From Martha Washington to Laura Bush, first ladies have influenced world events, shaped domestic policies, had their hand in politics, and hired and fired Cabinet officials. They have also held White House seances, consulted astrologers, taken bribes, instigated negative campaigns, and abused their power.
In this compelling and surprising book, journalist and Washington insider John B. Roberts II probes beneath the public images to portray-and rank-the powerful, yet very human, women of the presidency. From the top-rated Eleanor Roosevelt to last-placed Jane Pierce, Roberts takes a lively and astute look at the way each first lady has used her unelected power to shape her husband's administration and political destiny, further his causes, and in many cases, promote her own. Through Roberts's vivid and fascinating biographical essays, revealing his subjects as ambitious, ambivalent, idealistic, greedy, egotistical, and selfless by turn, Rating the First Ladies offers, at last, a window into this complex and continually evolving White House position, and a new understanding of women's-and America's-history.
- Martha Dandridge Custis Washington
- Abigail Smith Adams
- Martha Jefferson Randolph and Mary Jefferson Eppes
- Dolley Payne Todd Madison
- Elizabeth Kortright Monroe
- Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams
- Emily Donelson Donelson and Sarah York Jackson
- Angelica Singleton Van Buren
- Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison
- Letitia Christian Tyler
,etc.