Helen Herron Taft, known to her friends as Nelly, was the First Lady of the U.S. from 1909 to 1913. Her memoirs, Recollections of Full Years (1914) were the first memoirs published by a First Lady.
Taft taught French briefly until her marriage to William Howard Taft in 1885, and she served as President of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra after. She came from a political family; both her grandfather and uncle served as members of Congress, and she actively encouraged her husband’s political career. She moved with him and their three children to the Manila when he was appointed Governor-General of the Philippines. She moved to DC in 1904 when her husband was offered a cabinet position as Secretary of War to Theodore Roosevelt. She played a large role in advising him in his presidential campaign, and wrote some of his public comments.
Two months after her husband entered the White House, however, she had a stroke that permanently impaired her speech. After a year’s therapy for aphasia, she was able to continue to entertain in the White House, and during Prohibition, her parties were “wet” (they included alcohol), even though her husband was publicly a “dry.”
Her most lasting contribution as First Lady was arranging for the planting of 3,000 Japanese cherry trees around the Tidal Basin, along with the wife of the Japanese ambassador, an idea first promoted by the author Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore. After leaving the Presidency, her husband was appointed to serve on the Supreme Court, making Taft the only person to be both First Lady and Wife of a Chief Justice. She continued to live in DC after her husband’s death and is buried alongside him in Arlington National Cemetery.
The Homes
2215 Wyoming Ave. NW, Washington, DC (Embassy of Syria)
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC (The White House)
Built of Aquia Creek sandstone, this 130-room Neoclassical mansion was largely destroyed by arson during the War of 1812, and reconstructed in 1817. Additions include the South Portico (1824), the North Portico (1829), the West Wing (1901), and the Oval Office (1909). In 1949, the inside was completely gutted to stabilize the building with steel framing. The grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. in 1935. The mansion was named a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
Also home to: Rose Elizabeth Cleveland Ulysses S. Grant John Hay Herbert Hoover Paul Jennings John F. Kennedy Alice Roosevelt Longworth Anna Roosevelt Halsted Eleanor Roosevelt Elliott Roosevelt James Roosevelt II Theodore Roosevelt Margaret Truman Edith Bolling Galt Wilson
Helen Herron Taft
2215 Wyoming Ave. NW
Located in Sheridan/Kalorama neighborhood, Northwest - East of Rock Creek
Helen Herron Taft
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC, USA
Located in Lafayette Square neighborhood, Northwest - East of Rock Creek