On this day, 131 years ago, there was a marriage in the White House, the official residence of the US President.
About 40 people had gathered in the Blue Room where, in an intimate ceremony, they watched the wedding of the President himself.
On 2 June 1886, President Grover Cleveland became the first, and the only, US President to marry in the White House. He was a 49 year old bachelor then.
And now, here I am, wondering about this man.
Should I call him extremely clever, for successfully warding off all nuptial liaisons until that very late stage of his life? Or should I call him supremely patriotic, for devoting his life to serving the country with such single-mindedness, that he found no occasion to consider matrimony?
Whatever I call him now is immaterial and irrelevant. But, history shows that marriage did take a toll of him, for a brief period.
He lost his re-election to US Presidency in 1888. But he came back in the next elections, with renewed energy, and re-entered the White House in 1892.
As the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, Grover Cleveland is only US President to have gotten re-elected, after a full term out of office.
But readers might find the following piece even more interesting.
We know that it is somewhat normal to expect mothers to become highly excited to introduce their daughters to the most eligible bachelor from the White House. And we know it is somewhat normal for people to keep asking him when he was getting married.
But, apparently, the bachelor had a standard response: "I'm waiting for my wife to grow up!"
The people had not realized then that he was actually serious!
Frances Folsom, who become the youngest First Lady, was the daughter of his law partner and friend, Oscar Folsom.
When Oscar Folsom died, she was only 11 years old, and Grover Cleveland was, in effect, her legal guardian. In fact, it is said that, as he was Folsom family’s close friend, Cleveland had bought a baby carriage for Frances, when she was just a baby.
After he became the Governor of New York State, and even after becoming the President of United States, he pursued the relationship with great delicacy and secrecy.
This - in the current day and age - would be unthinkable. Newspapers, television news channels and social media would have come out with a myriad speculations, justifying themselves saying ‘there is no speculation without fire’!
On May 28 1886, Cleveland stunned America with his marriage announcement. And despite the age-difference of 27 years between them, they hit off very well. And with Frances’ good looks, and youthful energy, she became one of the most popular first ladies that White House has ever seen.
When she came back to White House, for her husband’s second term, she gave birth to her second daughter Esther. And Esther holds the record as the first baby born to a President in office, in the White House.
When I dug up the cyber space for more information, I found that two other US presidents also married while they were in office.
But both were remarriages, after their first wives passed away. The widowed 10th President John Tyler (54 years) married Julia Gardiner (24 years) in New York, and the widowed 28th President Woodrow Wilson married Edith Bolling Galt.
One of the former first ladies, Nancy Reagan, had said, “It is true that when you are in the White House alone, it is a lonely place. Big and Lonely”.
And that is why, perhaps, its residents seek company.
About 40 people had gathered in the Blue Room where, in an intimate ceremony, they watched the wedding of the President himself.
On 2 June 1886, President Grover Cleveland became the first, and the only, US President to marry in the White House. He was a 49 year old bachelor then.
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| Courtesy: History.com |
Should I call him extremely clever, for successfully warding off all nuptial liaisons until that very late stage of his life? Or should I call him supremely patriotic, for devoting his life to serving the country with such single-mindedness, that he found no occasion to consider matrimony?
Whatever I call him now is immaterial and irrelevant. But, history shows that marriage did take a toll of him, for a brief period.
He lost his re-election to US Presidency in 1888. But he came back in the next elections, with renewed energy, and re-entered the White House in 1892.
As the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, Grover Cleveland is only US President to have gotten re-elected, after a full term out of office.
But readers might find the following piece even more interesting.
We know that it is somewhat normal to expect mothers to become highly excited to introduce their daughters to the most eligible bachelor from the White House. And we know it is somewhat normal for people to keep asking him when he was getting married.
But, apparently, the bachelor had a standard response: "I'm waiting for my wife to grow up!"
The people had not realized then that he was actually serious!
Frances Folsom, who become the youngest First Lady, was the daughter of his law partner and friend, Oscar Folsom.
When Oscar Folsom died, she was only 11 years old, and Grover Cleveland was, in effect, her legal guardian. In fact, it is said that, as he was Folsom family’s close friend, Cleveland had bought a baby carriage for Frances, when she was just a baby.
After he became the Governor of New York State, and even after becoming the President of United States, he pursued the relationship with great delicacy and secrecy.
This - in the current day and age - would be unthinkable. Newspapers, television news channels and social media would have come out with a myriad speculations, justifying themselves saying ‘there is no speculation without fire’!
On May 28 1886, Cleveland stunned America with his marriage announcement. And despite the age-difference of 27 years between them, they hit off very well. And with Frances’ good looks, and youthful energy, she became one of the most popular first ladies that White House has ever seen.
When she came back to White House, for her husband’s second term, she gave birth to her second daughter Esther. And Esther holds the record as the first baby born to a President in office, in the White House.
When I dug up the cyber space for more information, I found that two other US presidents also married while they were in office.
But both were remarriages, after their first wives passed away. The widowed 10th President John Tyler (54 years) married Julia Gardiner (24 years) in New York, and the widowed 28th President Woodrow Wilson married Edith Bolling Galt.
One of the former first ladies, Nancy Reagan, had said, “It is true that when you are in the White House alone, it is a lonely place. Big and Lonely”.
And that is why, perhaps, its residents seek company.
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