First Daughters: Anna Roosevelt
Wikimedia CommonsFranklin, Anna, and Eleanor Roosevelt during his 1932 presidential campaign.
Though Eleanor Roosevelt was by no means uninvolved in her husband’s presidency, she was less inclined to deal with the social aspects of the role. That role largely fell to Anna, the couple’s eldest daughter.
Anna and her two children moved into the White House in 1944. As her parents’ marriage devolved, she chose her father’s side.
It was rumored that Anna envied her mother’s power and once intercepted papers that were meant to be delivered to Eleanor. The two women’s relationship became particularly frigid after FDR selected Anna to accompany him on a diplomatic trip that Eleanor had wanted to attend.
The relationship became colder still upon FDR’s death, when Anna had to tell her mother that the former president had been with his longtime mistress, Lucy Rutherfurd, when he died.
Angelica Singleton Van Buren
Wikimedia CommonsAngelica Singleton Van Buren
Angelica was not the wife or daughter of President Martin Van Buren, but she took over first lady duties as his daughter-in-law — and was, at 20, the youngest woman to ever hold the title.
Because the eighth president never married after his wife passed, he needed Angelica to entertain foreign dignitaries at the White House.
After having been set up with Van Buren’s son by former first lady Dolley Madison, Angelica’s wealthy Southern background helped his administration appeal to the South. She also brought a flair of European luxury to Pennsylvania Avenue that attracted criticism from some Americans.
