American Presidential Candidate Spouses

The book offers a comprehensive analysis of public opinion toward presidential candidate spouses over the course of three decades, drawing on multiple theoretical frameworks including the concept of “new traditionalism” and a plethora of empirical data to explore why some spouses engender greater support than others—and what these reactions reveal about the American public and the gendered nature of the American presidency. Recognizing that presidential candidate spouses are important but understudied political actors, this book provides extensive analysis of public evaluations of Bill Clinton and Melania Trump during the 2016 presidential election as well as the presidential candidate spouses in the 1992 and 2012 elections and places public reaction to these individuals in historical context. The book considers important trends in U.S. elections including party polarization from the distinctive vantage points of candidate spouses and explores the symbolic importance of historic firsts including the first African American candidate spouse and the first male candidate spouse. No other work provides a systematic exploration of public opinion towards candidate spouses as distinct political entities across the modern political era.

"The FLOTUS Effect" emphasizes the import of agency on the part of Michelle Obama in relation to her politics as evidenced in her positionality and presence as the first African American woman to serve as First Lady of the United States of America. Her occupation of a previously white space and place tended to frame her as an enigma in the American mind and media. Contributors reflect on Mrs. Obama’s eight years in her ceremonial position, and the ways she chose to uniquely embody her role. Hence, the result is a volume that speculates upon her evolving legacy, and the likely “effects” of what it meant to be the first African-American woman to serve in the ceremonial, yet powerful, role of FLOTUS.

At home or at the podium, the First Lady is uniquely poised to serve as advisor, confidant, and campaigner, with the power to shape American political and social conversation. At first blush, First Ladies Michelle Obama and Melania Trump appear categorically different from each other; however, as women rising from humble origins to pursue their ambitions and support their husbands, the two have more in common than one might think. In Melania & Michelle: First Ladies in a New Era, author Tammy R. Vigil provides a compelling account of our modern first ladies, exploring how each woman has crafted her public image and used her platform to influence the country, while also serving as a paragon of fashion and American womanhood. Both women face constant scrutiny and comparison—from their degrees of political activism to their cookie recipes—and have garnered support as well as criticism. From their full lives pre-nomination to their attitudes while occupying the White House, Vigil builds careful and thoughtful portraits of Melania Trump and Michelle Obama that provide a new appreciation for how these women, and the first ladies that came before them, have shaped our country.

A Recommended Read from: Good Morning America • Good Housekeeping • Esquire • Shondaland • Atlanta Journal-Constitution • The Week • Lit Hub • Publishers Weekly An illuminating, poignant, and savagely funny examination of modern marriage from Ask Polly advice columnist Heather Havrilesky If falling in love is the peak of human experience, then marriage is the slow descent down that mountain, on a trail built from conflict, compromise, and nagging doubts. Considering the limited economic advantages to marriage, the deluge of other mate options a swipe away, and the fact that almost half of all marriages in the United States end in divorce anyway, why do so many of us still chain ourselves to one human being for life? In Foreverland, Heather Havrilesky illustrates the delights, aggravations, and sublime calamities of her marriage over the span of fifteen years, charting an unpredictable course from meeting her one true love to slowly learning just how much energy is required to keep that love aflame. This refreshingly honest portrait of a marriage reveals that our relationships are not simply “happy” or “unhappy,” but something much murkier—at once unsavory, taxing, and deeply satisfying. With tales of fumbled proposals, harrowing suburban migrations, external temptations, and the bewildering insults of growing older, Foreverland is a work of rare candor and insight. Havrilesky traces a path from daydreaming about forever for the first time to understanding what a tedious, glorious drag forever can be.

In 1776, when Abigail Adams implored her husband to “Remember the Ladies,” John Adams scoffed, declaring, “We know better than to repeal our masculine system.” More than two hundred years later, American women continue to struggle against the idea that they are simply vassal extensions of their husbands—a notion that is acutely enacted in presidential campaigns. An examination of how the spouses of recent presidential candidates have presented themselves and been perceived on the campaign trail, Moms in Chief reveals the ways in which the age-old rhetoric of republican motherhood maintains its hold on the public portrayal of womanhood in American politics and constrains American women’s status as empowered, autonomous citizens. The rhetoric of republican motherhood describes the ostensibly ideal female patriot as domestically focused, self-sacrificial, deferential, and defined by her relationship to others, particularly her husband. Moms in Chief combines the study of history, gender, communication, and politics to show how the spouses of the major parties’ presidential nominees from 1992 to 2016 at times fulfilled, at other times flouted, but at all times were handicapped by this stereotype. From Barbara Bush as dynastic mother to Michelle Obama as “Mom-in-Chief,” from Laura Bush as all-American wife to Melania Trump as model immigrant, from Teresa Heinz Kerry as assertive heiress to Bill Clinton as past president and prospective first gentleman, Tammy R. Vigil explores the function of presidential consorts in their spouses’ campaigns, and she scrutinizes how their portrayal by opponents, the press, and themselves has challenged or reinforced perceptions of the role of gender, and the place of women, in American political life. In the unofficial contest between candidates’ spouses, there are winners and losers. What is at stake, Vigil’s research suggests, is the very definition of women as American citizens and political actors.

Media Relations and the Modern First Lady: From Jacqueline Kennedy to Melania Trump examines the communication strategies first ladies and their teams have used to manage press and public interest in their private lives, to promote causes close to their hearts, and to shape their public image. Starting with Jacqueline Kennedy, who was the first to have a staffer with the title “press secretary,” each chapter explores the relationship between a first lady and the media, the role played by her press secretary and communication staff in cultivating this relationship, and the first lady’s media coverage. Contributors exploring the following questions: How effective were the media relations and communication strategies of this first lady and her team? What worked and what did not? Was the first lady a communication asset to her husband's administration? And what can we learn from their media relations strategies? Along with contributing to the scholarship on presidential spouses, the contributions to this volume also highlight the important role media relations plays in strategic political communication. Scholars of communication, media studies, gender and women’s studies, political science, and public relations will find this book particularly useful.

White House expert Lauren A. Wright identifies, explains, and measures the impact of the expanding role of presidential spouses in the White House and presidential campaign communications strategy, with a focus on the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations. More than any other time in history, the First Lady now bears responsibilities tantamount to those of any high-ranking cabinet member. This fascinating book documents the growing presence of the president's wife in the communications strategies of the last three administrations, explaining why their involvement in a campaign has been critical to its survival. The book explores how the First Lady serves to persuade public opinion, make personal appeals to the public on behalf of the president, and promote initiatives that serve as uncontroversial frames for controversial policies. The author delves into political discussions about what makes presidents and presidential candidates likable, what draws public support to their agendas, and why spouses appear to be more effective in these arenas than other surrogates or even the presidents themselves. The content features dozens of interviews with former White House staff and communications strategists; in-depth analysis of almost 1,700 public speeches made by Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama; and surveys testing the effect of public relations strategies involving spouses on political opinion.

Kelley provides an examination of Hillary Rodham Clinton's rhetorical responses to mediated versions of crises in the Clinton Administration. She begins by examining the historical First Lady, and then looks at mediated political realities in general as well as those of the Clinton presidency. Kelley also examines the rhetorical management of political crises and the crises management style of First Ladies, including Florence Harding and Eleanor Roosevelt. The book focuses on the analysis of Hillary Rodham Clinton's rhetorical management of crises in her husband's Administration, including health care, Travelgate, Whitewater, and allegations of sexual misconduct. Kelley's approach is grounded in Kenneth Burke's framework of language as a symbolic means of inducing cooperation through rhetorical identification. She concludes with speculation regarding both the degree of success of Hillary Clinton's efforts as well as the implications of those efforts to rhetorical and political communication and feminist theory. This book will be of particular interest to scholars and researchers of the presidency and the role of the First Lady, political communication, and feminist studies.