03/19/2025

Volume 4, Issue 1 March 2025

FLARE Focus on The Second Lady as Understudy:

Apprenticing the Role Before Ascending to the First Lady Mainstage

by Jeanne Ryan Wolfson

Editor’s Note: Jeanne Ryan Wolfson is a board member and inaugural lifetime individual member of FLARE. She is a Washington-based communication strategist, currently serving as an independent consultant to a variety of organizations and is an author. She holds a B.A in journalism and an M.A. in strategic communication from American University.

Second Lady Pat Nixon (far right) at a Senate Ladies Luncheon, June 9, 1959.
Photo credit: Richard Nixon Foundation

Twelve of the nation’s first ladies served as second ladies of the United States before their husbands were elected President: Abigail Adams, Letitia Tyler, Abigail Fillmore, Eliza Johnson, Edith Roosevelt, Grace Coolidge, Bess Truman, Pat Nixon, Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Barbara Bush, and Dr. Jill Biden. Their time as second lady revealed some of what they would bring to the role of first lady as well as causes they would continue to champion.

Until the mid-twentieth century, second ladies did not maintain a prominent public role. Their only institutional role was to serve as the unofficial convener of the Red Cross Senate Wives, a group founded in 1917 by Mimosa June Gates Pittman, wife of Nevada Senator Key Pittman, to aid the allied cause in the First World War. Second ladies also stood in for first ladies as needed.¹ It was not until the Office of Vice President evolved to include more responsibilities, power, influence, and resources that the role of second lady grew in recognition and stature.

Abigail Adams, the first second lady, was the lone pioneer of her time. She planned state dinners, entertained, and networked with other political wives. She continued this approach when she became first lady. After Abigail’s observable tenure, second ladies like Letitia Tyler, Abigail Fillmore, Eliza Johnson, and Edith Roosevelt were largely invisible. 

The transformation of the role of second lady began in earnest years later with Pat Nixon. Pat’s interest in other countries, which later would serve her unique brand of person-to-person diplomacy, was beginning to reveal itself.²  She traveled with the vice president to fifty-three countries. She broke precedent on a two-month trip to Asia, visiting schools and institutions rather than attending teas and shopping expeditions. When Pat became first lady, she would continue her role as goodwill ambassador, traveling with the president to thirty-two nations. She became the first first lady to visit Africa and South America as an official representative of the U.S.

Lady Bird Johnson also traveled extensively with the vice president, often with a separate itinerary. In her travels abroad, she provided a platform for professional women to advance their standing in their societies. In the U.S., her groundbreaking “Doers Luncheons,” held at their Washington home, highlighted professional women like Indira Ghandi and Empress Farah of Iran. Lady Bird also stood in for First Lady Jackie Kennedy at events. By the time she became first lady, Lady Bird was well versed in presiding at White House events and she hosted sixteen additional Doers Luncheons there.³

Betty Ford took the role of second lady a step further, cultivating an open relationship with the press. In interviews, she shared her opinions on controversial topics like abortion and feminism. It was then that her reputation for honesty and candor was established.⁴ Once first lady, she used her platform to speak out candidly about ERA, women’s rights, pre-marital sex, and marijuana use. She went public with her breast cancer diagnosis at a time when the health issues of first ladies were not discussed.

Barbara Bush jumped into the role of second lady by visiting all fifty states plus sixty-five countries with her husband or traveling alone on his behalf. As hostess, she held 1,192 events at the vice president’s residence and attended 1,232 other events in Washington. She selected literacy as her cause, participating in 500+ literacy-related events.⁵ As first lady, she established the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, a nonprofit that supports literacy programs nationwide and is still in existence today.

Dr. Jill Biden became the second second lady (after Dr. Lynne Cheney) to continue to work professionally. She championed military families, breast cancer awareness, and the importance of community colleges. She partnered with First Lady Michelle Obama to launch Joining Forces to address the needs of the military, veterans, and their families in employment, education, and wellness. As first lady, she continued to advocate for these causes, broadening her scope. She also became the first first lady to keep her job outside the White House.

These second ladies used their unique platform wisely. When they ascended from “understudies” to their “leading role” as first ladies, they were able to engage immediately with a platform they had already defined.

¹Heath Hardage Lee, The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2024), 114.
² Lee, 114.
³Julia Sweig, Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight (New York: Random House, 2021), 15-16.
⁴Lisa McCubbin, Betty Ford: First Lady, Women’s Advocate, Survivor, Trailblazer (New York: Gallery Books, 2018), 123.
⁵Barbara Bush, Barbara Bush: A Memoir (New York: Lisa Drew Books, 1994), 167.