First Ladies - Softcover

Caroli, Betty Boyd

Softcover

ISBN 10: 019505654X ISBN 13: 9780195056549

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1988

Synopsis

Today women dream of being president, yet in earlier generations women dreamed of being the president's wife. First Ladies tells the story of those women and of the evolution of their role from ceremonial backdrop to substantive world figure.
Covering all thirty-six women from Martha Washington to Nancy Reagan and including the daughters, daughters-in-law, and sisters of presidents who sometimes served as First Ladies, Betty Boyd Caroli explores the background, marriage, and accomplishments and failures in office of each woman. This remarkably diverse lot included Abigail Adams, whose "remember the ladies" became a twentieth-century feminist refrain; Edith Wilson, who alone controlled access to the President when he suffered a stroke; Jane Pierce, who prayed her husband would lose the election; Helen Taft, who insisted on living in the White House, although her husband would have preferred a judgeship; and Pat Nixon, who perfected what some have called "the robot image." They ranged in age from early 20's to late 60's; some received superb educations for their time, while others had little or no schooling. Including the courageous and adventurous, the emotionally unstable, the ambitious, and the reserved, these women often did not fit the traditional expectations of a presidential helpmate.
Depicting how these women used the "magic wand" given to them, Caroli reveals not only how each First Lady changed the role, but also how the role changed in response to American culture. Because of their position, these women left remarkably complete records, and their stories offer us an insider's view not only of their lives as holders of what sociologists now call "derivative power," but also of the history of American women in general.

About this title

About the Author

About the Author:
Betty Boyd Caroli is Professor of History at Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York and co-author of Today's Immigrants, Their Stories.

From Library Journal

Being First Lady is probably the hardest unpaid job in the United States. The thirty-six First Ladies (some of them daughters or other relatives) have been a highly varied group. Three have married an incumbent President; three have died in office. Caroli takes a look at each of them and their effect on the job, and also examines the ways the role of First Lady has changed over the years as American society and public expectations have changed. A ranking of the First Ladies by historians is included. Though not intended to be an in-depth study of either the First Ladies or the institution, this is an interesting and thoughtful overview that will appeal to a variety of readers. Nancy C. Cridland, Indiana Univ. Libs., Bloomington
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 019505654X
• ISBN 13: 9780195056549
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 428