11. Julia was young and naïve but she found a mentor in feisty former First Lady Dolley Madison
Julia Gardiner Tyler was just 22-years-old when she moved into the White House as the First Lady of the United States. While she wasn’t the youngest woman to hold the role – that was Frances Folsom Cleveland, who was 21 when she married President Grover Cleveland in 1886 – she was still arguably out of her depth and surrounded by older, more-powerful men. Luckily, Julia found an ally and a mentor close-by. Dolley Madison, wife of President James Madison, lived just across the road from the White House. She and Julia struck up an unlikely friendship – Dolley was almost 80 – and even traveled to New York City together for short breaks.
As First Lady, Dolley was credited with being much more than a social hostess. She hosted functions that brought together politicians from both parties. Indeed, she is often credited with inventing bipartisan cooperation in American politics. Julia was determined to follow her lead. Though she was young, from the start she vowed to be an active First Lady. Indeed, the newspapers of the time noted how much energy she brought to her official duties – in marked contrast, they also noted, to the lethargy of her husband.