Whether mourning the loss of the current Presidential administration or counting the minutes until the new one takes over, all Americans are preparing to party (though not exactly like it's 1999) on January 20. You can take a look at the official document of the second Bush administration's legacy at the official site of The White House. Whether this heartens or disheartens you, once you've had enough, visit the First Lady's site.
First Ladies also leave legacies. Abigail Adams, Florence Harding and Hillary Clinton were known as powerfully insightful political partners to the President. Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosalynn Carter were forces to be reckoned with socially, as in their own social ways were Dolley Madison, Mamie Eisenhower and Jackie Kennedy. While Julia Grant was known as a lavish (to some, excessive) hostess, Lucy Hayes was Temperance. Did people who joked about Nancy Reagan's astrologer know about Mary Todd Lincoln's consorting with spiritualists? And did you know that Laura Bush has been amassing place settings?
Presidential China is not a new, frivolous development -- indeed, it is a time-honored tradition. As each administration takes residency, they impart their own style to the residence -- not that different, other than scale, from setting up housekeeping anywhere else. Just as we have presidential pets from horses and goats to scruffy dogs, so do we have china patterns, stemware, art, et cetera. Lest your social conscience be saluting, note: the Bush legacy china, along with other items, was purchased with funds from The White House Historical Association, The White House Endowment Trust, and The White House Historical Trust, each of which, as Mrs. Bush noted, are privately funded for the purpose acquiring objects for the White House.
