My Favorite Presidential Courtship Stories
The presidents courtships were as interesting and varied as the population at large. Most of them were conducted long before the prospect of their presidencies could be entertained as serious thought.
George Washington fell in love with his neighbor's new wife .She was beautiful and sophisticated. He was young and unsophisticated. Even though she helped him polish his image and may have taught him to dance (he loved to dance), he was too honorable to try anything else.
One day while he was walking toward Williamsburg on business, a friend invited him to dinner and there he met the widow Custus. She was petite and pretty and had two small children. George loved children. He may have realized then or later that the lady had a large fortune and needed help. George always tried to help.
John Adams exchanged "Love " letters with Abigail Smith in his college years. The most improper they got was when Abigail wrote requesting a list of what John would change about her. He wrote back that she should stop crossing her legs (covered with voluminous long skirts) because it was thought to be an unhealthy habit. She shot back that he should not be thinking about her legs.
They wrote over a thousand letters to each other most of which are on line at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
A gangely, up and coming, Illinios lawyer named Lincoln was persuaded to go to a dance where the bell of the ball was Mary Todd. He had little knowledge of the wiles of ambitious women and was surprised when she seemed interested in him. Did she see something that others did not? Or was she like some of the teens of today, trying to shock their family.She was South. He was North.Anyway she took him on as a project. After they were engaged he had second thoughts and bolted twice. Had she truly seen into the future with its tragic presidential end, perhaps she would have let him go.
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