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

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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 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.

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.

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

The Presidents' Wives

The Presidents' Wives PDF Author: Robert P. Watson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781626378766
Category : Presidents' spouses
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Robert 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.

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.

The Political Role of the First Lady in the Twentieth Century

The Political Role of the First Lady in the Twentieth Century PDF Author: Kirsten Kuptz
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638264122
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 30

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: USA, grade: A, Johns Hopkins University (-), language: English, abstract: The president of the United States is in the center of the American political system. Accordingly, this institution, its development, its position within polity, and its incumbents have been and still are subject of scrutiny in the field of political science. While a myriad of scholars studied the U.S. presidency, the ‘office’1 of the First Lady has remained widely omitted from consideration until the 1980s. Since then, this general neglect was remedied in that several political scientists began to pay attention to the outstanding role of the presidential spouse which obviously holds an enormous potential of power. Being the person closest to the most powerful man in the United States or rather the world, the First Lady can exert momentous influence on her husband and, therefore, public policy. As the presidency itself, the institution of the First Ladyship has considerably changed during American history. While until the first decade of the twentieth century the presidential wife’s role was largely limited to hostess and ceremonial functions, her scope of responsibilities and duties has tremendously extended since then. However, as the First Lady is neither an elected nor an appointed member of the White House, and the Constitution remains silent about her office, it is largely shaped and defined by its respective occupant. Consequently, the institution of the First Ladyship to be found today does result not only from changing societal and political developments and public expectations, but also to a high degree from the way presidential wives have carried out their office. With the emergence of a more active First Ladyship, presidential spouses were confronted with growing criticism on the part of feminists as well as traditionalists who disapproved their ‘illegitimate exercise’ of power. Yet it is not clear in how far First Lady can influence American politics and to what degree they actually make use of their power. This paper tries to examine these questions, focusing on the potential of political influence the office of the First Lady contains. Since the major changes of the First Ladyship took place during the twentieth century, the scope of this paper is limited to this time period. [...] 1 Although the First Ladyship is strictly speaking no office, at least no formal one, for the sake of simplicity and legibility, in the remainder of this paper it is referred to as ‘office’.

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

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 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.