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.

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

Get Book

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.

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.

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".

The Presidents' Wives

The Presidents' Wives PDF Author: Robert P. Watson
Publisher: Lynne Rienner Pub
ISBN: 9781626371620
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Robert P. Watson¿s groundbreaking study on the presidents¿ wives proved that the first lady can be an influential force in presidential politics and is a subject worthy of scholarly attention. Now, this fully revised second edition incorporates the first ladyships of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama in each chapter. The new edition also includes a decade-and-a-half of new research on public opinion, the growth and political development of the East Wing, and the issue of first lady character.

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
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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.

First Ladies

First Ladies PDF Author: Edith Mayo
Publisher: Scala Books
ISBN: 9781857593365
Category : President's spouses
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Since the time of Martha Washington, America's First Ladies have fascinated the nation. Unelected and

Affairs of State

Affairs of State PDF Author: Robert P. Watson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442218347
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 501

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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.

The President's Wife

The President's Wife PDF Author: Hannah Stevens
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780975930304
Category : Elections
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Presidents Wife is a contemporary story about a fictional first lady who vehemently disagrees with her husbands policies, both foreign and domestic. She makes the courageous decision to separate herself from him and ultimately divorce him changing her life dramatically. In an election year this does not sit well with her husband and his closest advisors, the most powerful people in power in Washington. They take measures to prevent her from ruining the election, and in doing so alert her only son to her plight. He comes to her rescue, torn between his devotion to his father and love for his mother, and the international chase is on with FBI and the CIA in pursuit using every high tech means available. This is a story that will appeal to anyone who is interested in the politics of Washington and the 2004 election, and that will be almost everyone.

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.