Jill Abraham Hummer – författare

Unelected, but expected to act as befits her “office,” the first lady has what Pat Nixon called “the hardest unpaid job in the world.” Michelle Obama championed military families with the program Joining Forces. Four decades earlier Pat Nixon traveled to Africa as the nation’s official representative. And nearly four decades before that, Lou Hoover took to the airwaves to solicit women's help in unemployment relief. Each first lady has, in her way, been intimately linked with the roles, rights, and responsibilities of American women. Pursuing this connection, First Ladies and American Women reveals how each first lady from Lou Henry Hoover to Michelle Obama has reflected and responded to trends that marked and unified her time.Jill Abraham Hummer divides her narrative into three distinct epochs. In the first, stretching from Lou Hoover to Jacqueline Kennedy, we see the advent of women's involvement in politics following women’s suffrage, as well as pressures on family stability during depression, war, and postwar uncertainty. Next comes the second wave of the feminist movement, from Lady Bird Johnson’s tenure through Rosalyn Carter’s, when equality and the politics of the personal issues prevailed. And finally we enter the charged political and partisan environment over women’s rights and the politics of motherhood in the wake of the conservative backlash against feminism after 1980, from Nancy Reagan to Michelle Obama.Throughout, Hummer explores how background, personality, ambitions, and her relationship to the president shaped each first lady's response to women in society and to the broader political context in which each administration functioned—and how, in turn, these singular responses reflect the changing role of women in American society over nearly a century.

A complete, nuanced study of Laura Bush's work as first lady, which blended the traditional feminine expectations of the role with the political agenda and global advocacy of the modern office. Jill Abraham Hummer, a leading expert on first ladies, adds to the highly acclaimed Modern First Ladies series.Born in Midland, Texas, Laura Lane Welch was reared in the mold of the traditional Southern woman, with its expectations of decorum and propriety. Raised with a love of books, she graduated from Southern Methodist University with a degree in education. Her life veered from the traditional path when, as a young woman, she taught elementary school in Texas during the process of desegregation, earned a master's degree in library science from the University of Texas, and worked as a community and school librarian. In 1977, at age thirty-one, she married George W. Bush and entered his family's world of politics. As a political wife, Laura brought her values and her concern for literacy and learning to the Texas Governor's Mansion and the White House - and to the world stage.In the latest contribution to the Modern First Ladies series, Jill Abraham Hummer provides a complete and balanced assessment of Laura Bush's work as first lady. Laura Bush's legacy has been the source of debate. Some have portrayed her as a staid, complacent, perfect wife, lacking a will and agenda of her own. Others argue she was a brave and fierce advocate, using her platform in unprecedented ways to champion her own priorities. In this book, Hummer explores how Laura Bush artfully fused the modern and traditional elements of the position, broadening her appeal and upending expectations of what first ladies can do.By chronicling Bush's activities as first lady in real time, Hummer shows how Bush grew from a reticent political wife with a limited portfolio into a global advocate in her own right. Laura Bush's time as first lady was not one-dimensional or static, and her growth was not necessarily linear. Hummer further argues that Laura Bush can best be understood as an emissary for George W. Bush's compassionate conservative policy agenda and efforts to spread freedom and democracy around the globe. Laura Bush's work was not inconsistent with her husband's efforts, but she also emerged as an independent advocate on several issues. In this regard, she modeled the modern interpretation of the first lady's role.Hummer also chronicles Laura Bush's style and innovations in social entertaining, restoring and redecorating the White House, and promoting American arts and culture. In these respects, Laura Bush simultaneously advanced the first lady's traditional responsibilities and sought to bring dignity to the White House.