Women’s History Month is a concerted opportunity to commemorate, and even more importantly, reconsider the consequential role that women have played in our national story. Dr. Jill Biden is recasting the role of first lady in critical ways, yet two recently published books demonstrate that her predecessors in this role also demonstrated critical leadership in the White House that has gone previously undocumented.
Few historians and commentators think of Lady Bird Johnson and Nancy Reagan as kindred spirits. Their husbands’ respective presidencies were certainly dissimilar, with the former augmenting the legacy of the New Deal as the latter challenged the federal government’s growth and power. However, political ideology shouldn’t be the only lens used to examine historical roles and the people who occupy them. Julia Sweig’s “Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight” and Karen Tumulty’s “The Triumph of Nancy Reagan” illustrate that these two seemingly disparate women actually shared much in common. Both books also emphasize the previously understated role of women in public leadership and their influential roles in the White House and American history.
