Companion to First Ladies

Katherine A.S. Sibley is Professor of History at Saint Joseph’s University, USA. She is the author of four books, most recently First Lady Florence Harding: Behind the Tragedy and Controversy (2009) and Red Spies in America: Stolen Secrets and the Dawn of the Cold War (2004). She was the editor of A Companion to Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover (Wiley Blackwell, 2014), and serves on the editorial board of American Communist History as well as on the Historical Advisory Committee for the US State Department.

"It was not so long ago that books about first ladies attracted very little scholarly attention or even popular notice, beyond some well-worn tales such as Dolly Madison's heroism or Mary Todd Lincoln's eccentricities. A new and welcome addition to this literature comes from editor Sibley. Sibley's stable of talented authors includes accomplished scholars like Maurine Beasely and Robert Watson, as well as lesser-known writers and experts in the field of public history. Each of the 40 essays is accompanied by a list of sources consulted, as well as suggestions for further research. It is refreshing to see that publishers are still courageous enough to publish reference volumes like this in the age of the internet and digital research."??Summing Up: Highly recommended. Undergraduates through scholars, and general readers.—B. Miller, University of Cincinnati-Clermont

• Notes on Contributors viiiAcknowledgements xivIntroduction 1Katherine A. S. Sibley1 Martha Washington 6Robert P. Watson2 Abigail Adams: The Life and the Biographers 20Margaret A. Hogan3 Martha Jefferson Randolph, First Daughter 38Billy L. Wayson4 James and Dolley Madison and the Quest for Unity 59Catherine Allgor5 Elizabeth Monroe 75Finn Pollard6 A Monarch in a Republic: Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams and Court Culture in Early Washington City 89Catherine Allgor, Margery M. Heffron and Amanda Mathews Norton7 Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson: A Reluctant First Lady 111Christina Mune8 Angelica Singleton Van Buren, First Lady for a Widower 129John F. Marszalek9 The Ladies of Tippecanoe, and Tyler Too 142Christopher J. Leahy and Sharon Williams Leahy10 Sarah Polk: Ideas of Her Own 159Valerie Palmer-Mehta11 Margaret Taylor, Abigail Fillmore, and Jane Pierce: Three Antebellum Presidents’ Ladies 176Elizabeth Lorelei Thacker-Estrada12 Harriet Rebecca Lane Johnston 197Thomas J. Balcerski13 Mary Todd Lincoln 214William D. Pederson14 Eliza McCardle Johnson and Julia Dent Grant 230Pamela K. Sanfilippo15 Lucy Webb Hayes, Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, and Mary Arthur McElroy 247Benjamin T. Arrington16 Rose Cleveland, Frances Cleveland, Caroline Harrison, Mary McKee 265Merry Ellen Scofield17 Ida McKinley: A Life of Contrasts 283Louie P. Gallo18 Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt: The Victorian Modern First Lady 298Catherine Forslund19 Helen Herron Taft: The Forgotten Impact of a Memorable First Lady 320Rafaele Fierro20 Ellen Axson Wilson 339Lisa M. Burns21 Edith Wilson: The First Lady in Charge 357Barbara Klaczynska22 Florence Kling Harding: Celebrity and Activist 379Katherine A. S. Sibley23 Grace Coolidge 404Teri Finneman24 The Historiography of Lou Henry Hoover 423Nancy Beck Young25 Anna Eleanor Roosevelt: Her Life before and during the White House Years 439Maurine H. Beasley26 Eleanor Roosevelt: First Lady of the World 459Maurine H. Beasley27 Elizabeth Virginia “Bess” Wallace Truman 476Michael J. Devine28 Overrated Pleasures and Underrated Treasures: Mamie Eisenhower, a Bridge between First Lady Archetypes 492Anthony Rama Maravillas29 Jacqueline Kennedy 503Katherine Jellison30 Lady Bird Johnson 517Lisa M. Burns31 An Unlikely First Lady: Pat Nixon 535Mary C. Brennan32 Betty Ford: “When Ordinary Becomes Extraordinary” 552Myra G. Gutin33 Eleanor Rosalynn Smith Carter 569Kristin L. Ahlberg34 Nancy Reagan 585Jason Roberts35 Barbara Pierce Bush: Choosing a Complete Life, I: 1925–1988 604Diana B. Carlin36 Barbara Pierce Bush: Choosing a Complete Life, II: 1988–2015 621Diana B. Carlin37 Hillary Rodham Clinton 635Janette Kenner Muir38 Laura Welch Bush: Strength and Serenity in Turbulent Times 653Anita McBride39 First Lady Michelle Obama: The American Dream Endures, I 677Nancy Kegan Smith and Diana B. Carlin40 First Lady Michelle Obama: The American Dream Endures, II 696Diana B. Carlin and Nancy Kegan SmithIndex 716