ZMT: Daily Fact: First Ladies aren't always married to the President

Daily Fact: First Ladies aren't always married to the President

Original photo by Bet_Noire/ iStock

First Ladies haven't always been married to the President.

Leading from the Oval Office is a tremendous task that requires round-the-clock work from the President, their staff, and even their spouse. However, not every President has entered the White House with a spouse ready to take on the demanding job of First Lady. Four Presidents — Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and Chester A. Arthur — entered the executive office as widowers, and one (James Buchanan) never married. For these men, the supporting role was instead filled by someone other than the President's wife, such as a female family member, friend, or even a Cabinet member's relative.

Even married Presidents have been aided by "White House hostesses" who weren't their wives. Take, for example, Margaret Taylor and Abigail Fillmore, who both took so little interest in being First Lady that they appointed their daughters to the job. At least nine presidential daughters (or daughters-in-law), along with two nieces and two sisters, have stepped into the role, performing all the required duties: arranging formal dinners, hosting social events, managing White House renovations, and championing philanthropic and social causes (plus more). Along the way, they added their own spin to the position; Martha Johnson Patterson (daughter of Andrew Johnson) enjoyed milking the White House cows, while Harriet Lane (niece to James Buchanan) decorated the White House Blue Room and was so popular with the public that she inspired both fashion and baby name trends.

Numbers Don't Lie

Women who have performed First Lady duties since 1789

50+

Frances Cleveland's age when she became the youngest wife of a President, in 1886

Years Eleanor Roosevelt served as First Lady, the longest of any First Lady

Books published by Rose Cleveland during her 15 months as White House hostess

Only one U.S. First Lady has ever been featured on paper currency.

Five Presidents are featured prominently on U.S. bills currently in circulation — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, and Ulysses S. Grant. Yet only one First Lady has been given the same honor: Martha Washington. She also happens to be the only real-life woman (as opposed to mythical figures representing abstract concepts such as liberty) to have her portrait printed on U.S. paper currency. In 1896, Martha appeared alongside her husband on the back of the $1 note in a design commemorating 120 years of American history, but a decade prior she had her own bill — the U.S. Treasury's $1 silver certificate. First released in 1886 — 84 years after her death and 17 years after $1 bills began featuring George Washington — the silver certificate could be exchanged for precisely one dollar's worth of silver. The bills were eventually discontinued in 1957, yet the design featuring Martha remains the second-longest-issued paper money in U.S. history.

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Daily Fact: First Ladies aren't always married to the President