Ida McKinley's Slippers

Today is the anniversary of William McKinley being fatally shot, so I'm taking this opportunity to talk about his wife's slippers.

Ida McKinley was a troubled woman, and for good reason. She lost her mother and her baby daughter within months of each other. Three years later, her only other child died at the age of 4. Somewhere in that time, she suffered trauma to her head which led to her developing epilepsy.

She never recovered from these emotional and physical wounds. Not a lot was known about epilepsy back then, so it took a lot of trial and error to find solutions. One of the first cures they tried was having her rest in isolation since her problems were likely caused by her inferior lady-brain being too troubled by the man-problems of the big, modern world. Needless to say, that didn't work.

Ida went through phases of being very active (in life and in her husband's career) and other phases where she had less mobility and a decreased ability to socialize. At times she was very dependent on William. During her White House years, she often avoided social situations, sometimes leaving the duties of the First Lady to Jennie Tuttle Hobart, wife of VP Garret Hobart. Seating arrangements at dinner were changed so she could sit next to, rather than across from, her husband. At times Ida would have seizures, and William became adept at holding a handkerchief in front of her face until the seizure ended, then carrying on as though nothing had happened.

Of course, the tragedies that would strike Ida's life weren't yet complete. In September of 1901 the McKinleys were in Buffalo so William could make an appearance at the Pan-American Exposition. Ida wasn't at the Expo with her husband, which is probably a good thing because she was able to avoid witnessing Leon Czolgosz shoot her husband. After William was shot, he ordered people to go easy on his assassin, and also instructed his aide to be careful in breaking the news to Ida. He would die a week later.

Ida lived only a few more years after her husband was killed. But through her troubles, she kept busy crocheting thousands of pairs of slippers. She wasn't often able to attend charity events, so she would send slippers to war veterans and orphans. She would send slippers to charities to sell or raffle off to raise money.

I, too, crochet, so a while back I decided to see if I could find the pattern she used. Sure enough, someone had recreated the pattern, so I bought it immediately and set out making pairs for myself and a few loved ones. They're not the most stylish slippers by today's standards, but they're historic and that's what's important. I found that jazzing them up with fun colors helped.

Last summer I visited a couple important sites in Canton, Ohio: The McKinley Monument and tomb, and the National First Ladies' Library. The Monument is right next to a science and history museum that has a room dedicated to the McKinleys. Among the items on display is a pair of slippers that Ida had crocheted.

The First Ladies' Library is located less than a block away from a house Ida's family had owned, and a visit to the library includes a tour of the house as well. On the top floor is a very small museum, and I was pleased to find another pair of slippers there. In addition, there was a newspaper column (possibly an advertorial) about an Ohio company that provided leather soles that Ida would sew onto the slippers. My slippers don't have leather soles, but I loved stumbling upon that extra tidbit of information about how Ida made hers.

I told the docent about how I had found the pattern for Ida's slippers and had made several pairs. She seemed surprisingly underwhelmed to hear that. Oh well. I guess that's why I have a blog.

A couple other Ida McKinley slipper-fun-facts:

• She kept a photo of William in her yarn basket. For inspiration while I made my slippers, I stuck a William McKinley Pez Dispenser in my yarn bag. 
• When Ida learned that former president Rutherford B. Hayes was ill, she sent him a pair of slippers that he wore until he died. Because of that, I have started referring to these slippers as "The Rutherford B. Hayes Slippers of Death."

Now...don't get too excited...but if there's enough interest, I might consider doing a giveaway for a pair of custom slippers. I'd probably run this in time for the holidays, so if you win you could avoid scouring stores for the perfect gift for the person in your life who loves history and wears women's slippers. If this is something you'd like to see, be sure to leave a comment here or on my Facebook page.

Cooking with the Presidents: Tilden Cake

My mom's birthday, Valentine's Day, and Presidents Day Eve all coincided this year, so we had a multifaceted celebration. I've been craving James/Dolley Madison Cake, but I'm pretty sure I made that last year, so it was time to try something new.

After perusing the internet and my ancient Presidents' Cookbook, I settled on Tilden Cake, found in the Rutherford B. Hayes section of my cookbook.

Samuel Tilden wasn't a president, of course, though he could have been---and some would argue should have been. Tilden and Hayes ran against each other in the election of 1876. Tilden won the majority of the popular vote, but the electoral votes in four states were disputed. That threw the outcome to Congress, and led to the famous/infamous Compromise of 1877. Essentially Hayes was named the winner of the election in return for an end to Reconstruction in the south. 

Anyway, I didn't choose this cake due to any particular fondness for Tilden or Hayes. Instead I chose it because it sounded good: lemony!

Here's the recipe:

Tilden Cake

1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
3 c. flour
1/2 c. cornstarch (This struck me as a lot of cornstarch, but who am I to judge?)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. milk
2 tsp. lemon extract

(The recipe didn't say to, but I brought all the cold ingredients to room temperature first)

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare two 9-inch cake pans.

Cream the butter and sugar, then slowly add the eggs one at a time.

Set aside, and sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture, alternating with the milk.

Mix well, and add the lemon extract

Pour into the cake pans and bake until done, about 30-35 minutes

The cakes wound up smelling wonderful, although they felt pretty dense.

While they were cooling, I googled and found other recipes and references to Tilden cake. Apparently there was a popular cookbook called The Buckeye Cookbook (also known as Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping) that included recipes for Tilden and Hayes cakes. Women weren't allowed to vote, but they could bake cakes in support of their candidate. (They could also bake in support of particular causes. Apparently the book also includes recipes for "Hard Money Cake" that incorporates "silver" and "gold" batter depending on what metal/metals women wanted backing their currency.) This is an interesting post I found about the history of election cakes.

It appears that the Hayes and Tilden cakes were very similar. Both were flavored with lemon but had slightly different amounts/types of other ingredients. The Tilden cake from the Buckeye book is identical to the one from The Presidents' Cookbook except that the Buckeye recipe calls for pulverized sugar (powdered/confectioners) whereas the recipe I used just said "sugar."

This version of the recipe calls for beating the egg whites separately and then folding them in, which would certainly result in a lighter cake.

In the end, consistency didn't matter much because the cake tasted wonderful, regardless. I spread some lemon curd between the two layers and topped the whole thing with a dusting of powdered sugar. My mom and kids loved it, and even Mr. Presidentressor, who typically doesn't like desserts that aren't chocolate, devoured his slice.

Tilden might not have lost, but his cake was a winner.