Mary Todd Lincoln: podcast appearances and interviews

Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (December 13, 1818 – July 16, 1882) served as First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, in 1865. Born into a large and wealthy family in Kentucky that owned slaves, she never owned slaves herself and developed opposition to slavery in her adulthood. Well-educated, she moved to Springfield, Illinois, in her late teens, living with her married sister Elizabeth Todd Edwards. Before her marriage to Abraham Lincoln, she was courted by Stephen A. Douglas, a political opponent of Lincoln. As First Lady, she supported her husband's political career and was active in maintaining national morale during the Civil War. She managed social events at the White House, including hosting lavish balls and redecorating the residence, expenditures that caused controversy. Mary Lincoln was present in the President's Box at Ford's Theatre when Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865. The couple had four sons, with only their eldest, Robert, surviving both parents. The deaths of her husband and three of their children had a profound impact on her mental health. She experienced frequent headaches, worsened by a head injury in 1863, and likely suffered from depression or bipolar disorder. In 1875, she was briefly institutionalized for psychiatric illness and later traveled in Europe before retiring to her sister’s home in Springfield. She died there at age 63 and is buried with her husband and three younger sons in the Lincoln Tomb, a National Historic Landmark.