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T he history of the status of the presidents’ wives in the White house is fascinating, and i prepared a lecture on the subject based on the information i gathered when working on Presidential Wives (1988). some wives, like Eleanor roosevelt, were concerned about their “identity” in the White house, and other wives took it in their stride. there were “invisible wives,” i found, but also hostesses, fashion leaders, partners, and finally activists like Mrs. roosevelt who worked busily with their husbands, both in private and public. as they achieved a higher status in american society during the twentieth century , their positions in the White house gained in importance. When lyndon Johnson became president in 1963, his wife worked actively with him as Eleanor roosevelt had with Fdr. on his inauguration in 1965, lBJ saw to it that lady Bird held the Bible for him as he took his oath, and that she danced with him at the inaugural balls. she was the first president’s wife to do these things, and her successors all followed in her footsteps. H H H “the tender breasts of the ladies,” thomas Jefferson once declared, “were not formed for political convulsions.” and he carefully brought up his two daughters in the women’s sphere of activity. so did most americans in Jefferson’s day. there were two spheres of activity, according to convention, when the american republic was founded. the woman’s sphere centered on the home; she was to be a good wife and a good mother. she was also regarded as the moral guardian of the Presidential Wives: The Quest for Identity CHAPTER 23 183 184 Presidential Wives: The Quest for Identity home, for, according to the two-spheres theory, women were morally superior to men. as for the men in the family, their sphere of activity was outside the home. they worked in the great outside world; they were the providers and brought home the bacon. they also served in the professions: law, medicine, and the ministry. naturally they lived in the world of politics. By and large, it was inconceivable that a woman should either vote or hold office, or even have political opinions worth taking seriously. the two-spheres theory dominated american thinking from colonial times until the middle of the twentieth century and, in fact, still persists in certain circles. From the beginning, most of our early presidents’ wives kept very low profiles. they rarely appeared in public and almost never made public pronouncements. unless they wrote letters or kept diaries, it is difficult to find out much about them. they were practically anonymous and came close to being “invisible women.” Jane Pierce, wife of Franklin Pierce, who became president in 1853, was surely an “invisible woman.” she almost never appeared in public. right after her husband’s inauguration, she moved into the living quarters of the President’s house, and practically disappeared. she almost never went downstairs to appear at her husband’s official dinners and receptions. People called her “the shadow in the White house”; she was surely one of the most invisible of all the presidents’ wives. not all the early presidents’ wives were as invisible as Mrs. Pierce. some of them became known as good hostesses for the president, and, according to the two-spheres theory, it was a permissable part of a woman’s activities. the very first woman to become a hostess for her husband in the President’s house was Martha Washington, the likable first presidential wife. George Washington’s wife received high praise for her amiability as hostess for official functions at the President’s house, as it used to be called. Both George and Martha Washington were keenly aware of the fact that they were the first couple to occupy the President’s house and would inevitably set precedents for their successors , so they took their behavior seriously. Washington himself was known for his quiet reserve. For many people he was awe-inspiring because of his accomplishments, and they felt tongue-tied in his presence. With Martha by his side, however, things relaxed considerably, for she was good-natured, folksy, and down-toearth , and people felt comfortable when she was around. she received a great deal of praise for her behavior as the president’s wife. usually, at evening receptions, she got up after a couple of hours and announced, “the general always retires at nine o’clock, and i usually precede him.” it was a polite signal...

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