A gay first lady? Yes, we've already had one, and here are her love letters.

[Celerity]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/06/20/she-was-once-first-lady-she-is-buried-next-her-longtime-female-partner/

https://archive.is/ydhAu


Left: Evangeline Simpson Whipple, circa 1890-1896. (Minnesota Historical Society); Right: Rose Cleveland, circa 1893. (New Jersey State Archives)

June 20, 2019

In the summer of 1910, Evangeline Simpson Whipple told the caretaker of her home not to move anything in her absence. The wealthy widow was going on a trip, but would be back soon, she said. She never returned. When she died in 1930, she was buried at her request in Italy next to the love of her life — a woman with whom she had a relationship that spanned nearly 30 years. That woman, Rose Cleveland, had served as first lady. The letters, preserved by the caretaker at Evangeline’s Minnesota home, are collected in a new book, “Precious and Adored: The Love Letters of Rose Cleveland and Evangeline Simpson Whipple, 1890-1918,” and make clear that they were more than just friends, according to its editors.

When Grover Cleveland took office in 1885, he was a nearly 50-year-old bachelor, a fact that almost derailed his campaign when rumors spread that he had fathered a child out of wedlock. (He had.) Protocol for unmarried or widowed presidents called for a female relative to fill the role of first lady. In stepped his sister, Rose. She was seen as an important counterbalance to her brother’s scandalous baggage: She was respectable, well-educated, a former teacher at a women’s seminary and the author of serious books.

Her term as first lady, however, was a mixed bag, according to the National First Ladies’ Library. Her book of essays, “George Eliot’s Poetry,” became a bestseller based on her fame, but she was frustrated with public scrutiny of her necklines and a ban on her going to private dinners or public markets. Fourteen months in, Rose was relieved of her duties when the president married his 21-year-old ward, Frances Folsom. Rose returned to her family estate, nicknamed “The Weeds,” in Upstate New York.

Rose met Evangeline Simpson in the winter of 1889-1890, less than a year after her brother left office for the first time. (Cleveland is the only two-term president not to have served his terms consecutively.) They probably met in Florida, where both spent the season making the rounds among the nation’s wealthier families. Rose was 43 and never married. Evangeline was probably 33 and had inherited a fortune from a late husband nearly five decades her senior. The love letters begin in April 1890, once the two returned to their respective homes. (Evangeline lived in Massachusetts.)

snip


The only known photograph of Rose Cleveland, left, and Evangeline Simpson Whipple together, taken at Whipple’s estate in Wayland, Mass., circa 1893.


Rose Cleveland and Evangeline Simpson Whipple are buried side by side with matching gravestones in Bagni di Lucca, Italy.

[CTyankee]

1. Great story. I love that these two women were buried side by side in Italy!

[GenThePerservering]

2. That's really a lovely story

There are many same-sex relationships that go on quietly for decades, but few ever paid much attention to women.

[FalloutShelter]

3. Yet another example of the

Hidden history of America that everyone should know.

[BidenRocks]

4. A woman ahead of her time.

Lower necklines? Markets?
Next she would want to vote!
The horror.
A great start to Pride Month.
Good find!

[TeamProg]

5. K&R Thanks for posting. n/t

[roamer65]

6. I did not know of this.

K&R

[niyad]

7. When I saw the titlte, I thought . .Eleanor. .Thank you so much for posting this.

Would you consuder cross-posting in Women's Rights And Issues? Thanks in advance.

[BlackSkimmer]

8. I did too.

Interesting story though, and this one I'd never heard.

[niyad]

9. Not even a whisper! So much of HERSTORY is hidden.

[BlackSkimmer]

10. I know! And I've read a lot in this area.

This was new to me.

One of the reasons I always return to DU. Every now and then you find a treasure hidden amongst the chaff.

[orleans]

17. same here. learn something new every day (or almost every day) nt

[ShazzieB]

14. I had the same thought!

I was positive it was going to be Eleanor.

I never even heard of Rose Cleveland until now, and I didn't know there were any non-wife first ladies other than James Buchanan's niece, Harriet Lane. What a fascinating story! Thanks for posting this, Celebrity. I love learning new things, and I learned a bunch of new things from this.

[ITAL]

16. There was an "acting" First Lady

Priscilla Tyler, John's daughter-in-law, actually helped the Webster–Ashburton Treaty with Britain (an unknown treaty now but very memorable at the time) get signed because she could throw a good party. Washington DC was having a hot, miserable summer and Lord Ashburton may have walked away entirely if not for the social scene.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priscilla_Cooper_Tyler

[Celerity]

18. The 10th President, John Tyler, born in 1790, still has a living grandson

Madness! Lololol

https://reagan.blogs.archives.gov/2023/04/10/white-house-kids-series-harrison-ruffin-tyler-grandson-of-10th-president-john-tyler/

[2live is 2fly]

21. I was thinking the same thing, although truth be told, she was probably more Bi-sexual. And I too

learned a few new things from this post. I bet a lot of us did. Yep, pretty-cool-alright.

[soldierant]

22. I did also.

I've read a few excerpts from those letters - they are slightly less obvious but still fairly clear, I think.

Did we not have a gay President in Buchana, or is that not proven?

[Firestorm49]

11. Interesting article. Thanks.

[littlemissmartypants]

12. I found this...

“Their families knew, everybody knew, and it wasn’t anything to be hidden; it wasn’t anything that anybody really even thought about,” Laskey said.

Same-sex relationships were accepted through the beginning of the 20th century, “when it started becoming a pathology,” she said. “Rather than just something that people did.”

“There have been people having same-sex relationships for millennia,” Laskey said. “While it’s unfortunate that we have to document and point to those things, this (book) clearly shows that two women in the Victorian era had a really beautiful and a really complicated relationship.”

https://www.pressherald.com/2019/11/06/brunswick-womans-book-details-same-sex-relationship-that-transcended-miles-years/

[progressoid]

13. k/r!!

[JudyM]

15. K&R. Great post.

[Jean Genie]

19. LGBTQ - and why the heck not?

Maybe even more. Who knows? I thought Eleanor, too, but had heard of Rose Cleveland.

And how many gay presidents have we had so far?

And in the final analysis, does it matter?

Maybe somewhere down the road we'll have President Pete and his First Gentleman, Chasten.
Would that be BEYOND COOL?!

[Deep State Witch]

20. So Was Eleanor Roosevelt

Supposedly. She was very close with reporter Lorena Hickock.