Dolley Madison
Former First Lady of the United StatesWikipedia
88
MENTIONS
22
EPISODES
16
PODCASTS
Search complete. 88 mentions across 22 episodes found for "Dolley Madison".
Nov 3, 2026
TaylorHOST
Washington, D.C. burns down.
TaylorHOST
Dolly Madison saves that famous portrait of George Washington from the White House.
TaylorHOST
And Long story short, there are a couple little tiny wars inside of the War of 1812.
TaylorHOST
There's one called the Creek War where Andrew Jackson will get shot again in the shoulder, not in the battle, but because of like a dispute over honor.
Joseph SansoneGUEST
He basically wrote most of it.
Joseph SansoneGUEST
And in the War of 1812, after the British burned down the White House, and Dolly Madison, his wife, carried that iconic portrait of George Washington from the building, rescuing it, which George Washington didn't like, by the way, because he was older then in that portrait.
Joseph SansoneGUEST
But...
Joseph SansoneGUEST
I mean, so like the White House gets burned to the ground and the first lady's like literally rescuing a portrait of George Washington.
Darren MarlarHOST
She walks, according to the accounts, with her arms outstretched, as if holding clean linens.
Darren MarlarHOST
Dolly Madison, if the stories about her are to be believed, seems to have chosen a better eternal pastime, taking care of the garden.
Darren MarlarHOST
During the Woodrow Wilson administration, staff members reported seeing her ghost as they were about to move the rose garden.
Darren MarlarHOST
They apparently decided afterward to leave it where she wanted it.
Marcia JohnsonHOST
Our guest is Jane Hampton Cook, award-winning author and presidential historian who specializes in bringing overlooked women's stories out of the archives.
Marcia JohnsonHOST
She's the author of Burning the White House, which follows Dolly Madison through the War of 1812, and American Phoenix, the story of Louisa Catherine Adams.
Marcia JohnsonHOST
Jane spent years digging through personal letters and diaries to reconstruct these women's inner lives, and she's currently adapting both books into films.
Marcia JohnsonHOST
Just wait for that.
Jane Hampton CookGUEST
They were looking for their purpose.
Jane Hampton CookGUEST
And especially with Louisa Adams, she wrote, you know, her memoir is called The Adventures of a Nobody, but she hoped that her story could encourage other people and that she lived her life, you know, in a meaningful way.
Jane Hampton CookGUEST
And the same thing, you know, for Dolly Madison, that she looked back on her life and could see the trends and things that were that maybe were the most, I don't want to say beneficial, but just had the most meaning in her contribution to her country and especially to Washington, D.C.
Sherry LockwoodHOST
Here's what's fascinating to me.
Kim LambNARRATOR
The president and his wife now took a large house on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Kim LambNARRATOR
The brilliancy of social life at the White House had never been equaled before Dolly Madison's time, and it is doubtful if it has been since.
Kim LambNARRATOR
In 1817, James Monroe became president, and Mr. Madison retired to Montpelier, Virginia, where he and his wife entertained with true Virginian hospitality the many friends and tourists who came to visit them.
Kim LambNARRATOR
Their home was a beautiful one, containing many artistic treasures.
Kim LambNARRATOR
During her latter years, she was saddened by the dissolute habits of her only son, Payne Todd, whose debts had been frequently paid by President Madison, and who now appealed to his mother for money.
Kim LambNARRATOR
To save him from disgrace, she even sold her beloved Montpelier.
Kim LambNARRATOR
Dolly Madison died in Washington, July 12, 1849, at the age of 82, and was buried in the cemetery at Montpelier beside her husband.
Kim LambNARRATOR
Lossing says, Mrs. Madison adorned every station in life in which she was placed.
Leslie Greene BowmanGUEST
And they approached me and I couldn't have been more excited to take the stories of the art and reveal how they are telling stories of our history.
Colin DorseyHOST
And over the course of 250 years, I mean, we know that the White House, home to beautiful pieces of art, all of us learned, you know, Dolly Madison saving the portrait of George Washington during the fire.
Colin DorseyHOST
But how has the collection changed over 250 years of this country?
Leslie Greene BowmanGUEST
Well, it's a huge collection and its quality is superb.
Leslie Greene BowmanGUEST
And it's an unknown treasure in Washington, which has made it so much fun to write this book.
Leslie Greene BowmanGUEST
That first painting, George Washington, that Dolly Madison saved, that's the first thing Congress bought for an unfinished White House before they were furnishing.
Leslie Greene BowmanGUEST
And had she not saved it, it would not have been able to be the piece that's hung in the White House the longest.
Leslie Greene BowmanGUEST
But there's now over 500 works in the collection.
Kevin O'KeefeHOST
I would definitely encourage you to go back and listen to the first episode on the year 1811. which was everything that led up to the War of 1812, all of its causes.
Kevin O'KeefeHOST
Then we go into James Madison and Dolly Madison, all interesting information on our president during this time and his amazing wife.
Kevin O'KeefeHOST
Then we head into the burning of Washington, D.C., the horrible day, August 24th, 1814, when our Capitol was burned down to the ground.
Kevin O'KeefeHOST
And then just after that, We had the Battle of Baltimore, the defense of Fort McHenry, where the Star Spangled Banner was written that night.
Jennifer LondonHOST
Yes.
Jennifer LondonHOST
Dolly Madison saved Washington's portrait.
Jennifer LondonHOST
That's right.
Jennifer LondonHOST
When the White House was burning.
Bill HemmerHOST
President James Madison and his Cabinet were forced to flee into the countryside.
Bill HemmerHOST
The First Lady, Dolley Madison, famously delayed her escape to save critical assets, including the iconic full-length portrait of George Washington, only hours before British officers entered the Executive Mansion.
Bill HemmerHOST
[explosion] [dramatic music] British soldiers entered the unfinished US Capitol, piling the furniture in both houses of Congress and setting it ablaze.
Bill HemmerHOST
They marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to the President's house, feasting on the abandoned dinner left in the dining room before torching the building itself.
Joseph SansoneGUEST
Like in the War of 1812, James Madison, who was a combat veteran from the Revolution, he fought in the Battle of Trenton, which was the turning point of the war.
Joseph SansoneGUEST
James Madison as president of the United States in the War of 1812, after the British burned down the White House and Dolly Madison rescued the iconic portrait of an elderly George Washington, which he hated, by the way, because he was old and mistaken.
Joseph SansoneGUEST
But he didn't create any emergency powers.
Joseph SansoneGUEST
He didn't violate the Bill of Rights at all.
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