Letters were lifelines for Abigail Adams who was forced to
endure long periods of separation from her husband John. For over three decades
they shared their political concerns and professed their love for each other
through the mail. As was the custom of the time, they adopted pen names. John
wrote ardently to his Diana, the Roman goddess of the moon, often addressing
the letters “Dear Miss Adorable.” In a letter dated April 20th,
1763, he sounds more like a lovesick teenager than a Revolutionist. “I begin to
find that an increasing affection for a certain lady, (you know who my Dear)
quickens my affections for everybody else…”
It would seem that Letitia Christian had a somewhat formal
courtship with her future husband and 10th president, John Tyler. He
once wrote to a friend that Letitia was always so “reserved and modest” that he
did not dare to kiss even her hand until a few weeks before the wedding. Once
he had won her heart, he relayed his delight for the acquisition. ”To think of
you and to write to you are the only sources from whence I can derive any real
satisfaction...Indeed, I do esteem myself most rich in possessing you.”
Woodrow Wilson courted Edith Galt while still mourning the
death of his first wife. They were married soon after they met and their
quick courtship scandalized Washington society. That didn’t stop his heartfelt
praise, “You are more wonderful and lovely in my eyes than you ever were
before; and my pride and joy and gratitude that you should love me with such a
perfect love are beyond all expression, except in some great poem which I
cannot write.”
Harry Truman was smitten with Bess Wallace from the moment
he laid eyes on her in Sunday school. He doggedly pursued her for seven years.
His love letters, like his politics, were very straightforward. “I suppose that
I am too crazy about you anyway. Every time I see you I get more so if it is
possible. I know I haven’t any right to but there are certain things that can’t
be helped and that is one of them. I wouldn’t help it if I could you know.”
Lyndon Johnson was so taken with his “Lady Bird” Claudia
Taylor that he proposed almost immediately. His love-struck countenance is
evident in a concise correspondence written one crisp Washington, DC day. “This
morning I’m ambitious, proud, energetic and very madly in love with you.”
Ronald Reagan frequently wrote letters of love to his wife,
Nancy. She especially looked forward to the ones she received on their
anniversary. This is from his letter to her on March 4, 1983. “Still this is
the day, the day that marks 31 years of such happiness as comes to few men. I
told you once that it was like an adolescent’s dream of what marriage should be
like. That hasn’t changed…I more than love you, I’m not whole without you. You
are life itself to me. When you are gone I’m waiting for you to return so I can
start living again.”
Contact Margaret Lavin at elementarydays@gmail.com.
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