99 Fun Facts About First Lady

What is the first lady's traditional role at the White House?

Hostess of the residence is the tradition, though the role has never been codified or officially defined, and she still figures prominently in the nation's political and social life.

Which future first lady urged her husband in a 1776 letter to 'remember the ladies'?

Abigail Adams wrote it as John Adams worked toward independence, warning that if women were ignored they were 'determined to foment a rebellion'.

Which first lady's portrait appeared on the US $1 silver certificate in 1886?

Martha Washington appeared on the 1886 and 1896 notes, though she never heard herself called first lady: the title was not coined until after her death.

Who, in 1860, became the first woman known to be called 'first lady' while holding the White House role?

Harriet Lane ran the White House for her uncle James Buchanan, the only president who never married, and Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper used the phrase for her.

Which first lady's family adopted Rebecca, a raccoon sent to the White House in 1926 as Thanksgiving dinner?

Grace Coolidge's family kept the raccoon a Mississippi supporter had sent for the table, and that Christmas gave Rebecca an embroidered collar reading 'White House Raccoon'.

Which first lady took control of her husband's schedule after his 1919 stroke?

Edith Wilson screened every paper and visitor, deciding what was important enough to reach the bedridden president; she later called it her 'stewardship'.

Which newspaper printed the earliest known 'FLOTUS'?

The Washington Post ran it in 1983: Donnie Radcliffe wrote that to their Secret Service shadows the Reagans might be 'Potus' and 'Flotus', but to each other they were still 'Ronnie' and 'Nancy'.

Which title, already used by governors' husbands, was widely suggested for Bill Clinton during the 2016 campaign?

First Gentleman was among the suggestions, yet as a former president Bill Clinton could in any case have kept the style 'Mr President'.

Which first lady is credited with saving a portrait of George Washington before the British burned the White House in 1814?

Dolley Madison would not leave until the Gilbert Stuart portrait was safe, ordering its frame broken so the canvas could be carried out of the city.

Which cause did Lady Bird Johnson pioneer as first lady?

Environmental protection work was her signature: she pressed Congress for the 1965 Highway Beautification Act, which limited roadside billboards and was nicknamed 'Lady Bird's Bill'.

Who was the first presidential wife to run for the Senate?

Hillary Clinton won a New York seat in November 2000 and was sworn in as a senator while still first lady, holding both roles until her husband's term ended that January.

Which first lady broke precedent in the late 1970s by sitting in on Cabinet meetings?

Rosalynn Carter sat in to hear policy first-hand, and in 1977 she toured Latin America and the Caribbean to discuss defence and trade with their leaders on her husband's behalf.

After the 1981 attempt on Ronald Reagan's life, which kind of adviser did Nancy Reagan consult about his schedule?

An astrologer advised her on which days were safe for the president's travel and appearances, a secret that his former chief of staff Donald Regan revealed in a 1988 memoir.

Which former first lady co-founded a California addiction treatment centre in 1982 after her own recovery?

Betty Ford entered treatment in 1978 after her family staged an intervention, then raised the money for the Betty Ford Center and chaired its board until 2005.

What was Eleanor Roosevelt the first presidential spouse to do?

Hold regular press conferences is what she did from 1933, and because she admitted only women reporters, wire services that had never employed women had to hire some.

Which international document did Eleanor Roosevelt oversee the drafting of?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights came from the UN commission she chaired, and she told the General Assembly it might become 'the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere'.

What made Eleanor Roosevelt a controversial first lady in her own time?

Her outspokenness on civil rights went beyond words: in 1939 she resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution after it barred singer Marian Anderson from Constitution Hall.

What did Jacqueline Kennedy lead at the White House?

Its restoration as a historic site was privately funded: she set up the White House Historical Association, which raised the money by selling a guidebook she had conceived.

After a junior year in Paris, which subject did Jacqueline Kennedy take her degree in at George Washington University?

French literature was her 1951 degree; her first job then sent her around Washington as a newspaper's 'Inquiring Camera Girl', photographing strangers and asking each a question.

What career did Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis take up in New York after 1975?

Book editor was her last career, first at Viking Press and then at Doubleday, where she persuaded Michael Jackson to write his memoir Moonwalk and wrote its foreword herself.

Which Broadway musical did Jacqueline Kennedy invoke in a 1963 Life interview to describe her husband's presidency?

Camelot gave her the image: a week after the assassination she quoted its closing lines about 'one brief shining moment' to the writer Theodore H. White.

Which anti-drug slogan did Nancy Reagan make her signature campaign as first lady?

Just Say No caught on after her visit to a California school, and children's clubs across the country soon took the phrase as their name.

What was Nancy Reagan criticised for early in her husband's first term?

New china and free designer clothes jarred with the 1981 recession, although the china was bought entirely with private donations and not public money.

Which volunteer programme did Nancy Reagan champion in her 1982 book To Love a Child?

Foster Grandparents pairs older volunteers with children who have special needs; she saw it work in California and promoted it across the state and then the nation.

Which two universities did Michelle Obama attend?

Princeton and Harvard Law it was: she followed her older brother Craig, a basketball star there, to Princeton, then took her law degree at Harvard in 1988.

Where did Michelle Obama meet her future husband?

At the firm Sidley Austin she was already an attorney when Barack Obama arrived as a summer associate in 1989; they married three years later.

What was Michelle Obama's undergraduate major?

Sociology was her major, and for her senior thesis she sent a questionnaire to Black graduates of her university about their ties to the Black community.

Who was the first foreign-born first lady?

Louisa Adams was born in London to an American merchant and an English mother, and she first saw the United States only some years after marrying John Quincy Adams.

First lady Lucy Hayes is remembered by a nickname pairing her name with which drink, after alcohol left the White House?

Lemonade Lucy is the nickname, though it apparently caught on only after she left the White House, and the ban on alcohol was her husband's decision.

Which trees did first lady Helen Taft help bring to Washington's Tidal Basin, planting the first herself in 1912?

Cherry trees came as a gift from Tokyo, but the first shipment in 1910 arrived infested and had to be burned, so Japan sent replacements.

Which first lady kept her job as a community college English professor while living in the White House?

Jill Biden went on teaching at Northern Virginia Community College, as she had throughout her eight years as second lady, and is believed to be the first president's wife to keep a paying job.

Which president married inside the White House?

Grover Cleveland was 49 and his bride 21 at their 1886 Blue Room wedding; she was the daughter of his late law partner, and he had bought her first baby carriage.

Which 19th-century first lady held the role non-consecutively?

Frances Cleveland left in 1889 and returned in 1893; that year she gave birth to Esther, still the only child of a president born in the White House.

Which widowed president relied on his daughter Martha Randolph to preside at the White House?

Thomas Jefferson's daughter stayed for two winters, and during the second, in 1806, she gave birth to the first child born in the White House.

Which 20th-century first lady was both the wife of one president and the mother of another?

Barbara Bush saw her husband and then her son sworn in; the only earlier woman in that club died before her son took office.

What are the star exhibits of the Smithsonian's First Ladies collection, begun in 1912?

Gowns have drawn the crowds since Helen Taft gave the dress she wore to her husband's inauguration to start the display.

Which first lady, a former school librarian, co-founded the National Book Festival in 2001?

Laura Bush had already founded the Texas Book Festival as the governor's wife in 1995, and she built the national one with the Librarian of Congress.

Which policy area did Hillary Clinton lead a White House task force on in 1993?

Public healthcare was her brief within days of the inauguration, but the plan her task force produced never came to a vote in Congress and was abandoned in 1994.

Which first lady championed volunteerism and joined her husband on his historic 1972 visit to China?

Pat Nixon told Premier Zhou Enlai at a Beijing dinner how fond she was of giant pandas, and China sent two to the National Zoo that spring.

Which Kennedy-era body did Eleanor Roosevelt chair?

The Presidential Commission on the Status of Women was her last public post: she died in 1962, and its report came out a year later on what would have been her 79th birthday.

Which 1950s first lady made the colour pink and short bangs her much-copied trademarks?

Mamie Eisenhower first cut the bangs in the 1920s, three decades before the White House, and the style ended up named after her as 'Mamie bangs'.

Which cause did Barbara Bush champion as first lady?

Literacy became her lifelong cause after her son Neil was diagnosed with dyslexia as a boy, and as first lady she set up a family literacy foundation in her own name.

Melania Trump's 'Be Best' campaign focused on raising awareness of what?

Cyberbullying was the headline aim of her first big initiative, launched in 2018 after a quiet first year in which she did not even move into the White House until June.

Jill Biden's 'Joining Forces' initiative supported which group?

Military families were personal for her, because her son Beau was deployed to Iraq; she launched the initiative with Michelle Obama in 2011 and revived it as first lady in 2021.

A journalist's report on which president's 1877 inauguration helped bring the title 'first lady' into common use?

Rutherford B. Hayes's wife Lucy was hailed as 'the First Lady of the Land' by reporter Mary Clemmer Ames, and steady press coverage of the popular Lucy then carried the phrase across the country.

Emily Donelson of Tennessee, a niece of the president's late wife, served as first lady for which president?

Andrew Jackson's wife Rachel died weeks before he took office, so her niece Emily presided instead, until a quarrel over the Petticoat affair sent her home for much of 1830 and 1831.

Susan Ford stood in for her mother, first lady Betty Ford, during Betty's 1974 stay in hospital for what?

Breast cancer was rarely discussed in public in 1974, and her decision to announce her mastectomy sent a wave of American women to be examined.

Sitting and former first ladies have traditionally been named honorary chairs of which Washington institution's board?

The Kennedy Center began as the National Cultural Center, a project Jacqueline Kennedy championed, and Congress renamed it in 1964 as a living memorial to her husband.

Who became first lady of the United States on January 20, 2025?

Melania Trump came back four years after moving out, a return that only one first lady before her had made, in 1893.

Which unusual pet, named Rebecca and walked on a leash, did Grace Coolidge keep at the White House?

A raccoon named Rebecca was sent to the White House to be served for Thanksgiving dinner in 1926, and the Coolidges kept her as a pet instead.

Julia Tyler is credited with starting the custom of playing which tune to announce the president's arrival?

Hail to the Chief became the president's entrance music after Julia Tyler, the second wife of John Tyler, asked for it to be played whenever he arrived at an event.

Barbara Bush's 1990 bestseller Millie's Book was written as if from the perspective of which White House resident?

Her pet dog, an English springer spaniel named Millie, got the author credit, and the book reached number one on the New York Times nonfiction list.

The 1870s first lady later nicknamed 'Lemonade Lucy' is linked to a White House ban on what?

Alcohol was banned by her husband rather than by her, and the 'Lemonade Lucy' nickname did not turn up in writing until years after her death.

Which campaign did Michelle Obama launch in 2010 with the goal of ending childhood obesity within a generation?

Let's Move! pushed for healthier food in schools and more physical activity, so that children born at the time would reach adulthood at a healthy weight.

Jill Biden became the first presidential wife to keep which paid job outside the White House while first lady?

College English professor was her role from 2009 to 2024 at Northern Virginia Community College, so she taught through both a vice presidency and a presidency.

Whom did Jacqueline Kennedy marry in 1968 in a ceremony on his private island of Skorpios?

Aristotle Onassis, a Greek shipping magnate and long-time friend, could give her the privacy and security she sought for herself and her children.

Betty Ford lobbied state legislatures by phone, letter and telegram to ratify which proposed change to the Constitution?

Equal Rights Amendment opponents picketed the White House with placards telling Betty Ford to get off the phone, and she kept lobbying for it after she left.

The Smithsonian's First Ladies Collection, begun in 1912, originally focused largely on which of their possessions?

Their dresses filled the original exhibition, which opened in 1914 and was one of the first at the Smithsonian to prominently feature women.

Which annual Washington event did former school librarian Laura Bush launch in 2001 to promote reading?

National Book Festival was her second such launch, because as first lady of Texas she had already established the Texas Book Festival in 1995.

What is the title of Michelle Obama's 2018 memoir, whose audiobook edition won a Grammy Award?

Becoming sold more than two million copies within 15 days of publication, making it the highest-selling book published in the United States in 2018.

Lou Hoover and her husband Herbert used which language in the White House when they wished to speak privately?

Mandarin was the Hoovers' private code: they sailed for China the day after their 1899 wedding, and Lou learned to speak and write the language while they lived in Tientsin.

Bess Truman was born, met her husband Harry and spent her retirement in which Missouri town?

Independence was home for her entire life, and Bess Truman died there in 1982 at 97, the longest-lived of all presidential wives.

Lady Bird Johnson used her inheritance in 1943 to buy which Austin business, the root of the Johnsons' fortune?

A radio station called KTBC cost her $17,500, and the television station that grew out of it held Austin's only VHF channel, which made the Johnsons millionaires.

Which popular pastime did Sarah Polk, a devout Presbyterian, ban from official White House receptions?

Dancing was banned at her official receptions along with card games, and Sarah Polk herself also refused to attend horse races or the theater.

Which room did former teacher Abigail Fillmore set up in the White House, reportedly appalled to find none there?

A library was her most noted achievement as first lady, and the room doubled as a popular reception room and the home of a literary salon.

Elizabeth Monroe helped save the wife of which Revolutionary War hero from the guillotine in 1790s Paris?

Marquis de Lafayette's wife had been scheduled for execution when Elizabeth Monroe, in Paris as the wife of the American minister, helped secure her release.

Warren Harding referred to his wife Florence by which aristocratic nickname at their crowded White House parties?

The Duchess had other distinctions too: Florence Harding was the first presidential wife to vote and the first to invite movie stars to the White House.

In 1890 Caroline Harrison became the first president general of which newly founded women's organization?

Daughters of the American Revolution counted Caroline Harrison as an organizing member, and she is also credited with putting up the first White House Christmas tree.

Which first lady, married to the Union's top Civil War general, wrote a memoir that went unpublished until 1975?

Julia Grant was the first presidential wife to write a memoir, and she often called her eight years in the White House the happiest period of her life.

Which style of hat, designed for her by Halston, became a signature of Jacqueline Kennedy's wardrobe?

Pillbox hats were so much a part of her image that she was wearing a pink one in Dallas on the day of her husband's assassination.

At the 1965 inauguration, Lady Bird Johnson began which tradition for presidents' spouses during the oath of office?

Holding the Bible as her husband took the oath on January 20, 1965 started a tradition that later presidential spouses have kept up.

Before marrying Calvin, Grace Coolidge taught children with which disability at the Clarke School in Massachusetts?

Deafness stayed her cause for life: the Clarke School taught lip reading rather than sign language, and she remained on its board until her death in 1957.

Lou Hoover twice served as national president of which youth organization, in the 1920s and again in the 1930s?

Girl Scouts of the USA approved its national plan to bake and sell cookies during her second term as president, and she had also led a troop of her own.

Which Pennsylvanian, in office just before the Civil War, is the only U.S. president who never married?

James Buchanan claimed that he stayed unmarried out of devotion to his only love, Anne Coleman, who had died young.

Lucretia, nicknamed 'Crete', was first lady for only months in 1881 as the wife of which assassinated president?

James Garfield died of an assassin's bullet that September, so Lucretia's time as first lady lasted only from March to September 1881.

Nancy Reagan wore which colour so often that a vivid shade of it took on the Reagan name?

Red was her trademark, and the fire-engine shade she favoured in her wardrobe became known as Reagan red.

Michelle Obama was born in which Midwestern city and raised on its South Side?

Chicago was also where the Obamas made their own home, on the South Side, while Barack taught at the University of Chicago Law School.

Martha Washington spent part of each winter of the Revolutionary War in which setting, while fighting was stalled?

An army encampment became her home each winter when she joined her husband, and there were eight such winter camps before the war was over.

Before her marriage, Jacqueline Kennedy worked for the Washington Times-Herald in which roving role?

Inquiring photographer meant posing witty questions to people chosen at random on the street and taking their pictures to print beside their answers.

Which given name did Lady Bird Johnson receive at birth, before a nursemaid's remark supplied her lifelong nickname?

Claudia Alta was her full given name, but her nursemaid Alice Tittle said the baby was as pretty as a ladybird, and the nickname stuck.

Betty Ford trained under which pioneer of modern dance, performing with her troupe at Carnegie Hall?

Martha Graham received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976 after Betty Ford successfully lobbied her husband to award it.

Barbara Bush invited which Soviet first lady to join her at Wellesley's 1990 commencement?

Raisa Gorbacheva was visiting the United States with her husband at the time, and the speech, a controversial booking, was widely regarded as a success.

Which first lady entered the White House in mourning after a railway accident killed her only surviving son?

Jane Pierce had the White House decorated for mourning and spent the first two years of her husband's presidency grieving for 11-year-old Benjamin.

Which first lady prayed nightly that her husband, a Mexican-American War hero, would lose the 1848 election?

Margaret Taylor insisted that the presidency would shorten both their lives, and her time as first lady ended abruptly when Zachary died in office in 1850.

Which children's event, hosted by the president and first lady, has been held on the White House lawn since 1878?

The Easter Egg Roll moved to the White House after Congress made it illegal to use the Capitol grounds as a children's playground, and it takes place each Easter Monday.

Ida McKinley, despite chronic illness, crocheted thousands of which item that were auctioned for charity?

Slippers by the thousand went to friends, acquaintances and charities, and at state dinners her husband broke with tradition by seating her next to him.

Florence Harding organized the circulation department of which Ohio newspaper owned by her husband Warren?

The Marion Star thrived under her informal management, and one former newsboy said Warren was the front man while Florence was the real driving power.

The First Ladies National Historic Site preserves Ida McKinley's childhood home in which Ohio city?

Canton is where the site, established in 2000, pairs the brick Victorian house in which she was born with an education and research center.

Nancy Reagan appeared with her husband Ronald in which 1957 submarine drama, their only feature film together?

Hellcats of the Navy cast her as a Navy nurse, Lieutenant Helen Blair, while Ronald played the commander of the submarine USS Starfish.

While first lady, Betty Ford made a cameo appearance in 1976 on which popular television program?

The Mary Tyler Moore Show cameo suited one of the most candid first ladies in history, who had already given a frank 60 Minutes interview the summer before.

Which actress earned an Oscar nomination for playing Jacqueline Kennedy in the 2016 film Jackie?

Natalie Portman prepared for the part by repeatedly watching recordings of the first lady's televised White House tour and listening to tapes of her interviews.

The Secret Service gave Michelle Obama which code name, sharing its first letter with her husband's 'Renegade'?

Renaissance followed the Secret Service custom of starting a whole family's code names with the same letter, so her daughters became Radiance and Rosebud.

Lady Bird Johnson campaigned through eight Southern states in 1964 aboard what, nicknamed the Lady Bird Special?

A chartered train carried her on the first solo whistle-stop tour by a first lady, and she made dozens of speeches from it in just four days.

Caroline Harrison helped raise funds for which institution's medical school on condition that it admit women?

Johns Hopkins University accepted the condition, and back at the White House Caroline Harrison had electricity installed, though her family was afraid to use the light switches.

Lou Hoover was the first woman to earn a degree in which science at Stanford, where she met Herbert?

Geology was meant to lead to field work, but after she graduated in 1898 she could find no employer willing to accept a female geologist.

Which designer, a Kennedy family friend, created Jacqueline Kennedy's wardrobe for her appearances as first lady?

Oleg Cassini outfitted her from 1961 to 1963, and his work included the fawn coat she wore on Inauguration Day and her Inaugural gala gown.

Nancy Reagan graduated in 1943 from which Massachusetts college that Barbara Bush later left to get married?

Smith College was where Nancy Reagan studied English and drama, while Barbara Bush dropped out at the beginning of her second year ahead of her wedding.

Helen Taft was buried beside her husband William in 1943 in which national cemetery?

Arlington became her resting place thirteen years after she was widowed in 1930, and she had stayed on in the capital until her death.

Laura Bush was born in which West Texas city, where she also married George W. Bush in 1977?

Midland hosted the wedding at the First United Methodist Church, the same church in which she had been baptized, a day after her 31st birthday.