What in your background prepared you to write this book?

Harold I. Gullan: My study of the American presidency has included researching their families. In writing and researching my prior book, The Upset that Wasn't, I was struck by the extraordinarily close relationship between Harry Truman and his mother. She was his confidant, the repository of his hopes and dreams. Later, in writing an article about Dwight Eisenhower, I was similarly impressed by his mother's influence on him. Indeed, Ike reflected, speaking for his brothers as well as himself, "Mother was by far the greatest influence on our lives." I wondered how extensive this maternal inspiration was on the lives and aspirations of other presidents. Why are there so many books about first ladies and so few (if any) about presidential parents? Put simply, I wrote this book on this specific subject because I couldn't find any others still in print.

Tell us about the process of writing Faith of Our Mothers. How did you get your information about the mothers?

Harold I. Gullan: I did research at a number of presidential libraries, but most of all I read or re-read every biography available on every American president, their memoirs, and collections of their letters. It took about a solid year. Unfortunately, the literature is very limited as it relates to first mothers. Their role has been neglected not only by historians, but often even by the presidents themselves (including so copious a commentator as Thomas Jefferson). However, I found enough material about over thirty of these remarkable women to build a book and to evolve a theme.

You mention that you wrote this book about the faith of the mothers—both religious faith and faith in their sons. Did you start out with this purpose in mind or was it shaped in any way by your research and as you wrote?

Harold I. Gullan: I embarked on this enterprise essentially to write as extensive a book as possible on the mothers of our presidents. It turned however, into a voyage of discovery that I hope will be shared with the readers. Harry Truman once said, "The only new thing in the world is the history we don't know." I learned so much that was new to me—such as the compelling story of how Andrew Jackson's mother literally saved his life. The theme of faith just evolved. I never wanted to write merely an "anecdotal" book, but one with an underlying theme. I couldn't know what it would be at the outset. That virtually all these mothers had limitless faith in the potential of their sons is not surprising; the deep religious faith so many of the mothers shared, irrespective of denomination, was a revelation, however.

Which mother was the most difficult to research? Which mother provided an abundance of information?

Harold I. Gullan: It is difficult to understand why so little has been written on this subject in the past. About a dozen of the 43 first mothers (I even have a chapter called "The Missing Mothers of Virginia") are almost impossible to bring back to life—most of them from the nineteenth century. Fortunately, Abigail Adams left a legacy of letters. Mary Washington was the most perplexing to get a handle on. There is more documentation on the lives of most twentieth-century mothers, although it is largely in the context of others. I tried to evolve a more balanced portrait of Sara Delano Roosevelt, for example, so often viewed in the prism of her difficult relationship with her daughter-in-law, Eleanor. Fortunately, a great deal is known about the life of Barbara Bush. In the future there will be no paucity of information about our twenty-first century mothers—perhaps we will know too much.

Was there anything you learned about any of the mothers that you had to leave out or that you wish you had more time or resources to pursue?

Harold I. Gullan: I didn't want to write disproportionately, but there is, of course, a good deal more about the mother of John F. Kennedy, than, say, the mother of Millard Fillmore. To get every first mother into a book of manageable size, I didn't want to devote more than twenty pages on any one. Accordingly, some anecdotes were left out, but I hope not the essence of each woman.

Why did you write about all the mothers instead of focusing on a certain few?

Harold I. Gullan: I never had in mind writing about only a few or only the most recent presidential mothers, where information can be more easily obtained. There has not been a book on all of America's first mothers (to that date) in over thirty years, and only two in all of our history. If I could evolve a unifying theme, I wanted to discern just how pervasive it was, and is. The ongoing saga of American history is the thread; I wanted to construct as complete a cloth as possible and then, Lord willing, update it every four or eight years. A complete book was always the goal.

What do you hope readers will take away from Faith of Our Mothers?

Harold I. Gullan: One must hope that, particularly in these somber times, the inspiration these women provided their favored sons (and hopefully soon favored daughters as well) can be transposed to inspiring us all. There is comfort and solace in reflecting on the authentic heroism, overt or quiet, of so many of these women—many of whom would have been remarkable even had their sons not ascended to the presidency. Their stories, so long neglected, deserve to be appreciated by a wider audience. What they teach us is the timelessness of fortitude and faith. They can inspire us all and when better than now?

Would a book about first fathers be possible?

Harold I. Gullan: Absolutely. I hope someone is writing a "first fathers" now. There are too few flowers in this particular garden. So many presidential fathers are also impressive, but for a variety of reasons. Still, I believe that by and large our first mothers were more influential and more inspirational in firing the ambition of their sons who became president.