List of United States First Lady firsts

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This list lists achievements and distinctions of various first ladies of the United States. It includes distinctions achieved in their earlier life and post-first lady service.

There have been forty-two official first ladies and forty-five first ladyships. This discrepancy exists because some presidents remarried while in office and some were not married so had no official first lady.

Also note that first ladies not recognized by the National First Ladies' Library listing include Martha Jefferson Randolph, Emily Donelson, Sarah Yorke Jackson, Angelica Van Buren, Priscilla Tyler, Mary McElroy, Rose Cleveland, Mary McKee, and Margaret Woodrow Wilson.

Martha Washington[]

Main article: Martha Washington
  • First first lady to be born in Virginia.[1]
  • First first lady to have been born in the 18th century.[1]
  • First first lady.[2]
  • First first lady to have had children when she became first lady.[1]
  • First first lady to outlive her children.[1]
  • First first lady to have a U.S. military ship named in her honor.
  • First first lady to outlive her husband.[1]
  • First first lady to be older than her husband.[1]
  • First first lady (and first American woman) to appear on a U.S. postage stamp.[3]

Abigail Adams[]

Main article: Abigail Adams
  • First first lady to be born in Massachusetts.[4]
  • First first lady to serve as Second Lady and First Lady on the same day.[5]
  • First first lady to live in the White House.[6]
  • First first lady to also be the mother of a president.
  • First first lady to have been a second lady.
  • First first lady to die before her husband.
  • First first lady to be younger than her husband.

Martha Jefferson Randolph[]

Main article: Martha Jefferson Randolph
  • First first lady to give birth to a child in the White House.
  • First first lady to not be the sitting president's wife. She was his daughter.

Dolley Madison[]

Main article: Dolley Madison
  • First first lady to be born in North Carolina.[7]
  • First first lady to have a parrot as a pet at the White House.[8]
  • First first lady given an honorary seat on the floor of Congress.[9]
  • First first lady to respond to a telegraph message.[9]
  • First first lady to die at over eighty years old.
  • First first lady to be taller than the President.[10]
  • First first lady to be photographed.

Louisa Adams[]

Main article: Louisa Adams
  • First first lady born outside of the United States; she was born in England.[11]
  • First first lady to have a non-American parent; her mother was English.
  • First first lady to have silkworms as pets at the White House.[12]
  • First first lady to have both houses of the United States Congress adjourn in mourning on the day of her funeral.[13]

Sarah Yorke Jackson[]

Main article: Sarah Yorke Jackson
  • First first lady to be born in Pennsylvania
  • First first lady to have been born in the 19th century.
  • First first lady to have a post first ladyship of 50 years.

Anna Harrison[]

Main article: Anna Harrison
  • First first lady to be born in New Jersey.[14]
  • First first lady to be widowed while holding the title.[15]
  • First first lady to be granted by law a pension as a president's widow.[16]
  • First first lady to be the grandmother of a president.[17]

Letitia Tyler[]

Main article: Letitia Tyler
  • First first lady to die in the White House.[18]

Julia Tyler[]

Main article: Julia Tyler
  • First first lady to be born in New York
  • First first lady to marry a president who was already in office at the time of the wedding.[19]

Sarah Polk[]

Main article: Sarah Polk
  • First first lady to be photographed while in office.
  • First first lady to serve as a secretary to the president.
  • First first lady to have no children.
  • First first lady to host an annual Thanksgiving dinner at the White House.

Abigail Fillmore[]

Main article: Abigail Fillmore
  • First first lady to be born in Tennessee
  • First first lady to hold a job while married (she was a teacher).[20]
  • First first lady to establish a permanent White House library.[21]

Harriet Lane[]

Main article: Harriet Lane
  • First first lady to be officially recognized as first lady while not being married to a President. (She was James Buchanan's niece, but is still considered an official first lady.)

Mary Todd Lincoln[]

Main article: Mary Todd Lincoln
  • First first lady to be born in Kentucky

Julia Grant[]

Main article: Julia Grant

Lucy Hayes[]

Main article: Lucy Hayes
  • First first lady to be born in Ohio.[25]
  • First first lady to earn a college degree.[26]
  • First first lady to ban all alcoholic beverages from the White House. [17]
  • First first lady to host an Easter Egg roll on the White House lawn.[22]

Frances Cleveland[]

Main article: Frances Cleveland
  • First first lady to marry in the White House.[27]
  • First first lady to have a child in the White House.[17]
  • First first lady to preside at two non-consecutive administrations.
  • First first lady to remarry after being widowed.

Caroline Harrison[]

Main article: Caroline Harrison
  • First first lady to use electricity.[17]
  • First first lady to raise a Christmas tree in the White House.[28]
  • First first lady to have written a speech she delivered herself.[28]
  • First first lady to be the granddaughter-in-law of another first lady.

Edith Roosevelt[]

Main article: Edith Roosevelt
  • First first lady to be born in Connecticut.[29]
  • First first lady to travel abroad while in office.[30]

Helen Taft[]

Main article: Helen Taft
  • First first lady to own and drive a car.[9]
  • First first lady to ride in her husband's inaugural parade.[9]
  • First first lady to support women's suffrage.[9]
  • First first lady to publish her memoirs.[9]
  • First first lady to smoke cigarettes.[9]
  • First first lady to successfully lobby for safety standards in federal workplaces.[9]
  • First first lady to plant the first cherry tree saplings that are along Washington, D.C.'s Tidal Basin.[31]
  • First first lady to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[31]

Edith Wilson[]

Main article: Edith Wilson
  • First first lady to unofficially assume presidential functions.[22]

Florence Harding[]

Main article: Florence Harding
  • First first lady to vote.[9]
  • First first lady to fly in an airplane.[9]
  • First first lady to operate a movie camera.[9]
  • First first lady to own a radio.[9]
  • First first lady to invite movie stars to the White House.[9]

Grace Coolidge[]

Main article: Grace Coolidge
  • First first lady to born in Vermont.[32]
  • First first lady to earn a four-year undergraduate degree.[33]
  • First first lady to speak in sound newsreels.[9]

Lou Hoover[]

Main article: Lou Hoover
  • First first lady to be born in Iowa.[34]
  • First first lady to make regular nationwide radio broadcasts.[35]

Eleanor Roosevelt[]

Main article: Eleanor Roosevelt
  • First first lady to hold regular press conferences.[9]
  • First first lady to write a daily newspaper column and to write a monthly magazine column.[9]
  • First first lady to host a weekly radio show.[9]
  • First first lady to fly in an airplane while first lady; she flew with Amelia Earhart in April of 1933.[36]
  • First first lady to speak at a national party convention (1940).[37]
  • First first lady to be depicted as part of a presidential memorial (the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial).[38]
  • First first lady to be the niece of a former president.
  • First first lady (and only) to serve in the role for 12 years (1933-1945); to date.[39]

Bess Truman[]

Main article: Bess Truman
  • First first lady to live to the age of 90. She died on October 18, 1982 at the age of 97.

Mamie Eisenhower[]

Main article: Mamie Eisenhower
  • First first lady to initiate Halloween decorations to be put up in the White House.[40]

Jacqueline Kennedy[]

Main article: Jacqueline Kennedy
  • First first lady to be from the 'Silent Generation'.
  • First first lady to be born in the 20th century.
  • First first lady to be Catholic.
  • First first lady to hire a press secretary.[9]
  • First first lady to hire a White House curator.[9]
  • First first lady to win an Emmy Award.[27]

Lady Bird Johnson[]

Main article: Lady Bird Johnson
  • First first lady to be born in Texas.[41]
  • First first lady to become a millionaire in her own right.

Pat Nixon[]

Main article: Pat Nixon
  • First first lady to be born in Nevada.[42]
  • First first lady to enter a combat zone.[43]
  • First first lady to travel to Africa,[44] the People's Republic of China and to the Soviet Union.[45]
  • First first lady to wear pants in public.[9]
  • First first lady to address a Republican National Convention (1972).[46]

Betty Ford[]

Main article: Betty Ford
  • First first lady to be born in Illinois.[47]
  • First first lady to have a successful battle against dependency on drugs and alcohol, and openly talk about it.[47]

Rosalynn Carter[]

Main article: Rosalynn Carter
  • First first lady to keep her own office in the East Wing.[9]
  • First first lady to have a VCR in the White House.[17]
  • First first lady to be married 75 years.[48]

Nancy Reagan[]

Main article: Nancy Reagan

Barbara Bush[]

Main article: Barbara Bush
  • First first lady to live to see a son become president.
  • First first lady to die in the same year as her husband.

Hillary Clinton[]

Main article: Hillary Clinton
  • First first lady to earn a postgraduate degree.[50]
  • First first lady to have her own professional career up to the time of entering the White House.[50]
  • First first lady to wear trousers in an official first lady portrait.[51]
  • First first lady with an office in the West Wing.[52]
  • First first lady to win a Grammy Award.[53]
  • First first lady to be subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury.[54]
  • First first lady to run for and to win elected office (for senator from New York in 2000).[55]
  • First first lady to march in an LGBT pride parade (2000).[56]
  • First first lady to run for president (election in 2008).[9][57]
  • First first lady to have served in the cabinet and be in the presidential line of succession, as secretary of state.
  • First first lady to be nominated for president by a major U.S. political party (specifically, the Democratic Party, in 2016).[58][55]
  • First first lady to have won the popular vote in the United States presidential elections.
  • First first lady to serve as Chancellor at Queen's University Belfast (began 5-year term in January 2020).[59][60]
  • First first lady to be an electoral college elector (election in 2020). [61]

Laura Bush[]

Main article: Laura Bush
  • First first lady to give birth to twins.[9]
  • First first lady to substitute for the president in the president's weekly radio address.[9]
  • First first lady to have a mother-in-law who was also a first lady while in office.

Michelle Obama[]

Main article: Michelle Obama
  • First first lady who is African American.[62]
  • First first lady to attend an Ivy League university for her undergraduate degree. She majored in sociology and minored in African-American studies at Princeton University.[63][64][65]
  • First first lady to announce the winner of an Oscar (Best Picture which went to Argo).[66]
  • First first lady to host the Girl Scouts campout at the White House.[67]

Melania Trump[]

Main article: Melania Trump
  • First first lady not to have been born a citizen of the United States or in what would later become the United States.[a] She was naturalized in 2006.[70][71][72]
  • First first lady to be born in Slovenia and continental Europe.
  • First first lady to be fluent in a Slavic language.[73]
  • First first lady to be a non-native speaker of English.
  • First first lady to be born in a Socialist country.
  • First first lady to fly in a V-22 Osprey aircraft.[74]

Jill Biden[]

Main article: Jill Biden
  • First first lady to have a doctorate.[75]
  • First first lady to be an Italian American.[76]
  • First first lady to bring a rescue dog (Major) to the White House.[77]
  • First first lady to hold a paying job outside the White House while her husband was President.[78][79]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Though Louisa Adams was born outside of the United States, she was the daughter of an American father - Joshua Johnson, the American Consul in London - and American citizenship was therefore her birthright.[68][69]

References[]

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  3. ^ Historian. May 2020. "Women Subjects on United States Postage Stamps" United States Postal Service. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  4. ^ History.com editors. (October 27, 2019)."Abigail Adams" Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  5. ^ The White House. "Abigail Smith Adams" Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  6. ^ "The 44 first ladies of the United States of America | Deseret News". M.deseretnews.com. May 14, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Dolley Madison, North Carolina's Legendary First Lady". Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  8. ^ Presidential Pet Museum. "James Madison – Dolley’s Parrot" Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "Little-known facts about our First Ladies". Firstladies.org. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  10. ^ "First Lady Biography: Dolley Madison". Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  11. ^ "Louisa Adams Biography :: National First Ladies' Library". Firstladies.org. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  12. ^ Presidential Pet Museum. "John Quincy Adams’ Silkworms" Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  13. ^ "Louisa Adams - First Ladies". HISTORY.com. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  14. ^ Caroli, B. (2020). "Anna Harrison" Britannica. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  15. ^ "Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  16. ^ "William Henry Harrison". www.history.com.
  17. ^ a b c d e National First Ladies Library. "Little-known facts about our First Ladies..." Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  18. ^ "Letitia Christian Tyler". The White House.
  19. ^ "Julia Tyler Biography :: National First Ladies' Library". www.firstladies.org.
  20. ^ "Abigail Fillmore Biography :: National First Ladies' Library". www.firstladies.org.
  21. ^ John Y. Cole "Fillmore’s Foundation" Library of Congress. Retrieved 2 Feb. 2021.
  22. ^ a b c Sarkar, Asmita (November 21, 2016). "Melania Trump isn't the only incoming First Lady to break the norm; here are 8 more who defied White House traditions". International Business Times. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  23. ^ Caroli, B. (2020). "Julia Grant" Britannica. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  24. ^ "Julia Grant Biography :: National First Ladies' Library". Firstladies.org. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  25. ^ The White House. (n.d.)."Lucy Ware Webb Hayes" Retrieved November 15, 2020.
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  29. ^ Britannica. (September 26, 2020). "Edith Roosevelt" Retrieved November 15, 2020.
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  32. ^ Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, Inc. "Grace Coolidge Overview" Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  33. ^ "Grace Coolidge Biography :: National First Ladies' Library". www.firstladies.org. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  34. ^ The White House. (n.d.)."Lou Henry Hoover" Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  35. ^ "Lou Henry Hoover". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
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  37. ^ Goodwin, Doris Kearns (1994). No Ordinary Time. p. 10, 133. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-80448-4.
  38. ^ "The White House / The National Archives". Clinton2.nara.gov. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  39. ^ The White House. "Anna Eleanor Roosevelt" Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  40. ^ "What Halloween Was Like the Year You Were Born". Country Living. September 29, 2016. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
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  42. ^ The White House. (n.d.)."Patricia Ryan Nixon" Retrieved November 15, 2020.
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  49. ^ "Nancy Reagan Biography :: National First Ladies' Library". Firstladies.org. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  50. ^ a b "Hillary Rodham Clinton". PBS. Retrieved December 2, 2014. Clinton had the first postgraduate degree through regular study and scholarly work. Eleanor Roosevelt had been previously awarded a postgraduate honorary degree. Clinton's successor Laura Bush became the second First Lady with a postgraduate degree.
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  62. ^ "First Lady Michelle Obama". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  63. ^ "Michelle Obama". whitehouse.gov. January 2, 2015.
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  65. ^ "Academic Departments & Programs". The Trustees of Princeton University. 2008. Retrieved May 18, 2008.
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  67. ^ Julian Hughes. July 1, 2015. "Obamas host first ever campout for Girl Scouts at the White House" CBS News. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
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