page_title: Ida Saxton McKinley
section_title: First Lady of the United States
hierarchical_section_title: Ida Saxton McKinley / First Lady of the United States
context_page_description: Ida McKinley was the First Lady of the United States from 1897 until 1901.
context_section_description: President McKinley took great care to accommodate her condition. In a break with tradition, he insisted that his wife be seated next to him at state dinners rather than at the other end of the table. At receiving lines, she alone remained seated. Many of the social chores normally assumed by the First Lady fell to Mrs. Jennie Tuttle Hobart, wife of Vice President Garret Hobart. Guests noted that whenever Mrs. McKinley was about to undergo a seizure, the President would gently place a napkin or handkerchief over her face to conceal her contorted features.  When it passed, he would remove it and resume whatever he was doing as if nothing had happened.
  The President's patient devotion and loving attention was the talk of the capital. "President McKinley has made it pretty hard for the rest of us husbands here in Washington," remarked Senator Mark Hanna.
  The First Lady often traveled with the President.  Mrs. McKinley traveled to California with the President in May 1901, but became so ill in San Francisco  that the planned tour of the Northwest was cancelled.  She was also with him on the trip to Buffalo, New York in September of that year when he was assassinated, but was not present at the shooting.
caption: Ida Saxton McKinley, official White House portrait
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