Jane Hadley Barkley
Elizabeth Jane Rucker Hadley Barkley (September 23, 1911 – September 6, 1964, known as Jane Hadley Barkley) was second lady of the United States from 1949 to 1953. She was the second wife of Vice President Alben W. Barkley.
Jane Hadley Barkley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Second Lady of the United States | |
| In role November 18, 1949 – January 20, 1953 | |
| Vice President | Alben W. Barkley |
| Preceded by | Bess Truman |
| Succeeded by | Pat Nixon |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Elizabeth Jane Rucker September 23, 1911 Keytesville, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | September 6, 1956 (aged 44) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Carleton Hadley (1931-1944, his death; 2 children) Alben W. Barkley (1949-1956, his death) |
Early life
Barkley was born in Keytesville, Missouri. Her father was a lawyer. Her mother was a pianist who had studied in Europe. She married her first husband, Carleton Hadley, in 1931. She met him at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He became a prominent railroad attorney. They had two daughters. He died in 1944 at the age of 42.
Marriage to Alben Barkley
She married Vice President Alben Barkley, a widower, on November 18, 1949. She was his second wife, and he was her second husband.[1][2] He was 71 and she was 37. Barkley's first wife Dorothy had died in 1947. Until her courtship with Barkley, Jane Rucker Hadley had been a devoted Republican. In 1940, Mrs. Hadley was working in the St. Louis office of Grand Old Party presidential nominee Wendell Willkie. When her milkman said his favorite president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, she left a note saying, "No Willkie, no milkie".
Death
After Barkley's death, Jane Barkley started work as a secretary at George Washington University. Mrs. Barkley published a memoir in 1954 with Vanguard publishers of New York. It was called I Married the Veep. When she died in 1956 from a heart attack, she was still working at the university.[3]