The Presidential Companion: Readings on the First Ladies

Bringing together the work of notable historians, political scientists, and sociologists, The Presidential Companion: Readings on the First Ladies offers a collection of essays that demonstrate the political relevance of first ladies throughout U.S. history and the dramatic expansion of their power during the twentieth century. With a preface by Hillary Clinton’s former chief of staff, Melanne Verveer, this anthology fills a gap in scholarship about the position of first lady and reveals the political acumen and activism of a number of the unofficial office holders.

The contributors reveal how the office has grown in political influence, from Martha Washington's selection of furnishings for the presidential mansion to Hillary Rodham Clinton's leadership of the President's Task Force on National Health Care Reform. They offer chapters on presidential wives who have changed the nature of the office of first lady and who explore issues that have affected the first ladies’ use of the bully pulpit.

The Presidential Companion underscores the notion that an understanding of presidential spouses is central to the study of the American presidency. At the same time the volume dispels the myth that Eleanor Roosevelt and her successors have been the only presidential spouses to make significant public and political contributions to the nation.

This book features a series of essays authored by historians and political scientists on presidential spouses and the ever-evolving role of the first lady. Various essays focus on either a particular first lady or a group of first ladies who had a significant impact on how the office of the first lady was viewed and executed. One unifying theme centers on the expansion of traditional duties and expectations over the course of the past two centuries. Much significance is also attached to the level of personal and political intimacy shared between both effective and controversial first ladies and their husbands. Margaret Flanagan
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