The Politics Of The Presidents Wife

Download or read book The Politics of the President's Wife written by MaryAnne Borrelli and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2011-08-15 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Presidential Wives written by Paul F. Boller and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1998 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At once funny and poignant, dramatic and illuminating, this anecdotal history covers every First Lady from Martha Washington to Hillary Rodham Clinton. "A marvelously entertaining work".--"Newsday".

Download or read book The Presidents' Wives written by Robert P. Watson and published by Lynne Rienner Publishers. This book was released on 2000 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The Presidents' Wives written by Robert P. Watson and published by Lynne Rienner Pub. This book was released on 2014 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robert P. 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.

Download or read book Hidden Power written by Kati Marton and published by G. K. Hall. This book was released on 2002 with total page 708 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An extraordinary work of history and original reporting that reveals the ways in which presidential marriages have affected the tone, character, and policies of twelve administrations, from Woodrow and Edith Wilson to George W. and Laura Bush. Each of the marriages that Kati Marton examines in this hugely appealing book offers up its own unexpected lessons about power and marriage, about the influence of presidential wives, and about the evolution of women's roles in the twentieth century. Based on private White House documents and on interviews with the participants and with eyewitnesses to presidential events, Hidden Power explores how both the personal dynamics and public faces of White House marriages have shaped our history. We see Edith Wilson literally running the government when her deeply beloved husband becomes ill; how the combination of Franklin Roosevelt's reassuring spirit and his wife's humility guided the country through Depression and war; how Bess Truman's loyalty, bluntness, and unpretentiousness were some of her husband's greatest resources; the superb and necessary diplomacy of Jacqueline Kennedy. We observe Lady Bird Johnson retaining her own compass in the face of massive criticism of her husb how Patricia Nixon's estrangement from her husband fed his paranoia; how the Fords reassured us after the debacles of Vietnam and Watergate; Rosalynn Carter's struggle to carve out new territory as first lady; the generally constructive role Nancy Reagan played, despite her frivolous reputation; the razor-sharp political instincts behind Barbara Bush's grandmotherly how Hillary Clinton saved her husband's presidency; and how Laura Bush provides emotional ballast for her husband. Here are the stories of the ultimate power couples-each one very different, but all of them informative, lively, and absolutely fascinating.

Download or read book First Ladies written by Edith Mayo and published by Scala Books. This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the time of Martha Washington, America's First Ladies have fascinated the nation. Unelected and

Download or read book Jacqueline Kennedy written by Barbara Ann Perry and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Noting how Jackie's celebrity and devotion to privacy have for years precluded a more serious treatment, Perry's story illuminates Kennedy's immeasurable impact on the institution of the first lady. Perry illustrates the complexities of Jacqueline Bouvier's marriage to John F. Kennedy, and shows how she transformed herself from a reluctant political wife to an effective, confident presidential partner. Perry is especially illuminating in tracing the first lady's mastery of political symbolism and imagery, along with her use of television and state entertainment to disseminate her work to a global audience.