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FLARE Focus on Eleanor Roosevelt: Pioneering and Normalizing Activism for First Ladies

Abby Palazzo

Rhetorical scholar Myra Gutin sorts America’s first ladies into three categories: White House Keepers, Emerging Spokeswomen, and Political Surrogates/Independent Advocates.[i] Many women who occupied the role of first lady, such as Bess Truman, preferred to stay out of the spotlight and declined to take advantage of the political power inherent in the role, instead choosing the primarily social and ceremonial role of White House Keepers. Others were Emerging Spokeswomen, like Lou Henry Hoover, who championed social causes such as Girl Scouting, and made history by speaking on the radio as First Lady, but still largely avoided the press. And others, such as Lady Bird Johnson, were Political Surrogates who took advantage of their private political influence to affect policy by proxy. Activism through independent advocacy was only loosely associated with the role of first lady until one woman redefined the title: Eleanor Roosevelt.

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