First Ladies and Presidential Campaigns

Overview

The president of the United States serves a unique dual role in the conduct of US business. The president is the head of state responsible for making major appointments, along with assuming a significant and decisive role in the development and passage of legislation. The president also presides over ceremonial functions. In many other countries, these two roles are played by two separate individuals. The American president often relies on substitutes to preside over ceremonial functions. This individual is frequently a member of the household, typically the First Lady. The same strategy has been frequently employed during political campaigns.

Presidential campaigns are, to a great extent, a twentieth-century phenomenon. It was unusual for presidential candidates to campaign for office publicly during the first one hundred years of United States history. In contrast to contemporary practice, most of the posturing and positioning that occurred leading up to a presidential election took place in private, frequently behind closed doors. Historically, the campaign season for the presidency itself was quite brief, generally not extending beyond the actual nominating conventions. The high-profile style of campaigning that occurs today began to unfold during the latter part of the nineteenth century.

In 1880, Lucretia Garfield assisted her husband with his presidential campaign strategy and decision-making. The role of the First Lady in the presidential election process has assumed a growing significance since then. With the increasing popularity of television, social media, and an ever-growing campaign season, presidential campaigning has evolved into a highly public series of events.

The election process has served as an arena through which the candidates’ spouses could move to the forefront of their partners’ campaigns and into a position of prominence. Although until the twentieth century it was considered inappropriate for women to campaign openly, the groundwork for such participation was laid much earlier. Because presidents must seek a popular mandate instead of the approval of their own political party’s caucus (as is the case for the position of prime minister in other nations), they cannot rely on established contacts and trust that has been built up over years of working closely with colleagues. Instead, the American president must rely heavily on the support of the general population for election to public office.

It is often the case that a stand-in campaigner is generally useful and enjoys certain advantages over the candidate. In advance of Jimmy Carter’s 1976 Democratic Party nomination, Rosalynn Carter ventured off on her own in a concerted attempt to gain support for her husband, fourteen months prior to the Democratic National Convention. This effort proved especially valuable for the candidate because his wife had the popularity and skills needed to reach out to the general population. Lady Bird Johnson likewise traveled and campaigned on her own through several states in 1964. She was confident that chivalry in the South still existed and that she would be accorded certain courtesies not available to her husband. Mrs. Johnson referred to campaigning as one of the bills that a politician’s wife must pay for the position being sought by her husband.

Front Porch Campaigning

Front porch campaigning marked what many consider to be the first formalized and concerted role for candidates’ wives during presidential campaigns. This approach began during the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was so labeled because the candidates literally sat on the front porches of their respective homes and invited prospective voters and supporters to visit them. Many presidential candidates of this time, including James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, and Warren Harding, employed this strategy. As a consequence, members of the voting public were provided with an opportunity to meet and have a dialogue with the candidates and their wives. As a result, spouses’ role in the presidential campaign became more formalized.

Caroline Harrison was not at all enamored of the immense amount of public attention that was focused on a presidential campaign. However, she was nevertheless an active participant in her husband’s 1888 bid for the presidency. She endured a seemingly endless flow of guests to their home during the election campaign, which was actually labeled the “front porch” campaign. As a result of this open-house approach to the campaign, Harrison endured a large number of inappropriate requests for housing, a loss of privacy, and damage to their home and personal belongings as well as the theft of the fence surrounding their home.

Florence Harding participated in her husband’s 1920 campaign in an openly public manner. As a result, her considerable political acumen and abilities were put to a constructive use in Warren G. Harding’s presidential campaign. Mrs. Harding managed the campaign for him, yet another historical first for a First Lady. The presidential election of 1920 marked the first presidential election in which a candidate’s wife invited women’s political organizations to meet with her to discuss their potential support for his election to office. A political advertisement that appeared during the campaign proclaimed, “Women! For Your Own Good Vote the Republican Ticket.”

Use of the “Trophy Wife”

The 1892 campaign of Grover Cleveland featured the image of his popular, young, and attractive wife, Frances, on campaign paraphernalia, including buttons and cards. Her likeness appeared above her husband’s image, as well as that of his running mate. During William McKinley’s 1896 run for the presidency, Ida McKinley’s hometown, Canton, Ohio, organized the Women’s McKinley Club, which produced campaign buttons featuring Ida McKinley’s picture. None of these items contained any pictorial representation of William McKinley.

During that same year, a biography of the prospective First Lady was published by the McKinley campaign. This marked what was in all likelihood the first time that a biographical sketch of a presidential candidate’s wife was produced. In addition, Ida McKinley maintained an active role in support of her husband’s campaign by participating in various pre-election activities. During this time frame, the involvement of Caroline Harrison, Frances Cleveland, Ida McKinley, and other aspiring First Ladies marked the onset of a concerted and organized effort to have the candidates’ wives play an active role during the election campaign.

The Primary Campaigner

Eleanor Roosevelt was a highly gifted political campaigner. Franklin Roosevelt relied quite heavily on her to travel to and represent him at public events throughout his presidential campaigns because he suffered from paralysis. Quite often, she journeyed by herself, serving in place of her husband. This type of active, hands-on campaigning by prospective First Ladies made them and their husbands the objects of much criticism.

In Eleanor’s case, her activism and independence throughout Franklin’s presidential campaigns invited significant criticism on the part of the opposition Republican Party. For example, they utilized campaign buttons that read, “We don’t want Eleanor either.” This practice continued to be employed during the 1940s and 1950s. Bess Truman was significant in Harry Truman’s bid for the presidency. She participated in her husband’s highly publicized, high-profile whistle-stop train campaign, and she usually received a warm welcome from people, with crowds often cheering as much for Bess as for Harry.

Lady Bird Johnson emerged as a key player during her husband’s political campaigns. Her contributions exceeded mere participation in campaign trips. Instead, her donation of ten thousand dollars and her father’s twenty-five-thousand-dollar contribution provided much-needed financial support for Lyndon Johnson’s initial political campaign. The Republican Party developed a “Pat [Nixon] for First Lady” program during the 1960 presidential campaign of Richard Nixon. They also included an event titled Pat Week, which was designed to serve as a rallying point for female supporters of Nixon.

In the early twenty-first century, two First Ladies proved to play integral parts in their husband's presidential campaigns: Michelle Obama and Jill Biden. Obama traveled extensively with her husband, Barack Obama, during his first campaign in 2008, taking a leave of office from her faculty position at the University of Chicago to accompany him. She often spoke at events and was praised for her powerful rhetoric and honesty, often swaying undecided voters to choose Obama at the polls. By the time of Barack's second presidential campaign in 2012, Michelle had become one of the most popular women in the country, beloved by both Democrats and many Republicans alike. Similarly, Dr. Jill Biden played a very active role in her husband, Joe Biden's, campaigns in 2020 and 2024, attending and speaking at many campaign events and relentlessly promoting his achievements as a former senator and vice president.

The Reluctant Campaigner

Some wives of presidential candidates have preferred to maintain a low profile during their husbands’ campaigns. Usually these individuals have found the physical and emotional demands of extensive travel and intrusions on their privacy to exact too great a toll on themselves and their families. In particular, Bess Truman would have preferred not to participate in the extensive travel and considerable loss of privacy that resulted from her husband’s whistle-stop campaigns.

Because of his enormous success as Supreme Allied Commander during World War II, Dwight Eisenhower enjoyed a great deal of popularity in the eyes of the American people as he began his presidential campaign. On the other hand, his wife, Mamie, had been successful in her attempts to avoid the limelight and public attention that accompanied this fame. That quickly changed when she began to play a significant and active role in her husband’s campaign, in spite of her personal preferences. The New York Times suggested that Mamie Eisenhower was worth fifty electoral votes herself. In addition, she wrote an article for Good Housekeeping magazine during the campaign titled “Vote for My Husband or for Governor Stevenson, but Please Vote.”

Jacqueline Kennedy was another hesitant participant in her husband’s bid for the presidency. The former journalist wrote a newspaper column during the 1960 presidential campaign titled “The Candidate’s Wife.” These articles depicted her own experiences on the campaign trail. They also generated some highly favorable press and subsequent publicity for John Kennedy’s candidacy. Yet in spite of her enormous popularity with the American public, Jackie Kennedy was considerably reluctant to make public appearances during the campaign. Her pregnancy at the time made her somewhat self-conscious in public, and she was physically unable to withstand the demands exacted upon her during the campaign as a result of a significant amount of travel that might adversely affect her health. Evidently, Kennedy was grateful for her condition because it provided her with a legitimate excuse not to participate in many aspects of the presidential campaign. In some ways, having a young, attractive, and intelligent wife who was coincidentally pregnant was as much of an asset for the Kennedy campaign as it was a liability.

Melania Trump played a relatively quiet role in her husband's campaign in 2016, preferring to stay out of the spotlight. However, she did become more active during the campaign when Donald Trump's flagging support with women, among multiple sexual harassment allegations, necessitated involvement from Mrs. Trump to assure female voters of his trustworthiness. Her involvement was short-lived, though. Indeed, her low profile continued even after Trump's election, when she chose to remain in New York City for some seven months before moving to the White House. Furthermore, Melania Trump was seldom seen at her husband's campaign events in his bid for reelection in 2024.

The Television Age

The coming of the television age gave a new dimension to political campaigns. No longer was the job of First Lady primarily private and ceremonial. Instead, it had moved into the public arena, along with other matters affecting both domestic and foreign policy. This phenomenon was especially the case regarding highly visible presidential races. Both Mamie Eisenhower’s maternal persona and Jackie Kennedy’s youthful attractiveness provided visual images well received by television viewers nationwide. Such images enhanced the presidential candidacies and corresponding efforts designed to gain public support.

Television increased the visibility of First Ladies and served to draw them into the public eye. Jackie Kennedy’s tumultuous reception while visiting Paris during her husband’s term in office resulted in President Kennedy’s introducing himself as the man who accompanied her. Lady Bird Johnson learned different techniques for coping with demonstrators on any trip she took. She could often hear the protesting chants of anti-Vietnam War demonstrators as she tried to sleep at night in her White House bedroom. Pat Nixon would learn to walk stoically through showers of confetti accompanied by similar jeers.

Pat Nixon was instrumental during Richard Nixon’s campaigns in expanding the base of support for her husband’s candidacy. In the eyes of millions of television viewers, she came to represent the values and family traditions of the 1950s. Both Richard Nixon and Dwight Eisenhower took full advantage of this image. Their campaigns produced television advertisements that featured their wives performing tasks as homemakers and mothers. This practice would be employed in subsequent campaigns by most candidates for public office.

It is not unprecedented for a wife to be called upon to assist in the defense of her husband’s credibility and reputation against allegations of marital infidelity. There has been ample precedent for the presidential candidate’s wife to be called upon to deflect the potential damage created by such charges by appearing on national television and seeming not to care or not to have been hurt if the candidate chooses to acknowledge other liaisons. Such images conjure up memories of Lee Hart’s dejected appearance as she talked about Senator Gary Hart’s 1987 boat trip with Donna Rice, or Joan Kennedy’s grim appearance as she appeared in public with Senator Ted Kennedy after his automobile crash on Chappaquiddick Island in 1969.

Hillary Rodham Clinton assumed a more difficult role during her first opportunity for national attention in early 1992, when the Clintons responded to charges of marital infidelity on the part of Bill Clinton that were made by an Arkansas woman, Gennifer Flowers. Hillary assigned herself the dubious task of speaking for herself on national television as she sat beside her husband while he answered questions about the charges. It seemed essential to the success of the Clinton campaign for the presidency that the entire matter be put to rest. Conducting the interview was considered to be a risk worth taking.

The interview was scheduled for the entire broadcast of 60 Minutes on January 26, 1992. The program followed the Super Bowl, which had attracted an audience of nearly 100 million viewers. People tuned in, looking to see if there were any visible signs of discomfort on Hillary’s part or any evidence that Bill was not being truthful. However, years of appearing in front of television cameras and numerous public speaking engagements paid off in significant dividends for the Clintons. Bill Clinton seemed to fidget and squirm slightly. He carefully chose his words as he admitted to “bringing pain” to his marriage without actually confessing to what he had done. On the other hand, Mrs. Clinton forged ahead in a direct manner. In a final act of defiance, which was unmatched by her husband, Clinton challenged voters to take into account what the Clintons represented. Then, if they did not care for what they were considering, they should not vote for Bill Clinton. This strategy of full disclosure and candor was quite effective in countering the allegations.

Hillary Rodham Clinton modified her role during the presidential campaign of 1992. She became less vocal. At the Democratic convention, she participated in a cookie bake-off, sponsored by Family Circle magazine, that placed her recipe for chocolate chip cookies against First Lady Barbara Bush’s recipe. In addition, as if to emphasize her domestic role, Clinton allowed her twelve-year-old daughter, Chelsea, who had previously been protected from the public view, to appear on the cover of People magazine. This image was designed to highlight Clinton's role as a mother rather than as a political candidate. In an attempt to make her persona appear more feminine, she dressed in softer clothing and began smiling more frequently. As a consequence, beginning with her husband’s acceptance speech delivered at the Democratic National Convention, Hillary’s image moved toward the supportive images conveyed by Pat Nixon, Barbara Bush, and Nancy Reagan.

Significance

Most First Ladies have played significant roles in their husbands’ pursuit of the presidency. In many instances, the president publicly acknowledged his appreciation for his wife’s efforts. Over time, the impact of First Ladies on presidential campaigns has become increasingly documented and appreciated by the American public as well, as First Ladies from Eleanor Roosevelt to Michelle Obama have shown their outsized influence on American voters and the choices they ultimately make at the polls.

Bibliography

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Nicholas, Peter, et al. "The Decider: Jill Biden's Unparalleled Influence and Impact on the President." NBC News, www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/decider-jill-bidens-unparalleled-influence-impact-president-rcna51290. Accessed 13 Mar. 2024.

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