First Ladies Vol I

First Ladies Vol I PDF Author: Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Publisher: Harper Perennial
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 694

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First Ladies Vol I

First Ladies Vol I PDF Author: Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Publisher: Harper Perennial
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 694

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Book Description
Publisher Description

The Presidents' Wives

The Presidents' Wives PDF Author: Robert P. Watson
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ISBN: 9781555879488
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Traces the development of the First Lady's role from obscurity into an influential force in politics, complete with office, staff and budgetary resources to rival those of key presidential advisors. The author also explores the paradoxes surrounding activism in the office.

Wives of the American Presidents, 2d ed.

Wives of the American Presidents, 2d ed. PDF Author: Carole Chandler Waldrup
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476605165
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Their personalities often set the tone for Washington society, from Julia Tyler's open hospitality to Sarah Polk's somber religious devotion. Some, like Abigail Adams, had little formal schooling. Others, such as Pat Nixon and Hillary Clinton, earned college degrees. There were those who outlived their spouses as well as women who died before seeing their husbands realize their presidential dreams. In spite of differing circumstances, these presidential wives influenced--sometimes overtly and often inadvertently--everything from domestic political agendas to foreign policy through their relationships with their husbands. This book discusses the lives and circumstances of the women who have been married to an American president. It emphasizes the relationship each wife had with her husband and the ways in which this contributed to the success or failure of his presidency. Details include birthplace, upbringing, political viewpoints and final resting place. Chapters are also included on women such as Hannah Van Buren and Jane Wyman, who although married to men who eventually became president, never became first lady.

Presidential Wives

Presidential Wives PDF Author: Paul F. Boller
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780195121421
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 568

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Book Description
At once funny and poignant, dramatic and illuminating, this anecdotal history covers every First Lady from Martha Washington to Hillary Rodham Clinton. "A marvelously entertaining work".--"Newsday".

My Dear President

My Dear President PDF Author: Gerard W. Gawalt
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal
ISBN: 1603763120
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
"I am very madly in love with you," wrote Lyndon Johnson to his future wife, Bird Taylor. James Madison sent off this plaintive line to his wife Dolley: "Every thing around and within reminds me that you are absent." In this inspiring collection of correspondence between U.S. presidents and their wives are hundreds of unguarded moments of affection, strain, grief, and triumph, revealing as never before the private thoughts and working partnerships of our most public figures. Culled from the holdings of the Library of Congress and various presidential libraries and private collections, it is the most comprehensive compilation of its kind ever put together. More than half of the letters included here have never before been published, making this a historic as well as a heartfelt volume that casts a warm, new light on our leaders at their most open-hearted and vulnerable. Gerard Gawalt, a curator of presidential papers at the Library of Congress for the past thirty years, has divided the book thematically into such topics as love, war, politics, travel, and sorrow. Each letter appears in its entirety, with the original spelling and grammar intact, and is set in historic context for a full sense of the moment that formed its backdrop. In most cases, exchanges are included, forming an enlightening dialogue between husband and wife. Throughout, historic photographs and artwork from the Library of Congress's collection enhance the text. Like its companion volume, First Daughters, My Dear President is bound to become a cherished gift for all those interested in American history for years to come.

First Ladies

First Ladies PDF Author: Margaret Truman
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 030742054X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
“Fascinating . . . First Ladies is a wonderfully generous look at the women who, often against their wishes, took on what Truman calls ‘the world's second toughest job.’”—The Christian Science Monitor Whether they envision their role as protector, partner, advisor, or scold, First Ladies find themselves in a job that is impossible to define, and just as difficult to perform. Now Margaret Truman, daughter of President Harry Truman and an acclaimed novelist and biographer in her own right, explores the fascinating position of First Lady throughout history and up to the present day. With her unique perspective as the daughter of a First Lady, Ms. Truman reveals the truth behind some of the most misunderstood and forgotten First Ladies of our history, as well as the most famous and beloved. In recounting the charm and courage of Dolley Madison, the brazen ambition of Florence Harding, the calm, good sense of Grace Coolidge, the genius of Eleanor Roosevelt, the mysterious femininity of Jackie Kennedy, and the fierce protectiveness of Nancy Reagan, among others, Margaret Truman has assembled an honest yet affectionate portrait of our nation’s First Ladies—one that freely acknowledges their virtues and their flaws.

First Ladies and the Fourth Estate

First Ladies and the Fourth Estate PDF Author: Lisa M. Burns
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Through press coverage, U.S. first ladies have become some of the most prominent and recognized figures in American politics. While the U.S. Constitution doesn't enumerate the responsibilities of the first lady, a succession of dynamic women, beginning with Martha Washington, have shaped this post into a highly visible public office. First ladies have performed a variety of public and private roles, from hostess, escort, and social advocate to advisor and policymaker. The gendered nature of the position, however, has always influenced first ladies' performance as they balanced their institutional duties with high expectations from the press and the public that they serve as role models for American women. In First Ladies and the Fourth Estate, Burns analyzes the coverage of presidents' wives in five leading newspapers and magazines--The New York Times, The Washington Post, Ladies' Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, and McCall's--to prove that the press has helped shape the first lady institution as well as influence the changing social and political roles of American women. By examining press portrayals of twentieth-century first ladies, Burns highlights the intersection of gender, publicity, and power at particular historical moments. Through the years, journalists have used both the gender ideals of the time and the collective memories of previous first ladies to assess the performance of the president's wife. The first lady has emerged as a celebrity, an advocate for humanitarian causes, and, in more recent years, a political activist. Burns argues that this evolution of the first lady institution--from the "new woman" of the early 1900s to the "new traditionalist" and "superwoman" of the 1990s, and from the domesticity of the Cold War to the activism of second wave feminism--spurred increasingly critical press coverage as the presidential wives expanded their sphere of influence from the personal to the political. The interdisciplinary approach of this study reveals the significance of the first lady institution not only to women's history and gender studies but also to the study of U.S. history, the American presidency, political communication, rhetorical criticism, and media history.

The Politics of the President's Wife

The Politics of the President's Wife PDF Author: MaryAnne Borrelli
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 160344422X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
As the West Wing has grown in power and organizational complexity during the modern presidency, so has the East Wing, office home to the First Lady of the United States. This groundbreaking work by MaryAnne Borrelli offers both theoretical and substantive insight into behind-the-scenes developments from the time of Lou Henry Hoover to the unfolding tenure of Michelle Robinson Obama. Political scientists and historians have recognized the personal influence the First Lady can exercise with her husband, and they have noted the moral, ethical, and sometimes policy leadership certain presidents’ wives have offered. Nonetheless, scholars and commentators alike have treated the personal relationship and the professional relationship as overlapping. Borrelli offers a compelling counter-perspective: that the president’s wife exercises power intrinsic to her role within the administration. Like others within the presidency, she has sometimes presented the president’s views to constituents and sometimes presented constituents’ views to the president, thus taking on a representative function within the system. In mediating president-constituent relationships, she has given a historical and social frame to the presidency that has enhanced its symbolic representation; she has served as a gender role model, enriching descriptive representation in the executive branch; and she has participated in policy initiatives to strengthen an administration’s substantive representation. These contributions have been controversial, as might be predicted for a gender outsider, but they have unquestionably made the First Lady a representative of and to the president and, by extension, the president’s administration.

First Ladies

First Ladies PDF Author: Susan Swain
Publisher: Public Affairs
ISBN: 1610395662
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 498

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Book Description
A look inside the personal life of every first lady in American history, based on original interviews with major historians C-SPAN’s yearlong history series, First Ladies: Influence and Image, featured interviews with more than fifty preeminent historians and biographers. In this informative book, these experts paint intimate portraits of all forty-five first ladies—their lives, ambitions, and unique partnerships with their presidential spouses. Susan Swain and the C-SPAN team elicit the details that made these women who they were: how Martha Washington intentionally set the standards followed by first ladies for the next century; how Edith Wilson was complicit in the cover-up when President Wilson became incapacitated after a stroke; and how Mamie Eisenhower used the new medium of television to reinforce her, and her husband’s, positive public images. This book provides an up-close historical look at these fascinating women who survived the scrutiny of the White House, sometimes at great personal cost, while supporting their families and famous husbands—and sometimes changing history. Complete with illustrations and essential biographical details, it is an illuminating, entertaining, and ultimately inspiring read.

Affairs of State

Affairs of State PDF Author: Robert P. Watson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 1442218363
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 502

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Book Description
In recent years, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Eliot Spitzer, John Edwards, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, and countless other politicians have made headlines for their sexual scandals. But such stories are not new. Indeed, there is a long history of misbehavior in politics, including in the nation’s highest office. Bill Clinton, it can safely be said, was not the first president to misbehave, nor was he the worst. In fact, there is a long history of presidential peccadilloes. Many presidents have been influenced and had their careers affected by the hand of a woman, sometimes that of a wife or mother, but at other times that of a mistress. But these stories are rarely told. Instead, history has tended to glorify our leaders. Such a scrubbed version of the lives of presidents, however, omits their marital woes, love lives, and sexual peccadilloes. As Robert P. Watson reveals, it is precisely these intimate and all-too-human moments that provide some of the most valuable insights into our leaders. Affairs of State is not just about sex and scandal—the “who did it” of history—although such incidents are described in detail. It is a book about love, marriage, and affairs in the White House, offering an intimate character study of the First Couples who made history. To see the author discuss his book on Inside South Florida, please click here. To see him discuss the book on C-SPAN, please click here.