Are you wasting your money on flubdubs?

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Are you wasting your money on flubdubs?

Abraham Lincoln thought his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. was wasting government issued household money on flubdubs.

The etymology of the word seems to be unknown. The most common use seemed to have meant a buffoon.

But Lincoln apparently extended the meaning to include unnecessary gewgaws for the White House. That would include many items needed to redecorate the place, which had grown kind of disgusting over the years because people's idea of acceptable behavior included spitting chewing tobacco juice on the rugs, not using ashtrays, and using the tablecloth and upholstery to wipe their hands and face after a greasy meal.

So Mary bought rugs, linens, curtains, paint for the walls, etc. This might have been more understandable if the country was not in the midst of the Civil War, where getting blankets and food to the soldiers was a problem. But it drove Abraham to distraction to think of the White House getting a new rug when Union soldiers who were sleeping in muddy ditches may not have a blanket.

(Like just about everything I learn about history, there are conflicting opinions on Mary Lincoln. I call it the "fog of history". For every historical publication  that says "A",  there are equally well documented studies that say "B" and "C". I don't know, or imagine I can know, the absolute Truth on any of these things. I just like talking about them.)

Was she a crazy shopaholic, actually illegally cooking the accounting books to filch more money for her outrageously expensive cashmere shawls and fancy china, or was she simply aware of the importance of the seat of Federal power and wanted it to appear properly clean and appointed?

Did she need dozens of white lambskin gloves because she was like Imelda Marcos buying shoes, or did she need them to perform her duties as a hostess, shaking thousands of hands and changing gloves when they became soiled and unsightly?

The terrible cost of the war was grinding Lincoln down mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The incomprehensible numbers of dead and maimed, the pain and suffering of the wounded who were not getting adequate medical care even by the standards of the day, and the budget with debt mounting by the day. The very last thing on his mind was the task of decorating the White House.

But Mary, left alone day after day as her husband struggled with every aspect of the war, did have the household and State functions on her mind, as well as standing up to the scrutiny that every First Lady is under. She focused on fixing things up and looking the part of the President's wife. Maybe she over did it, maybe not. But it's understandable how she felt.

As the NY Times succinctly put it:

"Maligned as a Southern sympathizer, and suffering mental strain that ultimately led to her institutionalization, she infuriated her husband by her obsession with finery acquired at public expense. ''Flub-dubs!'' President Lincoln once shouted when presented with a list of expenses for mansion furnishings and dresses."

Never, he said, would he ask Congress for an appropriation "for flub dubs for that damned old house!" "It would stink in the land to have it said that an appropriation of $20,000 for furnishing the house had been over run by the president when the poor freezing soldiers could not have blankets."

He offered to pay for the extra expenses out of his own pockets, but eventually had to back down and get two deficiency appropriations to cover rehabilitating the White House.

It was a terrible, soul wrenching time for this country, and not a time for frivolity. But Mary Lincoln could distract herself from her loneliness, her grief, and her insecurities for a little while by shopping for flubdubs.

These days we jokingly call it "Retail Therapy".



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