First Ladies and American Women: In Politics and at Home

by Jill Abraham Hummer

Overview

Unelected, but expected to act as befits her “office,” the first lady has what Pat Nixon called “the hardest unpaid job in the world.” Michelle Obama championed military families with the program Joining Forces. Four decades earlier Pat Nixon traveled to Africa as the nation’s official representative. And nearly four decades before that, Lou Hoover took to the airwaves to solicit women's help in unemployment relief. Each first lady has, in her way, been intimately linked with the roles, rights, and responsibilities of American women. Pursuing this connection, First Ladies and American Women reveals how each first lady from Lou Henry Hoover to Michelle Obama has reflected and responded to trends that marked and unified her time.

Jill Abraham Hummer divides her narrative into three distinct epochs. In the first, stretching from Lou Hoover to Jacqueline Kennedy, we see the advent of women's involvement in politics following women’s suffrage, as well as pressures on family stability during depression, war, and postwar uncertainty. Next comes the second wave of the feminist movement, from Lady Bird Johnson’s tenure through Rosalyn Carter’s, when equality and the politics of the personal issues prevailed. And finally we enter the charged political and partisan environment over women’s rights and the politics of motherhood in the wake of the conservative backlash against feminism after 1980, from Nancy Reagan to Michelle Obama.

Throughout, Hummer explores how background, personality, ambitions, and her relationship to the president shaped each first lady's response to women in society and to the broader political context in which each administration functioned—and how, in turn, these singular responses reflect the changing role of women in American society over nearly a century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700623808
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	03/17/2017
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Jill Abraham Hummer is associate professor of political science at Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Political Science Education, White House Studies, Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court, The Hill newspaper, and other publications.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

After Suffrage

1. Women’s Citizenship

2. The Stable Society

The Second Wave

3. Equality

4. The Personal Is Political

After 1980

5. Women’s Rights and Human Rights

6. Motherhood and Family Politics

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliographic Essay

Index

Editorial Reviews

"Hummer skillfully illustrates how first lady advocacy has paralleled both national and personal interest, as well as the particular needs of an administration. Those interested in the first lady, women’s activism, or the the influences on modern American womanhood will find this account informative and rich with historical detail."—Political Science Quarterly

"Hummer’s research yields a detailed accounting of first ladies’ public activities and the ways in which their choices and experiences reflected changing expectations for US women in general."—H-Net Reviews

"First Ladies and American Women looks at the various public activities of the First Ladies—the breadth of which may surprise the reader—within the construct of the post-suffrage Women’s Movement. Placing the stories of the First Ladies within the context of Second and Third Wave Feminism is a unique approach to East Wing Studies; an approach that is way overdue. Abraham Hummer augments this structure with clear, crisp writing, and with an eye for the perfect anecdote. A welcome addition to the growing scholarship on the impact of our First Ladies, as well as a fascinating read.”—John Robert Greene, author of Betty Ford: Candor and Courage in the White House

"First Ladies and American Women: In Politics and At Home provides a well-written, thoughtful, and engaging examination of the modern first ladies as political actors in the public and the private spheres. Richly contextualized and relying almost exclusively on documents drawn from the presidential archives, this volume reveals the political calculations and personal judgments that have shaped first ladies’ actions as members of presidential administrations, as wives of the presidents, and as representatives of American women. First Ladies and American Women presents strong and sometimes controversial arguments that are certain to inform and challenge the reader."—MaryAnne Borrelli, author of The Politics of the President’s Wife

"A well-researched and provocative study of the interaction between first ladies and their political cultures from Lou Henry Hoover to Michelle Obama. A must for libraries that want to be current about presidential spouses."—Lewis L. Gould, author of The First Modern Clash over Federal Power: Wilson versus Hughes in the Presidential Election of 1916

From the Publisher

★ 03/01/2017
There is an unelected office in the United States that receives just as much scrutiny, if not more, than many elected offices--first lady. Hummer (political science, Wilson Coll., PA) draws from her experience as a political writer for The Hill and the Journal of Political Science Education, among other publications, to delve deep into the lives of prominent wives of the presidents, from Lou Henry Hoover to Michelle Obama. The author details their public personas, their actions during presidential campaigns, and the social causes they championed. By dividing the book into three sections, Hummer is able to provide an informative analysis of these varied aspects without slowing the pace of the narrative. Covering much of the 20th century, the work touches on notable first ladies such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Jacqueline Kennedy. By profiling each figure separately, the author successfully provides a solid perspective on who these women are and how they felt about the position they held. VERDICT Readers interested in presidential history will enjoy this look at the underrated but important role these women played in the rise of this country's most powerful leaders.--Rebecca Kluberdanz, New York P.L.

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