Description
Grace Coolidge, Herself
Girl, Wife, Mother, First Lady, Free
Grace Anna Goodhue Coolidge was an obedient daughter to overbearing parents; a nurturing wife to her difficult, diffident, and depressed husband; a devoted Christian mother to her sons; and a much-loved and respected First Lady of the United States of America (1923Ð29).
But between the years 1925 and 1935, her language, both written and verbal, markedly shifted to express her increasing longing to be free. Why, and from what or whom?
During those years Grace was seeking freedom from three controlling authority figures in her life (her parents and husband) as well as from the ever-watchful public eye, due to a public life she did not seek but was charged to perform by the nature of her husbandÕs political offices. Not even two years into her role as Second Lady, she was thrust into the role of First Lady. The stress of constantly being in public view and of having to grieve the loss of her teenage son in public became overwhelming.
She particularly wanted to be free of public life, of grief, and of controlling persons so that she could finally live life her way, as her own person . . . as Grace Coolidge, herself.
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