Before They Were First Ladies

Rule of Three explores the career paths taken by First Ladies on their way to the White House.

The current wife of the most-recent former President of the United States recently defended her pre-First Lady career of nude modeling, asking, plaintively, “Are we no longer able to appreciate the beauty of the human body?”

I think I speak for men everywhere, when I respond, “Um, yeah, we’re still on board.”

So, we are aware of that particular First Lady’s perspective, and the professional foundation upon which her beliefs were constructed, but, what of the other fifty-three First Ladies? What professional experience gained before they moved into the White House informed their decision-making?

First of all, why have there been fifty-four First Ladies, when there have only been forty-six Presidents? I know Rule of Three’s math skills are sometimes called into question, but, what gives, man? Is it a polygamy thing?

Alright, since you asked, here’s how we ended up with eight extra First Ladies.

Several Presidents are credited with providing two First Ladies during their tenure: Andrew Jackson, a widower when elected President, was assisted by a niece-in-law (who knew that was a family relation?) and a daughter-in-law; William Henry Harrison, whose wife was not healthy enough to join him in the White House, tapped a daughter-in-law to be the acting First Lady, a role which lasted only thirty days before Harrison died, thus ending his term; Grover Cleveland, whose sister was the acting First Lady for the bachelor President, until he got married while in office, registering two First Ladies; and Benjamin Harrison, William Henry Harrison’s grandson, whose wife died while he was in office, tapped his daughter to fill the role of acting First Lady (a few years later, after leaving office, Harrison married his wife’s niece, but she never served in the role occupied by her aunt, because Harrison was no longer President - also, eww!).

Two Presidents were more prolific, yielding a number of First Ladies much admired by Rule of Three: three. John Tyler’s wife was very ill when he ascended to the Presidency, succeeding the short-timer, William Henry Harrison, so Tyler’s daughter-in-law served as acting First Lady - Tyler remarried while in office, spawning a third First Lady during his administration (hey, if there can be a bank named, “Fifth Third Bank,” there can certainly be a “Third First Lady;” and Woodrow Wilson, whose first wife died while he was President, leading to Wilson’s daughter filling the role, until Wilson remarried while in office, with his second wife officially becoming the “Second Third First Lady,” for those of you keeping score at home.

Whew!

Before we explore the professional backgrounds of these First Ladies, a little housekeeping is in order. I suppose we all knew that “Lady Bird” was not the given name of LBJ’s wife, because, you know, that’s not really a name (I think LBJ married her because he wouldn’t have to change the monogrammed towels and bathrobes), but, who among us knew that Pat Nixon’s given name was Thelma, or that Rosalynn Carter’s name was Eleanor? Not me, man. Also, is Grace Coolidge a dead ringer for Bonnie Parker, of Bonnie & Clyde fame (picture below is of Bonnie Parker)? The historical record makes no mention of Grace Coolidge sporting a number of pistols attached to her waistband.

Rule of Three’s Historical Figure Research Division performed an exhaustive review of archival records (you know, they quickly skimmed a Wikipedia page), in an attempt to develop a narrative regarding the First Ladies of the United States. And, what a disappointing discovery effort it was; the findings were truly uninspiring. If the research study was an ice cream flavor, it would be vanilla; most First Ladies, particularly early in the nation’s history, matriculated from aristocratic, wealthy (or, wealthy-adjacent) families, some of whom claimed politics as the family business. A fair number of Presidents made a career of military service prior to becoming President, leading directly to a career-path of “military spouse” for many First Ladies.

And, in fairness, many First Ladies were married prior to achieving the age of twenty-one, led by Andrew Johnson’s wife, Eliza, who was all of sixteen when they were married; therefore, there was not a lot of time to develop a professional career, before they became fully invested in supporting their husband’s political career. And, let’s face it, education for women was not readily available nor valued until fairly recently. Lucy Hayes was the first First Lady (I challenge you to correct my punctuation here - a comma didn’t seem warranted, but I leave it to you to act as the punctuation judge, jury and executioner) to earn a college degree, in 1850.

A handful of First Ladies were accredited teachers, and actually practiced as teachers, including the current First Lady, Jill Biden, who continues to teach while also performing her First Lady duties. Laura Bush, wife of the second President Bush worked not only as a teacher, but also as a librarian. Abigail Fillmore ended up marrying her student, Millard Fillmore, who eventually became President - many jurisdictions these days would likely frown upon that happenstance (and, by “frown upon,” I mean “pursue criminal conviction);” incidentally, Fillmore was only two years younger than Abigail, but still. . .And, Grace Coolidge spent time teaching deaf children to lip-read, rather than to utilize sign language (the historical record is silent as to whether or not Bonnie Parker also pursued a career as a librarian, prior to embarking upon her career as a bank-robber, with her partner Clyde Barrow).

Florence Harding was considered to be the brains of the outfit, including assisting her husband, Warren Harding, in managing a newspaper operation, and, later on, the country, while Harding was President. Of course, Warren Harding set the bar pretty low - Teapot Dome ring a bell, anyone?

In more recent times, a couple of First Ladies practiced law before moving into the White House: Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. Nancy Reagan, was, of course, an actor, as was her husband Ronald Reagan, before advancing to leading roles in Washington D.C. Betty Ford, Gerald Ford’s wife, became well-known later in life for her work regarding battling addiction (her own, and that of others), but, was apparently an aspiring dancer before her husband’s political advance. Claudia (I’m sorry, I mean “Lady Bird”) Johnson was considered to be a savvy investor, and also owned radio stations - it’s not clear if she kept a bottle of bourbon in her desk drawer, or lifted her beagle by its ears, as her husband did. And, Jackie Kennedy practiced briefly as a photojournalist before JFK’s ascendance to the Presidency; her professional writing and editing career came later for her.

Finally, some First Lady tidbits which might be useful to you only if you are participating in a trivia contest: Mary Todd Lincoln, who struggled with mental health issues, initially dated Abraham Lincoln’s political nemesis, Stephen Douglas, before marrying Abe, was unable to control her lavish spending impulses and was briefly institutionalized by her son, Robert; Harriet Johnston, James Buchanan’s niece, was the only First Lady to serve under a bachelor President - Buchanan is the only President to have never married; and, Dolley Madison (whose name was later co-opted, sans the “e,” for a line of delicious packaged pastries), wife of James Madison, was credited with ensuring the rescue of Gilbert Stuart’s famous portrait of George Washington, as the White House was besieged and burned by British soldiers in 1814.

We led this piece with information regarding Melania Trump’s nude modeling career, prior to serving as First Lady to Donald Trump. Frankly, given that hook, we envisioned this column to be a whole lot more interesting than it turned out. For that shortcoming, we apologize. And, in the spirit of Melania’s vapid “Be Best” campaign, we promise to be better (we think that’s a bit more grammatically correct than Melania’s).

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