SWE - Spring 2009 - (Page 18)

negative coverage when she violates our gendered expectations of how a first lady should act, and which gender should be president of the United States.” The media operate by creating narratives, which inevitably get blurry and distorted, said Carl Anthony, author of the two-volume First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents’ Wives and Their Power and America’s First Families, as well as books about Florence Harding and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. “Here’s the media narrative about Hillary Clinton,” he said. “She pushed for health-care reform and failed. Then she baked cookies and survived the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Then she won a Senate seat, ran for president, and became secretary of state.” For Nancy Reagan the narrative was, she was “Queen Nancy” in the White House, but Ronald Reagan’s compassionate caregiver afterward. Laura Bush was typecast as “the timid librarian,” despite the fact that (admittedly late in George W. Bush’s second term) she successfully opposed pressure on the president from Vice President Dick Cheney not to approve the ocean protection plan. Of course, these oversimplifications leave out almost everything. “History is a reality check on the popular narrative promoted by the media,” Anthony said. Arbitrary notions of what “makes good copy” can also trivialize or obscure the achievements of the first ladies, said Anthony. He cites Rosalynn Carter’s work as head of the THE NFLL Time for a Name Change Between 1789, when George Washington was inaugurated, and the early 1800s, the young U.S. democracy struggled to throw off the trappings of royalty and to define national leadership in a new way. Washington refused to be named “King,” so if his wife, Martha, could not be called “Queen,” what should she be called? Martha Washington was known as Lady Washington; Abigail Adams was referred to as Mrs. President or Her Majesty; Dolley Madison was sometimes called Lady Presidentress; and Harriet Lane, stand-in first lady for President James Buchanan, was called the Democratic Queen. Most of these monikers fell into disuse with the rise of Jacksonian democracy and greater participation in politics by frontiersmen and men of humbler beginnings. A suitable title, one that fit a growing democracy, was needed. The phrase “first lady” is said to have emerged (there are conflicting accounts) at an appropriately momentous occasion: the funeral of Dolley Madison in Washington, D.C., on July 16, 1849. Dolley Madison had been an extremely popular first lady and a revered public figure. In his eulogy, President Zachary Taylor said, “She will never be forgotten, because she was truly our first lady for half a century.” Although the title was used sporadically in following decades, it didn’t stick until the late 1870s. A play about Dolley Madison, “The First Lady of the Land,” produced in 1911 and revived in 1935, popularized the title. Jackie Kennedy disliked being called first lady, saying the title “always reminded me of a saddle horse.” She asked the White House staff to call her Mrs. Kennedy. Rosalynn Carter didn’t like it either and asked to be called Rosalynn. No women of importance or influence in the United States except wives of presidents are known by the oddly anachronistic title “lady.” We will be forced to face this dilemma when we elect our first woman president. The historian Robert P. Watson, among others, suggests we call the husband or wife of the U.S. president the presidential spouse. Other titles under consideration are first spouse, presidential partner, and presidential mate. In addition to housing the extensive collections of the National First Ladies’ Library, the Education and Research Center provides a venue for author lectures and presentations. Presidential Commission on Mental Health. Unfortunately, the same day the commission’s report was released, it was announced that President and Mrs. Carter would no longer be serving hard liquor in the White House. Although this decision was made only to cut household expenses (wine and beer continued to be served), and had nothing to do with the Carters’ religious beliefs, it was considered the “juicier” story, and coverage of the White House ban on booze eclipsed release of the mental health reform report. Working within limitations Of course, the first lady’s agenda is not entirely up to her; she must work within a basic structure. Much depends on the kind of partnership she has forged with the president. Barbara Bush was clear from the outset that she would play a supportive role, running the White House, overseeing her husband’s well-being, and advocating for literacy. Rosalynn Carter and Hillary Clinton, 18 SWE SPRING 2009

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SWE - Spring 2009

SWE - Spring 2009 Heritage Club Contents President's Note View from the Executive Suite Editor’s Page Honoring Women’s History Public Policy Update First Lady: The “Second-Hardest Job in America” Bringing Science and Engineering into Public Policy At the Intersection of Engineering and Public Policy From Research to Reality Coffee Table Dialogues Membership Information & Calendar A&B Winning Essays from the Lava Lounge Engineering World: Issues • Events • Technology • People Point of View: Your Role in Public Policy Career Toolbox: Communicating with Congress; Finding Your Voice Corporate Partnership Council Media Shelf: Women’s History Opportunity Index SWE Scrapbook: Dressed for Success

SWE - Spring 2009

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