appointed as Secretary of War, rumors continued and Margaret Eaton was snubbed by other cabinet wives. Her honor was defended by President Andrew Jackson, and she became the subject of the Petticoat affair, in which the wives of cabinet members and other prominent Washingtonians refused to pay social calls on the Eatons and refused them invitations to parties and other events. Jackson tried unsuccessfully to coerce the cabinet wives into ending their snubbing of the Eatons. Vice President John C. Calhoun, whose wife, Floride Calhoun, was seen as the anti-Eaton ringleader, supported his wife. This caused Jackson to transfer his favor to widower Martin Van Buren, the Secretary of State, who had taken the Eatons' side and shown positive social attention to Margaret. Van Buren helped end the Petticoat Affair by resigning, which gave Jackson the ability to remove his anti-Eaton cabinet members. Calhoun was not renominated for vice president and resigned shortly before the end of his term to accept election to the U.S. Senate. Van Buren became vice president in 1833, and was well-placed to become Jackson's successor in 1837. Societal implications Historian John F. Marszalek explained his view of the real reasons Washington society found Margaret unacceptable: She did not know her place; she forthrightly spoke up about anything that came to her mind, even topics of which women were supposed to be ignorant. She thrust herself into the world in a manner inappropriate for a woman. ... Accept her, and society was in danger of disruption. Accept this uncouth, impure, forward, worldly woman, and the wall of virtue and morality would be breached and society would have no further defenses against the forces of frightening change. Margaret Eaton was not that important in herself; it was what she represented that constituted the threat. Proper women had no choice; they had to prevent her acceptance into society as part of their defense of that society's morality. Author Jon Meacham points out that Margaret Eaton's life was unusual for its time. She was, according to Meacham "by her own account ... an outgoing flirt" – her tongue was "ungoverned, and ungovernable." He also points out that she craved attention: "At various points in her life she was courted by an adjutant general, a major and a captain – which delighted her." In a memoir published long after her death, Margaret admitted to the accuracy of some of the