1789-1797
George Washington
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington
Number of children: 2 
The children were from Martha’s previous marriage (she was widowed in 1757 and married Washington in 1759). After Washington died in 1799, she burned all their letters to assure his privacy.

1797-1801
John Adams
Abigail Smith Adams
Number of children: 5
The first president and first lady to move into the White House. The Adams were married for more than 50 years.

1801-1809
Thomas Jefferson
Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson died 19 years before Jefferson entered office
Number of children: 5
Martha Patsy Randolph: daughter and first lady
At age 22, when Martha and Jefferson met, Martha was already a widow, an heiress and a mother. Their marriage lasted 10 years; Martha died in 1782 following a series of pregnancies and horrific escapades. In 1781, a British invasion forced Martha to flee the capital in Richmond with a baby girl a few weeks old; the daughter died in April. In June, an enemy raid on Monticello forced them to again flee for their lives. Martha gave birth to another daughter the following May, and never fully recovered. Jefferson, who had previously turned down an appointment to serve as a commissioner to France because of his wife’s poor health, spent three weeks in seclusion when she died. Their daughter, Patsy, later gave birth to the first child born in the White House. He was named for James Madison.

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1817-1825
James Monroe
Elizabeth Kortright Monroe  
Number of children: 3
When her husband was a U.S. minister in France, Elizabeth visited Lafayette’s wife, who was imprisoned and was expected to be executed. Elizabeth’s visit is believed to have led to Madame Lafayette’s release. As first lady, she angered Washington society by declining to pay courtesy calls (because of her poor health). Her daughter Maria was the first person to be married at the White House. The wedding was a private affair. 

1825-1829
John Quincy Adams
Louisa Catherine Adams
Number of children: 4
The only first lady born outside the U.S., (London), Louisa’s mother was English and her father was American. She and her husband were married for more than 50 years.   

1829-1837
Andrew Jackson
Rachel Donelson Jackson died a few months before inauguration
Number of children: 1 adopted
Emily Donelson: niece of Rachel and first lady
Sarah Yorke Jackson: wife of Andrew Jackson, Jr., and first lady
Jackson’s original marriage to Rachel was not valid, since her divorce had never be finalized. Click here to read more about their "scandalous" marriage. She was buried in the white dress she had selected for the inaurgural ball. 

1837-1841
Martin Van Buren
Hannah Hoes Van Buren died 16 years before Van Buren assumed the presidency
Number of children: 4
Angelica Singleton Van Buren: daughter-in-law and first lady
Martin and Hannah Van Buren, cousins, grew up together in Kinderhook, N.Y. Van Buren was the first president to marry a distant cousin. 

1841
William Henry Harrison
Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison  
Number of children: 10
Jane Irwin Harrison: daughter-in-law and first lady
The Harrisons were married in secret, since her father originally didn’t approve of the marriage. Anna didn’t accompany her husband to Washington when he won election, preferring instead to join him in May. But she never got the chance. On April 4, less than a month after taking office, Harrison died of pneumonia.

1841-1845
John Tyler
Letitia Christian Tyler first wife; too ill to handle social functions at the White House 
Number of children: 8
Priscilla Cooper Tyler: daughter-in-law and first lady
Julia Gardiner Tyler second wife and first lady
Number of children: 7
Letitia died 18 months into Tyler’s first term, the first president’s wife to die in the White House. Twenty-one months later, Tyler married Julia, who was 30 years younger than her husband.  She threw elaborate parties in the White House and started the tradition of playing "Hail to the Chief" whenever the president appears at state functions.

1845-1849
James K. Polk
Sarah Childress Polk
Number of children: None
In private, Sarah would assist Polk with his speeches and correspondence. She hosted the first annual White House Thanksgiving dinner. A devout Presbyterian, she banned dancing, card-playing and alcoholic beverages in the White House. She appeared at the inaugural ball, but did not dance. 

1849-1850
Zachary Taylor
Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor
Number of children: 6
Mary Elizabeth Taylor Bliss: daughter and first lady
Margaret followed her husband from one garrison to another. Taylor didn’t want his daughters to marry into the military, precisely because of the hardships, but each of their three daughters married a soldier. As first lady, Margaret  met special groups with her husband, but deferred most hostess duties to her youngest daughter, Mary.

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1853-1857
Franklin Pierce
Jane Means Appleton Pierce
Number of children: 3
Jane was 28 when she married, which was old at the time. She disliked the idea of her husband becoming president, and is said to have fainted when the Democratic party nominated Pierce. Her son, Benjamin, to whom she devoted much of her life, died in a train wreck two months before the inauguration. Dressed only in black, Jane spent much of her time in the White House secluded,writing letters to her dead son.

1857-1861
James Buchanan
The only president to remain a bachelor. 

1861-1865
Abraham Lincoln
Mary Todd Lincoln
Number of children: 4
During the Civil War, Mary drew the ire of both Southerners - who considered her a traitor to her birth - and Northerners - who suspected her of treason. When she entertained, critics accused her of unpatriotic extravagance. In 1862, the Lincoln’s 11-year-old son, Willie, died, devastating both his parents. Mary, who was already in fragile mental health, never fully recovered. She withdrew from entertaining, again drawing scorn from critics, who accused her of failing to perform social duties.

1865-1869
Andrew Johnson
Eliza McCardle Johnson  
Number of children: 5
Martha Johnson Patterson: daughter and first lady
Eliza fell in love with her husband when she was 16 and he was 17; they married within a year and she taught him writing and math. When he faced impeachment, her faith in him remained strong, and she continued to host social events throughout the ordeal.

1869-1877
Ulysses S. Grant
Julia Dent Grant
Number of children: 4
Grant was a classmate of Julia’s brother at West Point. After they married, she traveled with her husband to numerous military posts. She was thrilled when they moved to the White House, and enjoyed entertaining in style. Grant, however, was notorious for losing money in failed farming and business ventures. In 1884, the family lost everything; although he was dying of cancer, Grant raced to finish his personal memoirs so his wife and children would not be penniless after his death. His memoirs ultimately earned close to $450,000.

1877-1881
Rutherford Birchard Hayes
Lucy Ware Webb Hayes
Number of children: 8
A graduate at age 18 of the Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati, Lucy was opposed to slavery, a view Hayes came to share. During the Civil War, the men who served under her husband’s command referred to her as "Mother Lucy" because of the attention she paid to the wounded and the homesick. She also received the nickname "Lemonade Lucy" because she strongly supported the Temperance movement and refused to serve liquor in the White House.

1881
James A. Garfield
Lucretia Rudolph Garfield
Number of children: 7
Garfield had a brief love affair four years into his marriage. When his wife Lucretia found out, she charged her husband with yielding to "lawless passion." Lucretia refused to pose for campaign photographs, and preferred socializing with small groups of friends to entertaining on a grand scale. She was in New Jersey, recovering from illness, when her husband was shot by an assassin. He died three months later.

1881-1885
Chester Alan Arthur
Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur died two years before Arthur assumed the presidency
Number of children: 3
Mary Arthur McElory: sister and first lady
Arthur didn’t want anyone to fill what would have been his wife’s position at the White House. In her memory, he presented a near-by church with a stained glass window. At night, when the lights of the church were on, the window could be seen from the White House. 

1885-1889
Grover Cleveland
Frances Folsom Cleveland
Number of children: 5
During the 1884 campaign, Cleveland was accused of (and never denied) financially supporting an illegitimate child. Cleveland was the only president to marry in the White House. He was 48 and Frances was 21, making her the youngest first lady (he was an old friend of the family and had bought Frances’ first baby carriage). She held two receptions per week - one on Saturday, so working women could attend. They moved to New York City after his defeat, only to return to the White House four years later. After Cleveland’s death, Frances married an archeology professor and lived in Princeton, N.J. until her death. 

1889-1893
Benjamin Harrison
Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison
Number of children: 3
Caroline founded the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She established a china collection at the White House, and raised funds for local charities, including Johns Hopkins University medical school - on condition that it admit women. Caroline had electricity installed in the White House in 1891, but she became so frightened that she left the lights on all night and had an electrician come the next morning and turn them off. She died of tuberculosis at the White House in 1892. Harrison married his wife’s niece in 1896.  

1893-1897
Grover Cleveland
Frances Folsom Cleveland
Number of children: 5
(see first term 1885-1889)

1897-1901
William McKinley
Ida Saxton McKinley
Number of children: 2
Breaking with protocol, Ida, who suffered from epilepsy, was seated next to her husband at state dinners. When she would have a seizure in public, McKinley would place a handkerchief over her face to hide her contorted features. When McKinley was shot by an assassin in 1901, his thoughts were of his wife. 

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1909-1913
William H. Taft
Helen Herron Taft
Number of children: 3
Long before he became president, Taft speculated that he and his wife might get to Washington someday - when Helen became Treasury secretary. Such a position would never be offered to a woman, but Helen was known for her intelligence and sense of adventure, which included moving the family to Manila when her husband accepted a government position there. Helen also traveled to Japan and China; Japanese cherry trees were planted around the tidal basin at her request. Several thousand guests attended a garden party at the White House in 1911, celebrating the couple’s 25th wedding anniversary. 
 
1913-1921
Woodrow Wilson
Ellen Axson Wilson first wife  
Edith Bolling Galt Wilson second wife 
Number of children: 3
Edith is sometimes referred to as "the secret president." When a stroke left Wilson partly paralyzed in 1919, Edith took over many of his routine duties as part of her self-described "stewardship" of the presidency.

1921-1923
Warren G. Harding
Florence Kling Harding
Number of children: she had one child from a previous marriage; he is alleged to have had a child with Nan Britton 
Florence eloped at age 19; her husband was a heavy drinker who later deserted her. She went back to using her maiden name and earned her own money by giving piano lessons. When she met Harding, he owned a local newspaper; she later took over the circulation department and then devoted herself to Harding’s political career. Harding was less devoted; he had an affair with his wife’s confidante, Carrie Phillips, the wife of a close friend. Their affair came to light with the discovery of dozens of Harding’s love letters in 1963. When he was still a senator, she threatened to expose the affair if he didn’t vote against a declaration of war with Germany. He called her bluff, voted in favor of war, and the RNC sent her and her husband "on a slow boat to Japan" when Harding won the Republican nomination. Harding reportedly continued an affair with a Nan Britton after he entered the White House. She later wrote a tell-all book, The President’s Daughter, claiming she was the mother of an illegitimate child by Harding.

1923-1929
Calvin Coolidge
Grace Goodhue Coolidge
Number of children: 2
Vermont natives, the Coolidges met in Northampton, Mass., where Grace was teaching at the Clarke School for the Deaf. After their marriage, they lived modestly. She supported his political aspirations, and it is believed that her outgoing, friendly nature helped the shy Coolidge win supporters. Adored as first lady, she received a medal from the National Institute of Social Sciences for her "fine personal influence exerted as First Lady of the Land." She was also voted one of America’s 12 greatest living women in 1931.

1929-1933
Herbert Hoover
Lou Henry Hoover
Number of children: 2
The Hoovers met in a geology lab at Stamford University. An active outdoor enthusiast who had learned to hunt and ride horses, Lou served as president of the Girl Scouts when Hoover was commerce secretary. When she was first lady, she used her own money to reproduce furniture owned by former President Monroe, and also donated money to many charities.

1933-1945
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Number of children: 2
After Eleanor discovered love letters between Roosevelt and her social secretary, Lucy Page Mercer, she threatened divorce. FDR agreed to end the affair, although he later met secretly with Mercer. Determined to have a career of her own, Eleanor became the most politically active first lady in history, championing the causes of the poor. 

1945-1953
Harry S. Truman
Elizabeth "Bess" Virginia Wallace Truman
Number of children: 1
Truman met his wife in Sunday School. He once said, "I have only had one sweetheart from the time I was six." Bess shared the platform with when he campaigned, fulfilling the public’s expectations of a candidate’s wife. She became his secretary when he was elected to the Senate; Truman said she earned "every cent I pay her." When Truman became president, she fulfilled her social duties but, as Truman noted, she was not particularly interested in the "formalities and pomp or the artificiality which, as we had learned … inevitably surround the family of the President."

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1961-1963
John F. Kennedy
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy
Number of children: 3
Jacqueline, a graduate of George Washington University who was dubbed "debutante of the year" for the 1947-1948 season, met Kennedy when she was an "inquiring photographer" for a local newspaper and he was a U.S. Senator. They married in Newport, R.I., in 1953. Television helped to elevate the role of the first family, and the Kennedys were a glamorous couple. She is remembered for making the White House a center of cultural activity, a welcome place for prominent writers, artists and musicians, and, later, for handling Kennedy’s assassination with great dignity. Kennedy’s numerous extra-marital affairs were known to the press, but were never publicized until after his death.  

1963-1969
Lyndon B. Johnson
Claudia Taylor (Lady Bird) Johnson
Number of children: 2
On their first date in 1934, Johnson proposed marriage, but Lady Bird refused. She accepted seven weeks later, and they married later that year. In 1960, when Johnson was vice president, Lady Bird stumped for democratic candidates. She also became an ambassador of goodwill, visiting 33 foreign countries. After Johnson became presient following Kennedy’s assassination, Lady Bird involved herself in several causes: she initiated a First Lady’s Committee for a More Beautiful Capital, then expanded her program to include the entire nation. She also advocated the Head Start project for preschool children. Johnson, like Kennedy before him, was also known for his philandering and is said to have boasted that his number of sexual encounters surpassed Kennedy’s.  

1969-1974
Richard M. Nixon
Patricia Ryan Nixon
Number of children: 2
Nixon met Pat, a high school teacher, when they were cast in the same amateur theater production. During WWII, she worked as a government economist while he was in the Navy. She campaigned by his side during his rapid political ascension and accompanied him on trips overseas. During Nixon’s presidency, she visited Africa and South America as a "personal representative of the president." Referred to as "Plastic Pat" by the press, Patricia stood by her husband during the Watergate scandal and remained devoted to him after his resignation. 

1974-1977
Gerald R. Ford
Elizabeth "Betty" Bloomer Ford
Number of children: 4
After graduating from Bennington College, Betty Ford was a model and a dancer with Martha Graham’s troupe in New York. Her first marriage ended in divorce. After she and Ford married, she assumed the role of a political wife and involved herself with various causes. In 1974, she underwent a mastectomy; she dealt with it openly, helping to bring breast cancer into the public eye. She also advocated political issues, including the Equal Rights Amendment. She later spoke about her dependency on drugs and alcohol and helped establish the Betty Ford Center for addiction recovery. 

1977-1981
Jimmy Carter
Rosalynn Smith Carter
Number of children: 4
The Carters grew up together as friends and neighbors, and began dating whe Rosalynn was a freshman at college and Carter was home from the U.S. Naval Academy. She helped run his family’s peanut business, and her quiet, friendly manner was considered an asset during her husband’s campaigns. When Carter was president, Rosalyn had an office in the East Wing of the White House and attended Cabinet meetings and briefings. She served as the president’s personal emissary to Latin American countries and as honorary chairperson of the President’s Commission on Mental Health. In 1984, she wroter her autobiography, First Lady From Plains. She continues to serve as vice chair of the board of trustees of the Carter Center in Atlanta, founded in 1982 to promote peace and human rights worldwide.  

1981-1989
Ronald Reagan
Jane Wyman first wife
Nancy Davis Reagan second wife and first lady
Number of children: 4
Ronald Reagan is the only divorcee to be elected president. Nancy, a theater major at Smith College who went on to perform in 11 films, met Reagan in 1951 when he was president of the Screen Actor’s Guild. She gave up acting after their marriage in 1952. She took on volunteer causes, and, as first lady, drew much attention for her role in discouraging drug and alcohol use among teenagers. "Just Say No" became a popular catch-phrase from the 1980s. She also promoted the performing arts at the White House and wrote several books, including My Turn (1989), which described her life in the White House. 

1989-1993
George Bush
Barbara Pierce Bush
Number of children: 6
Barbara Bush also attended Smith College, but dropped out before her marriage to George Bush in 1945. They met at a dance when she was 16 and was a boarding school student in South Carolina. Bush was then a senior at Phillips Academy. In 44 years, the Bush family moved 29 times, following Bush’s numerous political appointments and elections. Volunteerism and literacy became her top issues as first lady, and she became honorary chairperson of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She avoided policy-making positions, and her matronly manner prompted Americans to consider her the country’s "grandmother."   

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Sources:
White House First Lady Biographies
C-SPAN American President Life Portraits
Library of Congress
Washington Post Scandals Throughout Presidential History

Click to read what the  presidential candidates  say about marriage