Edith Roosevelt and Helen Taft

Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt 

Born: August 6, 1861, in Norwich, Connecticut

 Courtship and Marriage: Edith met Theodore and his family at the age of four and grew up with the Roosevelt children; she was friends with Roosevelt's sister, Corrine. By the time she was sixteen, Theodore Roosevelt had taken notice of her. He proposed many times but at some point in 1878, they quarreled and coolness grew between them. (The quarrel may have had to do with Theodore’s father’s warning about Charles Carow.) Edie was heartbroken at the news of Theodore’s engagement to Alice Hathaway Lee but hid it well. She bragged about dancing at their wedding in October of 1880. Her father died in 1883 and her mother moved to Europe (where she resided with Edith’s sister Emily for the rest of her life, much to Edith’s relief), while Edie remained in the U.S. She attended Alice Hathaway Roosevelt’s funeral in February 1884 but made it a point to avoid her old flame. Nevertheless, in September 1885, the romance rekindled.
Theodore proposed and Edith accepted on November 17, 1885. Edith sailed early the next year to help her mother settle in Italy, and Theodore agreed to join her in Europe. They were married on December 2, 1886 at St. George’s Church in London and honeymooned in France. They returned to America early in 1887.
Age at Marriage: 25 years, 118 days 

 rst Lady: September 14, 1901-March 4 1909. After the departure of Ida McKinley for Ohio following William McKinley’s assassination, Edith and her family waited a few days before moving into the White House. She found it cramped and stuffy and made immediate plans to make the second floor inaccessible to the public. She wanted her children to have as normal a life as possible. She would study Caroline Harrison’s plans for an enlarged White House and make plans of her own for the 1902 renovation. She ran the White House herself, and officially changed the name from the Executive Mansion to the White House. She would study newspapers and articles she felt her husband should be aware of. Edith also underscored her husband’s tendency to talk too long by tapping the table with her finger, causing his flow of words to cease. She recognized the importance of the role the First Lady and established a First Ladies’ Gallery on the ground level. She also followed up on Caroline Harrison’s interest in the White House china by creating a China Room. Most importantly, she hired a social secretary, Belle Hagner, who was added to the official White House payroll. The Office of the First Lady was created. Edith had little interest in clothes (unlike Ida McKinley) and as one reporter snidely said, "Looks like she dresses on a yearly budget of $3000," which Edith took as a compliment. She found the White House antiquated and in 1902, she had the firm of the McKim, Mead and White draw up house prints to restore the White House to its 18th century style.  The Roosevelts moved out for six months.  Eith kept abreast of the changes from Sagamore Hill. A west wing was added, the front foyer improved and the East Wing was restored to its Federal style appearance.  She also  added a tennis court and found time to approve a new china pattern.  After Theodore's election in 1904, Edith Roosevelt continued to imp;rove the White House.   Edith allowed her office to be used by the State Department for secret letters  to be passed between the President and Cecil Spring-Rice, a close personal friend and the English ambassador to Russia. This secret correspondence helped in creating a peace treaty between Japan and Russia in 1905.  Eith's help and silence were paramount in this situation.  Two decisions he made she particularly deplored: his decision not to run again in 1908 and his friendship with William Howard Taft, whom she considered weak. Her two greatest social occasions were the reception of the Kaiser's brother, jPrince Henry of Prussia and the marriage in 1906 of her stepdaughter, "Princess" Alice.  She disliked the public eye and controlled the press by making photos, taken by a photographer she hired, available to them.  She barely missed the White House when she left in 1909.

HELEN LOUISE "NELLIE" HERRON TAFT

Birth: 2 June, 1861
Cincinnati, Ohio

Marriage:
25 years old, 19 June, 1886, the Herron home, Pike Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, to William Howard Taft (born 15 September 1857, Cincinnati, Ohio), lawyer (died 8 March 1930, Washington, D.C.)

Campaign and Inauguration:
Nellie Taft was more thoroughly involved in the political elements of her husband's 1908 campaign than she was at any other point in his career.. In dozens of letters, she advised him on how to position himself, sometimes down to what words to use, so that he would be seen as supporting some of Roosevelt's popular policies yet also standing on his own, apart from Roosevelt. Her role was largely hidden from the public, conducted instead through private correspondence or in closed-door meetings. There were, however, occasional newspaper references to her active political role and she appeared as a caricature in a political cartoon illustrating the "Valentine's Day gift" of the Minnesota primary being won by Taft, she being depicted in cap and snowshoes giving him a heart-shaped card.
Throughout the Republican Convention in June of 1908, Nellie Taft and her husband kept in close contact with their representatives there; she was certain a stampede for Roosevelt would lead to his spontaneous nomination, instead of it coming to Taft. While Nellie Taft was in attendance at the large "Notification Day" ceremony at the Cincinnati mansion of Taft's brother Charles, when her husband was officially notified of his nomination. However,  she only appeared with him for one leg of his whistlestop campaign, in the autumn of 1908.
Nellie Taft made a permanent mark in history by becoming the first First Lady to ride in the Inaugural Parade with her husband, following the swearing-in ceremony. Many newspapers at the time considered it a symbol of what they assumed to be her support of full suffrage for women. Against the advice of traditionalists, she had decided she would make the ride several days earlier when she learned that outgoing President Roosevelt was opting out of the tradition to accompany his successor back to the White House.


First Lady:
47 years old
4 March 1909 - 4 March 1913
Nellie Taft made immediate and drastic changes to the running of the White House, many of which were intended as much to be politically symbolic as practical. The most obvious change she made was seen at the time as a positive one for African-Americans. As First Lady, she replaced the all-white male ushers who greeted visitors at the White House with African-American ushers in uniform. Even though "usher" was a position on the domestic staff, it was considered highly prestigious. The white backlash to the move feared by the President's military aide Archie Butt never happened; instead, a New York Times editorial praised her for it. In contrast to the social codes of Edith Roosevelt, Nellie Taft widened the chances for different people to attend White House events. She lifted the ban on divorced individuals. Instead of strictly society figures, she invited all members of Congress, as well as their family members, and all ranks of the military stationed in the area. She enlarged the social schedule of dinners to include a season of musical concerts, enabling her to invite even more different individuals. She also refused to hold events on Sundays, encouraging public figures to stay home and enjoy their families. At the large New Year's Day Reception and Easter Egg Roll, she provided refreshments, seats, rest areas, first aid and other services for the thousands of members of the general public who attended.

From this I see that Nellie was more involved in the election than past first ladies have been.  It seems that as time goes each one has a little bit of difference on how they are involved and to what extent this involvement is.