Hello, Dolley!: How to Become the Icon of a Nation

Here's Where It Gets Interesting

Sharon McMahon

Government, History, Storytelling, Education

4.9 • 15.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2022

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this episode of Here's Where It Gets Interesting we are going to meet the woman who set the gold standard for the role of First Lady. Dolley Madison’s natural effervescence came in handy as she executed countless social events for the well-connected and wealthy inhabitants of Washington DC. She relied on the art of entertaining to successfully play the game of politics, which furthered her husband’s influence and career. But that’s just the beginning. Tune in to find out how Dolley went from First Lady to national hero.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello,
0:02.0	welcome.
0:03.0	Welcome to today's episode of Sharon says so.
0:06.0	For the past few weeks, we've been exploring the lives of our
0:10.0	country's earliest First Ladies.
0:12.0	These are the women who served the people in an
0:15.0	entirely new way and really began to take on the task of defining the role.
0:21.5	And today's first lady, she understood the assignment. So thanks for joining me because here's
0:30.0	where it gets interesting. I'm Sharon McMahon and welcome to the Sharon Says So
0:35.6	podcast. On the evening of March 4th 1809 the city of Washington DC wore an air of festive merriment
0:49.5	people were dressed to the nines and the street lanterns flickered cheerfully. The fourth
0:56.0	president of the United States, James Madison, had been sworn in at the
1:00.7	Capitol building that afternoon.
1:04.0	He wore a new black suit and spoke quietly.
1:08.6	But the crowds flocked to a brick home on F Street
1:11.8	where 40-year-old Dolly Madison, the new First Lady warmly welcomed
1:16.7	visitors into their home before she dawned a deep velvet gown and a fashionable turban trimmed with the snow white feathers from a bird of
1:29.0	paradise. She accompanied the president down the street to Long's Hotel, where she had worked for weeks on the details of the evening's gala, and sold 400 tickets to the inaugural ball for $4 each.
1:47.8	Dolly spent the evening surrounded by admirers.
1:50.6	She dined next to diplomats and made lively conversation with members of Congress.
1:56.5	She was the perfect hostess charming, immaculately mannered and social. Margaret Bayard Smith, who was a well-known society gossip writer,
2:07.0	like Washington, D.C.'s very own Lady Whistledown,
	...

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