51. Carter, First Lady, p. 117.
52. Carter, First Lady, p. 117.
53. On Rosalynn Carter’s White House staff, see New York Times, January 11, 1977, p. 20; New York Times, December 31, 1979, p. D2; Scott Kaufman, Rosalynn Carter: Equal Partner in the White House (Lawrence, 2007) p. 36.
54. Newsweek (June 13, 1977), p. 17.
55. Carter, First Lady, p. 188.
56. New York Times, July 20, 1977, section III, p. 2.
57. Meg Greenfield, “Mrs. President,” Newsweek (June 20, 1977), p. 100.
58. Newsweek (June 13, 1977), p. 17.
59. Rosalynn Carter to author, June 19, 1984.
60. Carter, First Lady, pp. 278–279.
61. Marjorie Hunter, “Mrs. Carter in Capitol Debut,” New York Times, February 8, 1979, p. 1.
62. New York Times, February 3, 1979, p. 2; and February 8, 1979, p. 1.
63. Carter, First Lady, p. 279.
64. Carter, First Lady, p. 279.
65. Letter of Madeline MacBean (later Edwards), Personal Assistant to Rosalynn Carter, to author, July 23, 1984.
66. Newsweek (June 13, 1977), p. 17.
67. William Shannon, “The Other Carter Is Running,” New York Times, September 15, 1976, p, 45.
68. New York Times, August 13, 1978, p. 79.
69. Cyrus Vance, Hard Choices (New York, 1983), p. 218.
70. Carter, First Lady, p. 239.
71. Carter, First Lady, p. 243.
72. Carter, First Lady, p. 245.
73. Carter, First Lady, p. 265.
74. New York Times Book Review, April 15, 1984, p. 7.
75. New York Times, June 11, 1976, p. 1.
76. Rosalynn Carter to author, June 19, 1984.
77. Abigail McCarthy, “Hers,” New York Times, November 30, 1978, p. C2.
78. Carter, First Lady, pp. 289–290.
79. Carter, First Lady, p. 340.
80. Siena Research Institute, “First Ladies Poll.” See Appendices II and IV.
81. Carter, First Lady, pp. 290–292.
82. Walter Shapiro, “Madeleine Lee, Meet Nancy Reagan,” Washington Monthly (March 1981), p. 49.
83. Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (New York, 1963). Friedan did not, of course, compose her book in a vacuum—she had, no doubt, been influenced by authors such as Simone de Beauvoir, whose book The Second Sex appealed in English in 1953.
84. Marabel Morgan, The Total Woman (Old Tappan, New Jersey, 1973).
85. Gloria Steinem, “Finally a Total Woman in the White House,” Ms. (March 1981), p. 13.
86. Nancy Reagan (with Bill Libby), Nancy (New York, 1980), p. 122.
87. Lawrence Leamer, Make Believe: The Story of Nancy and Ronald Reagan (New York, 1981), p. 64.
88. Lou Cannon, Reagan (New York, 1982), p. 142.
89. Cannon, Reagan, p. 146.
90. Siena Research Institute, “First Ladies Poll.” See Appendix IV of poll conducted in 1982. Nancy did best on the item “value to the President,” ranking eighth out of 17.
91. Learner, Make Believe, pp. 290–291.
92. Learner, Make Believe, p. 291. Also see Ronnie Dugger, On Reagan: The Man and His Presidency (New York, 1983), p. 122.
93. NBC documentary on Nancy Reagan, June 24, 1985.
94. Leamer, Make Believe, pp. 346–347.
95. Siena Research Institute, “First Ladies Poll.” It should be emphasized that this poll was taken during Nancy’s first year in the White House.
96. Alfred Descheidt designed a “Queen Nancy” postcard in late 1981. See New York Times, February 28, 1982, section III, p. 19.
97. NBC documentary on Nancy Reagan, June 24, 1985, showed Nancy Reagan continuing to talk about designer clothing but limiting herself to off-camera remarks.
98. Learner, Make Believe, p. 359, supplies the lyrics of Nancy’s song on second hand clothes.
99. New York Times, April 25, 1985, p. 1; April 26, 1985, p. B6.
100. New York Times, March 26, 1985, p. A20.
101. NBC documentary on Nancy Reagan, June 24, 1985, showed several White House staffers making these judgments.
102. New York Times, July 16, 1985, p. 1.
103. New York Times, July 17, 1985, p. 1; MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, July 15, 1985.
104. New York Times, July 21, 1985, p. 22.
105. New York Times, July 13, 1986, p. E7.
106. New York Times, February 28, 1986, p. A12.
107. Donald T. Regan, For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington (New York, 1988), p, 72.
108. Nancy Reagan, My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan (New York, 1989), p. 316.
109. New York Times, December 15, 1988, p. B20.
110. New York Times, July 12, 1986, p. A6.
111. Donnie Radcliffe, Simply Barbara Bush: A Portrait of America’s Candid First Lady (New York, 1989), p. 73.
112. Radcliffe, Simply Barbara Bush, pp. 84–85.
113. Radcliffe, Simply Barbara Bush, p. 87.
114. The others: Eliza Johnson, Mamie Eisenhower, and Rosalynn Carter.
115. Radcliffe, Simply Barbara Bush, p. 105.
116. Radcliffe, Simply Barbara Bush, p. 113.
117. Radcliffe, Simply Barbara Bush, p. 120.
118. Radcliffe, Simply Barbara Bush, pp. 127–128.
119. U.S. News & World Report (May 28, 1990), p. 24.
120. Vogue (November 1988), p. 444.
121. Radcliffe, Simply Barbara Bush, p. 1.
122. On March 30, 1989, several newspapers, including The New York Times and The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, published interviews in which she described her symptoms and medication.
123. Ebony (October 1990), p. 76.
124. Washington Post, November 19, 1990, p. B1.
125. Radcliffe, Simply Barbara Bush, pp. 54–55. For the view that Barbara Bush had shown a sarcastic streak as a child, see Myra G. Gutin, Barbara Bush: Presidential Matriarch (Lawrence, Kansas, 2008), p. 2.
126. New York Times, June 2, 1990, p. A1.
127. To Author, September 23, 1993.
Chapter 10
1. National Journal (June 19, 1993), p. 1472.
2. National Journal (February 6, 1993), p. 358.
3. Vanity Fair (June 1993), p. 108.
4. Atlantic (June 1993), p. 22.
5. Working Woman (May 1993), p. 13.
6. May 17, 1993.
7. U.S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1993, 12th ed. (Washington, D.C., 1993), p. 173.
8. Statistical Abstract 1993, p. 184.
9. According to Statistical Abstract 1993, p. 400, 56.8 percent of married women with children under six years of age were employed in 1987.
10. Carl Sferrazza Anthony, “What I Hope to Do as First Lady,” Good Housekeeping (January 1993), p. 98.
11. Quoted in Judith Warner, Hillary Clinton: The Inside Story (New York, 1993), p. 13.
12. Warner, Hillary Clinton, p. 26.
13. Quoted in Donnie Radcliffe, Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York, 1993), p. 42.
14. “Hillary Talks Back,” Elle (May 1994), p. 148.
15. Warner, Hillary Clinton, p. 24.
16. Radcliffe, Hillary Rodham Clinton, p. 67.
17. Radcliffe, Hillary Rodham Clinton, p. 79.
18. Life (June 15, 1969), p. 31. Coincidentally, the photograph of Ira Magaziner, who spoke for students at Brown’s commencement, appeared on the same page. Magaziner later met Bill Clinton when both were Rhodes scholars and then served in the Clinton White House as Hillary’s deputy on health care reform and Bill’s senior adviser on policy development. See National Journal (February 6, 1993), p. 358.
19. Jessie Carney Smith, ed., Notable Black American Women (Detroit, 1992), pp. 309–312.
20. Kenneth Keniston, All Our Children: Families Under Pressure in the United States (New York, 1977), p. 203.
21. Radcliffe, Hillary Rodham Clinton, p. 120.
22. New York Times, March 15, 1994, p. 1. Some of these early profes
sional ties embarrassed Hillary later, and Hubbell resigned in March 1994, amid charges of misconduct at Rose.
23. Patricia O’Brien, “The First Lady with a Career?” Working Woman (August 1992), p. 44.
24. Garry Wills, “Clinton’s Case,” New York Review of Books (March 5, 1992), p. 3.
25. Time (February 3, 1992), p. 14.
26. Quoted in Radcliffe, Hillary Rodham Clinton, p. 231.
27. No one pointed out that Sarah Polk had been criticized in the 1844 campaign for not being interested enough in domestic details. See chapter 3.
28. Warner, Hillary Clinton, pp. 209–210.
29. Daniel Wattenberg, “The Lady Macbeth of Little Rock,” American Spectator (August 1992), p. 25.
30. Warner, Hillary Clinton, p. 210; New York Times, December 20, 1992, p. 1.
31. Greg Anrig, Jr., “How Hillary Manages the Clintons’ Money,” Money (July 1992), pp. 112–121.
32. Wattenberg, “Lady Macbeth of Little Rock,” p. 25.
33. Radcliffe, Hillary Rodham Clinton, pp. 206–211.
34. New York Times, November 17, 1992, p. A18.
35. For security reasons, diagrams of the West Wing are not often published, but in 1985, the New York Times showed office assignments at that time. See Betty Boyd Caroli, Inside the White House (New York, 1992), p. 98.
36. Marian Burros, “Hillary Clinton’s New Home: Broccoli’s In, Smoking’s Out,” New York Times, February 2, 1993, p. 1.
37. National Journal (June 19, 1993), pp. 1475–1476.
38. Public Law 90–206, December 16, 1967, deals with postal rates, federal salary increases, and other topics, but Sec. 221 restricts the employment of relatives by public officials.
39. A 1972 law required that federal advisory committee meetings be open to the public, except for those advisory committees made up entirely of federal officials that are exempt. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s legal team argued that for the purposes of the 1972 law, she “is a Federal officer or employee as First Lady.” See New York Times, May 1, 1993, p. 8.
40. New York Times, March 11, 1993, p. 1.
41. New York Times, June 23, 1993, p. A1.
42. New York Times, October 3, 1993, p. E1.
43. New York Times, April 23, 1994, p. 12.
44. Vanity Fair (June 1994), p. 107.
45. Diane Minor, National NOW Times, January, 1995.
46. Gail Sheehy’s interview with Hillary Clinton, conducted in January 1995, is reported in Sheehy’s book, Hillary’s Choice (New York, 1999, 2000) p. 256.
47. Hillary Rodham Clinton, It Takes A Village and Other Lessons Our Children Teach Us (New York, 1996). Her subsequent book, Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids’ Letters to the First Pets, also fell within the traditionally non-partisan role of First Ladies.
48. Lawrence McQuillan, World Tibet Network News, September 6, 1995.
49. New York Times, January 8, 1996.
50. New York Times, June 24, 1996.
51. A similar charge arose in 2000 when she was blamed for turning the revered presidential residence into “Motel 1600.” See a hostile account of this charge in Citizens’ Investigative Commission, News Update, October 13, 2000.
52. For a listing of dozens of articles and books dealing with these charges, see website for the First Ladies National Historic Site (Canton, Ohio): www.firstladies.org.
53. Today, interview with Matt Lauer, January 27, 1998.
54. For a summary of how “favorable” ratings rose in 1998, see New York Times, September 27, 2000.
55. Bob Woodward, in an excerpt from Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate (New York, 1999) that appeared in Washington Post, June 14, 1999, described an interview that he had with the First Lady in which she touched on her anger and humiliation. In her debate with Rick Lazio, September 13, 2000, she referred to the Lewinsky period as “a very, very painful time for me, for my family, and for our country,”
56. Statement made during 60 Minutes interview, January 26, 1992.
57. Wendy Wasserstein, New York Times, August 25, 1998.
58. New York Times, January 20, 1997.
59. For a full account of the Senate campaign, see Michael Tomasky, Hillary’s Turn: Inside Her Improbable, Victorious Senate Campaign (New York, 2001).
60. For an unfriendly account of how Hillary answered Dave Letterman’s quiz on New York State trivia, see Peggy Noonan, The Case Against Hillary Clinton (New York, 2000), p. xix.
61. Lewis L. Gould, “Hillary Rodham Clinton,” in Lewis L. Gould, ed., American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy, 2nd ed. (New York, 2001), p. 436 sums up: “In the history of the institution of First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton will occupy a unique place.”
62. New York Times, March 24, 2000.
63. An article by Marc Lacey in New York Times, May 23, 2000, described how she juggled schedules so as to be present at the state dinner for President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and his wife, Zanele.
64. New York Times, March 16, 2001.
65. New York Times, September 8, 2001.
66. New York Times, November 8, 2000.
67. New York Times, November 12, 2000.
68. Hillary Rodham Clinton, An Invitation to the White House: At Home with History (New York, 2000). The dust jacket noted that the author’s proceeds had been assigned to the White House Historical Association and that a portion of the publisher’s profits would be donated to the National Park Foundation.
69. For a discussion of the bidding war for the memoirs, see New York Times, December 13, 2000. In an editorial on February 17, 2001, the New York Times noted that the Senate Ethics Committee had ruled that the publishing agreement did not violate Senate rules.
70. Committee assignments included: Budget; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Environment and Public Works.
71. See p. 114.
72. Population information on Midland was kindly supplied by Nancy Oldham and Donna Cervantes. See Midland’s website: www.ci.midland.tx.us.
73. Antonia Felix, Laura: America’s First Lady, First Mother (New York, 2002) p. 16.
74. Christopher Andersen, George and Laura: Portrait of an American Marriage (New York, 2002), p, 81, quotes a “friend of Laura’s”: “It is really odd, considering Midland’s small size and how remote it was that the Welches and the Bushes didn’t know each other back then.”
75. Walt McDonald (Texas Poet Laureate in 2001), Whatever the Wind Delivers: Celebrating West Texas and the Near Southwest (Lubbock, 1999).
76. For more information on Laura Welch’s youth, see list of articles on www.firstladies.org.
77. See Oprah magazine, May 2001 as quoted in Felix, Laura: America’s First Lady, pp. 29–30.
78. For a fuller discussion of the accident, see Lewis L. Gould, “Laura Welch Bush,” in Lewis L. Gould, ed., American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy (New York, 2001) pp. 440, 445. In the bibliographical essay, Gould cites a 1963 headline in the Midland Reporter-Telegram: “Lee High School Senior Dies in Traffic Mishap.”
79. Felix, Laura: America’s First Lady, p. 39.
80. Felix, Laura: America’s First Lady, pp. 26, 40.
81. Felix, Laura: America’s First Lady, pp. 40–41.
82. USA Today, March 22, 2001.
83. Felix, Laura: America’s First Lady, p. 69.
84. Gould, “Laura Welch Bush,” p. 441.
85. This often-told story varies slightly with the telling, but the central point does not change—that Laura Welch stood up to the older woman and felt no need to apologize for preferring reading to competitive sports. Accounts of Barbara Bush’s reaction to the interchange also vary but in one account, she described the elderly Dorothy Bush as so surprised she “darn near collapsed.” See Andersen, George and Laura, p. 124.
86. Andersen, George and Laura, p. 160, reports that George W. Bush was being paid $200,000 annually by 1989. For accounts of the sale of the baseball club in 1998, see Andersen, p. 194.
87. For various perspectives
on Laura’s influence on George’s decision to stop drinking, see Andersen, George and Laura, pp. 149ff. Andersen quotes “one friend” as saying, “His marriage was falling apart, and he cared about his girls. That’s what turned him around” (p. 150).
88. Gould, “Laura Welch Bush,” p. 443.
89. Elizabeth Palmer, “Laura Bush: Convention Speaker,” Congressional Quarterly Weekly, July 29, 2000. Excerpts from the speech appear in the New York Times, August. 1, 2000.
90. New York Times, October 19, 2000.
91. New York Times, January 19, 2001.
92. New York Times, January 9, 2001.
93. International Herald Tribune, December 19, 2000.
94. For details of the book festival, see Elaine Sciolino, “First Lady Opens a Festival To Promote National Literacy,” New York Times, September 7, 2001.
95. Less than a year later, the Foundation had raised $5 million. See AP Online, June 4, 2002.
96. Other headlines pointed to a changed role for the First Lady. See Faye Fiore, “A First Lady’s Metamorphosis,” Los Angeles Times, October 10, 2001; Nina Burleigh, “A New Life for Laura Bush,” US Weekly, October 15, 2001.
97. New York Times, October 7, 2002.
98. New York Times, October 7, 2002.
99. For one example of coverage of this event, see Bob Kemper, “In Solo Radio Address, Laura Bush Opens Worldwide Effort to Spotlight Taliban’s Policies Against Women,” Chicago Tribune, November 17, 2001.
100. For the transcription of Laura Bush’s radio address, see www.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=24992.
101. For the content of Laura Bush’s United Nations speech on March 8, 2002, see http://huwu.org/events/women/2002/bush.htm.
102. Tasha Dubriwny, “First Ladies and Feminism: Laura Bush as Advocate for Women’s and Children’s Rights,” Women’s Studies in Communication (2005), p. 95.
103. Sheryl Gay Stolbert, “First Lady Raising Her Profile without Changing Her Image,” New York Times, October 15, 2007, p. A9.
104. Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, “The Rhetorical Presidency: A Two-Person Career,” in Martin J. Medhurst, ed., Beyond the Rhetorical Presidency (College Station, 1996), p. 180.
105. Dubriwny, “First Ladies and Feminism,” p. 84.
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