Presidential marriages are institutions hidden in plain sight that have a massive impact on the White House, governance, and American history, according to journalist and best-selling author Kati Marton.
The presidential spouse is an important institution “because the White House is an isolating place and the only person who isn’t beholden to the president in some way is his partner, his wife,” the author of Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History said.
In her book, Marton depicts a sense that many presidential spouses also feel that they served the nation in an executive capacity, shown clearly by a Freudian slip from former First Lady Barbara Bush, who once said, “When we were president …”
Marton identifies numerous examples of presidential spouses like Lady Bird Johnson, who changed the course of history by convincing their husbands not to seek reelection, among other major decisions.
Interestingly, three marital institutions now act upon the White House: the Bidens, the Trumps, and the Harrises. While the former has some precedent in American history, the latter two marriages are new in many ways. Recent events, ranging from the Trump assassination attempt to Biden’s disastrous debate performance and subsequent abandonment of his reelection bid, have continued to highlight the roles their marriages play. The Dallas Express sat down with Marton to get her insights on the hidden power acting upon the world’s most important leader.
On the subject of Biden, DX asked Marton if there was any historical precedent for a first lady taking the reins from a president in ill health. Marton pointed to the 28th president.
“[The] precedent for this, at a time in the White House when the spouse did not put country before marriage, was the marriage of Woodrow Wilson,” Marton said.
She explained that Wilson had suffered a massive stroke in 1919 that decimated his cognitive functions for the remaining two years of his presidency. Edith, his wife, “who only had a second-grade education,” took over the executive functions of the presidency, Marton said.
She put “the White House in lockdown [and drew] the curtains” for the remainder of her husband’s term. This had gravitational impacts on policy, and Marton identified it as one of the reasons the League of Nations treaty, a predecessor to the United Nations, was never ratified by the Senate.
Some historians, including Marton, believe this event set the world on a path to a second World War because “[Wilson lacked the] mental acuity and flexibility to negotiate with the Senate on fine-tuning the League, and therefore, enabling it to pass the Senate.”
Marton did not speak with disdain for Jill, as some others have. She said, “Jill is the first actual working first lady. So she’s already logged a historic milestone.” She described the Biden marriage as “an extremely close union.”
She does also see what many others see.
“This particular wife seems to be extremely fond of the [presidential] office, and I can’t blame her,” she said. “[However, the] time comes when others have to weigh in because so much is at stake.”
This comes on the heels of revelations that someone who lives in the White House may have needed medical care for Parkinson’s, reports that there has not been a full cabinet meeting in eight months, and allegations that Jill is the one who pushed her husband to continue his candidacy.
Minutes after Biden’s mumbling and sometimes incoherent debate performance, Jill took to the stage with her husband and promoted his candidacy in a widely-panned rally speech. Subsequently, party donors like Dougie Kass tweeted that “Jill Biden is insistent that Joe runs,” while former President Barack Obama and other prominent Democrats such as Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) began to join the chorus of voices asking Biden to end his bid for the presidency.
Marton predicted during the DX interview that Joe would resign, and 36 hours later, she was proven correct. Amidst reports that Biden could not recognize some members of Congress and was suffering another stint with COVID-19 isolation, Biden relinquished his candidacy.
Then, there was the shocking assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Butler County, Pennsylvania. After the tragic event that claimed one man’s life and resulted in the wounding of three others (including Trump), former First Lady Melania Trump put out a statement supporting the 45th president and attempting to soothe the nation.
Marton explained that this eloquent and widely hailed statement was a typical move for an atypical first lady for which we have no historical precedent. “Melania Trump is different,” she said. “She never really engaged in the presidency.”
Marton suspects part of this is due to the controversy surrounding Melania’s 2016 Republican National Convention speech, which was identical, in parts, to a convention speech given by Michelle Obama. However, she also argues that Melania’s Yugoslavian origins prevent her from fully embracing the idea of an American first lady’s role.
Aside from occasional homages, like Melania’s inauguration dress, which emulated Jackie Kennedy, or her dress for this year’s RNC, which resembled many dresses worn by Nancy Reagan, Marton believes Melania’s awkwardness in the role of first lady is because “she doesn’t have a familiarity with American history. She doesn’t really understand that the role of first lady is a revered American institution, going back to Dolly Madison, who famously rescued George Washington’s portrait from British fire, and so on.”
While Jill Biden’s role may have a corollary to Edith Wilson, Melania’s has no historical analogy. Every president who has been married has had a highly involved wife who served as first lady. While this involvement was sometimes very public, as in the case of Hillary Clinton, or very private, as in the case of Bess Truman, each wife has played a major support role for her husband.
James Buchannan was America’s only never-married president, but his niece played the role of first lady.
Melania’s role remains undefined. She did not join her husband in Washington, D.C. after he was elected president until the late spring of 2017, reportedly because Barron was finishing his school year.
Although Melania did appear for “the splashiest events,” as Marton puts it, there is a sense she may be even more detached in a second Trump presidency. Media outlets have noted her near-total absence from the 2024 campaign trail. While the second foreign-born first lady has hosted a few low-profile fundraisers since commentators noted her absence, she only appeared for Donald’s speech at the Republican convention.
Moreover, other reports have said that Melania and Donald have struck a deal that would allow the former supermodel to travel to New York perhaps monthly or even weekly to support their son Barron, who may choose to attend NYU this fall.
Marton observes a difference between the Trump marriage and those that preceded it in the current era.
“[The Trumps] did not grow up together,” she said, referencing the fact that this was Donald’s third marriage after two divorces and that they are the modern recent presidential couple to have not run the gauntlet of public office life together before ascending to the presidency.
The possibility of a president’s wife who is either totally or mostly disengaged from the role of first lady would set a new tone in the White House and would make history. It would be at odds with a line Marton was told by Lady Bird Johnson about presidential marriages upon entering the White House: “If you weren’t close before, you better get close now.”
It remains to be seen if the 45th president’s brush with death will draw the couple closer together, as previous presidential couples have been under such circumstances.
While there is no way to know what impact a possible mostly absent first lady will have or if, as Marton speculates, there is the possibility Ivanka, Donald Jr., Eric, or Tiffany Trump will fill this role, there are other potential precedents that could be set, and they could come even sooner.
Should Vice President Kamala Harris ascend to the presidency through popular election or other constitutional means in the next six months, her husband would be the first male presidential spouse. Doug Emhoff’s potential role as first gentleman would also be unprecedented. However, Marton noted, “The bigger impact would be to finally … have a woman in [the Oval Office].”
Marton noted that Emhoff has been supportive of his wife, relinquishing his law practice to be a second gentleman and subsequently performing most of the concomitant second-spouse duties. She said she believes this supportive element will “really help Kamala Harris.”
“You know, to be the White House host or hostess is not, you know, nuclear physics,” she said, so Marton would emphasize the impact their relationship would have on the country more than the fact that Emhoff may be pouring tea frequently.
“Frankly … that’s the least of our problems,” Marton concluded after identifying numerous issues like the rise of China and the war in Ukraine. She views the speculation over a man’s role as a presidential spouse as subordinate to providing Americans strong electoral tickets and “[healthy exchanges] of views regarding policy, not regarding personalities.”
Marton’s book is a sweeping history that begins with Wilson and continues through the time of George and Laura Bush and the White House. It is the only book of its kind and was first published in 2002. Marton compiled the book from countless primary sources and numerous interviews with all of the then-surviving presidential couples whom she wrote about.
She has since authored The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World and Paris: A Love Story; a Memoir.
One earlier work of hers was researched in Fort Worth and written about Cowtown native George Polk. The book was titled The Polk Conspiracy and focused on the CBS foreign correspondent’s mysterious death in the Greek Civil War in 1948.
Marton’s full exchange with The Dallas Express can be heard on The Cowtown Caller’s podcast.