46 Facts About the First Ladies - mental_floss on YouTube (Ep.211)

Hi, I'm John Green. Welcome to my salon. This is Mental Floss on YouTube. And did you know

that Martha Washington joined George in Mount Vernon's winter encampment? Like, starting

in 1775, George was there for six years running, so Martha would spend her winters with him

Even billed her travel expenses to Congress. That would've been a scandal these days

Anyway, that's the first of many facts about First Ladies I'm going to share with you today

as we celebrate America's birthday. Happy July 4th, everybody! Except for non-Americans, for whom it's just, you know, July 4th. Anyway, let's go

Abigail Adams used the White House's East Room to hang laundry. Bess Truman, on the other hand, hated the dry cleaning in DC so much that she sent her laundry all the way to Kansas City to be washed

Martha Jefferson was not technically a first lady because she died 18 years before Thomas was elected

He never remarried, so his daughter, also named Martha Jefferson helpfully, and Dolly Madison occasionally acted as first lady

Speaking of Dolly, by the way, she loved turbans and allegedly spent $1,000 a year on them

James Monroe's daughter Eliza took over first lady duties for her sick mom Elizabeth

and Eliza's BFF was Hortense de Beauharnais, Napoleon Bonaparte's stepdaughter. Napoleon, as you can well imagine, was a great stepdad

Louisa Adams wrote an autobiography titled Adventures of a Nobody, and that's exactly

how she felt about being part of the Adams family. I mean the Adams family with one D. I don't know how she would have felt about being part

of the 2D Adams family. Anyway, she wrote, Had I stepped onto Noah's Ark, I do not think I could have been so utterly astonished

Well, you know, then again, Russell Crowe did that, and he's like famously down to earth

On to the next four first ladies, all of whom were possibly cursed. Rachel Jackson died months before her husband took office

Hannah Van Buren died before she ever stepped foot in the White House. Anna Harrison was sick when her husband took office and planned to join him at the White House later

One month after his inauguration, she was packing for D.C. and learned that he had died

And Letitia Tyler died of a stroke. She was, in fact, the first First Lady to die in the White House

But moving on to happier things, John Tyler's second wife and second First Lady, Julia Tyler, introduced the polka to Washington

Speaking of polka Sarah Polk was known as Sahara Sarah for her ban on hard liquor Meredith that was clearly a pun What did I say about puns Margaret Taylor vowed to give up society pleasures if her husband returned safely from the Mexican War

He did, and so her daughter took on the role of first lady. Abigail Fillmore started the White House Library and even got $2,000 from Congress to do so

This, of course, was back when Congress did things. And before Franklin Pierce was elected, his wife Jane prayed every night that he would lose the presidential election

In retrospect, that might have been good not only for Jane, but also for, you know, America

James Buchanan's niece, Harriet Lane, served as First Lady. And she loved American Indian art and worked with lawmakers to improve education and medical care on American Indian reservations

And that brings us to Mary Todd Lincoln, who was a shopaholic and racked up quite a lot of debt at department stores

In an attempt to pay it off, she once tried to sell her used clothes at a store in Manhattan

She made absolutely no money and ended up going further into debt because then she owed the shopkeeper money

Eliza Johnson brought cows to the White House. They could be found grazing on the front lawn

The Grants were invited to join the Lincolns at Ford Theatre on the night that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated

but Julia Grant was suspicious of the man who delivered their invitation

so she convinced her husband that they should go to New York to visit their children instead

When Lucy Hayes was First Lady, Washington kids were banned from rolling Easter eggs on the Capitol grounds

so she let them use the White House lawn instead, and a tradition was born

President James Garfield was almost assassinated by Charles Gouteau a few weeks before Gouteau actually assassinated him

Gouteau explained at his later trial, Mrs. Garfield looked so thin and she clung so tenderly to the President's arm that I did not have the heart to fire on him

Well, except then later, of course, he did. Ellen Arthur, following in a storied tradition of American first ladies, died before her husband took office

But before that, she was a well-known soprano singer and even performed with the all-male Mendelssohn Glee Club

As I've mentioned before on this show, Grover Cleveland knew his wife, Frances, when she was a baby and he was like 28

In fact, he bought her first baby carriage. They married when she was 21 and he 49

Caroline Harrison got the White House its first Christmas tree. While Ida McKinley was ill and bedridden, she knitted and crocheted

she actually crocheted over 3,500 slippers for charity. They came in two colors, Confederate gray and Union blue

Edith Roosevelt, despite not being a drinker herself, was against prohibition and always had cocktails served at her parties Real American heroes FDR by the way The better Roosevelt but not the Roosevelt on Mount Rushmore After Helen Nellie Taft took a trip to Japan she requested for the famous Washington cherry trees to be planted

Before she met Woodrow, Ellen Wilson was studying art in New York with plans to become a commercial artist

Woodrow Wilson's next wife, Edith, was a direct descendant of Pocahontas. Before he was president, Warren G. Harding owned a newspaper, the Marion Star, and Florence

was its business manager for 12 years. Grace Coolidge loved the Boston Red Sox and was once invited to sit in the dugout with

the team. During the Boxer Rebellion, Lou Hoover had the job of transporting supplies to the front

line via bicycle. In fact, she was once reported dead and read her own obituary in a Beijing newspaper

Now, I don't want to pick favorites or anything, but Eleanor Roosevelt gets two facts because

you know, she's the best. One, she was the only first lady to hold a press conference, and only female reporters were allowed to attend

And two, Eleanor Roosevelt once snuck out of a White House event with Amelia Earhart

They commandeered an airplane and flew around Baltimore. Eleanor soon got her Werner's permit, and Amelia was going to teach her how to fly, but then, you know

I, of course, take all of my flying lessons from Mickey. Bess Truman was somewhat less willing to talk to reporters than Eleanor Roosevelt

She once agreed, but questions had to be submitted in writing. Here are some of her answers

Would she want to be president? No. Would she ever want Margaret, her daughter, to be first lady? No

If she had a son, would she try to bring him up to be president? No. Did any of the demands of her role as first lady ever give her stage fright? No comment

What would you like to do and have your husband do when he is no longer president

Return to independence. Wow, I wonder if she enjoyed living in the White House

Mamie Eisenhower loved the color pink so much that a shade of pink was developed for her

It was called First Lady Pink, or Mamie Pink. Both Miss Piggy's car and our flamingo, by the way. Mamie Pink

In 1960, when JFK was campaigning in Wisconsin, his wife Jackie got on an intercom at a local supermarket and announced

Just keep on with your shopping while I tell you about my husband, John F. Kennedy

She was just like Bess Truman. Hey Bess, you want to get on the intercom and talk to—no

Lady Bird Johnson was very shy, so when she learned that she was going to be valedictorian of her high school

she let her grades drop on purpose because she didn't want to have to make a graduation speech

Pat Nixon's real name was Thelma Catherine, but she was born on St. Patrick's Day, so

her dad started calling her Pat. She lucky she wasn born on Arbor Day Plus when you born on Arbor Day it just steals all of the thunder No one wants to talk about how it your birthday All they want to talk about is trees On Gerald Ford last day in office Betty tap on the cabinet room conference table Man

first lady must be a great job. Time magazine once called Rosalyn Carter, quote, the second

most powerful person in the United States. She sat in on cabinet meetings and was very

important to Jimmy Carter's administration. Nancy Reagan believed strongly in astrology and frequently talked to an astrologer about Ronald's decisions

According to Donald Regan, In the middle of George H.W. Bush's inaugural parade

Barbara saw weatherman Willard Scott and gave him a hug while he was live on the air

Hillary Clinton worked at a cannery in Valdez, Alaska during college. She later had an arguably more important job

She was on the legal team to impeach Richard Nixon. And Laura Bush promised to marry George W. Bush under one condition, she would never have

to make a campaign speech. Unfortunately, she forgot to include a second condition that she would never have to go

to one of his art shows. And finally, I return to my salon to tell you a story about Michelle Obama

She loves The Dick Van Show and has mentioned it on multiple occasions. When Van warned

this, he sent her a note that said, thank you for making me famous all over again. Another

fun fact, her Secret Service code name? Renaissance. answer. So in the 15th century, dud meant item of clothing. It then evolved in meaning

that cattered clothing or rags. Still means clothes, at least in some circles, as in

check out these sweet duds. Anyway, by the 17th century, scarecrows who were dressed

in cast-off clothing were called dud men, then at some point in the 19th century it

just came to mean anything useless or ineffective. And it was during World War I that unexploded

artillery shells came to be called duds. Anyway, if you have a mind-blowing question you'd

like answered, please leave it below in comments. We'll answer as many as we can. Thank you again for watching and as we say in my hometown, don't forget to be awesome