isfaction than she had hoped. The story of these four years is one of minor successes surrounded by constant disappointments, failures, difficulties, and deep losses. This discussion of Lincoln's White House years begins with her adjustment to the position and to Washington society where, although she was not unprepared for resistance, Lincoln was surprised by its extent. This is followed by a discussion of Lincoln's spending habits in the public and private spheres. This was the area in which the majority of the public criticism of Lincoln was concentrated and, no matter what she did, she was vilified. As Boller noted, for example,
They called her parsimonious for cutting down on White House dinners because of the war crisis; but they said she was callous when she arranged ambitious entertainments to boost the morale of Unionists and demonstrate that the Federal Government was still a going concern.
The remainder of the essay deals with other areas of Lincoln's White House years that caused controversy--such as her Southern origins, her over-involvement with office-seekers, her dealings with politicians and their wives--and her relations with her husband as unofficial advisor, hostess, and potential problem.
Mary Todd was the daughter of Robert Todd, "grocer, banker, cotton manufacturer, lawyer, and perennial clerk of the Kentucky house of Representatives," and was one of 13 children. She was well-educated and socially accomplished when, in 1839, she moved to Springfield, Illinois to live with one of her married elder sisters. There she met Abraham Lincoln, a very poor young lawyer, and, despite the fact that her family felt them to be "ill-assorted for marriage," married him in 1842. Lincoln was quite poor and the couple, who first lived in a boardinghouse, received supplements to their income from her father.
When they purchased a home, however, Lincoln, whose "training had been for a position in a fairly id...