At age 21, she was the youngest first lady in American history. Her husband was 27 years older and had held her in his arms when she was an infant. Theirs was the only presidential White House wedding. She was the only first lady to deliver a baby in the White House and the first presidential widow to remarry.
The first lady who laid claim to these honors was Frances “Frank” Folsom (1864–1947), who married President Grover Cleveland in the Blue Room on June 2, 1886. The paparazzi of the day instantly took to this beautiful, considerate, and vivacious young woman, describing her dresses in minute detail in the papers, repeating a phrase she might have dropped, and following her like rock star groupies.
