# Weddings at the White House **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 2, 2007, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526 "2007-12-02T04:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/1 "2007-12-02T04:39:29Z")
[Jenna Bush is engaged](http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/16/jenna.bush/index.html). Assuming the wedding takes place before January [sub]mumblemumble[/sub], 2009 (a fair assumption), it could conceivably take place at the White House. Is there a precedent for this? ISTR that Nixon (or maybe it was LBJ) had a daughter get married there. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/2 "2007-12-02T04:44:02Z")
Didn’t both LBJ and Nixon have a daughter married there? I know Nixon did. There was even a president married in the White House during his tenure: Grover Cleveland. EDIT: And the girl he married, Frances Cornelia Folsom, was only 21. Way to go, Grover! (She was the youngest First Lady; there’s one for the US History Trivia thread.) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/3 "2007-12-02T04:53:59Z")
[QUOTE=HeyHomie] ISTR that Nixon … had a daughter get married there. [/QUOTE] You’re correct in the case of Nixon. His daughter [Tricia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricia_Nixon) was married at the White House in 1971. From the link: > [@](#): > > [Tricia Nixon] Cox married Harvard law student Edward Finch Cox in a Rose Garden ceremony on June 12, 1971. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/4 "2007-12-02T05:54:19Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] EDIT: And the girl he married, Frances Cornelia Folsom, was only 21. Way to go, Grover! (She was the youngest First Lady; there’s one for the US History Trivia thread.) [/QUOTE] Fascinating factoid. And weirder yet, she was the daughter of his law partner and he bought her her first baby carriage (the one she used when she was a baby). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/5 "2007-12-02T05:56:25Z")
I believe Woodrow Wilson married his second wife while an incumbent President, too, though I am not going to try to strain my glacial ISP to download a Google search to verify that. My favorite White House Wedding trivia fact, though, is that F.D.R. and Eleanor Roosevelt were married at the White House. And the President, Theodore Roosevelt, gave away the bride – since E.R. was his niece, the daughter of his deceased brother. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/6 "2007-12-02T06:15:12Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] I believe Woodrow Wilson married his second wife while an incumbent President, too, though I am not going to try to strain my glacial ISP to download a Google search to verify that. [/QUOTE] I think he did. But not in the White House. Randy ol’ Grover was the only president to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/7 "2007-12-02T06:20:01Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] My favorite White House Wedding trivia fact, though, is that F.D.R. and Eleanor Roosevelt were married at the White House. And the President, Theodore Roosevelt, gave away the bride – since E.R. was his niece, the daughter of his deceased brother. [/QUOTE] Wait, weren’t Frank and Teddy cousins? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/8 "2007-12-02T06:31:02Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] Wait, weren’t Frank and Teddy cousins? :eek: [/QUOTE] Eleanor (whose maiden name was Roosevelt) was a fifth cousin of Franklin. I think that makes Teddy and FDR fourth cousins once removed. Both were male-line descendants of a Roosevelt who apparently settled in Nassau County shortly after dirt was invented. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/9 "2007-12-02T12:46:09Z")
This website lists 17 White House weddings: > **[Publishing](https://www.whitehousehistory.org/publishing)** This Wikipedia entry claims there have been 30 of them, but it doesn’t list them: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:White\_House\_weddings](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:White_House_weddings) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/10 "2007-12-02T12:51:34Z")
Sorry, Polycarp, but FDR and Eleanor weren’t married in the White House: > **[Eleanor Roosevelt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt)** > > Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (/ˈɛlɪnɔːr ˈroʊzəvɛlt/ EL-in-or ROH-zə-velt; October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office, making her the longest-serving first lady of the United States. Through her travels, public engagement, and advocacy, she largely redefined the role of First Lady. Roosevelt then served as a Roos... ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/11 "2007-12-02T17:35:36Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] Eleanor (whose maiden name was Roosevelt) was a fifth cousin of Franklin. I think that makes Teddy and FDR fourth cousins once removed. [/QUOTE] Teddy and FDR were fifth cousins. Likewise, Teddy’s brother Eliot (Eleanor’s father) and FDR were fifth cousins. Thus, Eleanor and FDR were fifth cousins, once removed. And thus, Eleanor’s children were also her sixth cousins! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/12 "2007-12-03T01:11:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Eleanor (whose maiden name was Roosevelt) was a fifth cousin of Franklin. I think that makes Teddy and FDR fourth cousins once removed. Them Roosevelts were nothing but hillbilly trash if you ask me. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/13 "2007-12-03T14:35:12Z")
Ellie Bartlett go married there in the last season of The West Wing. Oh wait this is GQ, not Cafe Society… ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/14 "2007-12-03T18:57:55Z")
I read in the Washington Post that Jenna did not want to married in the WH. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/15 "2007-12-03T20:17:07Z")
[QUOTE=spifflog] I read in the Washington Post that Jenna did not want to married in the WH. [/QUOTE] Well why would you besides the novelty of doing so? What connection does the White House have to Jenna Bush besides that lots of people think her parents “live” there? Would you want to get married at your dad’s office? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/16 "2007-12-03T23:43:24Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] so? What connection does the White House have to Jenna Bush besides that lots of people think her parents “live” there? [/QUOTE] Why the quotation marks? ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/17 "2007-12-04T01:07:30Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Why the quotation marks? [/QUOTE] I would think the place the Bushes most consider home is the ranch in Crawford, TX, or perhaps some other place not as well publicized. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/18 "2007-12-04T02:31:03Z")
Thanks for your opinion. Now let’s wait for **Cluricaun** to answer. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/19 "2007-12-04T15:13:10Z")
I don’t know, it’s a habit I picked up a long time ago in writing to differentiate what are my choice of words from someone else’s choice of words when quoting them as a way to set off the fact that I’m not using said word/term/stupidity. Call it a grammatical smiley. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weddings-at-the-white-house/428526/20 "2007-12-05T03:39:41Z")
“I see.”