Overview

As the West Wing has grown in power and organisational 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.

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9781603442848

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Unlike many of the previous studies of the role of the first ladies, this study is based in both gender studies and presidency research. It considers the postition and role of first lady from Lou Henry Hoover to Michelle Obama. By beginning with Lou Henry Hoover, the author is able to examine the role of the first lady from the position's modern beginnings. Substantive changes in the presidency as well as changes in gender roles over the last 80 years greatly altered both the postition itself and the development of a first lady's role and power. Borrelli (Connecticut College) has created an excellent approach to the study of America's first ladies. Reflecting the realization that all first ladies serve as representatives of their husband's administration, the author examines the postition by exploring the previous careers of first ladies and the role chosen by each of the modern first ladies. As noted in the book's conclusion, this study encompasses gender, representation, power. --;br><br>--W.K. Hall, Bradley University Choice (04/05/2012)

Borrelli highlights a much neglected yet immensely important aspect of presidential politics that richly adds to our knowledge of the less visible behind the scenes work and world of presidential spouses. This valuable corrective to the historical record drives home the importance of presidential spouses and the role they play in presidential politics. --;br>--Michael A. Genovese Loyola Chair of Leadership, Professor of Political Science, Loyola Marymount Uni (02/23/2011)

MaryAnne Borrelli does an admirable job justifying First Ladies studies as vital to understanding the U.S. Presidency. Borrelli has provided an engaging and insightful examination of the political role of the president's wife. --;i>Journal of American History --Lisa M. Burns Journal of American History (07/12/2012)

Author Information

MARYANNE BORRELLI, a professor of government at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut, specializes in the fields of presidential studies and women and politics.

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