From wives to stateswomen: The changing roles of the US First Ladies
Nancy Reagan was one of the most powerful women in the world. She, like all US First Ladies, had the ear of the President.
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At an impromptu press conference in 1984, President Ronald Reagan seemed bewildered by a question asking what he was doing about arms control. Standing nearby was his wife Nancy who said under her breath: “Just tell them you’re doing everything you can.”
To the world it looked like Nancy had prompted him, although she later feebly claimed that she was just talking to herself and the president overheard her. Clearly she was a woman that the president listened to.
When she graduated with a degree in English and drama from Smith College in 1943, one of her classmates was Betty Friedan, the influential feminist. While it seems that Nancy did the polar opposite by giving up a career to be a full-time wife and mother, in a sense her life as wife to a powerful man gave her more power and influence than Friedan.
Nancy Reagan’s death has brought many tributes for the former first lady, one of the most influential women to perform that role.
Although wives of the US president have long been known as the First Lady, that is not an official title. The First Lady has no set duties, so each woman who has ended up in the White House has had to make the role her own. Martha Washington, spouse of George, established some traditions after her husband was inaugurated as President in 1789. She took on the task of organising presidential functions and events and holding regular receptions.
Because state business was conducted in their private rented home in New York, Martha was often involved in political discussions. Taking her lead from the wives of European statesmen, she diligently filled her role saying: “I think I am more like a state prisoner than anything else, there is certain bounds set for me which I must not depart from ...” She was freed from those bonds in 1797 when Washington’s term ended. She died in 1802.
Abigail Adams, wife of President John Adams, benefited from Martha’s advice when she took over in 1797. Abigail became the first presidential wife in the White House, when the couple moved there in 1800. She also played an active role in policy and was sometimes called “Mrs President” by political opponents. Some time in the 1830s the term First Lady began to gain some currency. President Zachary Taylor used the term “First Lady” in a eulogy at the funeral of Dolley Madison, wife of President James Madison, in 1849. During her time as First Lady, Dolley saved a portrait of Washington from the White House before it was burnt down by the British in 1814. First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln had to staunchly support her husband Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War despite the fact that several members of her family were fighting for the Confederacy. She was also criticised for excessive spending on her clothes and on refurbishing the White House.
When her husband was assassinated in 1865, Congress voted her an annual pension of $3000, which she considered inadequate. The amount was raised to $5000 in 1881 and she died in 1882.
Eleanor Roosevelt remains one of the most respected and revered of First Ladies. When she took over in 1933 she was determined to be more than just a homemaker and hostess. She continued giving lectures, as she had before Roosevelt’s election, giving the money she earned to charity. She became a spokeswoman for many liberal causes, such as racism and gender equality, and made tours of the US giving reports to her husband. After her husband’s death in 1945 she became a UN delegate heading a commission on human rights. President John F. Kennedy appointed her chairman of a commission on the status of women. She died in 1962.
Kennedy’s wife Jackie was another high-profile First Lady who had a major influence on women’s fashion and style, wearing glamorous designer outfits, during her brief time in the role before her husband’s assassination in 1963.
Betty Ford, wife of the only president never to win an election as president or vice- president, became noted for her public battle with breast cancer, her support for freedom of choice for abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment.
After leaving the White House, Betty battled an addiction to prescription drugs and later co-founded the Betty Ford clinic to help others beat addiction. She died in 2011.
Nancy Reagan’s death leaves five surviving first ladies: Rosalynn Carter, wife of Jimmy; Barbara Bush, wife of George H.W.; Hillary Rodham Clinton, wife of Bill; Laura Bush, wife of George W; and Michelle Obama, wife of Barack.
Originally published as From wives to stateswomen: The changing roles of the US First Ladies
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