Source material: toward the study of the first lady: the state of scholarship. (Features).

Watson, Robert P.

I hope that someday someone will take the time to evaluate the true role of the wife of a president, and to assess the many burdens she has to bear and the contributions she makes.

--Harry S. Truman

Getting right to the point, first ladies have done it all. Presidential spouses dating to Martha Washington have functioned as their husband's trusted confidante, key supporter, and counselor in times of crisis. First ladies presided over state dinners and a variety of social affairs held at the executive mansion and also deserve credit for renovating and preserving the White House. So too have these wives edited presidential speeches, hit the campaign trail, testified before Congress, lobbied on behalf of legislation, chaired task forces, traveled internationally as unofficial presidential envoys, and championed important social causes. Indeed, the accomplishments and political activities of first ladies--at least those serving from Eleanor Roosevelt to the present time--have been fairly well documented in recent years.

Quite early on, the first lady emerged as a key player in what would become known as the White House. The first ladyship is an institution in that the far majority of presidents have served with their wife beside them, presidential spouses are well-known public figures, and the first ladyship has become an office-albeit one of extraconstitutional design--complete with office space, staff, and budget. Nevertheless, scholarship on the first ladies is a quite recent phenomenon and, as a subfield, it is still maturing.

Growing Interest in First Ladies

Possibly due to the controversial and highly public first ladyship of Hillary Clinton, coming on the heels of the controversial but powerful first ladyship of Nancy Reagan and the popular first ladyship of Barbara Bush, the office has generated much interest by the public, press, and scholars alike. However, as will be noted, scholars came quite late to the game.

With the exception of the significant media coverage of and public attention paid to Eleanor Roosevelt, popular interest in modern first ladies grew considerably in the 1980s. In April 1984, a conference titled "Modern First Ladies: Private Lives and Public Duties" was held at the Gerald R. Ford Library in Michigan. A year later, NBC aired a one-hour, primetime special on First Lady Nancy Reagan. During the 1988 presidential campaign, the press and pundits pondered a first lady forum for the candidates' wives. Analysts noted that the candidates--George Bush and Michael Dukakis--were nowhere near as interesting as their wives, Barbara and Kitty (Watson 2000b). In addition to Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Dukakis--who had lectured at Harvard-the other presidential hopefuls in 1988 boasted capable spouses. The group included three lawyers--Hattie Babbitt, wife of Arizona governor Bruce Babbitt; Jeanne Simon, wife of Illinois senator Paul Simon; and Elise du Pont, wife of former Delaware governor Pierre "Pete" du Pont. Tipper Gore, wife of then-Tennessee senator Al Gore, was an author and activist with a graduate education; and Jill Jacobs, wife of Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, was, at the time, pursuing her second master's degree.

In 1992, the candidates' wives again proved to be newsworthy. Hillary Rodham Clinton would become the first first lady with a graduate education, completing her law degree at Yale. During Mrs. Clinton's first term as first lady, a $1,000-a-plate event was held at the U.S. National Botanical Garden to raise awareness, support, and funding for the new National Garden in Washington, a monument dedicated to the first ladies. First ladies Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, and Barbara Bush joined Mrs. Clinton in honoring the service of all first ladies. In 1996, both presidential candidates' spouses--Hillary Clinton, with degrees from Wellesley and Yale; and Elizabeth Dole, with degrees from Harvard and Duke--possessed ivy league diplomas, law degrees, and impressive political resumes. Mrs. Dole was a former secretary of labor and secretary of transportation, and Mrs. Clinton had been rated by the American Bar Association as one of the one hundred most influential attorneys in the United States.

The spouses from the 1996 race would eventually go on to prove that the first ladyship was not the conclusion of their political service but rather a launching pad for senatorial careers. The 2000 race proved to be a continuation of this trend, as both Laura Bush and Tipper Gore held master's degrees, as did the spouses of their husbands' leading opponents--John McCain and Bill Bradley, whose wife happened to also hold a Ph.D.

The American Studies Summer Institute at Louisiana State University in Shreveport devoted the focus of its triennial program in 1997 to the topic of "First Couples in the White House: Presidents and Spouses," while in June 1998, the National First Ladies' Library opened at the historic Saxton-McKinley House in Canton, Ohio. (1) Prominent television programs such as A & E and Biography have produced video documentaries on the lives of several first ladies, and the first ladies exhibit at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History remains a popular attraction. Reflecting the growing interest in first ladies and expanding political influence and activism, the exhibit has since been enlarged and renamed "First Ladies: Political Role, Public Image," and provides a serious and educational examination of the "office." (2)

Coinciding with the growing interest in first ladies, it is now conventional wisdom that the president's spouse wields influence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and has emerged as a political force with which to be reckoned. Recent scholarship on the first ladies is making it equally clear that this influence and activism is less the exception than it is the rule, that Hillary Rodham Clinton was less the "trailblazing" activist she was made out to be by the press than she was simply the latest in a long line of active, capable, and political wives to live in the White House (Caroli 1987; Watson 2000b).

There has been a proliferation of books on the first ladies in recent years, some academic and some not so academic. The publications include a bewildering array of children's books, coloring books, paper doll cut-out books, books on White House china collections and inaugural balls, the first ladies' favorite recipes, collections of photographs, accounts of the dresses and fashion of first ladies, first family ancestries, the usual assortment of gossip and scandal, and even novels. Add to this books such as First Ladies Quotations Book (Foss 1999), Exclusively First Ladies Trivia (Pitch 1993), and the enduring guidebook The First Ladies, first published by the White House Historical Association and National Geographic Society in 1975 and still sold to tourists visiting the capitol city (Klapthor 1975). Hit television shows have taken viewers into the West Wing, the White House, and the security detachment assigned to the first lady, and an assortment of plays about first ladies have hit the stage. (3)

The Literature

Edith Roosevelt once quipped, "A lady's name should appear in print only three times, at her birth, marriage, and death." Sadly, it appears that historians took Mrs. Roosevelt's advice to heart. Indeed, the first ladies, as a group, have generally been ignored by scholars. Historically, few books examined more than the cursory facets of first ladies' lives, and even though they are somewhat helpful to scholars today, these books are largely social accounts and stories of first ladies. The literature base on first ladies receives a mixed grade, containing several excellent biographies, collections of letters and papers for a few first ladies, and a growing list of scholarly texts. At the same time, the author estimates that roughly one-half of the books in print on the first ladies are neither reliable nor useful to scholars. (4) Table 1 lists the books focusing on individual first ladies. It does not include books on the first ladies collectively, nor does it include children's coloring books or paper doll collections and the like.

The lion's share of serious biographies and scholarly collections of papers for the first ladies are devoted to only a handful of first ladies: Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, Mary Todd Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Jacqueline Kennedy. Very little of substance exists for other first ladies, and most of the first ladies have yet to be the focus of a serious, reputable biography. Moreover, as is evident in Table 1, several first ladies have yet to be treated in print. Margaret Taylor, Abigail Fillmore, Jane Pierce, Harriet Lane (James Buchanan's niece and hostess), Eliza Johnson, Ellen Arthur, Caroline Harrison, and Ida McKinley have yet to be examined in print. Martha Jefferson, Elizabeth Monroe, Hannah Van Buren, Letitia Tyler, and Julia Tyler have each been the focus of one book. However, these, along with much of the literature on first ladies, are either scant leaflets, fiction, or something that would not qualify as serious scholarship.

As will be discussed, most books written on the first ladies prior to the late 1980s were little more than social accounts of the weddings, children, and dresses of first ladies, and frequently these works were romanticized to the point of fiction. Some of the better, more ambitious early works are listed in Table 2.

The first book ever written by a first lady was penned by Louisa Catherine Adams, who wrote her memoirs but did not intend them to be published. This work is available today as part of the Adams Papers Microfilms at the Massachusetts Historical Society. The first book ever published on a first lady was done so in 1848, when Charles Francis Adams published his grandmother's letters in the volume Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams. Perhaps the first biography of a first lady to be published was a campaign bio titled Sketch of the Life of Mrs. William McKinley, released by one of William McKinley's backers in 1896 as a romanticized and not completely accurate account of the candidate's wife. The first memoir of a first lady intended for publication was written by Julia Dent Grant, which was eventually organized and published posthumously by noted Ulysses Grant scholar John Y. Simon in 1975. Arguably the first comprehensive, systematic study of the first ladies was The First Ladies, written by Betty Boyd Caroli and published in 1987. The first multivolume study of the first ladies was penned by Carl Sferrazza Anthony. His two-volume First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents' Wives and Their Power was released in 1990 and 1991. Myra G. Gutin's The President, Partner: The First Lady in the Twentieth Century, published in 1989, marked the first time a systematic study was completed on a facet of the first ladyship that could be forwarded as a model for studying first ladies. Gutin studied communication strategies and activities of first ladies in the twentieth century. The first scholarly compilation of biographies of all first ladies was edited in 1996 by Lewis Gould under the title American First Ladies. The first textbook on the subject, which was also the first book offering an assessment of the state of scholarship, was Robert P. Watson's The Presidents' Wives: Reassessing the Office of First Lady, published in 2000.

Prior to the late 1980s, few reliable books had been written on the topic, and there was a general dearth of resources, scholarship, and attention devoted to first ladies. Even today, the availability of sources and the literature base on the subject remain a mixed record. It was only in the late 1980s and early 1990s when systematic studies of the first ladies began to appear, albeit few and far between (see Table 3).

A rich source of information on first ladies exists in the papers and letters of first ladies. The papers of a few first ladies have been collected and edited. Relatedly, the words of first ladies can also be found in their autobiographies. Those first ladies who wrote autobiographies include Louisa Catherine Adams, Helen Taft, Edith Wilson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, and Barbara Bush. Hillary Rodham Clinton's is forthcoming. Of course, a few of these books feature second authors who completed varying amounts of the writing and, like Nancy, are overly sterile and kind. However, others are candid and useful recollections of public lives. The collections of first lady papers and letters are listed in Table 4, and first lady autobiographies are listed in Table 5.

Another helpful source on the first ladies, which also receives a mixed grade, are the biographies about first ladies. There are a few reliable texts that feature short biographies on every first lady (Gould 1996; Watson 2002, 2001b), but there is an absence of books solely devoted to individual first ladies. Some are quite balanced, well written, and penned by scholars, while others are clearly written for the purpose of creating a scandal or attacking a first lady. This latter type of "biography" is especially prevalent with Hillary Clinton, who attracted a number of obviously biased and negative accounts of her life, such as Barbara Olsen's Hell to Pay. The most useful and thorough biographies of first ladies are listed in Table 6.

Last, there are a few systematic studies of first ladies and first families that have collected what is known about all or some of the first ladies and provide descriptions and assessments of the institution. These are listed in Table 7 and Table 8.

As is evident, there is a long way to go in the development of a complete literature base for the first ladies, and serious, inherent challenges remain. For instance, scholars are only now beginning to set forth essential questions about the subject and spell out the challenges facing and direction for the field of study. Scholars have, however, noted the lack of serious attention devoted to the first ladies, while calling for further study (Gould 1996; Mayo 1993; Troy, 1997; Watson 2000b; 1999). Presidential scholars Lewis Gould and Gordon Hoxie both suggested in 1990 that their colleagues could learn much about the president by the way he managed the first lady's public image in an effort to reap benefits for his own popularity.

Challenges to the Study of First Ladies

The study of the first lady has faced and continues to face some of the same inherent difficulties troubling presidential scholars. For instance, the subject has a small number of cases, with much variation among them. The subject thus lends itself poorly to quantitative assessments and methodologies. So too must the researcher contend with the possibility that many of the sources on presidents and first ladies--memoirs, accounts written by former aides, press releases by the White House--are politicized. Presidential scholars recognize and take into account the fact that nearly everything coming out of the White House is subjected to a positive "spin." The machinery of the White House functions to make the president look good, and any accomplishment is rightfully or wrongly attributed to the president. When it comes to the first lady, there is an added dimension. In addition to accounting for the credit claiming and positive spin, it is possible that even when the first lady was involved in a political action, decision, or accomplishment, her role in the matter will be minimized or omitted from public mention in an effort to both direct all accolades to the president and avoid criticism about the first lady functioning in an "inappropriate" manner.

Perhaps the most obvious challenge to studying the first ladies has been the lack of resources, letters, and materials on the first ladies. The amount of information available on first ladies is a teaspoon compared to that which exists for the presidents. Volumes of documents, papers, and other items on the presidents have been preserved, edited, published, and made available to scholars. The presidential libraries--established for every president serving after Calvin Coolidge--house a treasure trove of materials on presidents and dedicate themselves to the study of the presidents. Their work is complimented by centers such as the Center for the Study of the Presidency in Washington, DC, and the Center for Presidential Studies at Texas A&M University, which promote the study of the presidents through an array of scholarly, research, and educational services. (5) The American Political Science Association supports a section--the Presidency Research Group--devoted to presidential studies. (6) So too do a number of organizations exist that are dedicated to a specific president such as the Hayes Presidential Center, Theodore Roosevelt Association, the Lincoln Forum, the International Lincoln Association at Louisiana State University in Shreveport, and the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation. (7) And countless foundations, state parks, memorials, monuments, and other historic sites and associations preserve and promote the memory of presidents, and most presidential birthplaces and homes are preserved. (8) Compare this to that which is in place to promote the study of first ladies, and the first ladies come up quite short.

Another concern is who should be included in the study of first ladies. While it might appear to be a simple matter, some spouses of presidents died prior to their husband's presidential years (Martha Jefferson, Rachel Jackson, Hannah Van Buren, Ellen Arthur, Alice Roosevelt), while Benjamin Harrison married again after his presidency. While they never served as first lady, these women were married to one who served as a president. James Buchanan was a lifelong bachelor, and there remains the question as to whether his niece and White House social hostess, Harriet Lane, should be studied with the first ladies. Just as it is difficult for presidential scholars to assess William Henry Harrison and James Garfield because they died shortly into their presidencies, first ladies Letitia Tyler, Caroline Harrison, and Ellen Wilson died prior to the completion of their first ladyships, with Harrison the only one of the three to serve the majority of her term (sometimes not included in rankings).

There is also the related matter of the surrogate or proxy (Schermer 2002; Watson 2000b) first ladies. At times, the presidential spouse has either been deceased or in poor health and thus unable to function as first lady. For instance, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and Chester A. Arthur all lost their wives prior to their elections to the presidency. These presidents and presidents such as James Monroe, Zachary Taylor, and Millard Fillmore, whose spouses were in poor health, relied on a young female relative to fulfill the social hosting duties required of the first lady. A variety of nieces (Emily Donelson), daughters (Martha and Mary Jefferson, Betty Taylor Bliss, Mary Abigail Fillmore), and daughters-in-law (Angelica Singleton Van Buren, Priscilla Cooper Tyler) assisted the president as "proxy hostesses." President James Buchanan, who entered the White House as a bachelor, turned to his niece, Harriet Lane, to assist him in matters of social hosting. Another bachelor, Grover Cleveland, relied on his sister, Rose, until he married Frances Folsom during his first term in office. There remains a question of who exactly can be called a first lady and whether the spouses not serving as first lady and the proxy hostesses should be studied as such. For example, Caroli (Caroli 1987) and Watson (2001a, 2001b, 2002) devote a separate chapter or coverage in the appendix to these hostesses. Anthony (1990) offers an occasional reference to them in the body of his book, and Gould (1996) chose not to discuss these hostess but did list their names in the appendix. Most other books fail to even mention them.

Approaches to Studying the First Ladies

Once one determines who should be included in the study of the first ladies, the challenge of how to approach the study of the first ladies arises. The first ladyship as an office is an extraconstitutional development. The president's spouse is not mentioned in the Constitution and the position is neither elected nor appointed; as such, it is technically not even an office. However, the first ladies of the modern era have enjoyed office space, a budget, and staff of considerable size, larger than those of most presidential aides and advisers. It is therefore an office but one without portfolio, statutory legitimacy, electoral mandate, or clearly defined roles and responsibilities, making it difficult to study.

It is possible to assess presidents according to basic roles of the office. Even though Article II of the Constitution is vague, it at least provides the parameters of the office, and there are public approval ratings, margin of electoral victory, treaties, confirmations, vetoes, and a number of other items suitable for evaluating presidents. With first ladies, questions remain unanswered as to whether they should be politically active, whether this activism enhances their first ladyship, and so on. In some ways, the first ladies have been "damned if they do, and damned if they don't," as, absent definable parameters for the job, first ladies have been criticized for being too outspoken and active and criticized for failing to speak out or act (Watson 2000b). Perhaps the only agreed-upon roles for a first lady are presidential supporter and White House hostess. Even though the role of hostess remains undefined, it nevertheless evolved, given sex-role norms, within the purview of the first lady. But is this duty something by which we can evaluate first ladies? Eleanor Roosevelt does not appear to have been the hostess that Julia Tyler was, but should that detract from Mrs. Roosevelt's other notable accomplishments? On the other hand, Barbara Bush was not overtly active in politics, but she was popular with the public, something that undoubtedly benefited the Bush presidency. Bess Truman distinguished herself as neither a hostess nor a political player, but she appears to have been a trusted confidante to her husband. So the issue of how to assess these first ladies remains.

There are no clearly defined roles or responsibilities, and the first lady serves at the discretion of the president, with consideration to her personal inclinations and abilities, the state of the presidential marriage, events of the day, and the ever-present force of public opinion. This is all likely to change when madam president is elected and, if she is married, a man serves as presidential spouse, making the study of the presidential spouse even more difficult. Whether he will be expected to preside over White House teas and socials is doubtful, suggesting that the office and role as we know it will change dramatically (Watson and Gordon 2002). The prospects for madam president present further challenges to studying presidential spouses.

That presidential scholars continue to debate the methodological and theoretical directions of the field and general health of the state of scholarship reflects the challenges inherent in studying the presidency. Arguably, it is even more difficult to study the first ladies. Without agreed-upon parameters for the office, no statutory authority, and few discernable roles, it should not surprise readers to learn that most studies of first ladies historically lacked anything approaching systematic inquiry, a conceptual framework, the development of theory, or the development of models by which to test theories. In fact, although several well-researched and useful accounts of the first ladies have appeared in the past fifteen years, the development of theories and approaches to the study of presidential spouses is a very recent phenomenon and is still evolving. Even in contemporary times, much of the writing on first ladies remains anecdotal.

Scholars are now beginning to call for scholarship on the first ladies. A dialog on the problems with previous studies, challenges to studying the subject, the state of scholarship, and directions for the developing field of study to take is barely under way. Even many of the leading textbooks on the presidency and American government--which otherwise treat a wide array of topics with impressive attention--failed to expose undergraduates to the real roles, challenges, and contributions associated with presidential spouses (Eksterowicz and Watson 2000). For the study of first ladies to advance, several components are necessary, factors that have only recently emerged or are still emerging. For instance, too few scholars were seriously pursuing the topic for a viable literature base to be developed. Relatedly, even Ph.D. students studying such fields as the presidency and women's studies were not exposed to the possibility of studying first ladies. This is not surprising, as the subject was not seen as worthy of serious scholarship. For instance, it was quite difficult for doctoral students to find faculty members willing and able to serve on dissertation committees on the topic; journals were not interested in publishing studies of first ladies; and academic presses, journal reviewers, hiring committees, and promotion/tenure boards most likely did not afford the topic much weight.

The State of Scholarship

All this is changing and a literature base on the first ladies is developing, although any "field of study" is still in its infancy. It is clear that there is a long way to go in terms of having Ph.D. training and coursework in the area, adequate theories and models to guide research, and support for the subject. Regarding the latter point, there appears to be a shift in mindsets toward the subject under way. Journals are publishing scholarship on the topic, papers are being presented at professional academic meetings, and a number of books have been released since the late 1990s.

Indeed, a compelling case can be made that the systematic study of the first ladies is under way and has gained acceptance among presidential scholars and historians. For the purpose of evaluating the state of scholarship, it can be said that all disciplines and fields of study must exhibit some fundamental elements to gain legitimacy and be considered healthy. These include but are not limited to (1) a body of scholarly literature; (2) developed, tested, and (somewhat) agreed-upon models, theories, and approaches; (3) scholarly outlets (journals) for publishing research on the subject; (4) scholarly gatherings (conferences) for exchanging knowledge and ideas; (5) a critical mass of scholars working in the area; (6) acceptance by scholars working in related, accepted fields; (7) mentoring of junior scholars and graduate students by senior scholars; (8) reference works and resources on the subject available to scholars and the general public; and (9) formal education and training at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels in the discipline. In an effort to assess the state of scholarship on the first ladies, each of these nine elements is briefly considered below.

1. Scholarly Literature

As is evident in Tables 1 through 8, the literature base on the first lady is developing but is far from being complete. A number of fine autobiographies, collections of letters, and other primary source materials are available, but, as is the case for biographies on the first ladies, they tend to cover only a few first ladies such as Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, Mary Todd Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Jacqueline Kennedy. Beginning in the late 1980s and growing in recent years, there are now a few well-received scholarly books on the first ladies as a group.

2. Theory and Methodology

One of the most serious shortcomings of studies of first ladies is the lack of theories and models to guide research. There are no widely accepted approaches to studying the first ladies and, as was discussed earlier in this article, a number of inherent challenges present themselves when trying to formulate systematic approaches to studying the subject. Perhaps the first study that developed theory and offered a model for further study was Gutin's (1989) study of communication activities of first ladies in the twentieth century. In this study, Gutin chronicled the total number of communication activities of first ladies and offered three different classifications of first ladies based on their communication style--housekeepers, social hostesses, and ceremonial presences; emerging spokeswomen; and political surrogates and independent advocates. Since Gutin's work, a handful of studies have assessed the communication and rhetoric of first ladies, most notably Kelly's (2001) study of Mrs. Clinton's rhetoric.

A related subject--and one of the few other facets of the first ladyship to attract scholarship--is public opinion and public image. Public opinion polls have been taken on first ladies since Gallup polled the public about Eleanor Roosevelt in 1939. This poll and others focused on approval ratings. Unfortunately, very few polls appeared after 1939. In 1969, Gallup again polled the public about its approval of Pat Nixon, and subsequent polls have been conducted of all first ladies with increasing regularity. Today, these polls are taken regularly and provide useful data for studying first ladies. A few studies have been done on public opinion and the first ladies, most notably Burrell's (1997) study of Hillary Rodham Clinton's approval ratings (see also Muir and Benitez 1996).

One of the most important areas of study has been on the roles of first ladies, given the vagueness surrounding their duties, controversy stirred by "inappropriate" activities, and great diversity in how first ladies have decided to approach their office. A few studies have considered the legal and political parameters of the roles pursued by first ladies (Burrell 1999; Watson 2000b). Relatedly, Watson (1997) traced the historical development of the office in terms of its influence and political activism, while Eksterowicz and Paynter (2000) and Watson (2000b) examined the growth of the first lady's office as a key instrument in assisting her to wield influence. Studies by Watson (2000b) and Wekkin (2000) have sought to systematically identify specific roles and activities, evaluate each of them, and place them into categories. These two studies offer models for assessing the roles and activities of first ladies. Relatedly, Watson (2000b) forwards two typologies, one based on types of influence wielded by first ladies and the other based on the status of the presidential marriage as a partnership. Rifkind (2000) offered a comparative study of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sara Netanyahu, one of the few comparative assessments, while O'Connor, Nye, and van Assendelft (1996) attempted to document the total number of political activities of first ladies.

The by-product of the scholarship on first ladies has certainly been that the first lady has come to be seen as a "partner" to the president or an "associate" president. A few studies have documented examples to argue that first ladies have functioned in this capacity to varying degrees (Gutin 1989; Troy 1997; Watson 2001c; 2000b). Other efforts to develop theory to guide the study of first ladies has included research on first lady personality types and first lady character (Watson 2001a; 2000b). Using presidential studies as a model, perhaps it was inevitable that efforts would be made to rate or rank first ladies. This includes three polls of historians and presidential scholars that ranked first ladies (Siena Research Institute 1993, 1982; Watson 1999).

3. Scholarly Journals

It is encouraging to note that scholarly journals are beginning with increased frequency to publish research on the first ladies. The first special issue of a journal focusing on first ladies appeared in 1990 when Presidential Studies Quarterly--the leading journal in the field--devoted half an issue to the topic. Edited by Lewis Gould, the issue included essays on specific first ladies: Lou Hoover, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, and Nancy Reagan (Gould 1990). The first full issue of a journal dedicated to the first ladies was a special issue of The Social Science Journal published in 2000 and edited by Robert Watson (Watson 2000a). Not long thereafter, the Organization of American Historians' Magazine of History featured an issue on the first ladies in 2001, coedited by Allida Black and Edith Mayo (Mayo and Black 2001). Presidential Studies Quarterly and White House Studies regularly feature scholarship on the first ladies, and articles on first ladies have appeared in journals such as Talking Politics, Women & Politics, Political Communication, Media Studies Journal, Politics & Policy, PS: Political Science & Politics, Sex Roles, Women's Studies in Communication, and others. While there is not a single journal on first ladies, the wide array of journals, frequency of articles now appearing, and variety of disciplines publishing studies of first ladies is both encouraging and signals the acceptance of the subject as a legitimate scholarly endeavor.

4. Conferences

Another encouraging development is the growing frequency of not just papers but panels as well devoted to first ladies at professional meetings. Conferences such as those of the American Political Science Association, Midwest Political Science Association, Western Social Science Association, and others now routinely accept papers on first ladies. This is a necessary ingredient for a field or subfield of study to emerge, as the work of scholars on the topic must be encouraged and opportunities for sharing ideas and research on the first ladies must be offered.

5. Scholars Researching First Ladies

A growing number of scholars--mostly junior scholars--are now engaged in the study of first ladies. Moreover, this includes scholars in such fields as presidential studies, women and politics, media studies and journalism, communication, history, and other fields. The author edits a journal and has within his files of qualified manuscript reviewers roughly two dozen individuals who list the first ladies as an area of expertise. Gould (1996) and Watson (2002) edited a reference book and encyclopedia, respectively, on the first ladies. One byproduct of these publishing endeavors was that the books featured essays by numerous scholars, which both contributes to and reflects the number of scholars working on the topic. The Gould volume contained essays by thirty-two different individuals, and the Watson volume contained forty-two different contributors.

6. Acceptance of the Topic

While some scholars, promotion/tenure committees, dissertation advisers, and publishers most assuredly frown on the study of first ladies as a serious topic of inquiry, the growing number of books--and therefore presses--journals, and conferences featuring research on the subject paints a positive view of the state of scholarship. These outlets for research include some of the leading journals, academic associations/conferences, and university presses. It is uncertain, however, how many academic departments and manuscript reviewers share such a view. It is clear that the degree of acceptance is on the rise. Because studies on presidential spouses promise to inform our understanding of the presidency, women's history, and an array of other important subjects and issues, the acceptance of the legitimacy and viability of first lady studies must be across disciplines. And this must continue when we eventually encounter a male presidential spouse.

7. Mentoring

It will be necessary for senior, respected scholars to encourage and support their colleagues to conduct research on the first ladies. Until dissertation committees, promotion/ tenure committees, editorial boards of journals, and presses treat the subject as one worthy of serious study, the state of scholarship cannot advance. As was mentioned in the previous category, scholars will not risk their careers or reputation if the subject is not widely accepted in the academy.

8. Reference and Resources

Many of the presidential libraries have in recent years made available the papers of first ladies. In 1998, the National First Ladies' Library opened in Canton, Ohio, dedicated to promoting the legacy and collecting the history of first ladies. The library is also building a research and education center. These developments mark a key ingredient for the growth and health of first lady studies: available resources. So too have reference books (Gould 1996; Watson 2001b) and encyclopedias (Watson 2002) been published on the topic. Helpful resources are also appearing on specific first ladies. For instance, an encyclopedia on Eleanor Roosevelt has been published (Beasley, Shulman, and Beasley 2001), and various presidential centers, presidential journals, libraries, and foundations are promoting the study of first ladies.

There remains a serious gap in our understanding of many individual first ladies, as noted in Table 1. However, two collections of biographies on first ladies are in production that should help address the lack of scholarship on many first ladies. Under the direction of Lewis Gould, the "Modern First Ladies Series" has, at the time of this writing, one book out in print, with plans to publish a few additional titles; while the "Presidential Wives Series," edited by Robert Watson, has published eight titles to date, with another twenty-three volumes under contract. (9)

9. Education and Training

The author recently examined the course catalogs of twenty-five universities in the United States and found that not one offered a course on first ladies. (10) At some schools, however, it is being taught as a special topics course, and it is frequently cross-listed in two or more disciplines/majors. For instance, James Madison University, Georgia State University, Rider University, and a few other institutions offer courses on first ladies. It appears that these schools do so largely because first lady scholars serve on the schools' faculty. (11) There is the need to improve graduate training on the subject, to expose Ph.D. candidates in presidential studies to the first ladies, and enhance library holdings on the subject.

Conclusion

The study of the first lady has advanced considerably since the first serious studies on the topic appeared in the late 1980s. A growing and vibrant area of study is emerging, and one not restricted to a single discipline. Indeed, a strength of the existing research on the first ladies is that it crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries. Any future studies should continue in this manner, as the subject lends itself well to being and is inherently interdisciplinary.

On balance, there are strengths and weaknesses in the literature on first ladies, as has been presented in this article. Scholars studying the first ladies must enter into a dialog on the direction of the field and must take advantage of collaborative projects and professional meetings to spell out the needs and shortcomings in the field as well as to mentor graduate students and junior scholars. There is a need to develop further theories and models and test the existing ones. Further comparative studies are needed, as are studies of the spouses of governors and mayors, for which little scholarship exists (Gould 1968; Stambough and O'Regan 2002). Of course, scholars will also have to confront the challenge not only with respect to history, but in job title, when the first man becomes a presidential spouse.

TABLE 1
Biographies and Biographical Works on First Ladies

First Lady Number of Books

Martha Washington 5
Abigail Adams 13
Martha Jefferson 1
Dolley Madison 16
Elizabeth Monroe 1
Louisa Catherine Adams 4
Rachel Jackson 2
Hannah Van Buren 0
Anna Harrison 0
Letitia Tyler 1
Julia Tyler 1
Sarah Polk 2
Margaret Taylor 1
Abigail Fillmore 0
Jane Pierce 1
Harriet Lane (a) 1
Mary Todd Lincoln 19
Eliza Johnson 0
Julia Dent Grant 2
Lucy Hayes 2
Lucretia Garfield 3
Ellen Arthur 0
Frances Cleveland 1
Caroline Harrison 1
Ida McKinley 2
Alice Roosevelt 1
Edith Roosevelt 3
Helen Taft 1
Ellen Wilson 3
Edith Wilson 7
Florence Harding 1
Grace Coolidge 3
Lou Hoover 3
Eleanor Roosevelt 35
Bess Truman 4
Mamie Eisenhower 5
Jacqueline Kennedy 37
Lady Bird Johnson 9
Pat Nixon 3
Betty Ford 4
Rosalynn Carter 5
Nancy Reagan 8
Barbara Bush 4
Hillary Rodham Clinton 27
Laura Bush 3

Note: The list includes autobiographies, biographies, collections of
letters, novels, books of photographs, and so on; but it does not
include books of jokes, children's books, children's coloring books,
or children's paper doll books.

(a.) Harriet Lane was the niece of bachelor James Buchanan.

TABLE 2
Early Studies of First Ladies

Laura Holloway, Ladies of the White House;
 or, in the Home of the President
Marianne Means, Woman in the White House: The Lives,
 Times and Influence of Twelve Notable First Ladies
Mary Ormsbee Whitton, First First Ladies, 1789-1865:
 A Study of the Wives of the Early Presidents

TABLE 3
Books on the First Ladies in the Late 1980s/Early 1990s

Betty Boyd Caroli, The First Ladies (1987)
James S. Rosebush, First Lady, Public Wife: A Behind-the-Scenes
 History of the Evolving Role of First Ladies in American Political
 Life (1987)
Paul F. Boller Jr., Presidential Wives: An Anecdotal History (1988)
Peter Hay, All the President's Ladies: Anecdotes of the Women behind
 the Men (1988)
Donna Dixon Healy, America's First Ladies: Private Lives of the
 Presidential Wives (1988)
Myra G. Gutin, The President's Partner: The First Lady in the
 Twentieth Century (1989)
Carl Sferrazza Anthony, First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents'
 Wives and Their Power (1990-91)

TABLE 4
Collections of First Lady Papers

Joseph E. Fields, ed., "Worthy Partner," The Papers of Martha
 Washington
Stewart Mitchell, ed., New Letters of Abigail Adams
--, Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams
 Family, 1762-1784
--, Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams
--, Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams, during
 the Revolution
--, Adams Family Correspondence
Allen C. Clark, ed., The Life and Letters of Dolley Madison
Lucia Beverly Cutts, ed., Memoirs and Letters of Dolley Madison, Wife
 of James Madison, President of the United States
Justin G. Turner and Linda Levitt Turner, eds., Mary Todd Lincoln: Her
 Life and Letters
John Y. Simon, ed., The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant
John Shaw, ed., Crete and James: Personal Letters of Lucretia and
 James Garfield
Arthur S. Link, ed., The Papers of Woodrow Wilson
Eleanor Randolph McAdoo, ed., The Priceless Gift: The Love Letters of
 Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Axson Wilson
--, President in Love: The Courtship Letters of Woodrow Wilson and
 Edith Bolling Galt
Lawrence Wikander and Robert H. Ferrell, eds., Grace Coolidge: An
 Autobiography
Allida M. Black, ed., What I Hope to Leave Behind: The Essential
 Essays of Eleanor Roosevelt
Joseph P. Lash, ed., Eleanor Roosevelt's My Day
--, Mother and Daughter: The Letters of Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt
--, It Seems to Me: Selected Letters of Eleanor Roosevelt
--, Empty without You: The Intimate Letters of Eleanor Roosevelt and
 Lorena Hickok
Robert H. Ferrell, ed., Dear Bess: The Letters from Harry to Bess
 Truman, 1910-1959
Margaret Truman, ed., Letters from Father: The Truman Family's
 Personal Correspondence
I Love You, Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan

TABLE 5
Books/Writings by the First Ladies

Louisa Catherine Adams, Narrative of a Journey from St. Petersburg to
Paris in February 1815
--, Diary
--, Records of a Life: My Story
--, Adventures of a Nobody
Edith Roosevelt, Cleared for Strange Ports
Helen Herron Taft, Recollections of Full Years
Edith Bolling Wilson, My Memoir
Eleanor Roosevelt, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt
--, On My Own
--, This I Remember
--, This Is My Story
--, Eleanor Roosevelt's Christmas Book
--, Tomorrow Is Now
--, You Learn by Living
--, Eleanor Roosevelt's Book of Common Sense
--, The Wisdom of Eleanor Roosevelt
--, Growing toward Peace
--, Ladies of Courage
--, UN: Today and Tomorrow
--, India and the Awakening East
--, If You Ask Me
--, It's Up to the Woman
Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary
--, Wildflowers across America
--, Texas: A Roadside View
Betty Ford, The Times of My Life
--, Betty: A Glad Awakening
Rosalynn Carter, First Lady from Plains
--, Helping Yourself Help Others: A Book for Caregivers
--, Helping Someone with Mental Illness: A Compassionate Guide for
 Family, Friends, and Caregivers
Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter, Everything to Gain: Making the
 Most of the Rest of Your Life
Nancy Reagan, My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan
--, Nancy
--, Love a Child
Barbara Bush, Barbara Bush: A Memoir
--, Millie's Book
--, C. Fred's Story
Hillary Rodham Clinton, It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children
 Teach Us
--, Children's Rights: A Legal Perspective
--, An Invitation to the White House

TABLE 6
Biographies on First Ladies

Phyllis Lee Levin, Abigail Adams
Lynne Withey, Dearest Friend (Abigail Adams)
Dorothy Clarke Wilson, Queen Dolley: The Life and Times of Dolley
 Madison
Virginia Moore, The Madisons: A Biography
Ethel Stephens Arnett, Mrs. James Madison: The Incomparable Dolley
Paul M. Zall, Dolley Madison
Barbara Bennett Peterson, Sarah Childress Polk, First Lady of
 Tennessee and Washington
Jean Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln
Ruth Painter Randall, Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage
Carl Sandburg and Paul M. Angle, Mary Lincoln: Wife and Widow
Ishbel Ross, The President's Wife: Mary Todd Lincoln, A Biography
--, The General's Wife (Julia Grant)
Emily Apt Greer, First Lady: The Life of Lucy Webb Hayes
John Shaw, Lucretia (Lucretia Garfield)
Stephen F. Robar, Frances Clara Folsom Cleveland
Sylvia Jukes Morris, Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady
Tom Lansford, A "Bully" First Lady: Edith Kermit Roosevelt
Ishbel Ross, Power with Grace: The Life Story of Mrs. Woodrow Wilson
Alden Hatch, Edith Bolling Wilson: First Lady Extraordinary
Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Florence Harding: The First Lady, the Jazz
 Age, and the Death of America's Most Scandalous President
Ishbel Ross, Grace Coolidge and Her Era
Helen Pryor, Lou Henry Hoover: Gallant First Lady
Allida M. Black, Casting Her Own Shadow: Eleanor Roosevelt and the
 Shaping of Postwar Liberalism
Blanche Wiesen Cooke, Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1933 (2 vols.)
Tamara K. Haraven, Eleanor Roosevelt: An American Conscience
Lorena A. Hickok, Reluctant First Lady
Joseph P. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin: The Evolution of a Reformer
--, Eleanor and Franklin: The Story of their Relationship
--, Eleanor Roosevelt: A Friend's Memoir
--, Eleanor: The Years Alone
Archibald MacLeish, The Eleanor Roosevelt Story
Elliott Roosevelt, Mother R: Eleanor Roosevelt's Untold Story
Margaret Truman, Bess Truman
Jhan Robbins, Bess and Harry: An American Love Story
Susan Eisenhower, Mrs. Ike: Memories and Reflections on the Life of
 Mamie Eisenhower
Lester David and Irene David, Ike and Mamie: The Story of the General
 and His Lady
Dorothy Brandon, Mamie Doud Eisenhower: Portrait of a First Lady
Carl Sferrazza Anthony, As We Remember Her: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
 in the Words of Friends and Family
Stephen Birmingham, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis
Lester David, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: A Portrait of Her Private
 Years
John H. Davis, Jacqueline Bouvier: A Personal Memoir
Mary Barelli Gallagher, My Life with Jacqueline Kennedy
Edward Klein, All Too Human: The Love Story of Jack and Jackie Kennedy
Mary Van Rensselaer Thayer, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy
--, Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years
Richard Taylor and Sam Rubin, Jackie: A Lasting Impression
Lewis L. Gould, Lady Bird Johnson and the Environment
 Ruth Montgomery, Mrs. LBJ
Marie Smith, The President's Lady: An Intimate Biography of Mrs.
 Lyndon B. Johnson
Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Pat Nixon: The Untold Story
Lester David, The Lonely Lady of San Clemente: The Story of Pat Nixon
Chris Wallace, First Lady: A Portrait of Nancy Reagan
Frances Spatz Leighton, The Search for the Real Nancy Reagan
Pamela Kilian, Barbara Bush: A Biography
Donnie Radcliffe, Simply Barbara Bush: A Portrait of America's Candid
 First Lady
David Brock, The Seduction of Hillary Rodham
Joyce Milton, The First Partner: Hillary Rodham Clinton, A Biography
Gail Sheehy, Hillary's Choice

TABLE 7
Studies of First Families

Carl Sferrazza Anthony, America's First Families: An Inside View of
 200 Years of Private Life in the White House
Harry Benson, First Families: An Intimate Portrait from the Kennedys
 to the Clintons
Hugh Brogan, American Presidential Families
Robert P. Watson, ed., Life in the White House: A Social History of
 the First Family and President's House
John Whitcomb and Claire Whitcomb, Real Life at the White House: 200
 Years of Daily Life at America's Most Famous Residence

TABLE 8
Studies of the First Ladies

Alice E. Anderson, Behind Every Successful President: The Hidden Power
 and Influence of America's First Ladies
Carl Sferrazza Anthony, First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents'
 Wives and Their Power (2 vols.)
Paul F. Boller Jr., Presidential Wives: An Anecdotal History
Betty Boyd Caroli, First Ladies
Lillie D. Chaffin, America's First Lady (2 vols.)
Lewis L. Gould, ed., American First Ladies: Their Lives and Legacy
Myra Gutin, The President's Partner: The First Lady in the Twentieth
 Century
Peter Hay, All the Presidents' Ladies: Anecdotes of the Women behind
 the Men in the White House
Donna Dixon Healy, America's First Ladies: Private Lives of the
 Presidential Wives
Edith P. Mayo, First Ladies: Political Role and Public Image
Edith P. May, The Smithsonian Book of the First Ladies
James S. Rosebush, First Lady, Public Wife: A Behind-the-Scenes
 History of the Evolving Role of First Ladies in American Political
 Life
Elizabeth Simpson Smith, Five First Ladies: A Look into the Lives of
 Nancy Reagan, Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford, Pat
Nixon, and Lady Bird Johnson
Gil Troy, Affairs of State: The Rise and Rejection of the Presidential
 Couple since World War II (reprint, Mr. and Mrs. President: From the
 Trumans to the Clintons)
Margaret Truman, First Ladies: An Intimate Group Portrait of the White
 House Wives
Robert P. Watson, The Presidents' Wives: Reassessing the Office of
 First Lady
Robert P. Watson, First Ladies of the United States: A Biographical
 Dictionary
Robert P. Watson, ed., American First Ladies (encyclopedia)
Robert P. Watson and Anthony J. Eksterowicz, eds., The Presidential
 Companion: Readings on the First Ladies

(1.) The National First Ladies' Library is at http://www.firstladies.org; the International Lincoln Center of American Studies at Louisiana State University at Shreveport is at http://www.lsus.edu/la/histss/lincoln/ index.html.

(2.) The first ladies exhibit is at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, http:// americanhistory.si.edu.

(3.) There are a number of docents and actresses performing as first ladies, including Mary Margaret Buss and Pamela K. Thorson in Florida. Ms. Thorson has also produced a series of fictitious dialogs among first ladies, written as "round robin" letters and published under the title The Camp David Diaries by Sterling-Miller Books.

(4.) The author is familiar with many of these titles through his research on the subject conducted since 1995. Based on a random review of twenty of the titles, the author found only half of them to be reliable and based on documentation. Searches were conducted through Books in Print, Amazon.com, the Library of Congress, and the National First Ladies' Library.

(5.) The Center for the Study of the Presidency is at http://www.cspresidency.org; the Center for Presidential Studies is located at Texas A&M University and is at http://bush.tamu.edu/home.

(6.) The Presidency Research Group of the American Political Science Association is at http:// www.apsanet.org/about/sections/section9.cfm or at http://sunsite.unc.edu/lia/prgnet.

(7.) The Theodore Roosevelt Association is at http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org; the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation is at http://calvin-coolidge.org; the Hayes Presidential Center is at http://www.rbhayes.org; the Lincoln Forum is at http://www.thelincolnforum.org.

(8.) For a listing of these sites, see Clotworthy (1998).

(9.) The "Modern First Ladies Series" edited by Lewis L. Gould is being published by the University Press of Kansas. The title out in print is Lady Bird Johnson: Our Environmental First Lady. The "Presidential Wives Series" edited by Robert P. Watson is being published by Nova History Books/Nova Science Publishers, and the biographies out in print include books on Dolley Madison, Sarah Polk, Lucretia Garfield, Frances Cleveland, Edith Roosevelt, and Betty Ford. Several additional titles are forthcoming in 2003.

(10.) For an argument for including the topic in the classroom, see Watson (1999). Very few universities offer courses on the first ladies at either the undergraduate or graduate levels.

(11.) Prof. Anthony Eksterowicz teaches at James Madison, Prof. Lawrence Rifkind teaches at Georgia State, and Prof. Myra Gutin teaches at Rider.

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Robert P. Watson is an associate professor of political science at Florida Atlantic University, where his research interests are in the presidency, first ladies, bureaucracy, and women in politics. He has written or edited fifteen books, and his recent books include Anticipating Madam President (Lynne Rienner, 2002) and The Presidential Companion: Readings on the First Ladies (University of South Carolina, 2002).