Washington, its sights and insights [1909]Monroe, Harriet Earhart
History
Washington, its sights and insights [1909]
Monroe, Harriet Earhart
Washington (D.C.) -- Description and travel
James A. Garfield, of Ohio, became President in 1881. His life in the
White House from March to September, 1881, scarcely gave time to show
what the social life in Washington would have been had he lived to
complete his term. His assassination cast a gloom over the social life
for a full year after Chester A. Arthur became the Executive. He served
to the end of the term, in 1885. President Arthur being a widower, the
hostess of the White House during his term was his accomplished sister,
Mrs. Mary Arthur McElroy.
Grover Cleveland, of New York, became President in 1885. The Republican
party had been in power for twenty-five years, and when Mr. Cleveland
was elected the change of officers was as great as in the days of Andrew
Jackson. Cleveland was a man of the highest integrity and the most
unfaltering courage, so that the change proved beneficial to the entire
land.
Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, sister of the President, presided at the
White House until his marriage, June 2, 1886, to Miss Frances Folsom,
who became, next to Dolly Madison, the most popular woman who ever
entertained in the historic old house.
In March, 1889, Benjamin Harrison became Chief Magistrate. The first
Mrs. Harrison was a woman experienced in Washington society, and was
much loved by a very large circle.
In 1893 Grover Cleveland again became President, and in 1897 William
McKinley, probably the best-loved man by the people of any President
since the days of Mr. Lincoln.
Mrs. McKinley, altho an invalid, with the assistance of her nieces, kept
up the reputation and social festivities of the White House.
Theodore Roosevelt became President September, 1901, and closed a
brilliant and successful administration March 4, 1909. His
administration will be remembered in history as a strenuous fight
against wrong-doing in high places. He will be honored for having
secured to the United States proper recognition in world politics and
for having promoted peace and good will among nations.
William Howard Taft, of Ohio, was inaugurated President March 4, 1909.
No man has ever been called to this high office with a broader training.
He is a graduate of Yale, has received the degree of LL.D. from five
universities, is a distinguished lawyer, has been a wise judge, and a
successful governor of the Philippine Islands at the difficult period of
transition. As a traveler he has looked into the faces and is personally
known to all the great rulers of the world. He has visited Cuba and the
Panama Zone (the spheres of probable disturbance), and has therefore had
the training which should fit him to deal wisely with both the domestic
and the foreign problems likely to arise.
Mr. Taft was married in 1886 to Miss Helen Herron, of Cincinnati. They
have two sons and one daughter. Mrs. Taft has had a large social
experience, and is considered one of the most cultured women ever called
to direct the affairs of the White House.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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