Book Review: Kate Andersen Brower's "First Women"

In the realm of politics, especially in Washington, it can be hard to see past carefully-created public veneers and crafted legacies to the often imperfect person behind the legend. This is especially true for the First Ladies of the United States (FLOTUSs), who are often cast as non-controversial supporting figures in their husband's administrations. These women often have less public visibility, often rivalled or overshadowed by the power of their husband's office, even as they become national and international icons. This leaves much to be desired for those like myself who want to know more about the impacts these ladies made on American history and whose school courses more often focused on presidents. Former Bloomberg journalist and researcher Kate Andersen Brower offers readers a chance to sate their curiosity with a peek behind the sometimes obfuscating legends and narratives surrounding the presidency and first ladyship in her 2016 entry First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies.

First Women focuses exclusively on the tenures of ten first ladies in the modern era, defined in the book as the time period between 1960 and the present: Jackie Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama. (As of the time of publication of the book, Melania Trump was not officially First Lady, but the author includes speculation of what kind of FLOTUS she could be in First Women's afterword). Drawing upon more than 200 interviews with former FLOTUSs and their family, friends, aides and residence staffers (including research from her first book The Residence, an intimate view of the White House through the eyes of residence staffers) along with newly available public materials and scholarship, Brower weaves a complicated narrative surrounding American politics's "most elite sorority" (Brower, 2016, p. 5).

Rather than focus on each former FLOTUS chronologically, Brower chooses to intertwine ten narratives under topical chapters, from a discussion about their political dabblings to their public and private relationships with their husbands and other first ladies. While this jumping back and forth in the timeline can be disorienting and sometimes disrupts the flow of the book, I found it an effective mechanism for showing the carry-over between both Democratic and Republican administrations in terms of the underlying traditions of the ever-evolving first ladyship. An unofficial office, the first ladyship nonetheless demands much of the women who ascend to the position upon inauguration: to take on the public work of sympathetic advocate for the common people and defender of their husbands' political dealings (from tirelessly campaigning to being a confidante), while also providing for their families as mothers and spouses.

Each FLOTUS interpreted the latter mandates in their own way, producing an interesting spectrum of political involvement and personal relationships. Some FLOTUSs were highly influential in the crafting of policy (Hillary Clinton, Rosalynn Carter, and Lady Bird Johnson with their most famous work in healthcare reform, mental health and human rights, and civil rights and environmental causes, respectively), while others preferred to be more traditional, utilizing domestic charisma and soft power in supporting their husbands' political agendas (like Pat Nixon, Barbara Bush, Nancy Reagan, Laura Bush and Jackie Kennedy, who dabbled more often in White House preservation projects and FLOTUS-traditional social causes like literacy and education). Despite their different conceptions of the role of FLOTUS, unlikely friendships and lifelong bonds were formed along the way, even between spouses of presidents on opposing sides of the political spectrum, like that between Laura Bush and Michelle Obama and Nancy Reagan and Jackie Kennedy. These relationships often were formed for good or ill during the traditional tour of the White House given by the incumbent FLOTUS to the incoming first lady.

First Women shows each of these women at their worst and best and allows the readers to come out with a greater appreciation for how each FLOTUS navigated the tightrope of political (and sometimes feminist) icon and supporting player roles and the continuing gendered expectations of the office. Add in a healthy dose of public scrutiny, political attacks, and scandal, and one cannot help but admire how tough these women all were, regardless of political persuasion. However, at times the impartiality of the author was strained by gossipy chapters focusing on the bad blood and feuds between first ladies (for example, Barbara Bush's disdain for her much younger successor in Jackie Kennedy or Michelle Obama's lingering resentment of Hillary Clinton for her personal attacks against the Obamas during the heated 2008 presidential campaign) and seeming harshness towards some first ladies (Michelle Obama, for example, who was repeatedly reported as being highly unhappy as FLOTUS). The sisterhood isn't perfect, but the author sometimes lost focus on the overall unity of the first ladies forged from shared experiences.

Despite these flaws, readers of First Women emerge with a greater understanding of the humanity of these complicated women, a greater appreciation for their service to the country, and their places in history and the American political pantheon. While Brower's book is a more general biographical look at these women, it nonetheless is able to give readers a better look at the under-appreciated power brokers in our nation's first ladies.


Works Cited:

Brower, Kate Andersen. (2016). First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies. New York: Harpercollins.