie.

R91, most women who attend Yale Law School are ambitious, just like the men. Republicans didn't like her because she knew her own value and, because her husband was successful in getting 2 Presidential terms. Republicans thought they were entitled to the Presidency and not only did Bill Clinton beat them, but he did a great job as president. He returned the country to a solid financial footing after Reagan tried to bankrupt America, forcing the country into smaller government.

When Hillary went to the Senate, many thought she'd be a showhorse, doing a lot of posing and running her mouth. But they found out she was a workhorse, putting in as much effort as any of them and willing to take her place at the back of the line rather than demanding important positions as a freshman. She worked even harder as Obama's Secretary of State.

Sorry, I meant R109.

Hillary Clinton, 1993.

It's good Time finally switched to photos: the paintings look like paint-by-number sets from K-Mart.

Frances Cleveland, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Nancy Reagan were all very similar first ladies. They knew what they were in for. And they all cared deeply about their personal appearances.

Pickles Bush, another FLOTUS relegated to People magazine.

Michelle Obama, 2009.

R156, the difference is in her style. When she first came to the White House, she did not know how to dress for her particular shape. She was a professional and always looked professional, but did not dress to make the most of herself. She learned from the designers who dressed her. She made those style changes her own and now always looks her best.

Melania Trump, 2017 Mexican Vanity Fair!

The youngest daughter of the youngest son, John, died very quietly and mysteriously.

Joan Lindsay (Roosevelt) Schoonmaker (1952-1997)

She married an undertaker and lost her only baby as a stillborn in 1982.

There is nothing else out there about her.

R160, that is a racist image. It is from a Pinterest account covered with ugly photos of the First Lady. As horrible as I think Melania is as a first lady or as I thought Nancy Reagan was, you won't find accounts like that about them, because those women were white. The idea is to bring her down a peg or two to the maid they thought she should be. It is inappropriate and anyone who takes the time to assemble something like that should be ashamed.

I don't know what is with you two on the Jackie vs Michelle thing. They both brought great assets and strengths to the White House. Jackie had less than 3 years to make her imprint, while Michelle had 8, but they both had huge impacts. Jackie's are remembered 50+ years from when she left and I have no doubt Michelle's will be remembered 50 years from now as well.

Vogue magazine should be real petty and do a cover shoot with all former first ladies. Rosalynn Carter, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama. With all of them discussing their time in the white house as well as everything they've done since leaving the white house. Kinda like how vanity fair has their all star covers. It would be all first ladies and their stories.

And intentionally exclude Melania. Basically trolling her and Donald. I'd love to see that happen.

Wow r429 those Roosevelt genes are strong! Kermit Roosevelt III is almost the spitting image of his great-great grandfather. Amazing he looks so much like him, being so far removed genetically.

Is Kermit gay?

He is CUTE!

47, never married...

He inherited the nearsightedness and the center part. Does he have asthma?

People should have put Rosalynn on the cover with John Wayne Gacy.

Are the Roosevelt's still wealthy? Or were they never really that wealthy in the first place? Curious.

Like most of that sort, many of the later generations are involved in investment banking.

R348, her Wildflower Center still exists. It has some good information about specific plants on it.

Sorry, I meant R349.

For R348, Michelle's father worked for the city water department and her mother worked at Sears. Michelle was in the gifted program in grade school.

R446, Rosalynn seemed to have an affinity for mass murderers. John Wayne Gacy. Rev. Jim Jones.

When the Carters entered the White House, they hired an axe murderess on parole to be Amy's nanny.

Mary Prince, little Amy's nanny, had been wrongfully convicted and was later fully pardoned.

Has anyone ever been to the Carter's church in Georgia. I want to go but haven't been yet. And I live in Georgia. So it's not like it'll be hard for me to go.

Jimmy and Rosalynn are there every Sunday for service and they shake everyone's hands afterwards or before? I can't remember.

Jimmys a pastor and I guess Rosalynns the first lady of the church.

I'm an atheist but respect the Carters for trying to lead good lives as true Christians: compassionate, generous, and forgiving.

[quote]Is Kermit gay?

WHAT? He'd better damn well NOT be!!!

[quote]I remember going to see Betty speak during the campaign near USC and she showed up drunk.

She should never have gone to that frat house gangbang.

[quote]Martha Washington, the first First Lady.

Vhair are noodz?

Melania Trump is like an anti-heroine from a Danielle Steele novel come to life, a lowdown whore that is astonished to find herself first lady! And so embarrassed that she can't even come to the White House for months.

Someone needs to write a horribly trashy Roman a Clef novel about someone very much like her, and include plenty of detail about her awful past, her husband's creepy relationship with his daughter, and how she deals with the amount of blackmail material that's floating around eastern Europe.

I'd like to see someone come on the scene and talk about melanias past and her alleged modeling whoring past. And talk about how she really met Trump and under what circumstances.

This will basically be her version of birtherism. And I hope all of the major cable and broadcast networks make a huge deal about it just as Trump did with Obama's birth certificate.

Payback baby.

R458 Well, there is a trashy novelist in the family, and I'm sure she's up to the challenge.

Anybody else notice they kept Barron away from the normal kid-in-the-White House stuff - pardoning the turkey and receiving the Christmas tree. He must be getting more obviously odd and harder to deny he's autistic.

R407, JFK was very charismatic. She needed a Catholic husband and he needed a Catholic wife. She was attractive herself, so could have had a number of men. The Kennedy girls didn't like her but Joe really liked her. And, even then, she knew how to negotiate.

R428, the reference was only to the cloth coat. I gave the proper reference.

So Nixon whined and whined that Pat didn't need a fur coat, she was happy with a plain cloth coat...

He must have made her get rid of her furs, after that speech.

And here she is, wearing a big-ass fur coat, possibly during the 1970s trip to China.

R464,R465, it's not like a president had ever lied before--

R465, Perhaps it was a gift.

Dan Hedaya as a drunken Nixon threatening his whining dog in "Dick". I'm sure the real Checkers (and Pat) heard worse.

Wow, this thread really caught on. I hope people care enough for a part two.

Staying warm during the Cold War.

J.B.K

Mamie

Bird

Mama aka Vicki Lawrence

Melania

The coins are funny--Bess Truman never looked that good. Ditto Lady Bird. And Mamie, that minx--truly airbrushed, and where are her saggy, braless boobs?

Mamie wore fur and she fuckin' loved it!

With one R475 you can get a happy ending in any message parlor in Slovenia.

Parvenu ^^

Just a dab will do ya.

I don't think I've ever heard anything negative about Lady Bird.

American Tsarina

Why does Eleanor Roosevelt's fur coat loot so... ratty at R479?

She was no parvenu, she was upper class. Had that coat been worn every winter for decades, or generations?

^^^ Yes. Mamie was the parvenu.

Tres pimped out.

Hanging on to stuff until it wears out or falls apart is classic old-money behavior. Ex: putting duct tape on Top-Siders that have separated from the soles.

Arkansas chic.

Ve luvs zee duct tape

Dang. Hillary Clinton was not put on this Earth to look good in clothes!

I believe that Jacqueline Kennedy is the only First Lady who was. All the rest... well, some of them learned to make the best of what they had, and then there were the rest.

r472 is driving me to distraction!

I've never heard a word against Lady Bird Johnson either, R481. And this picture makes me actually like her.

Lady Bird was a gracious empathetic lady. Despite Jackie's catty remarks about her. They were friends. In the 80's Jackie had Bird over to her very private Red Hook Farm. It was reported the two women sat on the veranda drinking and laughing reminiscing about their husbands wandering eyes. When Jackie died a sick and blind Bird attended her funeral. She was almost unrecognized and sat alone. A class act who was unfortunately the bride of Frankenstein.

Fannie Flagg did a funny Lady Bird back in the '60s.

[quote]r433 It's good Time finally switched to photos: the paintings look like paint-by-number sets from K-Mart.

It kind of depends on what they had to work with...? (Sorry, Jacqueline.)

[quote]Michelle Obama was a wonderful first lady, a total class act.

[quote]Michelle Obama was also a wonderful representative of the US every time she went abroad.

[quote]Can you take your Obama/Hillary shit to another thread, please?

Hmm. That's odd -- you just posted a nasty op-ed about the border situation, written by alt-right lunatic Michael Graham, saying Trump was right all along about those awful migrants. It got deleted as I was replying to it, and when I tried to look for it again (thinking maybe it was a glitch) I saw you posted this thread and comments like these.

What are you doing, trying to play both sides for the hell of it?

r495 -- why are you monitoring the other poster? If you think he is a troll, you should just ignore him, not stalk him.

Lady Bird was the only former First Lady invited to Jackie's funeral. Apparently, every summer Lady Bird vacationed on Martha's Vineyard and she and Jackie were close. I remember reading a bio of Jackie and she told people that only Lady Bird understood what had happened back then. When the LBJ tapes were made public, Jackie was recorded flirting her head off with old Lyndon. She got along fine with LBJ though RFK hated his guts and put an end to their friendship. Funny old world.

[quote]r497 Jackie was recorded flirting her head off with old Lyndon....though RFK hated his guts and put an end to their friendship.

JFK was a party pooper.

She just wanted some of that famous horsecock we've all heard so much about.

Lady Bird Johnson survived into her 90s, passing away in 2007, though she had been in ill health for several years. Seems ironic that Jacqueline Kennedy died at 64 in 1994, while Lady Bird, quite a bit older, soldiered on for more than a decade.

When the movie "Lady Bird" came out, it struck me as curious they should have chosen that name but no one under the age of 60 much remembers Mrs. Johnson or has even heard of her.

In Austin, she's remembered. Town Lake was renamed Lady Bird Lake after her and there's the University of Texas Lady Bird Wildflower Center - to honor her environmentalist work.

To the person who said they never heard a bad word against lady bird johnson, please google what she did to eartha kitt. It wasn't pretty.

She made her life complete hell. So much in fact that she had to leave the country.

Go look it up for yourselves. Lady bird johnson was not the angel many believe her to be. She took full advantage of her husband's power and her status as first lady to ruin someone else's life.

[R501] I took your advice and looked it up. Kitt didn't blame Lady Bird for being blackballed. She said it was LBJ who did it.

I wish I could remember who it was who told this story about LBJ. But she told it on a Wash DC tv show called Panorama - about being invited to spend the night at the White House. She was all thrilled about it and had settled down to a nice White House room/bed and had fallen fast asleep. Only to be awoken in the middle of the night to LBJ sliding under the sheets, snuggling next to her. And in his Texan drawl said to her: Move over honey, this is your President.

[quote]r503 Kitt didn't blame Lady Bird for being blackballed. She said it was LBJ who did it.

Well, did the First Bitch do anything to FIX the blackball situation?

Seems not.

Lady Bird Johnson Grove in Redwood National Park (CA)

Also Lady Bird Johnson Park along the George Washington Parkway in VA.

REPORTER: [italic] It was apparently a very embarrasing moment for Mrs. Johnson. Do you have any regrets about that?

Eartha Kitt was never blackballed. Check out the imdb: she never stopped working. She pulled a publicity stunt.

She was blackballed from the WH.

[R508]

In the article I read, Kitt pretty much said she went to the luncheon to be confrontational. From the read of it, she embarrassed LBJ who wasn't expecting her to stand up and get directly in his face. Lady Bird Johnson was able to diffuse the tense situation.

Apparently, when LBJ left the room he started making calls to the CIA to find out if Kitt had any connections t foreign governments. It sounds like he was as paranoid as Nixon.

LBJ was the one with the power, not Lady Bird. Kitt kicked the wrong dog in the nose that day.

^^^ Lady Bird wasn't able to diffuse the tense situation.

I think Kitt was a bit nutty.

[R509]

Kitt publicly accused LBJ of blackballing her.

Here's a quote from the link: "When Johnson calls up and says, ‘I don’t want to see that woman’s face anywhere,’ ” she said, “you are out of business.”

Here are photos going way back of the White House Christmas trees. Everybody tried. I liked most of them. Mamie should have been ashamed of herself. Got to hand it to Nancy Reagan - climbing up on that ladder.

R504, It was Doris Kearns Goodwin and it was at the LBJ ranch, not the White House.

I love it when Doris reminisces about LBJ. Haven't heard her take yet on the recent revelation (thanks Rachel Maddow) that Nixon committed treason, going behind LBJ's back to get the South Vietnamese to refuse to enter the peace talks LBJ had convened so Nixon could beat Humphrey.

Mamie wasn't the only one who loved BBC.

Who was the 1800s First Lady whose husband shot her lover, or something?

R516 I don't doubt he didn't also say this to Doris Kearns Goodwin . But I think the woman I was thinking about is Rene Carpenter. She was something else. Scott Carpenters wife when he was an astronaut. I was wrong, it wasn't Panorama - she had her own show called Everyday Woman. I just read that LBJ got around a lot! I had no idea he was that big of a philanderer. Just ewww. Poor Lady Bird. I think she was good people. But my memory of this is a little fuzzy. But I'm pretty sure, she told this story as well.

Mamie stocks the White House kitchen with cans of parslied potato balls.

Lady Bird was the daughter of a very wealthy man. Her mother died when she was a child and she was raised by a black governess who nicknamed her Lady Bird.

[quote]r520 I just read that LBJ got around a lot! I had no idea he was that big of a philanderer. Just ewww.

Shut your whore mouth!

Had no idea a black woman gave lady bird johnson her nickname. What a sweet name.

Lady Bird was so fearful that LBJ would die in office of a heart attack that she kept a black dress in her White House closet during their years there.

Well, you're supposed to have one on hand in case of ANY official dying, and there being a state funeral, anyway.

I must say I'm liking Lady Bird less after the Eartha Kitt debacle.

She can shove her do-nothing luncheons, where she cries as people try to actually address issues.

R526 Chicago Troll, all this happened 50 years ago. Eartha Kitt had the right idea but it may not have been the brightest plan to protest right in front of the President and his wife. She should have thought it over more carefully.

Earth Kitt was rude to the first lady of the United States. Lady Bird Johnson did nothing wrong.

R524 Lady Bird considered her governess to be her mother and they remained very close until her death. It must have had an influence on the fact she had very progressive views on race for her time and the fact she was from the South. She influenced LBJ to shake off the racist beliefs he'd grown up with. That combined with LBJ's experience teaching the kids of migrant Mexican workers in a Texas border town (and in Texas at that time, Mexicans suffered even more from prejudice than black Texans did - which is saying a lot) - it made him a New Dealer and later turned him into FDR's protege.

If you haven't read Robert Caro's 4 book series on LBJ, it's fascinating as well as incredibly well-written.

I don't believe for a second that Mexicans suffered more in texas than African Americans did. That's not possible. Blacks were lynched, beaten, maimed, discriminated against, etc etc etc.

Mexicans we're definitely mistreated too. But not on the level of blacks. Not even close. Besides, mexicans are much closer to being white than blacks would ever be. Look at beto o'rourke, he's a white mexican.

[quote]Look at beto o'rourke, he's a white mexican.

Are you kidding?

Beto O'Rourke is of Irish heritage, he doesn't have any Mexican or Latino blood whatsoever.

R530 - you obviously are not a Texan. I am not speaking about racism going back 120 years, I'm speaking about the levels of racism in Texas from the beginning of the 20th century through the end of that century. The prejudice against Mexican-Americans (even those whose families had lived in Texas for 10 generations) was the most abject racism imaginable. Black Americans had the advantage that they spoke English fluently, most Texans of Mexican descent did not as Spanish remains the lingua franca in South Texas and along the border. All the menial jobs were done by Mexican-Americans, not black Texans.

In World War II a Mexican-American soldier was killed in the European theater. When his body was brought back to Texas, the local authorities would not allow him to be buried in the cemetery of his hometown. This was the first time LBJ revolted against the racism endemic in Texas. He personally arranged for the soldier to be buried with full honors at Arlington.

As far as Beto O'Rourke's heritage goes someone in another current thread about Beto said that he has mexican heritage and that he was a white mexican. So that's what I was going off of. He does appear very ethnic looking.

I'm also not taking anything away from mexican american suffering. But no one in America has suffered more injustices, mistreatment, and physical brutality than African Americans. Native Americans too. But outside of them, African Americans take the cake. And you don't even have to go back 120 years to find it. After slavery came Jim crow and a whole other host of bull shit created at the hands of whites.

The bull shit is still happening in present day as well. And Texas still isn't a good look for blacks as well as other parts of the south.

[quote]He does appear very ethnic looking.

What is that supposed to mean? He looks as Irish as a leprechaun named Paddy O'Murphy.

Irish people look like Joe Kennedy III - red hair, blue eyes, fair skin and freckles.

Beto has black hair, dark eyes and olive skin. He may be descended from a lot of guys named O'Rourke who settled in El Paso 150 years ago but I'm betting some of them married local girls they met at the Catholic church.

Beto O'Rourke "ethnic" looking? He looks completely Irish. He couldn't look more Irish if he were passed out drunk in the back of a paddy wagon.

r536 I guess you've never heard of "black Irish." Tom Cruise is another one.

Have you ever been to Ireland R538? Nothing but fat redheads and baldies. 'black Irish' - bullshit.

Don't know about "black Irish" as described but I've met numerous Irish people who have really dark, almost black hair. Usually accompanied strikingly with fair skin and blue or green eyes like the gingers though.

"Black Irish".

"Black Irish", and without the usual light eyes.

Wow. 2 movie stars who became movie stars because they didn't look like every other Irishman I ever saw in Ireland...

Michelle said "shit" at a book tour event last evening.

[quote]He does appear very ethnic looking.

He's Irish through and through. He just grew up in a town with a lot of Mexicans. You are just mad that nobody buys your perceived victim privilege.

Carl Sferrazza Anthony. We got this far without anyone mentioning him?