C-SPAN: First Ladies @FirstLadies

Colleen Shogun on FL Grace Coolidge: “[she] reminds us that authenticity is not about constant openness or endless self-disclosure; it is about consistency between one’s private values and public actions.”

In Pursuit USA @InPursuitUSA

2 weeks ago

Dr. Colleen Shogan writes about Grace Coolidge and the political power of authenticity in a decade defined by cynicism and scandal. Grace never sought public life, but her warmth and openness cut against the reserved image of her husband and the eroded trust left by the Harding

0 0 1 224 1

Correction: panel discussion was held 7/23/26.

From this weekend’s 2026 National Book Festival: Fashion of the First Ladies | Library of Congress loc.gov/item/video-122…

It has been great fun this week to have my @SalemMedia program simulcast on @CSPAN. Throughout the week (and will again today) I’ve been recognizing the work of the great Brian Lamb —who is doing the interview excerpted below— as well as the longtime hosts Peter Slen (@pslen), Susan Swain (@CSPANsusan), @howardmortman, and now the new CEO @SamFeistDC and of course many others that have made CSPAN the institution it is like @SteveScully, John MacArdle (@CSPANJohn), @GretaBrawner, Pedro Echevarria and a dozen more behind the cameras and operations. It’s a remarkable institution among Washington’s many institutions. Russell Kirk, in Chapter 8 of The Conservative Mind, “Conservatism with Imagination: Disraeli and Newman,” gets to the heart of what makes a nation: Institutions that preserve that nation’s essence. CSPAN was born in the brain of Brian Lamb about 1977 and began broadcasting in 1979, just as America shuddered through the hostage crisis and just President Reagan campaigned for the White House. Almost 50 years later CSPAN does at least as much or more to conserve the Constitution and the liberties it protects as any organ or platform of old or new media because it allows the work of the Constitution to always be on air and it presents without filter candidates and conversations. It has done so much with Book TV and Booknotes and the broadcast of thousands of author interviews from other venues as well as panels and symposia and of course “C-SPAN’s Q&A” and “Washington Journal.” All because of the sage of Lafayette, Indiana and son of Purdue Brian Lamb, a gentleman of the old school. I will have to talk today on my program about Brian Lamb with Dr. Larry Arnn, president of @Hillsdale College, who has himself been across from America’s most penetrating interviewer. I am certain Dr. Arnn will share with me and every other author who has sat across from Lamb, as well as those whose books have been searched by Peter Slen or Susan Swain, or videos curated and carefully collected by Howard Mortman, a deep appreciation for what they and their colleagues to numerous to mention, have built. Sam Feist is a great steward to carry CSPAN into its second 50 years. I hope Sam is searching for the next generation interviewer/host. @Continetti comes to mind. There are others. But it is all because of Brian Lamb, who had an idea. If you have Kirk’s Conservative Mind gathering dust somewhere, find it and read Chapter 8 about what it is many conservatives do: Keep alive institutions as they rebuild and reorganize and then return to center stage. CSPAN has kept alive the idea and the actual conduct of conversation, argument and debate. When its 50th birthday party rolls around by decade’s end, I hope all of Washington, D.C. and publishers everywhere find a way to salute Lamb and his tribe of curators.

Howard Mortman @HowardMortman

4 weeks ago

"Radio is the longest and the best form of media that's left...I get a great deal of satisfaction when I have an author who says to me -- highest compliment is, 'That's the best interview I've had on this book tour.'" - @hughhewitt to C-SPAN 2013 ... watch Hugh on C2 today 3pmET

1 2 3 10K 0

Overcome with grief, First Lady Mary Lincoln did not attend her husband’s funeral after his assassination. President Andrew Johnson allowed Mrs. Lincoln to stay at the White House, and she remained there for nearly six weeks before departing on May 22, 1865. Mrs. Lincoln settled in Chicago where she found herself in a difficult financial situation, struggling to pay debts and fighting for a widow’s pension. In 1875, her only surviving son, Robert, instigated a jury trial to determine Mary Lincoln’s sanity. The trial resulted in her admittance to an asylum against her will. She later secured her freedom through her friends and lawyers and was eventually released into the custody of her sister, Elizabeth Edwards.  On July 16, 1882, she died from a stroke at her sister’s home in Springfield. Despite these challenges and tragedies, Mary Lincoln remains one of the most misunderstood and vilified first ladies in American history, but a new biography offers a fresh look at Mary Lincoln’s life, her relationship with President Lincoln, and their impact on the country. Join us tonight on White House History Live at 5:30 p.m. ET as former Washington Post  writer and columnist Lois Romano discusses her new biography of Mary Lincoln, “An Inconvenient Widow: The Torment, Trial, and Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln.” Romano’s research draws on hundreds of archives, letters, and memoirs to provide the most complete portrait—of not simply of an inconvenient widow, but of a brilliant and flawed woman, who possessed uncommon tenacity in the face of extraordinary adversity and personal torment, and helped launch one of America’s greatest presidents. The White House Historical Association thanks Amazon for generously supporting this episode of White House History Live. Watch Live: whitehousehistory.org/events/white-h… -- Credit: Library of Congress, Photographer: E. & H.T. Anthony & Co.

Many White House workers have held jobs for several decades. Such was the case with Chauffeur Robert A. Duffy Jr. who worked at the White House from 1941 until his retirement in 1978. Duffy began his position during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, driving “many notables, including Mrs. [Eleanor] Roosevelt, Harry Hopkins, and the Crown Princess of Norway.” On one occasion, President Roosevelt even chided him for driving too slowly in Washington, D.C. traffic! Duffy continued to work at the White House following World War II, eventually rising to become superintendent of the White House garage where he managed 41 cars and trucks. Later, he was promoted as the Residence Staff transportation specialist, overseeing all the travel logistics of presidents, their families, and the press via automobile, airplane, boat, and train. By the time he retired in 1978, he had traveled “over three million miles” with eight presidents and earned presidential certificates recognizing his service from both Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter. In today’s photograph, President Franklin Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt arrive at a ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial via car. It is possible Duffy was their chauffeur that day. White House workers are the backbone of the People's House. Stay tuned as each month we examine a different role, the incredible individuals who have held them, and their influence on White House history. 📸: @FDRLibrary / @USNatArchives

Ida McKinley endured epileptic seizures in the public role of First Lady. This InPursuit essay argues that “Being visible while vulnerable is a form of courage.” inpursuit.org/lessons/being-…

A new episode of the American FLOTUS podcast has dropped: Florence Harding: Behind the Tragedy and Controversy with noted FL biographer Katherine Sibley. buzzsprout.com/2406344/episod…

A terrific read on Frances Folsom Cleveland by Andrew Mangino — she became First Lady at age 21 and used her celebrity to advance public causes, setting the bar for her successors. open.substack.com/pub/inpursuit/…

The series of #A250 essays developed by the @InPursuitUSA project launches today with texts about George and Martha Washington. Here is #historian Karin Wulf on the life of our first First Lady open.substack.com/pub/inpursuit/…

A new First Ladies podcast from @FirstFlare— Laura Bush: Her Texas Roots, Her Global Impact with Jill Abraham Hummer buzzsprout.com/2406344/episod…

.@cspanSusan has been elected to the board of @FirstFlare —First Ladies Association for Research and Education—an organization that promotes greater awareness of the legacies of presidential spouses. #firstladies #Americanhistory #womenshistory flare-net.org/aws/FLARE/pt/s…

# OTD December 14, 1799 George Washington passed away at his #MtVernon home with Martha Washington keeping vigil at his bedside. After his death, she moved from their shared bedroom to a smaller room on the mansion’s third floor.

This portrait of never-to-be #FirstLady Rachel Donelson Jackson hangs across from Andrew Jackson’s bed at ⁦@ajhermitage⁩ and was similarly positioned in the #whitehouse wanted her face to be his first and last sight each day. #presidents #americanhistory #tennessee

I don't know who this lady is, but yes.

Thursday at 5:30 pm ET: @FLOTUS co-hosts #Halloween at the #WhiteHouse. live coverage on @cspan’s digital platforms.

The National First Ladies Historic Site in Canton OH is one of just a few NPS sites devoted to women’s history. It got started in the 90s when then-Ohio US Rep Ralph Regula’s spouse Mary took on the preservation of First Ladies legacies as a cause. canva.com/design/DAG3Lo-…

The East Wing demolition was 'jarring.' But a White House history buff ⁦@WHhistoryPres⁩ sees a silver lining via ⁦@dsupervilleap⁩ apnews.com/article/trump-…

Front door of Merrywood, the Georgian mansion on the Potomac that was the childhood home of Jackie Kennedy and later, ⁦@CBSNews⁩ anchor JohnDickerson.Tonight, it hosted supporters of the @firstladiesmuseum.

What do we really know about Mary Ball Washington, the mother of the father of our country? @lmchervinsky interviews historian Kate Haulman to learn more youtube.com/live/lw_r4zNYF… via @YouTube #GeorgeWashington #A250 cc:@GWBooks