DOLLEY MADISON .

For half a century she was the most important woman in the social circles of America. To this day she remains one of the best known and best loved ladies of the White House.

She always called herself Dolley, and by that name her birth was recorded on May 20, 1768 by the Society of Friends, in Guilford County, North Carolina. In 1783 her father took the family to Philadelphia, city of the Quakers.

Dolley married John Todd, Jr., a lawyer, in 1790. Three years later he died in a yellow-fever epidemic, leaving her with a small son. By this time Philadelphia had become the capital city. The young widow attracted distinguished attention. Dolley reported to her best friend that "the great little Madison has asked.... to see me this evening."

Although James Madison was 17 years her senior, and Episcopalian, they were married in September 1794. The marriage, though childless, was notably happy. Madison was even patient with Dolley's son, Payne, who mishandled his own affairs - and, eventually, mismanaged their estate.

Discarding the somber Quaker dress after her second marriage, Dolley chose the finest of fashions. A chronicler wrote: "She looked a Queen.... It would be absolutely impossible for any one to behave with more perfect propriety than she did."

Dolley made her home the center of society. She assisted at the White House when the President Jefferson asked her help in receiving ladies, and presided at the first inaugural ball in Washington when James Madison became chief executive in 1809. Although Dolley's social graces made her famous, her husband prized her political acumen. Her gracious tact smoothed many a quarrel.

During the War of 1812, Dolley was forced to flee from the White House by the British army. Her quick thinking saved a portrait of George Washington from being destroyed by fire. Upon returning to the capital, she found the Executive Mansion in ruins. Undaunted by temporary quarters, she entertained as skillfully as ever.

The Madisons lived in pleasant retirement at their plantation Montpelier in Virginia until he died in 1836. She returned to the capital in the autumn of 1837, and friends found tactful ways to supplement her diminished income. She remained in Washington until her death in 1849, honored and loved by all. The delightful personality of this unusual woman is a cherished part of her country's history.

ELIZABETH MONROE .

Romance glints from what little is known of Elizabeth Kortright's early life. She was born in New York City in 1768, to an old New York family. Because of ties to the Crown, her father had taken no active part in the War of Independence; and James Monroe wrote to his friend Thomas Jefferson that he had married the daughter of a gentleman "injured in his fortunes" by the Revolution.

Strange choice, perhaps, for a patriot veteran with political ambitions and little money of his own - but Elizabeth was beautiful, and love was decisive. They were married in February 1786, when the bride was not yet 18. His political career kept the young couple on the move as the family increased by two daughters and a son who died in infancy.

In 1794, Elizabeth accompanied her husband to France when President Washington appointed him United States minister. Arriving in the midst of the French Revolution, she took a dramatic part in saving Lafayette's wife, imprisoned and expecting death on the guillotine. The American minister's wife went to the prison and asked to see Madame Lafayette. After this hint of American interest, the prisoner was set free. Elizabeth was very popular in France, and received the affectionate name of "la belle Americaine."

For 17 years the Monroes alternated between foreign missions and service in Virginia. They made the plantation of Oak Hill their home, and appeared on the Washington scene in 1811 when James became President Madison's secretary of state.

Elizabeth Monroe was an accomplished hostess after her husband took the presidential oath in 1817. She and her daughter changed White House customs to create the formal atmosphere of European courts. Even the White House wedding of her daughter Maria was private, in "the New York style" rather than the expansive Virginia social style made popular by Dolley Madison

Through much of the administration, however, she was in poor health and curtailed her activities. Wives of the diplomatic corps and other dignitaries took it amiss when she decided to pay no calls - an arduous social duty in a city of widely scattered dwellings and unpaved streets. Subsequent first ladies certainly benefited by Elizabeth Monroe’s breaking from this tradition.

In retirement at Oak Hill, Elizabeth died on September 23, 1830; and family tradition says that her husband burned the letters of their life together.