First Ladies For Dummies. Marcus A. Stadelmann, PhD
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Defining a First Lady
Most of the 47 First Ladies in this book are famous because of the men they married. However, most First Ladies also impacted their husband’s lives and directly and indirectly made significant contributions to U.S. history. From Martha Washington (Chapter 3) traveling with the Continental Army and improving soldiers’ morale to Mary Todd Lincoln (Chapter 9) encouraging her husband to run for political office, in turn saving the Union, to Helen Taft (Chapter 12) pushing her husband to become president, American history wouldn’t have been the same without the country’s First Ladies.
Until recently, it was believed that First Ladies mattered and held their jobs only because their husbands had become president. That is true by definition but doesn’t explain the whole story. Many claim that First Ladies owe their space in history to the men they married and that they didn’t contribute much to the history and evolution of the United States. For them, First Ladies were basically footnotes in history. This is clearly wrong.
FINANCIAL RAMIFICATIONS OF BEING FIRST LADY
Early on, the positions of President and First Lady imposed financial hardships. Presidents and First Ladies had to use their own resources to furnish the White House and to host dinners and parties. The amount of money Congress appropriated for these functions wasn’t enough, and to top it off, the job of president wasn’t compensated well, and the First Lady received no compensation at all. And, of course, after retirement, neither the president nor First Lady received a pension. This would not change until pensions for ex-presidents were approved in the 1950s, and presidents started receiving a comfortable salary beginning in 1969, when President Nixon received salary of $200,000.
Therefore, the job of First Lady involved personal sacrifices, and often a price, usually economic or even health-wise, had to be paid. Unlike today, when presidents and their wives make millions after they retire, usually by writing their memoirs and/or giving speeches, back then, being president could bankrupt a family. Early presidents and First Ladies left the White House often poorer than when they entered it. Dolley Madison, for example, was broke at the end of her life, and people left money in her house whenever she invited them over.
Not surprisingly, many First Ladies were quite upset when they found out their husbands had won the presidential elections and didn’t celebrate but withdrew from the functions expected of a First Lady. Instead, they had their daughters or nieces take their place. Other First Ladies, like Sarah Polk, became penny pinchers and tried to run the White House the cheapest way possible.
Studies show that many First Ladies mattered more than people thought. They helped out with finances, managing family farms, teaching school, or working after getting married so that their husband could enter politics. In addition, most First Ladies came from social and economic backgrounds superior to the men they married. Without their contributions, their husbands couldn’t have become presidents. Many First Ladies were even familiar with politics and had early exposure to politics through a father, a grandfather, or an uncle. Helen Taft, for example, decided to pursue a career in politics through her husband. Her father and grandfather had served in Congress, and she enjoyed the campaign for political office. This allowed her to give advice and help advance her husband’s political career. Without her, there would have been no President Taft. (See Chapter 12 for her full story.)
It took quite some time to discover how important First Ladies actually were in the history of the U.S. The reason is that most early First Ladies, such as Martha Washington, didn’t leave a lot of information for historians to study. Many burned all their correspondence with their husbands and friends that contained much information. The few who didn’t, like Abigail Adams, left historians with a plethora of information and provided a picture of the time they lived in and information on their job as First Lady and how they contributed to their husband’s career and successes.
This started to change, however, after the Civil War. First Ladies started leaving more information to be studied. In fact, Julia Grant, Helen Taft, and Edith Wilson all wrote their memoirs, giving us a lot of information on the role of First Lady and the gradual changes the office undertook.
Most First Ladies accomplished great things, often before becoming First Lady. Here are some examples:
Elizabeth Monroe single-handedly saved the wife of the American war hero the Marquis de Lafayette in Paris during the French Revolution. See Chapter 5.
Louisa Adams traveled by herself with a young child during the wintertime from Russia to France during the Napoleonic wars. See Chapter 5.
Lou Hoover, who was in China during the Boxer Rebellion, carried a gun and got involved in shoot-outs. See Chapter 13.
Powers of the First Lady
The position of First Lady isn’t mentioned in the Constitution. However, the position soon became attached to the presidency and received some informal powers.
For this reason, the position of First Lady has considerable power today, and the First Lady has become one of the most powerful persons in Washington, D.C. From Betty Ford (see Chapter 16) who encouraged her husband to pardon President Nixon to Hillary Clinton who was put in charge of reforming healthcare in the United States, First Ladies have shown that they matter and can impact policy making.
Assuming head of state roles
The Constitution provides a president with two jobs. First, there’s the head of state position; and second, there’s the head of government position. The first is ceremonial and doesn’t matter that much; therefore, presidents have given ceremonial powers to First Ladies. Martha Washington attended church on her husband’s behalf (see Chapter 3); Nancy Reagan was the president’s stand-in after the assassination attempt on her husband (see Chapter 17); and Lady Bird Johnson represented for her husband campaigning in the South (see Chapter 16).
Having unseen powers
In the first years of the republic, First Ladies were mostly concerned with their hostess role and arranging social events. They further oversaw renovations of the White House. While many dismiss these functions as irrelevant, they had very political undertones. Every teatime, soiree, and formal dinner can be used politically, as Louisa Adams showed in 1825, when during a soiree the night before Congress picked her husband as the new president, she convinced several Congressmen