here. here in williamsburg they're situated at the center of the town. the courthouse is right across the street near all of the markets, near all of the shops that up and down the street. this is short of the beating heart of williamsburgs. all of the political activity, the social activity, they're really living the center of it in this fantastic 18th century house that they were living in as john tyler is resurrecting his political career. they have they moved here when le tisha was running the household. she was running their various plantations. right here she suffered a stroke in 1839. that partly paralyzed her. although she was still able to retain control of the family account, of all the family business while john tyler was getting back involved in politics. it's right here in this space that john tyler learned that he was elected vice president to william henry harrison. it's also here in the spring of 1841 where he was informed that he became 10th president of the united states. it was here that le tisha tyler learned that she became the first lady of the united stat

lady letitia tyler raised their family and manage their plantation from williamsburg. tyler resigned from the united states senate. him and his wife and their family moved here to williamsburg to establish his law practice. officetructed his law and his laundry. the house but they lived in is no longer here. it is perfectly situated at the .enter of the town to the is right across the street. this is the beating heart of williamsburg even in the 1830's. all the social activity, they are really living at the center of it in this fantastic 18th- century house. after they moved here, when letitia is running the going to behe is operating out of a house. she is running their various plantations all over the place. 1839.ffered a stroke and she is still able to retain control of the family at counts, of all the family business while john tyler was getting back involved. he went to was elected as vice president. it is here in the spring of 1841 when he was informed that he became 10 president of the united states. letitia tyler learned that she became the first lady of the united s

program, taylor sturmer, a historian for colonial williamsburg. welcome to the conversation. the election.ut anybody who thinks there is hard knuckle politics today, look at the election of 1884 that brought grover cleveland into the white house. pretty rough stuff. what was it like? guest: politics is brutal. we do think about earlier elections in american history in which they are taking swings at each other like jefferson and , but in 1800 election politics in 1880s, with the growth of the newspapers, is personal, visceral, and because of the way political parties developed, they are able to take these swipes at each other that we would find surprising today. in 1884, all of these things are coming out in 1884 election because you have two candidates who could not be more different. you have grover cleveland on the -- he hasho had been very little political experience of this sort. he was mayor of buffalo in 1881, elected governor of new york in two years later, he is the democratic nominee for president. that is all the major political experience he has. he has developed a re