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First Ladies | First Ladies: Politics & Media | Historical Surveys | Life in the White House | Online Resources

Publications by Anita B. McBride

(2024) by Diana Carlin, Anita B. McBride and Nancy Kegan Smith.

Ìý(2023), by Diana Carlin, Anita B. McBride, and Nancy Kegan Smith, with a forwardÌýby Dr. Jill Biden -- a textbook thatÌýexamines how first ladies are uniquely positioned to influence American society, public policy, politics, diplomacy, and life in the White House.

ÌýWhite House HistoryÌý(September 2021),Ìýby Anita B. McBride -- an article for the White House Historical Association'sÌýjournal sharing the stories of White House staffers on September 11, 2001.

,Ìý(2020), Edited by Katherine A.S. Sibley, Chapter 18, "Laura Bush: Texan by Nature" by Anita McBride.

(2016), Edited by Katherine A.S. Sibley
Chapter 38, Laura Welch Bush: Strength and Serenity in Turbulent Times, by Anita McBride, director of the First Ladies Initiative

- White House History - The Quarterly Journal of the White House Historical Association (Spring 2017), Number 45, "The Office of First Lady: Managing Public Duties, Private Lives, and Changing Expectations"

First Ladies

Martha Washington
(2005) by Patricia Brady.

Abigail Adams
(2002) by Lynne Withey.
(2010) by Joseph Ellis.

Dolley Madison
(2007) by Catherine Allgor.

Louisa Adams
(2016) by Louisa Thomas Ìý

Sarah Childress Polk
(2019) by Amy S. Greenberg

Mary Todd Lincoln
Ìý(1987) by Jean Harvey Baker.
(2009) by Catherine Clinton.
(2014) by Betty Boles Ellison

Julia Grant
(1975) (edited by John Y. Simon).

Frances Folsom Cleveland
(2009) by Annette B. Dunlap

Caroline Lavania Scott Harrison
(2014) by Anne Chieko Moore

Nellie Taft
(2005) byÌý
Carl Sferrazza AnthonyÌý

Edith Roosevelt
(2013) by Lewis L. Gould.

Ellen Wilson and Edith Wilson
(2010) by Kristie Miller.
(2016) by William Hazelgrove
(2023) by Rebecca Boggs Roberts

Florence Harding
(1998) by Carl Sferrazza Anthony.
(2009) by Katherine A.S. Sibley.

Grace Coolidge
(2008) by Robert H. Ferrell

Lou Henry Hoover
(2005) by Nancy Beck YoungÌý

Eleanor Roosevelt
(1994) by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
by Eleanor Roosevelt.
by Blanche Wiesen Cook
(2007) and (2012) Edited by Allida Black.

Bess Truman
(1986) by Margaret TrumanÌý

Mamie Doud Eisenhower
(2007)Ìýby Marilyn Irvin HoltÌý

Jacqueline Kennedy
(2004) by Barbara Perry
(2011) by Jacqueline Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy (Foreword), Michael R. Beschloss (Contributor)
Ìý(2014)
by Barbara LeamingÌý

Lady Bird Johnson
(1970) by Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson.
(1970) by Liz Carpenter. Memoir written by Lady Bird Johnson's press secretary.
(1999) by Jan Jarboe Russell.
(1999) by Lewis Gould
(2012) by Michael L. Gillette
Ìý(2021) by Julia Sweig

Pat Nixon
(1986), by Julie Nixon Eisenhower. A biography of her mother by "first daughter" Julie Nixon Eisenhower.
(2011), by Mary Brennan.
(2014) by Will Swift.
(2024) by Heath Hardage Lee

Betty Ford
(1978) by Betty Ford with Chris Chase.
(2004) by John Robert Greene.
(2018) by Lisa McCubbin

Rosalynn Carter
(1984), by Rosalynn Carter.
(2007), by Scott Kaufman.

Nancy Reagan
(1989), by Nancy Reagan with William Novak
(2000) by Nancy Reagan.
(2004) by Michael Deaver. Deaver was Deputy Chief of Staff to President Reagan from 1981 to 1984 and a confidante of the first lady.
(2018) by Sheila Tate
(2021) by Karen TumultyÌý

Barbara Bush
(1994) by Barbara Bush
(2003) by Barbara Bush
(2008) by Myra Gutin
(2019) by Susan Page
(2020) by Barbara Bush

Hillary Clinton
(2003) by Hillary Rodham Clinton
(2007) by Sally Bedell Smith
(2007), by Carl Bernstein.

Laura Bush
(2004), by Ann Gerhart. Written by reporter who covered Laura Bush for The Washington Post.
(2010), by Laura W. Bush. Memoir by Laura Bush.

Michelle Obama
(2008), by Liza Mundy, a reporter for The Washington Post.
(2015) by Peter Slevin
(2018) by Michelle Obama
(2022) by Michelle Obama

Melania Trump
(2019) by Kate Bennett
(2020) by Mary Jordan
(2024) by Melania Trump

First Ladies: Politics and Media

(2024) by Katie Rogers

(2005) by Maureen H. Beasley. Analyzes the relationship between the press and first ladies from Eleanor Roosevelt to Laura Bush.

(2008), by Lisa Burns.

(2005) by Molly Meijer Wertheimer. A collection of essays by various authors on the rhetoric and communication strategies of selected 20th Century first ladies.

(2011) by MaryAnne Borelli. On the changing political role of the first lady from Lou Hoover to Michelle Obama.

(1989) by Myra Gutin. Discusses the communication styles and strategies of twelve first ladies.

by Lauren Wright (2016).

Historical Surveys

(2018) by Jeanne Abrams

(2017) by Marie Jenkins Schwartz

(2017) by Natalie Gonnella-Platts and Katherine Fritz; a review of global first ladies and their impact around the world, published by the George W. Bush Institute.

(2017) by Betty Boyd Caroli

Ìý(2016) by Kate Andersen Brower

(2015) by Susan Swain

(2014) by Lisa Kathleen Graddy and Amy Pastan

(2010) by Betty Caroli.

(2005), by Cokie Roberts.

(2001) by Lewis Gould (ed.). A book of essays by various historians on 39 first ladies from Martha Washington to Laura Bush.

(2001) by Robert P. Watson.

, The White House Historical Association.

(2001) by Kati Marton. Journalist Kati Marton examines twelve "presidential marriages" from Edith and Woodrow Wilson to Laura and George W. Bush.

(2008) by Cokie Roberts.

(1995) by Margaret Truman.

(1990). By Carl Sferrazza Anthony.

(1990) by Nancy Kegan Smith

(1990) by Richard Norton Smith.

Life in the White House

(1934) by Irwin (Ike) Hood Hoover. Hoover came to the White House in 1891 to install the first electricity in the building and ultimately became the chief usher, remaining in that role until his death in 1933.

(2011) by Nancy Clarke with Christie Matheson. Clarke served as Chief White House Floral Designer from the Carter to the Obama administrations.

(1960). Fields served as chief White House butler from 1931 to 1953.

(1961) by Lillian Rogers Parks. Parks worked in the White House from 1933 to 1960 as a seamstress and a maid.

by J.B. West with Mary Kotz. Former chief usher writes about working at the White House from every administration from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Richard M. Nixon.

(1948) by Henrietta Nesbitt. Nesbitt was the housekeeper for the White House during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration.

- Quarterly Journal of the White House Historical Association

Online Resources

- Website of historian, journalist and screenwriter Carl Anthony. Has a section on First Ladies.

- Produced in 2013-2014, this series includes interviews with journalists and historians, archival footage, and Q&A with viewers.

- From the official Whitehouse.gov website; includes links to brief biographies of the first ladies of the United States.

Original Records of First Ladies

Original records of First Ladies provide a rich body of original source materials regarding the thoughts of first ladies and, in the case of more recent first ladies, her projects and initiatives.

(1962)

(1968)

(2008)

(National Archives)

(National Archives)

,Ìý, George Washington University

- holds some materials on 19th and early 20th century First Ladies. Ìý

in Canton, OhioÌý

Presidential Library Websites

Herbert Hoover Library

Franklin D. Roosevelt Library

Harry S. Truman Library

Dwight D. Eisenhower Library

John F. Kennedy Library

Lyndon B. Johnson Library & DiscoverLBJ

Richard Nixon Library

Ronald Reagan Library

George Bush Library

Clinton Presidential Library

George W. Bush Library

Barack Obama Library