Leading Ladies of the White House

Book excerpt: Based on the volume Inventing a Voice, the more concise Leading Ladies of the White House follows the lives and communication of some of the most notable twentieth-century first ladies. Exploring their speaking, writing, media coverage and interactions, and visual rhetoric, the book includes Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Laura Bush. Featuring an introduction on the public persona of a president's spouse and a chapter on the first lady as a site of "American womanhood," Leading Ladies of the White House captures these high-profile women's reflections on public expectations and perceived restrictions on their communication.