Julia Gardiner Tyler

Websites 

First Ladies National Library Biography of Julia Tyler

White House Historical Association: Julia Tyler

The White House: Julia Gardiner Tyler

Papers/letters collections

Julia Tyler Manuscripts

Library of Congress John Tyler Papers

The Gardiner-Tyler Family Papers at Yale University

Historical sites

Julia Tyler Gravesite

Fascinating details

• John Tyler’s first wife, Letitia Christian Tyler, served as first lady until she passed away in the White House in 1842.
• She is the first ‘first lady’ to marry a president during his term in the White House. Julia married John Tyler while he was an incumbent one-term president and thus did not experience his campaign or inauguration. 
• She is credited with changing public presidential ceremony to secure the safety and security of the president, as well as initiating the custom of greeting the president with “Hail to the Chief.”
• She promoted the president’s proposed annexation of Texas by sitting in on Capitol debates and distributing copies of her husband’s joint-resolution annexation.