Weird facts about five U.S. presidents and the amazing women they loved

By Janet Simons

In honor of Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day being so cozy on the calendar, we’re taking a peek at the romantic side of five of our most esteemed commanders-in-chief. Just for kicks, we’ll take it in chronological order.

1. Although George Washington was elected our first president 12 years before the White House was fully constructed, Martha and George Washington were married at the White House. The White House plantation, that is. Martha Dandridge Custis inherited the White House plantation in Virginia upon the death of her first husband, Daniel Parke Custis.

2. We can’t say it any better than Wikipedia did: “Because John Adams served as the nation’s first vice president, Abigail Adam was both the first second lady and the second first lady of the United States.”

3. Before she fell for Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd was wooed by Lincoln’s famous debate opponent, Stephen A. Douglas.

4. Edith Galt, Woodrow Wilson’s second wife, could trace her ancestry directly to Pocahontas. After Wilson’s debilitating stroke in 1919, she essentially served as the president, and she has become known among history nerds as “the first woman president of the United States.”

5. In 1949, Nancy Davis was a young actress who needed help with a labor issue, so she went to Ronald Reagan, president the Screen Actor’s Guild. A spark ignited and they were married.  In 1981, a mere three decades later, Reagan broke the back of the air traffic controllers’ union by firing 11,345 striking air traffic controllers.

About Janet

I'm an old-fashioned journalist and refugee of the Denver newspaper wars. I love shopping more than anything, and I'd go nuts without regular doses of "retail therapy."