Sheelagh Mooney looks back on the lives of five First Ladies of the USA who were all of Irish descent.

 

As the saying goes, you should choose your partner wisely because you are not just choosing a partner, you are choosing a future.

Now while that may be true for all of us it takes on a whole new meaning if you intend to run for a presidency and especially of one of the most influential countries in the world. Traditionally in America, the spouse of the President served as the hostess and oversaw all things domestic; but the role has evolved through the centuries and will continue to change and adapt, hopefully bringing a first gentleman in time!

One trait required for the position above all is resilience for throughout history first ladies have been scrutinised and criticised for both over-stepping and under-stepping the mark. In a role that does not have a rule book or an explicit definition, each woman has had to make her own rules and define her own role.
That several of the first ladies were of Irish descent says something. Some were fiercely proud of this fact and others preferred to play it down, as we can see here.

Dolley Madison
(wife of 4th President James Madison, 1809 – 1817)
Dolley Madison’s (nee Payne) mother was Mary Coles. Her grandfather William Coles, born in 1703, emigrated with his brother John from Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford at the age of 17 to settle in Richmond, Virginia, where he would amass a fortune.
Dolley herself was born in North Carolina on May 20th 1768 to Mary Coles and John Payne. The Cole’s Irish origins are not too far from those of President John F. Kennedy’s family on the west side of the Slaney River. Known as Philadelphia Quakers first and foremost, it is thought that she probably originated from Irish Catholics and certainly showed a strong affinity with Catholic educational projects in Washington and was very supportive towards the prestigious Georgetown Visitation Academy run by Catholic nuns.
Her first marriage to John Todd ended prematurely in 1793 with his death from yellow fever, leaving her a widow with one child, John Payne Todd. After her second marriage to James Madison in 1794, she was expelled from the Quakers for marrying outside her faith. She later joined the episcopal church.
When her husband was appointed secretary of state for Thomas Jefferson, Dolley – renowned for her charm and warmth – regularly acted as hostess for the widowed Jefferson during his presidency. In the approach to the 1808 presidential election, with Thomas Jefferson set to retire, the Democratic-Republican caucus nominated James Madison to succeed him.
On his election as the fourth President, Dolley finally became the official White House hostess, a role she embraced seamlessly and with great gusto. She was the First Lady to attend her husband’s inaugural ceremony and the first to hold an inaugural ball to celebrate it. She played a major role in the decorating and furnishing of the newly constructed White House.
Later in 1814, when it was set on fire, folklore had it that she personally saved Gilbert Stuart’s famous portrait of George Washington; although her personal slave Paul Jennings would later state that it was, in fact, he who had saved it under Dolley’s instruction.

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own