The first wife of a presidential candidate to address a political convention was Eleanor Roosevelt, who, when asked by her husband to address the 1940 Democratic Convention in his place, promptly got on an airplane and flew to Chicago to do so. As soon as she finished her “no ordinary time” speech, the delegates cast their ballots and gave her husband his choice for the vice presidential nominee, Henry Wallace.
More than 30 years passed before another first lady mounted the podium at a political convention, and it was a Republican, Pat Nixon, who spoke at the 1972 convention which nominated her husband for a second term. Hillary Clinton was only the second Democratic first lady to speak during a nominating convention when she addressed the Democrats in 1996 to urge the re-election of her husband. That was the same year that we saw Elizabeth Dole, the wife of the Republican candidate, speak on his behalf. But for the first time last week, it was not an incumbent first lady seeking to humanize and re-elect a sitting president, but a former candidate’s wife who spoke about the nominee she wished to see elected.
For the last 20 years, we have seen the wives of candidates speak to their conventions. This year was a little different—and not only because of the spouse’s sex.
Yes, seeing Bill Clinton tell the love story of their partnership, and the story of Hillary Clinton’s dedication to solving problems, was exceptional due as much to his gender as to his speaking ability. We are frankly not accustomed to hearing men praise the political acumen of their wives. Perhaps it is time we got used to it.
It was an impressive speech about an remarkable life that has been filled with service to others. Like so many spouses before him, he humanized his wife in a way that has been sorely needed. He painted a picture of the woman that most of America has forgotten about, so convincing has the Republican cartoon become. More people have heard that she killed Vince Foster than that she transformed education for the children of Arkansas. Or that her work led to the termination of tax exemptions for private schools that were segregated, or how she opened public education to children with disabilities.
President Clinton gave the speech that most candidate spouses give although he probably did it much better than most—and did it without borrowing anyone else’s words. He also did it as a husband, which made it a historic first. Of course, that historic first would never have happened if the convention had not, for the first time in history, nominated a woman as its presidential candidate.
But his was not the only significant speech given by a spouse. First lady Michelle Obama opened the convention with a speech that was a masterpiece of political oratory.
Historically, the speech has always been about the spouse, his plans, and his character, or his record and his character. It has always been about the president or, in some cases, the presidential hopeful. But on Monday night we saw a first lady make a speech not about her spouse, but about another candidate, one to whom she is only related by gender and ideals. A first lady stepped out of her supportive, apolitical role and spoke eloquently and forcefully about a candidate to whom she was not related. And she did it without running for office herself.
Michelle Obama’s brilliant multi-layered speech and her passionate presentation will be analyzed and discussed for some time to come. It is that kind of speech. And she has become that kind of public speaker and popular first lady.
Betty Ford was also a very popular first lady. Her presence in the White House did much to help heal the national divisions created by her husband's predecessor. Diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after Gerald Ford took office, she went public with the news of her diagnosis and her mastectomy. In doing so, she broke through the silence that had long shrouded this cancer and encouraged women to preform their own breast self-examinations. There is no doubt that she saved lives.
During her husband’s term as president, Betty Ford actively supported a woman’s right to choose, and lobbied state legislatures on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Until the Reagan Republicans drove it out of the party, feminism was bipartisan.
At the Republican convention in 1980, the anti-feminists, led by Phyllis Schlafly, finally succeeded in stripping support for the ERA from the party platform. Gerald Ford, who had decided not to run in 1980, asked his wife not to join the protesters who were upset by the removal of the ERA plank from the Republican platform. By this time, Betty had become a very active leader in the women’s movement and had even brought a white dress to wear during the protest march, as the organizers had requested in an homage to the original suffragettes. But instead of joining them, she watched the women, who all wore white, march past her hotel window in protest. In her own personal act of feminist protest, when Ronald Reagan asked the former president and first lady to join him on the stage with George H.W. Bush and their spouses, to celebrate the nomination, she did so—wearing her white dress.
“I wasn’t trying to be mischievous,” she later recalled with a smile. “Perhaps more subversive.”
Her appeal to feminists was thus very subtle, but we all knew it when we saw it.
Michelle Obama’s speech also had a very subtle, feminist appeal. There were so many levels to that speech, it felt like a kaleidoscope in which a slight movement would result in a completely changed image, even thought the content remained the same. Her takedown of Donald Trump as a bully who frightens children and is only capable of 140 character thoughts without ever mentioning his name was delightfully brilliant, as was her pointed reminder of the vast distance that we have traveler as a nation that once enslaved people who looked like her.
She also made clear that there is no inherent divide between the role of a feminist, professional woman and a nurturer of children. She did this so naturally, so assuredly, that it was hardly noticeable.
But there was a time when caring for children was our role—our only role. At least for white women. The second feminist wave carried us out of the kitchen and into the workplace in search, initially, not of an essential second paycheck, but of fulfillment. In so doing, it all too often denigrated the traditional feminine role of housewife and mother.
Not that we ever stopped having and raising children, but we did it while we pursued a career. And for years, at cocktail parties, when women were asked what we did, we responded with our professional occupations, not denying our roles as mothers, but claiming an identity found in careers outside of the home. Over time this has changed, with many working women today finding greater pride in their roles as mothers than in their professional achievements.
Michelle Obama appeared to embrace this change, casting the presidential requirements in terms of protecting our children and providing them a promising future. Now lip service has been given to this concept for years, by both political parties. But hearing Michelle speak of her daughters, one felt that she was not expressing political platitudes, but a very real concern that all parents share. A womanly concern. A human concern.
And when she spoke of Hillary Clinton’s combination of talents that make her best equipped to handle the challenge, she did not stop at mention of the outstanding job Hillary did in raising her own daughter Chelsea. She also spoke about the work protecting children that has always been a part of Clinton’s professional life.
You see, Hillary has spent decades doing the relentless, thankless work to actually make a difference in their lives, advocating for kids with disabilities as a young lawyer, fighting for children’s health care as first lady, and for quality child care in the Senate.
Michelle Obama is a treasure, not just for the wonderful job she has done as our nation’s first lady and White House hostess, but as a role model for young women all over the country. Like Hillary, she is smart, well-educated, and was able to support her husband while he was beginning his political career.
Because Hillary has been in the arena longer, because she was first to claim a political role of her own, she has absorbed far more of the right-wing hate than any other first lady. Michelle has apparently learned from Hillary’s experience and managed to avoid much of the animosity she generated—not all, of course, because she is a Democrat. A black Democrat. And unforgivably, one who dared to show her biceps in public. And suggested that schools stop serving crap to our children while calling it lunch.
Republicans appear to hate her. But they should fear her. Because on Monday night she looked like she was really enjoying herself. That can’t mean anything good for Donald Trump or the rest of his party.