First families

About this book

This book tells the story of the wives, children, extended families, and pets as well as the presidents who have lived in the White House, a lively look at how presidential families learned to cope with the demands and grandeur imposed on them and worked to create a home in a beloved but often stifling national monument. Its residents quickly learn that in return for its many perks, the White House makes its own demands--while it enhances their status, it curtails their lives and imposes unwanted duties. Here are the pleasures and pains of a vast array of characters, from activist wives Hillary Clinton and Eleanor Roosevelt to reluctant occupants Bess Truman and Jacqueline Kennedy to those who embraced their new address and status, such as Mary Todd Lincoln, Dolley Madison, and the rollicking sons of Theodore Roosevelt.--From publisher description.