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{{Main|Rosalynn Carter}}
{{Main|Rosalynn Carter}}
* First first lady to keep her own office in the [[East Wing]].<ref name="firstladies1"/>
* First first lady to keep her own office in the [[East Wing]].<ref name="firstladies1"/>
* First first lady to be married 74 years.


== Nancy Reagan ==
== Nancy Reagan ==

Revision as of 17:42, 7 July 2020

  • This list lists achievements and distinctions of various first ladies of the United States. It includes distinctions achieved in their earlier life and post-first lady service.

There have been forty-two official first ladies and forty-five first ladyships. This discrepancy exists because some presidents remarried while in office and some were not married so had no official first lady.

Also note that first ladies not recognized by the National First Ladies' Library listing include Martha Jefferson Randolph, Emily Donelson, Sarah Yorke Jackson, Angelica Van Buren, Priscilla Tyler, Mary McElroy, Rose Cleveland, Mary McKee, and Margaret Woodrow Wilson.

Martha Washington

Main article: Martha Washington
  • First first lady.[1]
  • First first lady to have a U.S. stamp honoring her.
  • First first lady to have a U.S. military ship named in her honor.
  • First first lady to outlive her husband.
  • First first lady to be older than her husband.

Abigail Adams

Main article: Abigail Adams
  • First first lady to live in the White House.[2]
  • First first lady to also be the mother of a president.
  • First first lady to have been a second lady.
  • First first lady to die before her husband.
  • First first lady to be younger than her husband.

Martha Jefferson Randolph

Main article: Martha Jefferson Randolph
  • First first lady to give birth to a child in the White House.
  • First first lady to not be the sitting president's wife. She was his daughter.

Dolley Madison

Main article: Dolley Madison
  • First first lady given an honorary seat on the floor of Congress.[3]
  • First first lady (and first American) to respond to a telegraph message.[3]
  • First first lady to die at over eighty years old.

Louisa Adams

Main article: Louisa Adams
  • First first lady born outside of the United States.[4]
  • First first lady to have both houses of the United States Congress adjourn in mourning on the day of her funeral.[5]
  • First first lady to be the daughter-in-law of another first lady.

Sarah Yorke Jackson

Main article: Sarah Yorke Jackson
  • First first lady to have been born in the 19th century.
  • First first lady to have a post first ladyship of 50 years.

Anna Harrison

Main article: Anna Harrison
  • First first lady to be widowed while holding the title.[6]
  • First first lady to be granted by law a pension as a president's widow.
  • First first lady to be the grandmother of a president.

Letitia Tyler

Main article: Letitia Tyler
  • First first lady to die in the White House.[7]

Julia Tyler

Main article: Julia Tyler
  • First first lady to marry a president who was already in office at the time of the wedding.[8]

Sarah Polk

Main article: Sarah Polk
  • First first lady to be photographed while in office.
  • First first lady to serve as a secretary to the president.
  • First first lady to have no children.
  • First first lady to host an annual Thanksgiving dinner at the White House.

Mary Todd Lincoln

Main article: Mary Todd Lincoln
  • First first lady to hold séances in the White House.[9]

Julia Grant

Main article: Julia Grant
  • First first lady recorded on film.[10]
  • First first lady to write her memoirs.[10]

Lucy Hayes

Main article: Lucy Hayes
  • First first lady to earn a college degree.[11]
  • First first lady to host an Easter Egg roll on the White House lawn.[9]

Frances Cleveland

Main article: Frances Cleveland
  • First first lady to marry in the White House.[12]
  • First first lady to have a child in the White House.
  • First first lady to preside at two non-consecutive administrations.
  • First first lady to remarry after being widowed.

Caroline Harrison

Main article: Caroline Harrison
  • First first lady to raise a Christmas tree in the White House.[13]
  • First first lady to have written a speech she delivered herself.[14]
  • First first lady to be the granddaughter-in-law of another first lady.

Edith Roosevelt

Main article: Edith Roosevelt
  • First first lady to travel abroad while in office.[15]

Helen Taft

Main article: Helen Herron Taft
  • First first lady to own and drive a car.[3]
  • First first lady to ride in her husband’s inaugural parade.[3]
  • First first lady to support women's suffrage.[3]
  • First first lady to publish her memoirs.[3]
  • First first lady to smoke cigarettes.[3]
  • First first lady to successfully lobby for safety standards in federal workplaces.[3]

Edith Wilson

Main article: Edith Wilson
  • First first lady to unofficially assume presidential functions.[9]

Florence Harding

Main article: Florence Harding
  • First first lady to vote.[3]
  • First first lady to fly in an airplane.[3]
  • First first lady to operate a movie camera.[3]
  • First first lady to own a radio.[3]
  • First first lady to invite movie stars to the White House.[3]

Grace Coolidge

Main article: Grace Coolidge
  • First first lady to earn a four-year undergraduate degree.[16]
  • First first lady to speak in sound newsreels.[3]

Lou Hoover

Main article: Lou Hoover
  • First first lady to make regular nationwide radio broadcasts.[17]

Eleanor Roosevelt

Main article: Eleanor Roosevelt
  • First first lady to hold regular press conferences.[3]
  • First first lady to write a daily newspaper column and to write a monthly magazine column.[3]
  • First first lady to host a weekly radio show.[3]
  • First first lady to speak at a national party convention (1940).[18]
  • First first lady to be depicted as part of a presidential memorial (the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial).[19]
  • First first lady to be the niece of a former president.


Mamie Eisenhower

Main article: Mamie Eisenhower
  • First first lady to initiate Halloween decorations to be put up in the White House.[20]

Jacqueline Kennedy

Main article: Jacqueline Kennedy
  • First first lady to be born in the 20th century.
  • First first lady to hire a press secretary.[3]
  • First first lady to hire a White House curator.[3]
  • First first lady to win an Emmy Award.[12]
  • First first lady to be Catholic.

Lady Bird Johnson

Main article: Lady Bird Johnson
  • First first lady to become a millionaire in her own right.

Pat Nixon

Main article: Pat Nixon

Betty Ford

Main article: Betty Ford
  • First first lady to admit having a drinking problem.

Rosalynn Carter

Main article: Rosalynn Carter
  • First first lady to keep her own office in the East Wing.[3]
  • First first lady to be married 74 years.

Nancy Reagan

Main article: Nancy Reagan

Barbara Bush

Main article: Barbara Bush
  • First first lady to live to see a son become president.

Hillary Clinton

Main article: Hillary Clinton
  • First first lady to earn a postgraduate degree.[27]
  • First first lady to have her own professional career up to the time of entering the White House.[27]
  • First first lady to wear trousers in an official first lady portrait.[28]
  • First first lady with an office in the West Wing.[29]
  • First first lady to win a Grammy Award.[30]
  • First first lady to be subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury.[31]
  • First first lady to run for and to win elected office (for senator for New York in 2000).[32]
  • First first lady to march in an LGBT pride parade (2000).[33]
  • First first lady to run for president (election in 2008).[3][34]
  • First first lady to have served in the cabinet and be in the presidential line of succession, as secretary of state.
  • First first lady (and first woman) to be nominated for president by a major U.S. political party (specifically, the Democratic Party, in 2016).[35][32]
  • First first lady (and first woman) to have won the popular vote in the United States presidential elections.

Laura Bush

Main article: Laura Bush
  • First first lady to give birth to twins.[3]
  • First first lady to substitute for the president in the president's weekly radio address.[3]
  • First first lady to have a mother-in-law who was also a first lady while in office.

Michelle Obama

Main article: Michelle Obama

Melania Trump

Main article: Melania Trump
  • First first lady not to have been born a citizen of the United States or in what would later become the United States.[a] She was naturalized in 2006.[43][44][45]
  • First first lady to be born in Slovenia.
  • First first lady to be fluent in five languages.[24] Besides Slovene, which is her native language, she speaks English, German, French and Italian.[46]
  • First first lady to be a non-native speaker of English.[24]
  • First first lady to fly in a V-22 Osprey aircraft.[47]


See also

Notes

  1. ^ Though Louisa Adams was born outside of the United States, she was the daughter of an American father - Joshua Johnson, the American Consul in London - and American citizenship was therefore her birthright.[41][42]

References

  1. ^ "Martha Washington Biography :: National First Ladies' Library". Firstladies.org. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  2. ^ "The 44 first ladies of the United States of America | Deseret News". M.deseretnews.com. 2015-05-14. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "Little-known facts about our First Ladies". Firstladies.org. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  4. ^ "Louisa Adams Biography :: National First Ladies' Library". Firstladies.org. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  5. ^ "Louisa Adams - First Ladies". HISTORY.com. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
  6. ^ "Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  7. ^ "Letitia Christian Tyler". The White House.
  8. ^ "Julia Tyler Biography :: National First Ladies' Library". www.firstladies.org.
  9. ^ a b c Sarkar, Asmita (21 November 2016). "Melania Trump isn't the only incoming First Lady to break the norm, here are 8 more who defied White House traditions". International Business Times. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  10. ^ a b "Julia Grant Biography :: National First Ladies' Library". Firstladies.org. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  11. ^ "Lucy Hayes Biography :: National First Ladies' Library". Firstladies.org. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  12. ^ a b "First Ladies — History.com Video". History.com. Archived from the original on 2015-07-09. Retrieved 2015-07-08.
  13. ^ "First Lady - Caroline Harrison | C-SPAN First Ladies: Influence & Image". firstladies.c-span.org. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  14. ^ "First Lady - Caroline Harrison | C-SPAN First Ladies: Influence & Image". firstladies.c-span.org. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  15. ^ Watson, Robert P. (2012-02-01). Life in the White House: A Social History of the First Family and the President's House. SUNY Press. ISBN 9780791485071.
  16. ^ "Grace Coolidge Biography :: National First Ladies' Library". www.firstladies.org. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  17. ^ "Lou Henry Hoover". whitehouse.gov. 1944-01-07. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  18. ^ Goodwin, Doris Kearns (1994). No Ordinary Time. p. 10, 133. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-80448-4.
  19. ^ "The White House / The National Archives". Clinton2.nara.gov. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
  20. ^ Staff, Country Living (September 29, 2016). "What Halloween Was Like the Year You Were Born". countryliving.com. Country Living. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
  21. ^ "First Lady Biography: Pat Nixon". The National First Ladies Library. 2005. Retrieved 2007-08-15.
  22. ^ Anthony, Carl Sferrazza (1991). First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents' Wives and Their Power; 1961–1990 (Volume II). New York: William Morrow and Co., p. 196
  23. ^ "News Detail". Nixonfoundation.net. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  24. ^ a b c Alexander, Harriet (20 January 2017). "Who is First Lady Melania Trump - and how will she take to the role?". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  25. ^ "The First Lady a Nation Never Knew: Pat Nixon in Private Taped Phone Calls & 100 Pictures on Her Centennial". Carl Anthony Online. 16 March 2012. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
  26. ^ "Nancy Reagan Biography :: National First Ladies' Library". Firstladies.org. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  27. ^ a b "Hillary Rodham Clinton". PBS. Retrieved December 2, 2014. Clinton had the first postgraduate degree through regular study and scholarly work. Eleanor Roosevelt had been previously awarded a postgraduate honorary degree. Clinton's successor Laura Bush became the second First Lady with a postgraduate degree.
  28. ^ Betsi Fores (2013-06-19). "Flashback: Top 7 Hillary Rodham Clinton pant suits | Rare". Rare.us. Retrieved 2014-07-30.
  29. ^ Baker, Peter; Chozick, Amy (December 5, 2014). "Hillary Clinton's History as First Lady: Powerful, but Not Always Deft" – via NYTimes.com.
  30. ^ Jeffrey D. Schultz (1999). Encyclopedia of Women in American Politics. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 40–. ISBN 978-1-57356-131-0.
  31. ^ "Once Upon a Time in Arkansas: Rose Law Firm Billing Records". Frontline. October 7, 1997.
  32. ^ a b "First first lady to win elected office". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  33. ^ Nate White. "Why Hillary's experience argument actually does check out — Medium". Medium.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-21. Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  34. ^ McGregor, Jena. "Is Hillary Clinton's challenge that she's been set up for failure, or for success?". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
  35. ^ Alan Rappeport, Yamiche Alcindor & Jonathan Martin, Democrats Nominate Hillary Clinton Despite Sharp Divisions, New York Times (July 26, 2016).
  36. ^ "First Lady Michelle Obama". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  37. ^ "Michelle Obama". whitehouse.gov. 2 January 2015.
  38. ^ Rossi, Rosalind (January 20, 2007). "The woman behind Obama". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on February 15, 2008. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
  39. ^ "Academic Departments & Programs". The Trustees of Princeton University. 2008. Retrieved May 18, 2008.
  40. ^ "Michelle Obama surprises Oscars by presenting Best Picture award". Reuters. February 24, 2013. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  41. ^ Harris, Bill; Ross, Laura (March 4, 2009). The First Ladies Fact Book: Revised and Updated! The Childhoods, Courtships, Marriages, Campaigns, Accomplishments, and Legacies of Every First Lady from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. ISBN 1579128092.
  42. ^ "Louisa Adams - First Ladies". History.com. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  43. ^ Diamond, Jeremy (November 10, 2016). "America, meet your new first lady". CNN. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  44. ^ "Melania to be 1st foreign-born First Lady since 1820s". The Hindu. November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
  45. ^ "US election: Trump children - who is the new first family?". BBC News. November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
  46. ^ Puente, Maria (9 November 2016). "What kind of first lady will Melania Trump be?". USA Today. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  47. ^ Press, The Associated (2018-12-16). "Melania Trump makes first lady history with ride in Osprey aircraft". Military Times. Retrieved 2018-12-27.
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