07/28/2024

DOLLEY MADISON AND THE WAR OF 1812 with Libby McNamee and moderated by Dr. Christopher Leahy

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Meet Dolley Madison, the vivacious wife of our fourth President, James Madison, renowned for her kindness. Beloved by all, she was known as the “Presidentess,” "Queen of Hearts," and named America’s First Lady at her funeral. Learn about her instrumental role in establishing the President’s House as the social center of Washington City, as well as creating many national customs which remain to this day. We will explore her pivotal role in bringing our bitterly divided country together during the tumultuous events of the War of 1812, America’s Second War of Independence.

Libby McNamee is a lawyer, speaker, and award-winning author of two upper middle grade novels, "Susanna’s Midnight Ride: The Girl Who Won the Revolutionary War" and "Dolley Madison and the War of 1812: America’s First Lady," and their Study Guides. She is also the co-editor of "The Epic Story of 1776" and "The Epic Story of America 1777-1779." Currently she is writing a third novel, "The Union Spymistress: Elizabeth Van Lew." 

A native of Boston, Libby McNamee lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and son who will be a freshman at Notre Dame this fall. She is a graduate of Georgetown University and Catholic University School of Law. She also was a Major in the U.S. Army JAG Corps, serving in South Korea, Bosnia, Germany, and Washington State.

Dr. Christopher J. Leahy is Professor of History at Keuka College, a liberal arts institution located in the Finger Lakes region of New York State.

Leahy earned his undergraduate degree in History from Washington and Jefferson College, in Washington, PA; his MA in History from Virginia Tech; and his Ph.D. in History from Louisiana State University, where he worked under the direction of Professor William J. Cooper.

He is the author of President without a Party: The Life of John Tyler (LSU Press, 2020), a biography the Wall Street Journal praised as a “deeply researched, gracefully written reappraisal” of the tenth president.  Leahy has also published scholarly articles and essays on first ladies, including two he co-authored with his wife, Sharon Williams Leahy: “The Ladies of Tippecanoe, and Tyler Too, in A Companion to First Ladies (Wiley Blackwell, 2016) and “Reclamation of a First Lady: Julia Gardiner Tyler’s Pursuit of a Federal Government Pension,” in Southern First Ladies: Culture and Place in White House History (University Press of Kansas, 2020). Currently, he and Sharon Leahy are at work on a biography of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler, which is under contract with the University Press of Kansas.

An award-winning teacher, as well as a nationally recognized authority on the American presidency and first ladies, Leahy has appeared on C-SPAN and has been an invited participant in the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library Series on Presidential Biography.  He has also discussed his work on numerous podcasts.

Dr. Christopher J. Leahy is Professor of History at Keuka College, a liberal arts institution located in the Finger Lakes region of New York State.

He is the author of President without a Party: The Life of John Tyler (LSU Press, 2020), a biography the Wall Street Journal praised as a “deeply researched, gracefully written reappraisal” of the tenth president.  Leahy has also published scholarly articles and essays on first ladies, including two he co-authored with his wife, Sharon Williams Leahy.  Currently, he and Sharon are at work on a biography of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler, which is under contract with the University Press of Kansas.