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27 Presidential Stud. Q. 805 (1997)
The First Lady Reconsidered: Presidential Partner and Political Institution

handle is hein.journals/pstlssqty27 and id is 805 raw text is: The First Lady Reconsidered: Presidential Partner and Political Institution ROBERT P. WATSON Assistant Professor of Political Science University of Hawai'i Hilo It is sad and telling that the press and public alike are unaware that Presidential wives since Abigail Adams have been wielding political influence. Edith Mayo, Director Smithsonian First Ladies Exhibit Being first lady requires a woman to act . . . as a mixture of queen, club woman, and starlet. Lewis L. Gould, presidential scholar The president's spouse has the potential to become an important component of the contemporary presidency. George Edwards and Stephen J. Wayne Presidential Leadership: Politics and Policy Making A Case for the Study of the First Lady She is widely considered to be one of the most powerful people in Wash- ington, yet we know little about her responsibilities or her predecessors. Her name has routinely appeared atop the annual Gallup poll of America's most admired women in the world, but there exists little systematic study of what she has done to deserve this attention. It could be argued that she is the second most powerful per- son in the world, even though some scholars dismiss the effort to formalize a field of study of her as trivial or unworthy of serious academic attention. However, recent scholarship on the matter is beginning to reverse long-standing assumptions about her and is raising some provocative and important questions.1 Yet, many of these questions remain largely unexamined yet alone answered. Indeed, she is the missing link in our study of the presidency and a strong case exists for formal study of the unknown institution of the office of the president: the first lady.2 Scholarship over the past decade on the first lady reveals that many White House wives have had considerable influence on their husband's careers, deci- sions, and policies.3 Considering the social forces limiting a woman's involvement in politics and influence in society and the fact that women could not even vote until 1920, the political activism and influence of several pre-twentieth century first ladies is remarkable. In fact, a new view of an activist political partner is emerging as possibly the rule rather than the exception for the female occupants of © 1997 Presidential Studies Quarterly 27, no. 4 (Fall) 805

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