Who is your all-time favorite First Lady?

[WI_DEM]

I thought I would post something unpopeish.

[YusefHawkins]

1. Is his Chimperial Majesty's wife represented by somebody else?

[yvr girl]

2. I'd like to vote for Eleanor and Jackie

Eleanor was a woman of substance. Jackie exemplified dignity and grace.

[ailsagirl]

3. Jackie was something special. She held us together during

those terrible days. Although I didn't necessarily like everything about her, I think she helped our country tremendously in the eyes of the world in her role as First Lady. I really miss her.

[ailsagirl]

4. Just curious... why Rosalyn Carter?

She seemed invisible while she was First Lady but, to be honest, I really don't remember. I wasn't concentrating very much on politics back then-- the main thing I remember about that administration is the razzing Carter got when he candidly admitted he had "committed adultery" in his heart.

BFD!!!

But I will say that she and Jimmy were honest, good-hearted people, with loads of integrity.

[WI_DEM]

7. Actually Rosalyn was one of the most influential first ladies

She was a advocate for the mentally ill and testified before congress, she attended cabinet meetings occassionally, and she was an advisor to her husband and one of the first to have an office in the West wing.

[ailsagirl]

8. I didn't know this-- thank you for the information

Now I'm remembering-- she stayed in the background but she definitely had clout.

[MADem]

11. I voted for Lady Bird, but I like Rosalyn too

The STEEL MAGNOLIA...she took more shit than any of her predecessors, and she kept her head up, and raised a fine kid, and supported old Jimmy through thick and thin. I also liked Betty Ford, she was plastered half the time, but nice. I have to admire Nancy Reagan simply for her sheer DEVOTION and dedication, though I thought she was a bit shallow in the "job" (Some job--no paycheck, constant criticism, and in order to quit you have to get a divorce).

I don't consider Hillary as a First Lady, she was a closet co-president, and we were LUCKY to have her there.

The reason Lady Bird is my pick is because she chose a "cause" (them wimmens have to have a cause, ya see, they can't just stay home and read and live their lives, like it or not) that has had lasting impact. She was the highway beautification queen, and she is the reason that highways look nice in this country, by and large. A simple thing, but it has become the paradigm over the last forty odd years. Before Lady Bird, there was a shitload of trash on the side of the road, looked like southern Italy, frankly.

[bemildred]

23. "honest, good-hearted people, with loads of integrity"

What else do you want?

Jimmy got the same media treatment Clintoon did, it was just a new
thing back then, and somewhat less dirty.

[dhinojosa]

5. Hillary was and is the greatest threat to republicans

with such a known presence she is my all time fave.

[saltpoint]

6. Jane Pierce. She's the ultimate anti-First Lady.

A film should be made of her immediately. Kate Winslett will star.

Weeks before her husband's Inaugural Franklin, Jane and their last living son, Benjamin, age 11, were on a train in Massachusetts. There was a derailment and Benjamin died in the accident.

Understandably destroyed, Jane refused to live in the White House while Franklin was president, believing that God was punishing their family for his having sought the presidency.

She spent the overwhelming majority of his term in friends' homes, in seclusion, writing letters to her dead children.

I'm serious about the film. It's one that's ready to be made, just sitting there waiting for Robert Altman or someone of that level of talent to greenlight the project.

[MADem]

12. You do know Franklin Pierce is related to Old Barbara Bush?

That accident happened not far from my home, BTW. Jane's husband is regarded as one of the worst presidents in our history, so her prediction came true.

[saltpoint]

22. I don't blame Jane Pierce for her grief. It would likely --

-- overwhelm anybody.

I did know about the Bush family connection, but I try not to think about it. (!)

You're right -- historians are not too keen on the Pierce presidency, but I find a personal interest in him and Jane. Not a political triumph, of course, but a strong personal interest.

The people who knew Pierce well felt an abiding loyalty to him. I think he failed as a president but triumphed as a human being, especially as a friend to his friends.

[MADem]

24. Well, she didn't just lose that kid (Benny)

...she lost two others, one from typhus, and one three days after birth. You'd have to figure it would be a miracle if she could be halfway normal after that. Even in those days, that was a shitload of bad luck.

Here's Benny:

[dflprincess]

9. Eleanor Roosevelt - a remarkable woman

so far ahead of her time.

[RoyGBiv]

13. Absolutely ...

The first really "modern" First Lady and the standard, imo, by which all others are measured.

[MADem]

14. She's another one I would call a co-president, as opposed to FL

She was Franklin's legs, and she got out there, dug around, found out the truth, and reported back. And took a merciless amount of shit for her trouble, too.

[ComerPerro]

10. Roosevelt. But, of my life, I'd say Hillary

but that is because I have only had 4 presidents in my lifetime. Given those choices, of course its gonna be Hillary.

[Les BOOGIE]

15. Mamie Eisenhower n/t

[kodi]

16. Eleanor Roosevelt was better than her husband.

and he would be the first to admit it.

[NYC2099]

18. if FDR had listened to her....

he would have signed the anti-lynching bill &
he would not have rounded up the 120,000+ American Japanese into our concentration camps!!!

[mikehiggins]

17. that Truman woman

It couldn't have been easy, married to HST.

[bunkerbuster1]

19. Depressing, because I know who my fave would be

had Kerry won. Hands down.

[Clark2008]

20. Voted for Eleanor, but, in my lifetime, it would have to be

Roslyn Carter.

:)

[newyawker99]

21. Eleanor Roosevelt n/t