The first lady of the United States is the role traditionally adopted by the wife of the president of the United States. She is widely regarded as the hostess of the Whitehouse. Throughout the history of America, women have filled the position of first lady; however, this could soon change since Hillary Clinton is a formidable contender for the title of first female president of the United States of America.
The position of the first lady may not be appointed, but it is still a powerful position. Commentators have termed the second hardest job presumably after the presidency, an elective political position. Others have taunted that the first lady is the only person who can tell the president to shut up without being fired. In reality, the first lady is the only true confidant to the president because she is the only person he can trust during times of uncertainty. The privacy of the matrimonial bedroom is where the president is most at ease and capable of sharing his concerns with his wife. Nowhere is the power of “pillow talk” more evident than when it emerged that Eleanor Roosevelt may have influenced her husband’s decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan. And when the president is incapacitated as was the case with President Woodrow Wilson, the first lady became the de facto cabinet secretary screening everything and deciding what was important enough for the ailing president’s attention.
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The role of the first lady is complex because she has no specific mandate, yet the public will use her influence, or lack of for that matter, to gauge the overall success of her husband’s reign. Indeed, she is expected to support her husband in his service towards the people of America whichever way she sees fit. Her success will be measured according to how supportive she is seen to be of her husband’s political agenda. Furthermore, the public measures her value to her husband’s political legacy according to political or social issues that she champions as well as the image of the first family and more specifically, the conduct of the first children or the perception of unity and functionality. Unfortunately, the media creates this image, almost exclusively, and the first lady is often powerless in controlling her the public perceives her.
The power of the first lady is undeniable. The myth that first ladies have little influence on the president is sadly only that, a myth. It is true that some first ladies have been more vocal or influential than others. There is no fair methodology to compare all first ladies because they all lived their lives on a personal level, in a public office and at vastly different times. Some women like Eleanor Roosevelt, stood by their husbands during war, others like Jackie Kennedy became widows after their husbands were assassinated while in office while Michelle Obama has racial challenges as the wife to the first black president. Therefore, it would not be fair to compare all the women and determine who were more successful or who performed dismally.
Perhaps most critical in the image of the office of the first lady of America is the function of influence. Influence is the capacity to effect an individual or matter. The advent of mass media exposed first ladies to public scrutiny and judgment. Eleanor Roosevelt called press conferences and insisted on female journalists being part of the group that interviewed her. She understood the power of traditional media and leveraged it to express her opinions and shape the conversations of the day in favor of her husband’s presidency. Jackie Kennedy created a successful public relations campaign around her redecoration of the Whitehouse. In 1963, she became the distraught face of a country in shock after her husband was assassinated as they rode together in a motorcade. Hillary Clinton’s biggest media moment as first lady was during her husband’s sex scandal, particularly when she declared that she would stay with him. Michelle Obama, the incumbent first lady is perhaps the poster child for how to use social media. She has successfully leveraged key social media platforms to reach out to young people, effectively becoming the first, First Lady to utilize pop culture to advance agenda.
For the most part, the media has been myopic in its coverage of the women in the position of First lady. Opinion drives coverage and where the women were branded as shy or private, media generally lost interest in them and their activities. Yet history would later prove that these women were very influential on issues that mattered to them, that they were actively involved in politics and were acutely aware of the ongoing power play around the presidency. An excellent example is Jackie Kennedy who may have seemed more interested in fashion and other social events yet in the interviews proceeding her husband’s assassination; she shared information, including top-secret CIA briefs that would have escaped her had she not been concerned with politics.
In conclusion, there may not be a formal description of the role of the first lady but they are clearly very powerful and influential individuals. The women have changed the course of history by influencing major decisions and standing by their husbands during very challenging times. The media has not always recognized these important roles and most of these women only received credit for their contributions in memoirs published post presidency. America is yet to have a male First Spouse. It will be interesting to watch how the media will cover the position with a male as opposed to the traditional subservient female that fit perfectly with the predominant narrative of a patriarchal presidency.
