A NOTE ON REPORTING
My research for First Women includes interviews with more than two hundred people. These are the residence staffers, high-level political aides, close friends, and family members who know the first ladies best. My candid conversations with three former first ladies—Rosalynn Carter and Barbara and Laura Bush—which I conducted for my first book, The Residence, were also crucial to my understanding of these women and helped build the foundation for this book. I was able to interview Rosalynn Carter again for First Women. In some situations sources asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject matter, and I respected their wishes. These firsthand interviews, many of which were done in person, were supplemented by research gathered from presidential libraries, including private correspondence between the first ladies that has never been published before; oral histories; exit interviews; and memoirs penned by the first ladies, presidents, and White House staffers.
INTRODUCTION
Interview subjects include Lisa Caputo and Steve Ford. Published material includes Gwen Ifill, “Clinton and Kennedys: In 30 Years, a Full Circle,” New York Times, August 25, 1993; Mark Leibovich, “Re-Re-Re-Reintroducing Hillary Clinton: The Meticulously Managed Rollout of a Candidate Whom Voters Think They Know Already,” New York Times, July 15, 2015; Christopher Andersen, Bill and Hillary: The Marriage (New York: William Morrow, 1999).
I. THE POLITICAL WIFE
Interview subjects include Barbara Bush, Rosalynn Carter, Walter Mondale, Christine Limerick, Luci Johnson, Katherine Cade, Sheila Tate, Susan Ford, David Hume Kennerly, Steve Ford, Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld, Gustavo Paredes, Anita Dunn, Bill Burton, Tony Fratto, Shirley and George Hannie, Lissa Muscatine, Anna Fierst, Ron Nessen, Chris Emery, Worthington White, Tony Fratto, Lucy Winchester, Michael “Rahni” Flowers, Nash Castro, Larry Bush, Joni Stevens, Stephen Rochon, Nancy Chirdon Forster, and Jerry Rafshoon. Published material includes Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy (New York: Hyperion, 2011); the thirtieth episode in the C-SPAN series First Ladies: Influence and Image; Radio and Television Report to the American People on the Soviet Arms Buildup in Cuba, October 22, 1962, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; letter from Jacqueline Kennedy to Chairman Khrushchev, Volume VI, Kennedy-Khrushchev Exchanges Document 120, U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian; the oral histories of George Ball, Barbara J. Coleman, Mary Boylan, Charles Spalding, and Dr. Janet Travell can be found at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; “Jacqueline Kennedy in the White House,” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; Ted Sorensen, Kennedy: The Classic Biography (New York: Harper Perennial, 1965); Sarah Weddington, “Three Former First Ladies Speak Out,” Good Housekeeping, February 1988; Tierney McAfee and Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, “Bill Won’t Be Picking White House China: Why Hillary Clinton Won’t Leave Traditional First-Lady Duties to Her Husband,” People, February 3, 2016; Tom Jackman, “Northern Virginia’s Slice of Camelot: The Kennedys in Fauquier County, 1961–63,” Washington Post, November 21, 2013; Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin, Mrs. Kennedy and Me (New York: Gallery Books, 2012); Robert Pear, “Court Rules That First Lady Is ‘De Facto’ Federal Official,” New York Times, June 23, 1993; J. B. West, Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies (New York: Warner Books, 1973); “Hillary Clinton: I Get Inspiration from Eleanor Roosevelt,” Daily News, October 15, 2007; The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, interview with Michelle Obama, September 28, 2015; Lucinda Franks, “The Intimate Hillary,” Talk, September 1999; Jodi Kantor, The Obamas (New York: Little, Brown, 2012); Hillary Rodham Clinton, Living History (New York: Scribner, 2003); Peter Slevin, Michelle Obama: A Life (New York: Knopf, 2015); Laura Bush, Spoken from the Heart (New York: Scribner, 2010); Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Adler, Women’s Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present (New York: Random House, 2005); Preston Bruce, From the Door of the White House (New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1984); Maurine Beasley, First Ladies and the Press: The Unfinished Partnership of the Media Age (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2005); Barbara Leaming, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2014); Kati Marton, Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History (New York: Anchor Books, 2001); Lady Bird Johnson’s Post-Presidential Correspondence with Presidents, VPs, and Their Families, LBJ Library; Sharon W. Linsker, “Letters Signed by First Ladies Supply Insights into the Past,” New York Times, May 1, 1994; oral histories of Peter Abruzzese, Hugh Sidey, David Gergen, Lilian Fisher, and Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld can be found at the Gerald R. Ford Foundation; Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Oral History Collection, Series: National Park Service Oral History Interviews, May 11, 1988; Marian Burros, “Hillary Clinton Asks Help in Finding a Softer Image,” New York Times, January 9, 1995; Betty Ford and Chris Chase, The Times of My Life (New York; Harper & Row, 1978); Helen Thomas, Front Row at the White House: My Life and Times (New York: Touchstone, 1999); John Robert Greene, Betty Ford: Candor and Courage in the White House (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2004); James Cannon, Gerald R. Ford: An Honorable Life (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2013); Scarlet Neath, “What’s the Point of a First Lady?,” Atlantic, October 6, 2014; Margaret Leslie Davis, Mona Lisa in Camelot (New York: Da Capo Press, 2008); The Starr Report, submitted by the Office of the Independent Counsel to Congress, September 9, 1998; CNN, “The Rodham Family Biography”; “The 1994 Campaign: Virginia: Mrs. Reagan Denounces Oliver North on Iran Affair,” New York Times, October 29, 1994; “Nancy Reagan Speaks Out About Obamas, the Bushes, and Her Husband,” Vanity Fair, June 1, 2009; Traphes Bryant with Frances Spatz Leighton, Dog Days at the White House (New York: Macmillan, 1975); Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Personal Papers, Memos to J. B. West, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; Rosalynn Carter, First Lady from Plains (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984); Paul Farhi, “Michelle Obama’s Target Trip: Critics Take Aim,” Washington Post, October 2, 2011; Barbara Bush, A Memoir: Barbara Bush (New York: Scribner, 1994); Juliet Eilperin, “The New Dynamics of Protecting a President: Most Threats Against Obama Issued Online,” Washington Post, October 8, 2014; Hillary Clinton, “Talking It Over,” syndicated column, June 4, 1996; Lauren Collins, “The Other Obama,” New Yorker, March 10, 2008; Eleanor Roosevelt remarks at George Washington University, December 7, 1941; Gail Sheehy, “What Hillary Wants,” Vanity Fair, May 1992; Gail Sheehy, “Is George Bush Too Nice to Be President?,” Vanity Fair, February 1987; H. R. Haldeman, The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1994); White House Memos, 1961–64, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; Susan Thomases, interview, Miller Center, University of Virginia, President William Jefferson Clinton, Presidential Oral History Project, January 6, 2006; Alastair Granville Forbes’s oral history interview can be found at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum; Kristen Holmes, “Equal Pay for First Ladies Too,” CNN.com, April 16, 2015; U.S. Department of Labor, “Women in the Labor Force”; Carl Bernstein, A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York: Vintage Books, 2007); Marjorie Williams, “Barbara’s Backlash,” Vanity Fair, August 1992; Sally Bedell Smith, Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House (New York: Random House, 2004).
II. SISTERHOOD OF 1600
Interview subjects include Barbara Bush, Rosalynn Carter, Luci Johnson, Jackie Norris, Ann Romney, Laura Bush, Joe Califano, Charles Allen, Susan Ford, Gustavo Paredes, Melanne Verveer, Anita McBride, Lissa Muscatine, Ronn Payne, Steve Ford, Bess Abell, Neel Lattimore, Everett Raymond Kinstler, Sheila Tate, Christine Limerick, George Hannie, Bess and Tyler Abell, Worthington White, Lisa Caputo, Bill Plante, Daryl Wells, Michael “Rahni” Flowers, Bill Burton, Bob Scanlan, Lucy Winchester, Connie Stuart, Joni Stevens, Nash Castro, Ron Reagan, Jerry Rafshoon, Betty Tilson, Larry Bush, Nancy Chirdon Forster. Published material includes Carl Cannon, “Kennedys Share Boat with the Clintons,” Baltimore Sun, August 25, 1993; Lady Bird’s Post-Presidential Correspondence with Presidents, VPs, and Their Families; Betty Ford Letters to Former First Ladies, Gerald and Betty Ford Special Materials, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum; Mrs. Bush correspondence with Former First Family: Carter, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library; ABC News, “Laura Bush Praises Hillary’s ‘Grit and Strength,’” June 9, 2008; 2015 Global Women’s Network, George W. Bush Presidential Center, September 22; Gwen Ifill, “Clinton and Kennedys: In 30 Years, a Full Circle,” New York Times, August 25, 1993; Mark Leibovich, “Re-Re-Re-Reintroducing Hillary Clinton: The Meticulously Managed Rollout of a Candidate Whom Voters Think They Know Already,” New York Times, July 15, 2015; Maureen Dowd, “The 1992 Campaign: Campaign Trail; From Nixon, Predictions on the Presidential Race,” New York Times, February 6, 1992; Hillary Rodham Clinton, Living History (New York: Scribner, 2003); Laura Bush, Spoken from the Heart (New York: Scribner, 2010); Amy Goldstein, “Part of, but Apart From, It All; Clintons Have Complex Relationship with City,” Washington Post, January 20, 1997; J. B. West, Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies (New York: Warner Books, 1973); Sarah Wildman, “Portrait of a Lady,” New Republic, August 20, 2001; Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Pat Nixon: The Untold Story (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007); Ruth Marcus, “Clinton in Camelot: The Arkansas Traveler, Afloat with the Kennedy Clan,” Washington Post, August 25, 1993; Peter Slevin, Michelle Obama: A Life (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2015); Sharon W. Linsker, “Letters Signed by First Ladies Supply Insights into the Past,” New York Times, May 1, 1994; Gail Sheehy, “Is George Bush Too Nice to Be President?,” Vanity Fair, February 1987; Barbara Leaming, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press, 2014); Lynn Rosellini, “First Lady Tells Critics: ‘I Am Just Being Myself,’” New York Times, October 13, 1981; Skip Hollandsworth, “Reading Laura Bush,” Texas Monthly, November 1996; “Interview: Father Richard T. McSorley, director, Georgetown University Center for Peace Studies,” Schiller Institute, Fidelio 6, no. 3 (Fall 1997); Jodi Kantor, The Obamas (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2012); letters from President Reagan to Nancy Reagan can be found at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library; Lady Bird Johnson’s oral history interview is available at the LBJ Library; oral histories of Susan Ford, Ann Cullen, and Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld can be found at the Gerald R. Ford Foundation; Bob Colacello, “Nancy Reagan’s Solo Role,” Vanity Fair, July, 2009; Michael Duffy, “10 Questions with Barbara Bush,” Time, June 15, 2015; Judy Woodruff’s interview with Nancy Reagan is featured in the PBS documentary “Nancy Reagan: Role of a Lifetime,” February 6, 2011; Buzzfeed, “Watch This Rare, Long-Forgotten Interview with Young Hillary Clinton,” May 12, 2015; Sumana Chatterjee, “A Powerful Trio Helped Convicted Banker Win Pardon,” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 9, 2001; Joseph Kahn and Christine Hauser, “China’s Leader Makes First White House Visit,” New York Times, April 20, 2006; Peggy Noonan, “The Reagans and the Kennedys: How They Forged a Friendship That Crossed Party Lines,” Wall Street Journal, August 28, 2009; Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Interview, Miller Center, University of Virginia, President Lyndon Johnson, Presidential Oral History Project, January 11, 1974; Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Oral History Collection; Series: National Park Service Oral History Interviews, December 8, 1988; Jonathan Van Meter, “Leading by Example: First Lady Michelle Obama,” Vogue, March 14, 2013; Constance Stuart’s oral history is available at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum; Judy Keen, “Michelle Obama: Campaigning Her Way,” USA Today, May 11, 2007; Marjorie Williams, “Barbara’s Backlash,” Vanity Fair, August, 1992; Rosemary Ellis, “A Conversation with Michelle Obama,” Good Housekeeping, September 30, 2008; Anne E. Kornblut, “Michelle Obama’s Career Timeout for Now, Weight Shifts in Work-Family Tug of War,” Washington Post, May 11, 2007; Diane Salvatore, “Barack and Michelle Obama: The Full Interview,” Ladies Home Journal, August 2008; Will Swift, Pat and Dick: The Nixons, An Intimate Portrait of a Marriage (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014); Hillary Rodham Clinton, An Invitation to the White House: At Home with History (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000); Preston Bruce, From the Door of the White House (New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1984); Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Personal Papers, Memos to J. B. West, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; C-SPAN, “A Conversation with Barbara and Laura Bush,” November 15, 2012, http://www.c-span.org/video/?309081-4/conversation-barbara-laura-bush; Helen Thomas, Front Row at the White House: My Life and Times (New York: Touchstone, 1999); CBS News, “The Reagans’ Long Goodbye: Mike Wallace Interviews Nancy Reagan for 60 Minutes II,” September 24, 2002; Jonathan Weisman, “JFK Jr. visited White House at invitation of Nixon, Reagan: Clinton Claims Corrected in Light of More Accurate Historical Information,” Baltimore Sun, July 24, 1999; Caroline Kennedy on Pat Nixon for the Richard Nixon Foundation, http://nixonfoundation.org/news-details.php?id=770; Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Pat Nixon: The Untold Story (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007).
III. PROFILES IN COURAGE
Interview subjects include Luci Johnson, Susan and Steve Ford, Nelson Pierce, Nancy Chirdon Forster, Ron Nessen, and Herman Thompson. Oral history interviews with Bonnie Angelo, Ann Cullen, and Guy Swan can be found at the Gerald R. Ford Oral History Project. Published material includes Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy (New York: Hyperion, 2011); Seymour Hersh, “The Pardon: Nixon, Ford, Haig, and the Transfer of Power,” Atlantic, August 1983; Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin, Mrs. Kennedy and Me (New York: Gallery Books, 2012); Sarah Weddington, “Three Former First Ladies Speak Out,” Good Housekeeping, February 1988; Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady: With the Fords at the White House (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1979); Betty Ford and Chris Chase, The Times of My Life (New York: Harper & Row, 1978).
IV. MOTHERHOOD
Interview subjects include Rosalynn Carter, Susan and Steve Ford, Mary Prince, Tricia Nixon, Gustavo Paredes, Mary Ann Campbell, Bill Burton, Reggie Love, Jane Erkenbeck, Shirley Sagawa, Daryl Wells, Michael “Rahni” Flowers, Ron Reagan, Bess Abell, Worthington White, George and Shirley Hannie, Larry Bush, Stephen Rochon, and Herman Thompson. Published material includes oral histories from Grace Kelly, Jacqueline P. Hirsh, Leonard Bernstein, Janet Lee Bouvier Auchincloss, Letitia Baldrige, Nash Castro, Maud Shaw, Preston Bruce, Dr. Janet Travell, Christine Camp, Laura Bergquist Knebel, Barbara Gamarekian, and Charles Spalding which can all be found at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Personal Papers, Pamela Turnure, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; Nancy Reagan with William Novak, My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan (New York: Random House, 1989); Sally Bedell Smith, Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House (New York: Random House, 2004); Jon Meacham, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush (New York: Random House, 2015); Evgenia Peretz, “How Chelsea Clinton Took Charge of Clintonworld,” Vanity Fair, September 2015; Barack Obama, “How the Presidency Made Me a Better Father,” More, July/August 2015; Hillary Rodham Clinton, interview of the First Lady for House Beautiful, November 30, 1993, by Marian Burros; Joe Hagen, “Bush in the Wilderness,” New York, October 14, 2012; George Lardner Jr. and Lois Romano, “Tragedy Created Bush Mother-Son Bond,” Washington Post, July 26, 1999; Patti Davis, The Way I See It (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1992); Sarah Weddington, “Three Former First Ladies Speak Out,” Good Housekeeping, February 1988; John Ehrlichman, Witness to Power: The Nixon Years (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982); letter from Jacqueline Kennedy to Father McSorley, August 23, 1968; Barbara Bush, A Memoir: Barbara Bush (New York: Scribner, 1994); letters from the private collection of Dolly Lederer Maass; J. B. West, Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies (New York: Warner Books, 1973); Laura Abernethy, “Michelle Obama’s Mother Makes Rare Public Appearance in London,” Guardian, June 16, 2015; Sharon W. Linsker, “Letters Signed by First Ladies Supply Insights into the Past,” New York Times, May 1, 1994; Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, The Final Days (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1976); “The White House: Moving Out/Moving In,” National Archives, January 15, 2009; “Interview: Father Richard T. McSorley,” director, Georgetown University Center for Peace Studies, Fidelio 6, no. 3 (Fall 1997); Gail Sheehy, “What Hillary Wants,” Vanity Fair, May 1992; Susan Ford oral history can be found at the Gerald R. Ford Oral History Project; Barbara Leaming, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2014); Marjorie Williams, “Barbara’s Backlash,” Vanity Fair, August 1992; Preston Bruce, From the Door of the White House (New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1984); Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Pat Nixon: The Untold Story (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007); Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Oral History Collection, Series: National Park Service Oral History Interviews, December 8, 1988; Rosalynn Carter, First Lady from Plains (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984); Jeff Zeleny, “Q&A with Michelle Obama,” Chicago Tribune, December 24, 2005; Patrick Healy, “New to Campaigning, but No Longer a Novice,” New York Times, October 27, 2008; Richard Wolffe, “Michelle, on the Move: The First Lady Readies Her Family for Washington,” Newsweek, November 5, 2008; 2015 Global Women’s Network, George W. Bush Presidential Center, September 22, 2015; Rebecca Johnson, “Michelle Obama Interview: I’m Nothing Special,” Telegraph, July 26, 2008; Gail Sheehy, “Is George Bush Too Nice to Be President?,” Vanity Fair, February 1987; Nixon-Gannon Interviews, 1983, Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens; Holly Yeager, “The Heart and Mind of Michelle Obama,” O: The Oprah Magazine, November 2007; Helen Thomas, Front Row at the White House: My Life and Times (New York: Touchstone, 1999); Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Adler, Women’s Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present (New York: Random House, 2005); Jan Williams, Jimmy Carter Oral History Collection; Series: National Park Service Oral History Interviews, December 20, 1985; Jessamyn West, “Exclusive: The Unknown Pat Nixon: An Intimate View,” Good Housekeeping, February 1971; H. R. Haldeman, The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1994).
V. SUPPORTING ACTORS
Interview subjects for this chapter include Laura Bush, Bess and Tyler Abell, Luci Johnson, Joe Califano, Ann Compton, Shirley James, Tony Fratto, Anita McBride, Christine Limerick, Worthington White, Chris Edwards, Susan Ford, Cragg Hines, Larry Temple, Betty Tilson, and Jerry Rafshoon. Published material includes J. B. West, Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies (New York: Warner Books, 1973); Preston Bruce, From the Door of the White House (New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1984); Gail Sheehy, “What Hillary Wants,” Vanity Fair, May 1992; Carl Bernstein, A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York: Vintage Books, 2007); Michael Kelly, “Again: It’s Hillary Rodham Clinton. Got That?,” New York Times, February 14, 1993; Bill Moyer’s Eulogy at Lady Bird’s Funeral; Sara Rimer, “A Nation Challenged: The Pennsylvania Crash; 44 Victims Are Remembered, and Lauded,” New York Times, September 18, 2001; LENNY, September 29, 2015, Letter No. 1; Sally Bedell Smith, Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House (New York: Random House, 2004); Laura Bush, Spoken from the Heart (New York: Scribner, 2010); Lady Bird’s Post-Presidential Correspondence with Presidents, VPs, and their Families, LBJ Presidential Library and Museum; Enid Nemy, “Obituary: Lady Bird Johnson, 94, Former U.S. First Lady,” New York Times, July 12, 2007; “Pat Nixon Removes Jackie’s Handiwork,” Milwaukee Journal, September 20, 1969; Liz Carpenter’s and Bess Abell’s oral histories can be found at the LBJ Library; Lady Bird Johnson’s diary, June 5, 1968; Sarah Weddington, “Three Former First Ladies Speak Out,” Good Housekeeping, February 1988; Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Oral History Collection; Series: National Park Service Oral History Interviews, May 11, 1988; Lucinda Franks, “The Intimate Hillary,” Talk, September 1999; Frank Bruni, “For Laura Bush, a Direction She Never Wished to Go In,” New York Times, July 31, 2000; Skip Hollandsworth, “Reading Laura Bush,” Texas Monthly, November 1996; Ann Cullen’s oral history can be found at the Gerald R. Ford Oral History Project.
VI. EAST WING VS. WEST WING
Interview subjects include Tony Fratto, Connie Stuart, Melanne Verveer, Lissa Muscatine, Joni Stevens, Lucy Winchester, Jackie Norris, Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld, Nash Castro, Steve Ford, Polly Dranov, and Larry D. Hatfield. Published material includes John Ehrlichman, Witness to Power: The Nixon Years (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982); Reid Cherlin, “The Worst Wing: How the East Wing Shrank Michelle Obama,” New Republic, March 24, 2014; Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Pat Nixon: The Untold Story (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007); H. R. Haldeman, The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1994); Letitia Baldrige’s oral history can be found at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; Will Swift, Pat and Dick: The Nixons: An Intimate Portrait of a Marriage (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014); Preston Bruce, From the Door of the White House (New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1984); memo from Roger Ailes to H. R. Haldeman, May 4, 1970, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum; Laura Bush, Spoken from the Heart (New York: Scribner, 2010); Roy Neel, interview, Miller Center, University of Virginia, President William Jefferson Clinton, Presidential Oral History Project, November 14, 2002; Helen Smith, “Ordeal! Pat Nixon’s Final Days in the White House,” Good Housekeeping, July 1976; Bonnie Angelo’s and Maria Downs’s oral histories can be found at the Gerald R. Ford Oral History Project; Helen Thomas, Front Row at the White House: My Life and Times (New York: Touchstone Books, 1999); Helen Thomas, “Pat Nixon Answers All Letters to Her,” United Press International, December 28, 1971; Lois Romano, “Michelle Obama: White House Rebel,” Newsweek, June 5, 2011; Sarah Booth Conroy, “First Lady, and Wife First,” Washington Post, June 28, 1993; Constance Stuart’s and Gwendolyn King’s oral histories are available at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum; Trude Feldman, “The Quiet Courage of Pat Nixon,” McCall’s, May 1975.
VII. THE GOOD WIFE
Interview subjects include Rosalynn Carter, Susan Porter Rose, Ann Romney, Walter Mondale, Jerry Rafshoon, Ronn Payne, Katherine Cade, Mary Prince, Ann Compton, Christine Limerick, Connie Stuart, Ed Nixon, Joni Stevens, Bob Bostock, Lynn Langway, Neel Lattimore, Bob Scanlan, and Lucy Winchester. Published material includes J. B. West, Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies (New York: Warner Books, 1973); White House Memos, 1961–64, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; American Experience: The Kennedys, PBS; Nixon-Gannon Interviews, 1983, Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens; Susan Thomases, Interview, Miller Center, University of Virginia, President William Jefferson Clinton, Presidential Oral History Project, January 6, 2006; Lucinda Franks, “The Intimate Hillary,” Talk, September 1999; Hugh Sidey’s oral history can be found at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum; Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Personal Papers, Memos to J. B. West, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; oral histories with Mary Hoyt, Allie Smith, Lauren Blanton, and Jan Williams are part of the Jimmy Carter Oral History Collection; Archive of American Television interview with Perry Wolff, http://emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/perry-wolff#; Theodore H. White personal papers can be found at John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; oral histories for Nancy Tuckerman and Pamela Turnure can be found at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; Liz Carpenter’s oral history can be found at the LBJ Library, August 27, 1969; Bob Woodward, The Last of the President’s Men (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015); ABC News special, Jacqueline Kennedy: In Her Own Words, September 13, 2011; Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Oral History Collection; Series: National Park Service Oral History Interviews, May 11, 1988; Michael Hirsh, “The Regrets of Jimmy Carter,” Politico, August 20, 2015; James Reston, “Kennedy’s Victory Won by Close Margin—He Promises Fight for World Freedom—Eisenhower Offers ‘Orderly Transition,’” New York Times, November 10, 1960; Marian Christy, “Pat Was Trained to Suffer,” Beaver County (Pa.) Times, November 2, 1978; Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, The Final Days (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1976); Marina Koren, “Jimmy Carter on His Cancer Diagnosis,” Atlantic, August 20, 2015; Rosalynn Carter, First Lady from Plains (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984); Elizabeth Mehren, “Richard Goodwin’s Account of a ‘Paranoid’ L.B.J. Riles Some Ex-Colleagues,” Los Angeles Times, September 14, 1988; Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Adler, Women’s Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present (New York: Random House, 2005); CBS News, 60 Minutes, “Jimmy Carter: My Presidency Was a Success,” September 16, 2010; Associated Press, “Jackie, Nina, Hit at Vienna,” June 5, 1961; Betty Ford and Chris Chase, The Times of My Life (New York: Harper & Row, 1978); oral histories of Lorraine Ornelas, Bonnie Angelo, and Susan Ford can be found at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum; Trude Feldman, “The Quiet Courage of Pat Nixon,” McCall’s, May 1975; Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr., Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York: Back Nine Books, 2007); oral history interviews with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter can be found at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum; Barbara Gamarekian’s oral history can be found at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; Patt Morrison, “Time for a Feminist as First Lady: What Americans Think of Hillary Clinton Is as Much a Verdict on the Role of Women in the ’90s as a Judgment of Her Style and Achievement,” Los Angeles Times, July 14, 1992; Carl Bernstein, A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York: Vintage Books, 2007); Kati Marton, Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History (New York: Anchor Books, 2001); Marian Burros, “Hillary Clinton Asks Help in Finding a Softer Image,” New York Times, January 9, 1995; Lisa Miller, “No More Washington Wives, and It’s Our Loss,” Newsweek, January 3, 2011; Gail Sheehy, “What Hillary Wants,” Vanity Fair, May 1992; Thurston Clarke, “JFK and Jackie’s Secret Life Between the Covers,” Wall Street Journal blog, July 25, 2013; Clare Crawford, “A Story of Love and Rehabilitation: The Ex-Con in the White House,” People, March 14, 1977; Will Swift, Pat and Dick: The Nixons—An Intimate Portrait of a Marriage (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014); Helen Thomas, Front Row at the White House: My Life and Times (New York: Touchstone Books, 1999); Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Pat Nixon: The Untold Story (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007); Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy (New York: Hyperion, 2011); Gloria Steinem, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (New York: Henry Holt, 1983); Jessamyn West, “Exclusive: The Unknown Pat Nixon: An Intimate View,” Good Housekeeping, February 1971; Richard Nixon–Pat Nixon Courtship Letters, Richard Nixon Foundation; First Ladies Pay Tribute to Pat Nixon, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXl2ngW-JiA, Richard Nixon Foundation; Judith Viorst, “Pat Nixon Is the Ultimate Good Sport,” New York Times, September 13, 1970; Isabelle Shelton, “Pat Is Pressed,” Evening Star, September 19, 1972; United Press International, “Release of Tapes Displeased Pat,” Washington Post, May 20, 1974; Lydia Saad, “Admiration for Hillary Clinton Surges in 1998,” Gallup, December 31, 1998; Hillary Rodham Clinton, Living History (New York: Scribner, 2003).
VIII. BAD BLOOD
Interview subjects include Barbara Bush, Rosalynn Carter, James Jeffries, Bill Cliber, Shirley Sagawa, Bill Burton, Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld, Susan Porter Rose, Susie Tompkins Buell, Jerry Rafshoon, Anita Dunn, Lissa Muscatine, Mary Ann Campbell, Anita McBride, Joni Stevens, Lise Howe, Ronn Payne, Christine Limerick, Ron Reagan, David Hume Kennerly, Jamal Simmons, George Hannie, Jane Erkenbeck, and Cragg Hines. Sources include Jimmy Carter Presidential Library exit interview with Mary Finch Hoyt; Dorothy McCardle, “Will Mamie Brief Jackie on Home,” Washington Post, November 13, 1960; Marjorie Williams, “Barbara’s Backlash,” Vanity Fair, August 1992; Associated Press, “First Lady Said Nancy Reagan Called to Deny Wanting Carters Out Early,” December 16, 1980; “Reagans’ Son, Ron, Blasts Carter,” Eugene Register-Guard, December 15, 1980; White House Memos, 1961–64, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy (New York: Hyperion, 2011); J. B. West, Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies (New York: Warner Books, 1973); Sarah Ellison, “How Hillary Clinton’s Loyal Confidants Could Cost Her the Election,” Vanity Fair, November, 2015; Lady Bird Johnson’s Post-Presidential Correspondence with Presidents, VPs, and Their Families; Bess Abell’s oral history can be found at the LBJ Library; Chris Chase’s oral history can be found at the Gerald R. Ford Foundation; Margaret Leslie Davis, Mona Lisa in Camelot (New York: Da Capo Press, 2008); Joan Didion, “Life at Court,” New York Review of Books, December 21, 1989; Patt Morrison, “Time for a Feminist as First Lady: What Americans Think of Hillary Clinton Is as Much a Verdict on the Role of Women in the ’90s as a Judgment of Her Style and Achievement,” Los Angeles Times, July 14, 1992; Gail Sheehy, “Hillaryland at War,” Vanity Fair, August 2008; Hillary Rodham Clinton, Living History (New York: Scribner, 2003); Judy Woodruff interview with Nancy Reagan featured in the PBS documentary Nancy Reagan: Role of a Lifetime, February 6, 2011; Hamilton Jordan, “The First Grifters: Clinton Saw the Pardon Power as Just Another Perk of the Office,” Wall Street Journal, February 20, 2001; Fox Butterfield, “At Wellesley, a Furor Over Barbara Bush,” New York Times, May 4, 1990; Jon Meacham, Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush (New York: Random House, 2015); Betty Beale, “White House Plans Told: Tish Baldrige Has First Press Conference,” Evening Star, November 23, 1960; White House Memos, 1961–64, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; Cragg Hines, “Queries on Infidelity Infuriate First Lady,” Houston Chronicle, August 13, 1992; Michael Deaver with Mickey Herskowitz, Behind the Scenes (New York: William Morrow, 1988); Barbara Bush, A Memoir: Barbara Bush (New York: Scribner, 1994); Gail Sheehy, “What Hillary Wants,” Vanity Fair, May 1992; Donnie Radcliffe, “Nancy Reagan’s Private Obsession; A Tenacious Struggle to Oust Donald Regan from the President’s Team,” Washington Post, February 27, 1987; Newsweek staff, “Reagan and Bush: Call It a Snub,” March 8, 1992; Gail Sheehy, “Is George Bush Too Nice to Be President?,” Vanity Fair, February 1987; Charles Spalding’s oral history is available at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; Lady Bird Johnson’s oral history can be found at the LBJ Library, January 23, 1996; Glenn Thrush, “Clinton’s ’08 Slaps Still Sting Obama,” Politico, August 1, 2013; Carroll Kilpatrick and Maxine Cheshire, “The New Tenant Drops By: The Fast-Moving Kennedys Take to Palm Beach Sun,” Washington Post, December 10, 1960; Elizabeth Mehren and Betty Cuniberti, “Fighting Back: Over the Course of Her Husband’s Political Career, Nancy Reagan Has Developed Her Own Mission: To Protect Ronald Reagan, No Matter What,” Los Angeles Times Magazine, March 22, 1987; Kati Marton, Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History (New York: Anchor Books, 2001); Bob Colacello, “Nancy Reagan’s Solo Role,” Vanity Fair, July 2009; Douglas Brinkley, The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter’s Journey Beyond the White House (New York: Viking, 1998); Rosalynn Carter, First Lady from Plains (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984); Elisabeth Bumiller, “Public Lives: Two First Ladies, So Alike and So Different,” New York Times, May 12, 1999; Sarah Weddington, A Question of Choice (New York: G. P. Putnam Sons, 1992); Patti Davis, The Way I See It (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1992); Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Interview, Miller Center, University of Virginia, President Lyndon Johnson, Presidential Oral History Project, January 11, 1974; Josh Gerstein, “Emails Show Hillary’s Political Sleuthing,” Politico, September 1, 2015; Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, The Presidents Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012); Jeff Zeleny, “Meet the Woman Who Almost Made Hillary Clinton Cry in 2008,” CNN, April 20, 2015; Maurine Beasley, First Ladies and the Press: The Unfinished Partnership of the Media Age (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2005); “From Inquiring Camera Girl to Next First Lady? Ike’s Election Kept Artist Jackie Busy,” Washington Post and Times-Herald, September 28, 1960; Dorothy McCardle, “Jackie Learned Pat’s No. 1 Pick was Mamie,” Washington Post and Times-Herald, September 30, 1960; Betty Ford and Chris Chase, The Times of My Life (New York: Harper & Row, 1978); Kate Andersen and Nick Johnston, “Obama Tax Deal ‘Is a Good Bill’ Former President Clinton Says,” Bloomberg, December 12, 2010; Frank Bruni, “For Laura Bush, a Direction She Never Wished to Go In,” New York Times, July 31, 2000; Reid Cherlin, “The Worst Wing: How the East Wing Shrank Michelle Obama,” New Republic, March 24, 2014; Anne E. Kornblut, “Michelle Obama’s Career Timeout for Now, Weight Shifts in Work-Family Tug of War,” Washington Post, May 11, 2007; The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, interview with Michelle Obama, September 28, 2015; Diane Salvatore, “Barack and Michelle Obama: The Full Interview,” Ladies’ Home Journal, August 2008; Alessandra Stanley, “Michelle Obama Shows Her Warmer Side on ‘The View,’” New York Times, June 19, 2008; CBS News, “The Remarkable Mrs. Ford: 60 Minutes Revisits a Very Candid Interview with the Former First Lady,” January 5, 2007.
IX. KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON
Interview subjects include Barbara Bush, Rosalynn Carter, Ann Romney, Reggie Love, Bill Burton, Lissa Muscatine, Tony Fratto, Daryl Wells, Michael “Rahni” Flowers, George Hannie, Worthington White, Susan and Steve Ford, Nash Castro, Bess Abell, Don Hughes, Wilson Jerman, Jim Ketchum, Cletus Clark, Jane Erkenbeck, Ron Reagan, Lucy Winchester, Chris Edwards, Joni Stevens, Linsey Little, Connie Stuart, Nancy Chirdon Forster, and Everett Raymond Kinstler. Published material includes Nancy Reagan with William Novak, My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan (New York: Random House, 1989); Constance Stuart’s and Gwendolyn King’s oral histories are available at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum; Donnie Radcliffe, “Life as the First Lady’s Confidante and ‘Protector,’” Washington Post, April 14, 1977; Dana Perino, And the Good News Is: Lessons and Advice from the Bright Side (New York: Twelve, 2015); CBS News, “Candidate Obama’s Sense of Urgency,” 60 Minutes, February 9, 2007; Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Pat Nixon: The Untold Story (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007); Kathleen Osborne, interview, Miller Center, University of Virginia, President Ronald Reagan, Presidential Oral History Project, April 26, 2003; Richard Allen, interview, Miller Center, University of Virginia, President Ronald Reagan, Presidential Oral History Project, May 28, 2002; Michael Deaver, interview, Miller Center, University of Virginia, President Ronald Reagan, Presidential Oral History Project, September 12, 2002; Betty Ford Letters to Former First Ladies, Gerald and Betty Ford Special Materials, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum; Lady Bird Johnson diary, June 5, 1968; Associated Press, “President Not Planning to Quit, Mrs. Nixon Says,” Los Angeles Times, May 11, 1974; Patti Davis, The Way I See It (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1992); Anne Lincoln’s and Gerald Behn’s oral histories can be found at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; Juliet Eilperin, “The New Dynamics of Protecting a President: Most Threats Against Obama Issued Online,” Washington Post, October 8, 2014; Judy Woodruff interview with Nancy Reagan featured in the PBS documentary Nancy Reagan: Role of a Lifetime, February 6, 2011; Helen Smith, “Ordeal! Pat Nixon’s Final Days in the White House,” Good Housekeeping, July 1976; Lady Bird Johnson diary entry, August 2, 1968; CBS News, “The Reagans’ Long Goodbye: Mike Wallace Interviews Nancy Reagan for 60 Minutes II,” September 24, 2002; Trude Feldman, “The Quiet Courage of Pat Nixon,” McCall’s, May 1975; Elizabeth Mehren and Betty Cuniberti, “Fighting Back: Over the Course of Her Husband’s Political Career, Nancy Reagan Has Developed Her Own Mission: To Protect Ronald Reagan, No Matter What,” Los Angeles Times Magazine, March 22, 1987; Kati Marton, Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History (New York: Anchor Books, 2001); Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970); United Press International, “Collapses, Dies, Honoring Betty Ford,” Chicago Tribune, June 23, 1976; Joan Didion, “Life at Court,” New York Review of Books, December 21, 1989; Donald T. Regan, For the Record (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988); Bob Colacello, “Nancy Reagan’s Solo Role,” Vanity Fair, July 2009; Betty Cuniberti, “Nancy Reagan’s Schedule Ambitious: President, First Lady Off on Separate Paths,” Los Angeles Times, May 1, 1986; Bernard Weinraub, “Nancy Reagan’s Power Is Considered at Peak,” New York Times, March 3, 1987; Jane Perlez, “Hillary Clinton Visits Romania Children,” New York Times, July 2, 1996.
EPILOGUE: LADIES, FIRST
Interviews include Barbara Bush, Lorraine Ornelas, Susan Ford, Bess Abell, Nancy Chirdon Forster, Shirley James, and Bill Plante. Published material includes Margaret Truman, First Ladies: An Intimate Group Portrait of White House Wives (New York: Random House, 1995); Leo Janos, “The Last Days of the President: LBJ in Retirement,” Atlantic, July 1973; Michael Beschloss, “In His Final Days, LBJ Agonized Over His Legacy,” PBS, December 4, 2012; Hillary Clinton, An Invitation to the White House: At Home with History (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000); Kati Marton, Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History (New York: Anchor Books, 2001); Barbara Bush, A Memoir: Barbara Bush (New York: Scribner, 1994); “Clintons Return White House Furniture,” ABC News; Robert McFadden, “Death of a First Lady: The Companion, Quietly at Her Side, Public at the End,” New York Times, May 24, 1994; Gail Sheehy, “Is George Bush Too Nice to Be President?,” Vanity Fair, February 1987; Bob Colacello, “Nancy Reagan’s Solo Role,” Vanity Fair, July 2009; Helen Smith, “Ordeal! Pat Nixon’s Final Days in the White House,” Good Housekeeping, July 1976.
PHOTO INSERT SOURCES AND CREDITS
Insert one: Getty Images/The LIFE Picture Collection/Hank Walker; Associated Press; Getty Images/The LIFE Picture Collection/George Silk; Cecil Stoughton/White House, courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston; Robert Knudsen/White House, courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston; Cecil Stoughton/White House, courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston; Yoichi Okamoto/White House, courtesy Lyndon B. Johnson Library; courtesy Lyndon B. Johnson Library; Robert L. Knudsen/White House, courtesy Richard Nixon Presidential Library; Byron Schumaker, White House, courtesy Richard Nixon Presidential Library; Oliver Atkins/White House, courtesy Richard Nixon Presidential Library; from the private collection of Joni Stevens; Oliver Atkins/White House, courtesy Richard Nixon Presidential Library; David Hume Kennerly/White House, courtesy Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library; Getty Images/Hulton Archive; Karl Schumacher/White House, courtesy Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum; courtesy George Bush Presidential Library and Museum; courtesy Lyndon B. Johnson Library; from the private collection of Shirley James.
Insert two: Official White House photograph, courtesy Ronn Payne; courtesy Ronald Reagan Presidential Library; Getty Images/New York Daily News Archive; Associated Press/Marcy Nighswander; Getty Images/AFP/David Ake; courtesy Clinton Presidential Library; Getty Images/Hulton Archive/David Hume Kennerly; Associated Press/Susan Walsh; Ralph Barrera, courtesy Austin American-Statesman; Joyce N. Boghosian, courtesy of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum/NARA; Getty Images/Alex Wong; David Hume Kennerly/White House, courtesy Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library; Associated Press/Charles Dharapak; Official White House photograph by Lawrence Jackson; Official White House photograph by Annie Leibovitz; Official White House photograph by Pete Souza; Associated Press/David J. Phillip.