May 8, 2018 -
First Lady, 1981 — 1989 Born in New York City July 6, 1921, Nancy Reagan, née Davis, studied theater at Smith College in Massachusetts. A successful screen test in 1949 led to a seven-year contract at a major Hollywood studio....
May 8, 2018 -
First Lady, 1974 — 1977 Betty Ford was born Elizabeth Ann Bloomer on April 8, 1918, in Chicago, Ill., and raised in Grand Rapids, Mich. She had a passion for dance, which she studied at Bennington College in Vermont before...
May 8, 2018 -
First Lady, 1969 — 1974 Patricia “Pat” Nixon was born Thelma Catherine Ryan on March 16, 1912, in Ely, Nev. Her father gave her the nickname “Pat” shortly after her birth, calling her his “St. Patrick’s babe in the morn.”...
May 8, 2018 -
First Lady, 1953 — 1961 Mamie Eisenhower was born Mamie Geneva Doud Nov. 14, 1896, and grew up in Colorado. Outgoing and vivacious, she met Dwight Eisenhower, a young Army second lieutenant on his first tour of duty, and they...
May 8, 2018 -
First Lady, 1963 — 1969 Lady Bird Johnson was born Claudia Alta Taylor near Karnack, Texas, on Dec. 22, 1912. She was given her nickname as a small child and kept it all her life. She received an arts and...
May 8, 2018 -
First Lady, 1961 — 1963 Jacqueline Kennedy was born Jacqueline Lee Bouvier on July 28, 1929. She grew up on an estate called “Merrywood,” near Washington, D.C., the home of her mother’s second husband, and was educated in private schools...
May 8, 2018 -
First Lady, 1945 — 1953 Bess Truman was born Elizabeth Virginia Wallace Feb. 13, 1885, in Independence, Missouri. From the fifth grade through high school, she was a classmate of Harry Truman, and they married in 1919. Truman became a...
May 8, 2018 -
First Lady, 1929 – 1933 Lou Hoover was born in Iowa in 1874. She was the first woman to graduate with a degree in geology from Stanford University. She twice served as President of a well-known girl’s leadership and service...
May 8, 2018 -
First Lady, 1923 – 1929 Grace Coolidge was born January 3, 1879, in Burlington, Vermont. She graduated from the University of Vermont in 1902 and went on to teach at a well-known school for the deaf and hard-of-hearing and serve...
May 8, 2018 -
First Lady, 1921–1923 Florence Harding was born August 15, 1860, in Marion, Ohio, the daughter of a prominent banker. Her future husband and president, Warren G. Harding, was Marion’s newspaper publisher, and she ran the newspaper when Harding fell ill...
