Louisa Adams

Louisa Adams (1775-1852) was an American first lady (1825-1829) and the wife of John Quincy Adams, a U.S. Congressman and the sixth president of the United States. The only first lady born abroad, she met her husband while he was serving as a U.S. minister in Europe and she accompanied him on all of his diplomatic missions throughout their marriage. Though she was a skilled hostess, she suffered from a series of illnesses and recurring depression, which coupled with the loss of several children, led her to increasingly withdraw from public life while first lady.

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This Day in History

May 23

Presidential

George W. Bush recovers from bicycle accident, 2004

On this day in 2004, as reported in the Washington Post, President George Bush recovers from a bicycle accident he'd had the day before. Bush had taken up…

Did You Know?

In 1815, future first lady Louisa Adams made a harrowing 40-day, 9,000-mile trip from the Russian imperial court to meet her husband in France. Her journal of the trip was published by her son Charles Francis Adams after her death, and in 2011 a new biographical account of her travels was chosen as a finalist for the Pulitizer Prize.

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