On Wednesday, O’Keefe, the CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation and author of The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President, shared that planning process with hundreds of attendees at the White House Historical Association’s 2026 Presidential Sites Summit. O’Keefe sat down with East Wing Magazine and spoke about the wife of the 26th president, First Lady Edith Roosevelt, and her narrative at the new site.

In planning the library, O’Keefe says, they paid particular attention, not just to the story of Theodore Roosevelt, but to the extraordinary family and women who supported “T.R.” And they did so, he adds, in a way that brought her influence to life.

Read more

While President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attended a ceremony commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks at the Pentagon, four living former presidents and first ladies joined former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday in a ceremony honoring the victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.

Bill and Hillary Clinton, George and Laura Bush, Barack and Michelle Obama and Joe and Jill Biden were all in attendance for the moments of silence alongside Vice President JD Vance, who stood in for President Trump at the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

The United States marked the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when a group of al-Qaeda hijackers flew airplanes into the World Trade Center, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people.

Subscribe now

Share

Read more

Read more

The week after Hillary Rodham Clinton lost the 2016 presidential election, she said there were times when all she wanted to do was curl up with a good book or her dogs and never leave the house again.

And, some of that she did. She read books. She did yoga. She spent time in nature. In fact, the first time she was spotted in public after her concession speech, Clinton was hiking in the woods near her Chappaqua home with her husband, former President Bill Clinton. They were lost in thought when they met a young woman, Margot Gerster, hiking with her baby and dog. Gerster, who was heartbroken that Sec. Clinton lost, gave her a hug. Later that day, she posted a photo on social media, which quickly went viral.

A week later, Clinton honored a commitment she made before the election to Marian Wright Edelman, then president of the Children’s Defense Fund, to deliver the keynote speech at a celebration of an inspiring group of children who had beaten the odds. Though it was hard for her to imagine giving that speech so soon after the election loss, Marian told her it was crucial, Clinton recounted in her memoir What Happened. She gave the speech.

Clinton was not fine at all during this dark time, she wrote. But she knew she would be okay eventually.

When Clinton emerged in public, it was not where people might have expected. One place she could be found was in a seat at a packed theatre at a Broadway or off-Broadway show. It was where she could lose herself, a balm of sorts, to heal from her stunning defeat.

“I really needed to get replenished,” Clinton told Michael Paulson of The New York Times about the weeks and months after Donald Trump was elected. “I felt so drained and hollowed out by the 2016 election—everything that happened. It seemed like a very bad play … one thing after another … cue the Russians, cue Comey, cue WikiLeaks—it just never seemed to end.”

In early 2017, when audiences began to spot Clinton at shows—The Color Purple, The Humans, In Transit, and Sunset Boulevard—they embraced her. People applauded or gave her standing ovations. They snapped selfies; then posted their photos with her on social media. Even Clinton got in on the act, posting photos with her supporters—or backstage with the casts of the shows she attended.

Subscribe now

But the adulation in the theatre—and stories from people mourning her loss—were not easy for Clinton. The first few times she attended shows, it was “challenging and even a little painful,” Clinton said. “There were so many people who came up to see me who wanted to share their feelings about the election.”

Heather Hitchens, president of the American Theatre Wing, said in The New York Times, that it didn’t surprise her that Clinton wanted to spend her time this way. “She’s always been a strong supporter of the arts.” In turn, she said the theatre community was grateful for her presence.

Clinton, though, was not new to theatre. In fact, Clinton from the time she was a young girl, adored theatre—even before seeing any shows. She collected cast albums and she recalls wearing out her 1967 Camelot soundtrack from playing it so many times.

As a sixth grader, she tried her hand at playwriting. She wrote a play about herself and her four best friends traveling to Europe. Her teacher let them produce it, which Clinton acknowledged was a “treat.”

Then in high school, Clinton auditioned for the musical, Bye Bye Birdie, even though she couldn’t sing very well. “I love music and I love to sing,” she told Rosie O’Donnell on her show in February 1997, while she was first lady. “But I can’t carry a tune at all. Not even in the shower.” The director, whom she was friends with, cast her in the chorus on one condition—that she lip sync and not sing! Clinton then had her moment to sing—not lip sync—the song, “Telephone Hour,” from Bye Bye Birdie live with Rosie.

Subscribe now

As a college student, Clinton attended her first Broadway musical, Hair, with a small group of friends. Though the performance was sold out, the box office told the students that if they hung around, they could be admitted in “standing room only” at intermission. True to their word, they were admitted for the second act. “It was thrilling,” Clinton said. She was hooked.

Her passion for all things theatre continued. When she became a mother to daughter, Chelsea, she knew she would share her love of theatre with her—and then later, pass it along to her grandchildren. “It’s really one of my cherished roles, being an audience member, whether I’m watching my granddaughter’s eyes light up at Frozen or feeling new appreciation for lines from King Lear,” Clinton told the audience at Women’s Day on Broadway in 2020.

The productions she enjoys most are ones that tell important stories. She also likes shows in which she has a personal connection to an artist, producer, or to its subject matter. For instance, as a former U.S. senator from New York during 9/11, Clinton was drawn to the musical, Come From Away, a story based on the events in Gander, Newfoundland, when planes were forced to land there the week after the attack.

She also attended The Ferryman, a play about the Northern Ireland peace process. Clinton had played a supporting role in the peace process both as first lady, traveling to Northern Ireland with the president, and as Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, in a diplomatic capacity.

Given that Clinton is a national figure, she soon became the subject of a few theatrical productions: Clinton the Musical (2012), a show about two Bill Clintons and Hillary as they navigate a quest to save the presidency; Hillary and Clinton (2019), a play about Hillary’s 2008 campaign in an alternate universe; and Soft Power (2019), a “play with a musical” featuring a fictionalized Sec. Clinton in a reimagination of American politics. None, though, she could bring to see for herself.

She did, however, attend The Inheritance, a play not about her specifically, but one that included scenes about the expectation that she would win the presidential election. The show, she reportedly said, was “incredibly touching” but also “painful.”

In the last few years, the curtain has risen on Hillary Clinton, herself.

She was cast in her first professional musical in 2022 where she provided a pre-recorded voice cameo playing the offstage “giant” in Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, at Arkansas Repertory Theatre in Little Rock where Bill Clinton served as governor. No singing was required. After the initial recording, Clinton was finished and it was played offstage at every performance thereafter.

She also played the one-night-only celebrity cameo role in 2024 in Gutenberg! The Musical!, as the “famous Broadway producer.”

In the summer of 2023, Clinton signed on for something momentous. A young musical theatre creator, Shaina Taub, wrote Clinton, a fierce defender of women’s rights, a letter inviting her to joined several producers on a musical called Suffs, about the women who fought for the right to vote.

Though Hillary had never met Taub, she considered her request, ultimately saying, “Why not?”

“I’m interested in producing good content,” Clinton reportedly said. “I think it matters what stories are told and who the stories are about. And I want to be part of that in some way.”

In October 2023, Clinton, along with Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, joined the Broadway producing team, making her the first former first lady to produce a Broadway show. Clinton attended rehearsals and previews. On opening night, April 18, 2024, she walked out on stage and the theatre erupted with cheers and applause. Suffs went on to win two Tony awards. A national tour of the production has been running all year.

Since then, other presidential couples have dabbled in theatre production. Most recently a new version of the play Proof, was co-produced by Michelle and Barack Obama. The show ran for four months earlier this year.

Subscribe now

Over time, the theatre, for Clinton, became more than a place to heal. A tireless advocate for women, Clinton championed gender equity in theatre and used theatre as a vehicle for civic engagement.

At Women’s Day on Broadway, an event timed to International Women’s Day in 2020, Clinton gave the closing keynote address, focusing on the challenges facing women in theatre: the lack of affordable child care, especially for those who work late into the evenings, the gender pay gap and unconscious bias against women.

Addressing these inequalities isn’t “just about people running for office,” Clinton said. “It’s about changing minds and hearts and it really matters when women’s stories are told on the most high-profile stages in America.”

In 2022, at BroadwayCon, a convention for Broadway fans, Clinton moderated a panel with four leading actresses: Vanessa Williams, Julie White, LaChanze and Donna Murphy. They shared their thoughts on tough issues facing women in theatre, including the lack of female directors, the differences between male-led versus female-led productions and barriers women face.

Hillary returned to her alma mater, Wellesley College, in late 2025, moderating another conversation with playwright and actress Anna Deavere Smith, titled, “Civics, Storytelling, and the Arts.” The two discussed the role of theatre and language in bridging divisions.

And this year, Clinton continued to do more.

She had a personal connection to a new off-Broadway play, Public Charge, which opened in the spring at New York’s Public Theatre. The play follows the rise of Julissa Reynoso, the former ambassador to Uruguay, Spain, and Andorra, who also served as deputy assistant secretary of state under Clinton at the State Department,

The producers came to Clinton to get permission to refer to her in the script. When she read the play, she said she knew it deserved a wide audience.

“It’s a uniquely American story about how our country is made by and better for immigrants, and why all of it is very much worth fighting for,” she reportedly said. Clinton granted them permission and they settled on program language that indicated the play was “produced by special arrangement” with Hillary Clinton.

Clinton attended opening night and spoke in support of the production. Former First Lady Dr. Jill Biden also attended. Reynoso served as Biden’s chief of staff during her first year as first lady.

In July, the curtain rose on Clinton again. She made her Carnegie Hall debut as a narrator with the Arcadia Symphony on a program celebrating America’s 250^th birthday. She read the narration for Lincoln Portrait, a work by Aaron Copland, made up of excerpts from speeches by President Abraham Lincoln.

The show was sold out.

Jeanne Ryan Wolfson is an author and communication strategist in the Washington, D.C. area. She is a board member of the First Ladies Association for Research and Education (FLARE).

Share

Michelle Obama announced on Thursday that 10 Chicago-area organizations serving girls will be the recipients of $500,000 from the former first lady’s Girls Opportunity Alliance.

The funding will reach more than 2,200 girls between the ages of 10 and 19, supporting work that spans mental health care, arts training, athletics, refugee support and more, the Obama Foundation said in a press release.

The announcement comes as nearly 100 leaders from the Girls Opportunity Alliance Chicago Network gathered at Home Court recently on the Obama Presidential Center campus for the 2026 Chicago Network Convening. During the convening, leaders focused on strengthening collaboration, using practical tools and case studies to explore new ways to work together more effectively.

“I’ve seen firsthand what happens when girls have the support, encouragement, and opportunities they deserve,” said Mrs. Obama, founder of the Girls Opportunity Alliance, in the release. “That’s why I’m so excited that we’re supporting these extraordinary organizations in my hometown that do this work every day—meeting girls where they are, believing in their potential, and helping them reach for futures they might not even see for themselves today.”

Subscribe now

For example, Box United, a recipient of the grant, will use its money to expand Fight Like a Girl, a 20-week program that pairs boxing fundamentals with a trauma-informed curriculum on stress, mindfulness and mentorship. The program will enter five new South Side schools, including sites in South Shore, Woodlawn and Washington Park, reaching up to 125 additional students.

The Girls Opportunity Alliance works to empower and educate adolescent girls so they can reach their full potential and drive lasting change in their families, communities, and countries. Through its work, the Alliance connects leaders, strengthens grassroots organizations, and raises awareness about the importance of investing in girls. To date, it has supported more than 265 grassroots projects across 50 countries, reaching more than 190,000 girls.

Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation, said Chicago has many organizations supporting girls and the investment will help make their work stronger and more impactful.

“That means providing resources, but it also means creating opportunities for leaders to learn from one another, build relationships, and find new ways to work together. That’s what this convening—and this Network—is all about,” Jarrett said in the release.

The full list of 2026 recipients, who work across the South and West Sides of Chicago, includes: A Long Walk Home, Box United, Cent(HER)ed Collective Girls Inc., the Coalition on Urban Girls, the First Ladies Health Initiative, GirlForward, HEART Women & Girls, Praize Productions Inc., Sista Afya Community Care, and Youth Guidance’s Working on Womanhood.

Subscribe now

The Weekly Wrap

The Weekly Wrap is a collection of headlines from the past week. Some publications have paywalls.

Business Insider

I Toured the Obama Presidential Center and Saw 12 of Michelle Obama’s Best Looks, Including a $19 Target Dress

Sept. 4, 2026 – The $850 million Obama Presidential Center opened on Chicago’s South Side in June, honoring the civic legacy of former U.S. President Barack Obama. During the center’s dedication ceremony on June 18, the former president emphasized that the center was a display of deep civic history and encouragement—and “not just a place to see Michelle’s dresses, although I understand that will be the top attraction.” Read more

In Pursuit

Grace Coolidge by Colleen Shogan

Sept. 3, 2026 – Grace Coolidge, a dedicated educator for the deaf, never envisioned becoming First Lady of the United States. She married Calvin Coolidge, a man characterized by reserved speech, deliberate action, and discreet ambition. Read more

Subscribe now

East Wing Magazine

‘Be Like Gloria’

Sept. 3, 2026 – Among the tributes pouring in for women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem, who died peacefully in her New York City home Wednesday at age 92, are those from former first ladies. Read more

Washington Examiner

Melania Trump Has No Plans to Attend RNC’s Midterm Convention

Sept. 3, 2026 – First Lady Melania Trump is not planning to attend the Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas, which is set to begin on Wednesday. Read more

Buzz Feed

'You Weren’t There!’: Moms Are Applauding Michelle Obama’s Brutally Honest Comments About Why She Doesn’t ‘Miss’ Her Kids, But Barack Does

Sept. 2, 2026 – If you can believe it, Michelle and Barack Obama’s two daughters are all grown up. Read more

Architectural Digest

Hillary and Bill Clinton’s Home: Here’s Where the Former First Couple Lives Now

Sept. 2, 2026 – Where is Hillary and Bill Clinton’s home these days? Since Bill completed his term as the 42nd POTUS in 2001, the political power couple has primarily resided in a Dutch Colonial dwelling in New York’s Westchester County, secluded amongst the trees—and away from prying eyes. Of course, the former president and first lady still keep a foot on the ground in Washington, DC, in the form of a pad Hillary picked up when she won her seat in the New York Senate in 2000. Read more

Subscribe now

East Wing Magazine

Supreme Court Allows White House Ballroom Construction to Move Ahead

Sept. 1, 2026 – Construction can continue on the immense White House ballroom a divided Supreme Court ruled on Monday. The decision, however, came with sharp criticism from Chief Justice John Roberts who dissented, calling the construction “likely illegal.” Read more

American FLOTUS Podcast

Ties that Bound: First Ladies and Slavery with Marie Jenkins Schwartz

On this episode of American FLOTUS, historian and author Marie Jenkins Schwartz joins host Alan Lowe for an in-depth discussion of her book, Ties That Bound: Founding First Ladies and Slaves. From Martha Washington to Dolley Madison, Schwartz shows how these iconic first ladies and their presidential spouses were involved with and dependent upon the inhumane institution of slavery. Listen here

InStyle

Jackie Kennedy Had This Theory About JFK’s Assassination, Her Longtime Hairstylist Claims

Aug. 31, 2026 – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis reportedly discussed her own theories about her late husband John F. Kennedy’s death, many years after the former president was assassinated during a motorcade in November 1963. According to the former first lady’s longtime hairstylist, Jackie privately revealed that she didn’t think Lee Harvey Oswald was responsible for killing Kennedy—instead believing a more sinister force was at work. Read more

Eating Well

Lady Bird Johnson’s Iced Tea Is a Classic—and Perfect for Labor Day

Aug. 30, 2026 – When you drive down a highway trimmed with flowers instead of litter, you can thank Claudia Johnson. Affectionately known as “Lady Bird,” the former first lady was deeply involved with the Highway Beautification Act of 1965—a law dedicated to making highways and other American lands more scenic. Read more

NPR

Who Gets to Be Mary Todd Lincoln Next? There’s a List

Aug. 29, 2026 – On Broadway, the name on everyone’s lips is Mary. That’s Mary Todd Lincoln, specifically. Read more

E!

Michelle Obama Makes Brutally Honest Confession About Daughters Malia and Sasha Moving Out

Aug. 29, 2026 – Michelle Obama is loving life as an empty nester. The former first lady shared her honest thoughts on how she feels about her and Barack Obama’s daughters Malia, 28, and Sasha, 25, no longer living at home, recalling the moment her kids moved out to go to college. Read more

Share

Read more

Construction can continue on the immense White House ballroom a divided Supreme Court ruled on Monday. The decision, however, came with sharp criticism from Chief Justice John Roberts who dissented, calling the construction “likely illegal.”

But legality of the construction was not what the court was deciding in this latest round of the legal fight over the $400 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom. In a 5-4 vote, the majority said the preservationist case against the administration lacked standing, or a legal right, when it claimed an expert from the preservation community would be harmed by the aesthetics of the newly designed East Wing after it was abruptly demolished last October.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the plaintiff and nonprofit organization chartered by Congress that maintains, enhances and protects historic places, sued President Trump and other agencies of the government on December 12, 2025, in response to the demolition. To establish its standing to bring this case, the Trust relied on a declaration by Washington D.C. resident and Trust member, Alison Hoagland, who contended viewing the finished ballroom would cause her harm as a result of her “aesthetic, cultural, and historical interests” because she finds the “scale,” “height,” and “massing” of the government’s design distasteful.

The majority of justices, who considered past precedent-setting environmental cases, wrote in the ruling that it “repeatedly held that mere offense, disagreement, or distaste does not qualify as a concrete and particularized injury.”

Subscribe now

The Supreme Court decision allows the ballroom construction to continue, blocking a lower Washington, D.C. district court’s order earlier this year that would have halted construction of the above-ground aspect of the work that had recently started taking shape. United States District Judge Richard J. Leon (a George W. Bush-appointed judge) in his ruling, allowed underground construction to continue while the Trump administration appealed the decision, but maintained that explicit approval for the above-ground project was needed by Congress. Roberts allowed the construction to continue in a decision in late August while giving the Supreme Court time to consider the case.

In his dissent with three Democratic appointees, Roberts argued that the majority’s consideration of Hoagland and the environmental cases didn’t hold up.

“Certainly one may enjoy a river not just by looking at it but also by swimming in it and hiking along it. But the principal way a person enjoys a historic building or object is by looking at it,” Roberts wrote, noting that the White House is not simply a historic building, but an iconic one.

He went on to explain:

“The White House is not just any building, and—when it comes to historic preservation—Hoagland is not just any person. In failing to appreciate as much, the Court misconceives the plaintiff ’s injury, allowing the Executive’s likely infringement of the Legislature’s power of the purse and authority to regulate federal property in the District of Columbia to continue. Today’s decision is no victory for the separation of powers.”

The majority, though, added that the government would suffer irreparable harm if Leon’s injunction were allowed to go into effect, citing numerous high-ranking governmental officials “attesting to national security” harms if the ballroom construction were halted above what has now been described by the administration as a five-story-deep military complex.

President Trump on Monday hailed the court’s decision saying in a social media post, “We are living in the Golden Age of America, and this building will be one of the greatest ever constructed in Washington, D.C.”

He added his expectation that the building would be completed by summer of 2028.

Subscribe now

In response to the Supreme Court’s decision, Brent Leggs, president and CEO of the National Trust said in a statement:

“We are deeply disappointed in the Supreme Court’s ruling today and respectfully disagree with the majority’s opinion on standing. It is noteworthy that the majority did not weigh in on whether the ballroom project was in fact legal.”

Leggs went on to say that Monday’s ruling is not the final decision on the merits of their case and does not resolve their fundamental argument “that each President is a temporary steward of the People’s House and does not have the unilateral authority to demolish and redesign it without the approval of Congress.”

While the ballroom construction has been argued in the courts, the administration revealed it had a 250-person crew “working 20 hours a day, 7 days a week,” and that “the Project is 65% complete in its entirety, and moving quickly toward total completion.”

Members of Congress in a court filing last month asserted the administration skirted their authority saying, “Congress never appropriated funds to carry it out.”

Lawmakers added that if the president believes national-security concerns require the project then “he can bring those concerns to Congress and convince Congress to authorize the project and appropriate the requisite funds,” they said in the filing.

Inside, the bunker allows for bomb shelters, state-of-the-art hospital and medical facilities, protective partitioning between all areas of the building, top secret military structures and equipment, military-grade venting, a single integrated air conditioning and heating system, sniper nests, and a drone port on top, elevated by the structure of the ballroom, to protect the White House and surrounding region from aerial attacks, according to the administration in a court filing.

Above ground, the ballroom construction is expected to also allow for a new suite for the Office of the First Lady. While other former first ladies have publicly spoken out against the destruction of the East Wing—the formal workplace of the first lady and her staff since Rosalynn Carter professionalized it in 1977—First Lady Melania Trump has stayed silent on her husband’s projects remaking areas of the White House complex. It was reported in the immediate aftermath of the East Wing demolition that she privately expressed her concerns telling associates that “it was not her project.”

In addition to the East Wing Modernization project housing the ballroom, Mr. Trump has renovated the Rose Garden by replacing the grass with patio pavers and is currently installing a helicopter landing pad on the South Lawn of the White House.

But the White House building is something to behold. Roberts in his conclusion invoked Winston Churchill who once remarked “we shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.”

That, Roberts added, “was all the more reason to ensure that those responsible follow the rules in deciding what to tear down and what to build up at the People’s House.”

Subscribe now

Calendar

Sept. 2, 2026

Cookin’ with Congress: Famous Punches & Mocktails of the White House

The National First Ladies Library & Museum presents historian and creator Bennett Rea for a lively virtual event from 7 to 8 p.m. ET on September, 2, 2026, exploring famous punch recipes, White House entertaining traditions, and creative mocktail variations inspired by presidential history. Read more

Sept. 8-10, 2026

Presidential Sites Summit

The White House Historical Association will host the Presidential Sites Summit at the historic Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. on September 8-10, 2026.

This convening will bring together leaders and staff from presidential sites nationwide, including birthplaces, childhood homes, libraries, museums and alma maters—to reflect on the America 250 semi-quincentennial celebrations and accomplishments and look to the future. The program emphasizes lessons learned, future collaborations, and strategies for sustaining relevance in a dynamic cultural landscape. Read more

Sept. 11, 2026

Legacy Lecture: Unity, Duty, and Resolve: The Enduring American Spirit

The National First Ladies Library & Museum on September 11, 2026, presents a special Legacy Lecture commemorating the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with an online moderated discussion featuring Anita McBride and Stephanie Bohnak. The event will take place from noon to 1 p.m. EDT. A former Chief of Staff to First Lady Laura Bush and longtime White House advisor, McBride brings unique insight into the role of leadership and public service during one of the most defining moments in modern American history. The discussion will explore themes of leadership, service, resilience, and national unity in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Read more

Sept. 12, 2026

Night Walk Living History: Remembering Julia

The Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site will feature a living history with performers that will include a portrayal of Ulysses S. Grant who will talk about his love for Julia. This outdoor living history event on September 12, 2026, will take attendees back to the time following the White House years and World Tour, as the Grants visit White Haven for what would be the last time in 1883. Guests will be guided to different parts of the White Haven grounds to hear stories from several of the people who were most important in Julia’s life.

The event is free, but reserved chairs are limited to the first ninety who register. Reservations open on August 1 and can be made by calling 314-842-1867 ext. 230. Read more

Subscribe now

Sept. 16, 2026

Reimagining Mary Todd Lincoln with Lois Romano, Lucas McMahon & Carolyn Ryan

P&T Knitwear in New York City will welcome author Lois Romano from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on September 16, 2026, to discuss her book An Inconvenient Widow; a revelatory new biography of one of the most misunderstood and vilified First Ladies in American history: Mary Todd Lincoln.

Romano will be in conversation alongside Lucas McMahon, Executive Producer of Broadway’s hit comedy, Oh Mary!. The conversation will be moderated by Carolyn Ryan, Managing Editor of The New York Times. Read more

Sept. 17, 2026

Third Thursday: Vital Voices with Andrew Och

The National First Ladies Library & Museum presents Third Thursday: Vital Voices with Andrew Och, an in-person presentation by the author also known as “The First Ladies Man.” Och will offer a fascinating look at how America’s first ladies have supported military veterans throughout U.S. history. This special Third Thursday program from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on September 17, 2026, explores the efforts of First Ladies—including Florence Harding, Jill Biden and others—who championed veterans and military families across American history. Wine and cheese will be served. Read more

Sept. 29, 2026

White House History Live: Presidentess — The Life and Legacy of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler

The White House Historical Association’s White House History Live presents the virtual event “Presidentess—The Life and Legacy of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler” at 5:30 p.m. ET on September 29, 2026.

Julia Gardiner Tyler was not a curiosity or a contradiction—she was a force. As the first “bride of the White House” and one of the youngest first ladies in American history, she consciously shaped her public role, skillfully used newspapers, portraits, and fashion, and expanded what a first lady could be before the role had rules. Authors Christopher J. Leahy and Sharon Williams Leahy reveal how Julia navigated the undefined early presidency, managed visibility with intention, and transformed personal and political challenges into influence. This virtual event will be live streamed on the White House Historical Association’s Facebook and YouTube pages. Read more

Sept. 30, 2026

Second Private Tour of the Val-Kill Furniture Exhibit at the Met

The Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill presents an exclusive private tour on September 30, 2026, of the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit on Val-Kill Industries furniture for some of its supporters. This tour will be led by the exhibit curator, Alyce Perry Englund, and Eleanor Roosevelt’s great-granddaughter, Sara Boettiger. There will also be lunch included after the tour at the American Wing Cafe inside the museum. Read more

Send calendar items, press releases and announcements to jtaylor@eastwingmagazine.com.

Share

What would Florence Kling Harding think now?

A week or so ago when I cast my ballot at my designated polling place this thought crossed my mind.

I imagine the former first lady would be pleased about how routine voting has become for women in the United States. But perhaps she would not be satisfied.

Today, a published essay I wrote for In Pursuit spotlights a lesson in leadership demonstrated by First Lady Florence Harding. In my research, I discovered there’s a lot to be said about this strong female historic figure. But it was the blurry photograph capturing Mrs. Harding voting for her husband Warren G. Harding, one of two presidential candidates from Ohio, on Nov. 2, 1920—Election Day—that drew my attention. It was the first presidential election held in the United States after the ra…

Read more

Read more

The Supreme Court on Friday permitted construction to continue on the $400 million White House ballroom, an action that will allow time for the justices to consider a lower court’s ruling that the construction was unlawful.

Chief Justice John Roberts blocked the order from United States District Judge Richard J. Leon (a George W. Bush-appointed judge) in March that would have gone into effect Friday requiring construction to stop without explicit approval from Congress. In his ruling, Leon allowed underground construction to continue while the Trump administration appealed the decision.

Read more

Read more

Melania Trump announced on Monday the reunification of another child who was separated from her family in the Russian-led war against Ukraine.

The announcement made by the first lady brings the total of Ukrainian and Russian children reunited with their families after being separated during the conflict that started in 2022 to 34.

“There is nothing more powerful than reuniting a mother with her child after an extended period of time. My representative and I are focused on helping facilitate the next reunification of individuals who have been separated from their loved ones because of the war between Ukraine and Russia,” Mrs. Trump said in a statement.

The reunifications orchestrated by the first lady and an unnamed representative began after she penned a letter to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

In…

Read more

The concrete and steel that have been slowly rising above ground where the White House East Wing once stood is meant to “stop bombs, rockets, missiles and even nuclear blasts” the Trump administration said in a court filing Friday that asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow it to continue construction and lift the order from a lower district court that would require the work to stop next week.

In the emergency appeal, Solicitor General John Sauer framed the ongoing construction of President Trump’s $400 million East Wing ballroom as critical for the safety of the president and his family and for future presidents.

The appeal went as far to say that the project was so far along that it couldn’t be st…

Read more

Read more

Many people approach Michelle Gullion at the Canton, Ohio-based National First Ladies Library & Museum—the home of Ida McKinley—confessing they don’t know anything about Mrs. McKinley, the wife of William McKinley, the 25th president.

It’s fair to say, too, that in the immediate years after her time serving as first lady, people’s understanding of her legacy was limited and to some extent hidden. That’s largely because Mrs. McKinley had a disability—epilepsy—while in the White House at a time period when the affliction was still terribly stigmatized and remedies barely emerged.

It’s that and more Gullion wants to share with the visiting public. And recently she had the opportunity to elevate Mrs. McKinley’s story as part of the In Pursuit essay project spotlighting lessons from American presidents and select first ladies.

Gullion, director of collections and research at the library and museum, calls the former first lady “brave” and “honest” and a…

Read more

Read more

A Melania sequel promises to reveal even more about the enigmatic first lady less than a year after a feature film gave viewers an inside look at 20 days that led up to Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration in 2025.

“We are launching a docuseries, which is a total different experience,” said Marc Beckman, a senior advisor to First Lady Melania Trump and an executive producer alongside Mrs. Trump on the film Melania during an interview on Real America’s Voice earlier this week.

The docuseries will air on Amazon Prime and will be “completely new,” noted Beckman. “It’s confirmed and I hope everyone tunes in because it’s going to show a part of the first lady that hasn’t been seen yet.”

The series will reportedly pick up from where the Amazon MGM Studios’ film left off showing what happens at t…

Read more

As Americans commemorate America 250 from coast to coast, many have experienced a renewed interest in first ladies’ history. While a selection of visitors and program attendees of the National First Ladies Library & Museum ask about the first First Lady, Martha Washington, countless others are engaged in the stories of First Lady Abigail Adams. Now when we think about the legacy of Adams, most people first recall her famous ‘remember the ladies’ quote, which she penned in a letter to her husband, the future second president of the United States, John Adams. After this first impression, others who are aware of First Lady Adams may also remember that she famously melted down her own silverware to make bullets for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War or that she was among the first in her local community to be inoculated against smallpox.

What many don’t realize or remember is Abigail Smith Adams was deeply human, a woman in a…

Read more

Three years ago on this day, we launched East Wing Magazine. One of the prominent feature stories reflected on the 100th anniversary of former President Warren G. Harding’s sudden death on Aug. 2, 1923, while he and his wife, First Lady Florence Harding, were in the midst of an epic tour of the western United States including Alaska. Particularly astonishing, Erin Donaghue writes, is how his demise was predicted by a well-known Washington, D.C., astrologer of Mrs. Harding’s. But perhaps less understood and explored by Donaghue is how the Spiritualist movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries was tied to the women’s rights movement and used as a way for women to assert control over their lives when their individual rights were restricted. On East Wing Magazine’s third anniversary, we hope you enjoy this throwback feature story that spotlighted an underrated American first lady whose legacy continues to be reassessed.

In 1920, a Washington, D.C. astrologer and clairvoyant named Madame Marcia Champney predicted that then-Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding would win the presidency, but die a “sudden, violent or peculiar death” before the end of his term. Champney spoke as she examined Harding’s astrological birth chart during a session with Harding’s wife Florence, who would become the first lady of the United States the next year after Champney’s prediction about Harding’s win came true. Unfortunately, so too would Champney’s prediction about Harding’s demise. Around 7 p.m. on Thursday Aug. 2, 1923, after a short illness during a tour of the western United States, the 57-year-old Harding died of a heart attack at a San Francisco hotel. Less than a half hour later and 3,000 miles away, Champney glanced at Warren Harding’s birth chart and the clock, and told a journalist, “The president is dead.”

Watch President Warren G. Harding and First Lady Florence Harding on a 1923 tour of Alaska to commemorate the opening of the Alaska Railroad in this colorized video via Smithsonian.

The chilling prediction of Harding’s death, an event that shocked the nation 100 years ago Wednesday, should be taken with more than just a few grains of salt. Much of what’s known about Champney’s relationship with Florence Harding, wife of the 29th president, comes from Champney’s own telling of the events in news articles and magazines published after both Hardings were dead. Other press accounts, letters from Harding to Champney and staff recollections offer some corroboration, wrote Florence Harding biographer Carl Sferrazza Anthony in his book, “Florence Harding: The First Lady, The Jazz Age, and The Death of America’s Most Scandalous President.”

Subscribe now

Champney’s own writings cited by Anthony reveal her predictive ability came from examining her clients’ astrological birth charts — a map of the position of the planets at the moment they were born, thought to give insights into someone’s personality — and clairvoyant visions. But Champney was a businesswoman who charged $5 for each session, so she had a financial interest in depicting herself as someone who could accurately predict the future — especially later during the Coolidge administration, when public skepticism of fortune telling for profit was so high that proposed legislation would have criminalized it. During the Harding and Wilson administrations, however, sessions at her Dupont Circle parlor were popular among many Washington political insiders, offering her a front-row seat to all manner of Washington information that might have proved useful in her predictions.

“One of the things you have to look at … are the sources and what their agendas were,” said Sherry Hall, manager of the Warren G. Harding Presidential Sites in Marion, Ohio. “Many of the stories about Florence’s seeming reliance on astrology were published after Warren’s death, and in many cases, after her death. To put that in context, what we find a lot with the Hardings is that people wanted to be part of the story.”

Despite the murkiness that surrounds it, Champney’s prediction of Harding’s death came true. And she made the claim not just to Florence Harding, but to journalist Harry B. Hunt in 1920, according to the book “Toil and Trouble: A Women’s History of the Occult,” by authors Lisa Kroger and Melanie Anderson. Three years later, when news spread that Warren Harding was suffering from suspected food poisoning on his Western U.S. tour, Champney doubled down on her foresight to Hunt. 

“It is the end. He will never recover,” Champney said days before his death, according to Florence Harding biographer Katherine A. S. Sibley, citing an article by Hunt in her book “First Lady Florence Harding: Behind the Tragedy and Controversy.” “The crisis will come Thursday night. He will be dead by Friday.” 

This prediction was even more specific, and accurate to the day. 

The extent to which Florence Harding believed Champney’s predictions is unclear. She expressed her belief in astrology openly, saying, according to Sibley’s book: “I believe in astrology and the indication of the planets as to a man or woman’s fate.” But she actively campaigned for her husband in spite of the prediction, appearing to grapple with the tension between belief in a predetermined destiny and the role of her own free will in shaping the future.

Whatever stock she placed in it, the prediction appeared to haunt her. On June 10, 1920, two days before her husband won the Republican nomination for president, she told the press: “I can see but one word written over the head of my husband if he is elected, and that word is ‘Tragedy.’”

Subscribe now

For activist first lady, astrology was linked to both personal empowerment and public scorn

Florence Harding had been fascinated by the supernatural ever since her girlhood in Ohio, according to Anthony. She studied star formations and once attended a spiritualist camp in Indiana, Anthony wrote in his work, “Florence Harding: The First Lady, The Jazz Age, and the Death of America’s Most Scandalous President.” 

“To take control of her and Warren’s lives, Florence relied on clairvoyance, the tarot cards, a crystal ball, and especially the Zodiac,” Anthony wrote.  

During her time in Washington, D.C. — first as a Senate wife, and later as first lady — Florence sought out readings from Champney, who had gotten her start reading tarot cards to support her impoverished family in Brooklyn before relocating to Washington in 1909. Champney nicknamed Harding “Jupiter” and was impressed by her knowledge of astrology, according to Anthony. 

“This is the map of a strong person,” Champney said of Florence Harding’s astrological birth chart during a session before Harding’s election, according to Anthony. “A dominant, willful, tenacious person of tremendous powers of concentration. A great desire to rule is indicated.”

Champney called Florence Harding a “child of Destiny,” and would later conduct sessions with her in the White House, Anthony wrote. Harding regularly relied on Champney’s astrological readings and clairvoyant visions to help schedule her husband’s events and investigate suspicions of betrayal by his political allies, according to Champney’s accounts cited by Anthony. 

But like other women in history who have openly explored astrology and other metaphysical practices, its influence on Harding’s life amounted to a double-edged sword, linked to both personal empowerment and public scorn.

Harding, known as a savvy businesswoman and a champion of the rights of women, veterans, animals and prisoners, broke new ground for her successors as an activist first lady, wrote Sibley in her biography. The first American woman to vote for her husband in a presidential election and the first, first lady to have been previously divorced, Harding was “the vital engine” during her husband’s campaign at a time when women’s rights were leading the national conversation. She was politically active and popular during her husband’s short term in office, known for her compassion for the marginalized, her efforts to connect with the American public and her influence on her husband’s political agenda. It was her example, according to Sibley, that set the stage for future first ladies to campaign with their husbands and to be accessible to the public and the press.

Warren Harding considered her a vital advisor, Anthony wrote in the Social Science Journal, noting a newspaper editorial that remarked the first lady "has shown equal ability and achievement in the world of affairs next to the President ... the White House will not be run by man power alone." 

“If Eleanor Roosevelt is credited with shattering the first lady's ceremonial mold, it was Florence Harding who made the first cracks,” Sibley wrote.

But Harding’s belief in metaphysics and astrology was also one among many often sexist criticisms used to deride her. Harding’s legacy has been damaged primarily because of political scandals like Teapot Dome during her husband’s administration that emerged after his death — controversies she herself had nothing to do with, Sibley wrote in her book.  And public criticism related to her appearance, strength and personality — the type of sexist judgments that continue to hound women in power today — unfairly caused her to be remembered as a “prudish shrew whose ambitions drove her husband to the presidency or into the arms of other women,” wrote Sibley, referring to Warren Harding’s extramarital affairs.

Years after the Hardings’ deaths, according to Anthony, some used her astrology practice to characterize Florence Harding as “an emotionally unstable burden” on her husband in an attempt to justify his shortcomings as a president. Florence Harding’s relationship with Champney would also contribute to unfounded public rumors that Harding had poisoned her husband. Initial confusion over Warren Harding’s cause of death, questions over his medical treatment and Florence Harding’s refusal to allow an autopsy caused some of the suspicion targeted at her and others in the Harding entourage. But Champney’s accurate prediction, which was covered in newspapers days after Harding’s death, also fueled the conjecture, according to Anderson.

“Just the fact that Madame Marcia had predicted it in the way she did, that I think caused some suspicion to be placed on her, and people knew her connection to Florence Harding,” Anderson said.

Years later, in 1930, a discredited former federal investigator named Gaston Means made unsubstantiated claims that Florence Harding admitted poisoning her husband so he would die in “honor” before his political scandals emerged. In his book, “The Strange Death of President Harding,” Means also made baseless claims that Harding hired him to investigate her husband’s affairs. The book portrays Florence Harding as an unhinged and power-hungry disciple of a fortune teller named “Madame X,” intent on fulfilling her “destiny.” Though Means’ collaborator later disavowed the book and it was widely discredited, it would cause lasting damage to Harding’s reputation. The poisoning rumors, along with disparaging remarks that cast blame on Harding for Warren Harding’s affairs, continue to this day, according to Hall.

The portrayal is a far cry from how journalists of Harding’s day expected her legacy would be remembered. Philadelphia Ledger journalist Robert Barry, according to Anthony’s journal article, believed history would one day describe Harding as “the connecting link between the voteless women of the Victorian period and the new American womanhood whose indomitable spirit symbolized the new woman.”

To some, Harding’s belief in astrology and metaphysics can be hard to reconcile with the picture of the first lady who set a tone of autonomy for women from the highest office in the country. But as Anderson explains, women have long used the occult as a means of gaining personal and political power outside of the traditional structures of male patriarchy. Anderson cites research that links the Spiritualist movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries to the women’s rights movement. Some women, like Champney, were able to use the occult to run businesses out of their homes and weigh in on political issues of the day at a time when society discouraged both. But for women, Anderson said, that power usually came with a cost.

“Throughout history, women have kind of walked this line between — yes, the supernatural does open doors for them and does give them ways to function in society other than what they’ve been told, but at the same time it can be used as another way to punish them,” said Anderson.

Subscribe now

Astrological predictions sought by Washington’s 1920s elite 

In February of 1920, with Woodrow Wilson at the country’s helm and Washington gearing up for the November presidential election that would mark the first since World War I, Florence Harding reportedly visited Champney at her R street parlor with three other Senate wives. According to Anthony’s biography, the group also included Elizabeth Gale Poindexter, the wife of Washington Sen. Miles Poindexter; Sallie “Effie” Harris Sutherland, the wife of West Virginia Sen. Howard Sutherland; and Emma Douglas Woodyard, the wife of West Virginia Sen. Harry Woodyard. They wanted to know which would be the next first lady.

Champney had already made an accurate prediction along the same lines when, sometime during the Taft administration of 1909-1913, she said that her widowed client Edith Galt would live in the White House. Edith Galt would in fact become First Lady Edith Wilson in 1915, when she married President Woodrow Wilson after the death of his first wife, Ellen. Edith Wilson, who by early 1920 was functionally running the executive branch of the government in secret after her husband suffered a debilitating stroke, was a proponent of Champney’s work. The astrologer even visited Edith Wilson for sessions in the White House, according to Anthony — using the service entrance.

Though Champney came well-recommended, Harding provided her own birth information to Champney without revealing her identity, in order to better suss out her abilities, according to Anthony. As Champney examined the astrological birth charts of all four women, she singled out Harding.

“Within a year you will make a great change. Your whole life will be altered,” Champney said, according to her own published recounting of the events, cited by Anthony. “A vista of power opens before you. If any of you ladies are to be first lady, this is the one.”

Harding would later return for more sessions with Champney, encouraged by her friend Evalyn Walsh McLean, a socialite and heiress who was known for owning the Hope Diamond. McLean, who was married to Washington Post publisher Edward “Ned” McLean, was also a regular client of Champney, and Anthony wrote that her recollections supported Harding’s belief in astrology.

It was at a subsequent session in 1920, shortly before Harding announced his presidential candidacy, that Champney made the prediction about Harding’s win – and death. Again, according to Anthony, Florence Harding provided her husband’s birth information so Champney could cast his chart, but revealed his identity only as a public figure.

“This person will be the next president of the United States, but will not live out his term,” Champney said. “He will die in a sudden if not violent death. The end, when it comes, will be sudden, after an illness of short duration … poison or its effects is indicated … it is written in the stars.”

When Champney asked Harding if the subject of her reading believed in astrology, Harding replied, “I believe, Marcia, and I must guide him.”

Anthony hedges the quotations by noting Champney was likely being paid for her account — and possibly adding dramatic flair because of it — and it’s difficult to know what was actually said. Hall, too, cautions that these types of stories can be difficult to corroborate, adding that Elizabeth Gale Poindexter later denied she attended the session.

“I think that Mrs. Harding, probably, she wanted anything that would give her a leg up,” Hall said. “But whether she believed in [astrology] intensely or not, we truly don’t know.”

The authenticity of Champney’s predictive abilities is another matter of interpretation.

“I don’t want to say, ‘She’s not the real deal, this is not correct,’ but I find myself wondering as a skeptic if it was more just being open to the information that’s around her and talking to people and being intuitive,” Anderson said. “But … there is a question there. It’s kind of impressive if she’s actually predicting these things.”

Subscribe now

Fate, free will, and loss: Harding’s search for answers in the stars showed her “human-ness"

For scholars who study Harding, it makes sense that she would be intrigued by a practice that could afford her a sense of control over her personal and public lives — she was a woman who valued control, and in both arenas, it was hard to come by. All the better if it was a method that would allow her to work behind the scenes, and from within the public confines of the position of first lady — a role that Sibley wrote requires toeing a fine line between active leadership and satisfying “the country’s sentimental expectation that they remain demurely in the background and on a pedestal.”

Champney’s practice of astrology, with its down-to-the-minute predictive style, is a far cry from the practice of most modern astrologers who preach a healthy dose of free will in the context of a broader celestial “weather report.” Given Harding’s personality, it tracks that Harding would have viewed astrology in the context of her own agency, Sibley agreed, despite Champney’s chilling specificity. And astrology was one of many fields Harding actively studied, wrote Sibley, citing the writings of Harding aide Kathleen Lawler. Lawler, an astrology skeptic, wrote that Harding studied astrology in an almost scientific way, as she did “the science of political economy, and of government.” It makes sense that Harding would have gathered as much information as she could — from whatever sources she deemed credible — in order to better guide her decision-making. 

But what’s harder to reconcile is that Harding, the outspoken advocate who practiced the “mind over matter” teachings of French hypnotist Emile Coue to treat her long-standing kidney ailment, would believe that the “fate” she said the planets outlined would trump her own free will. It’s worth noting that it’s unclear if she actually did. Though Harding was apprehensive about Champney’s prediction, she never accepted it, according to Sibley — opting to put it out of her mind and forge ahead. And, according to Sibley, Harding was “floored” when her husband died, believing his health to be improving.

“Despite the fact that she has this horrible prediction, it’s not going to stop her from encouraging him to run for president and believing he’s going to live when he’s at death’s door,” Sibley said.

Sibley wrote that Harding even once railed against the prediction, telling Champney, “Power — glory — they make us all slaves, Marcia, slaves! They are killing my husband — they are killing me! The price is too great, Marcia, too cruel for us to have to pay!”

Florence Harding was devastated when her husband died, Sibley said. Like many might do after the loss of a loved one, Hall believes Harding was “searching for an explanation” about the death.

“Maybe she’s thinking, were the stars misaligned for him? Was this going to happen anyway, or could something have intervened and prevented it?”

Harding herself died without an answer. She outlived her husband for less than a year and a half, dying of renal failure on Nov. 21, 1924 at the age of 64. The circumstances of Harding’s own death were also predicted by Champney, who said Florence Harding would die a widow, “a result of an ailment of long standing.”

Hall sees similarities between Harding and her successor Nancy Reagan, who consulted with astrologer Joan Quigley to schedule Ronald Reagan’s calendar. Both first ladies suffered damage to their reputation, not only because of astrology, but because they were strong women who had influence in the White House, Hall said.

“Nancy Reagan was one of the strongest first ladies you could ever meet,” Hall said. “She would fight feverishly for her husband, and Florence is the same way. And for both of these women, that was seen in some quarters as a fault. But should it have been?”

Nancy Reagan sought Quigley’s astrological readings in the wake of the 1981 assassination attempt, terrified of another attack that could potentially prove fatal. When Reagan learned that Quigley had predicted March 30, 1981 would be a “dangerous day” for the president, according to her memoir “My Turn,” Nancy Reagan said: “Oh, my God. I could have stopped it!”

“They’re looking for what they could control, what they could have done differently — I think that’s very much a part of it,” Hall said. “It’s very hard especially for these public women to let go.”

When visitors tour the Harding Home historic site in Marion, Ohio, Hall explains the Hardings were “just people” — albeit people in the public eye. Florence Harding’s search for answers in the stars shows her “human-ness” because it was a way she grappled with the loss of someone she loved, Hall said — a universal human experience.

“Don’t forget that they’re human, and human beings don’t often make sense with everything they do,” Hall said. “You cannot explain every single thing a person does.”

This story originally published on Aug. 2, 2023 and has been updated.

Share