# Who is your favorite First Lady? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 12, 2017, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759 "2017-06-12T06:21:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/21 "2017-06-12T18:52:02Z")
Lisa Halaby (Queen Noor of Jordan) No American first lady has ever come anywhere near her lifelong work on behalf of humanity. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/22 "2017-06-12T19:13:00Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > By prettiest do you mean she posed nude? No, but of all the first ladies I am glad she was the one who did. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/23 "2017-06-12T19:17:00Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > No, but of all the first ladies I am glad she was the one who did. Yeah, she is a real class act. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/24 "2017-06-12T19:19:21Z")
Eve ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/25 "2017-06-12T20:11:04Z")
I saw a presentation at my local library a couple of months ago. Two actors in period costumes portrayed Mary Lincoln and Jackie Kennedy. The premise was that they ran into each other at the First Lady exhibit at the Smithsonian. I found it very interesting. The two principals wrote the script, based on the actual words (at least as much as possible) of the First Ladies. The similarities of their experiences surprised me – I knew of course that both were widowed while their husbands were in office, but I had forgotten that each had had a son die while they were in the White House. And the popular view of Mary Lincoln gives her a bum rap. At any rate, my listing: 1. Michelle 2. Jackie 3. Eleanor 4. Hillary ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/26 "2017-06-12T21:20:31Z")
The elder Mrs Bush, with the younger coming in second. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/27 "2017-06-12T21:25:04Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > No, but of all the first ladies I am glad she was the one who did. “Pose nude” is not quite right, but I have seen nude photos of Jackie. (post White House) She looked good. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/28 "2017-06-12T21:31:22Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Eve She can’t hold a candle to Lilith ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/29 "2017-06-12T21:45:04Z")
Abigail Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Michelle Obama. Not ranked, as I don’t think that is possible. Can’t understand why anyone would pick Jackie O. All she did was be arm candy, as far as I know. Just like Mrs. the-republicans-president. Vastly classier but in the same category. Or is it a beauty contest? ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/30 "2017-06-12T21:46:58Z")
No love in the thread for Abigail Adams? Granted most of her awesomeness was before John was elected president, but she ran the family farm and raised four children (not including Susannah and Elizabeth) essentially on her own. Her letters to John while he was away show her brilliance. She was certainly tough to have as a parent, but she’s my favorite by leaps and bounds. ---
**Author:** ![backsidejohnny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/backsidejohnny/32/280_2.png) [@backsidejohnny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/backsidejohnny)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/31 "2017-06-12T22:34:44Z")
All-time Eleanor Roosevelt Since WWII Hillary Clinton Michelle Obama Jacqueline Kennedy Betty Ford Laura Bush ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/32 "2017-06-13T00:25:42Z")
I was really close to Laura Bush once. She was in a hallway on the other side of a door, I was in the kitchen. This was 2/9/2002, she visited the Library here in Topeka, at the invitation of a college friend. The occasion was the grand reopening of our library after it was completely rebuilt. I did most of the baking so she probably ate something I made. Only she didn’t really get a chance to eat until the whole affair was over. She had to do so much meet and greet and photo op she didn’t get a chance to hit the buffet. But we had big sampler platters taken to the house she was staying in. My boss, who did the delivery, said “She came downstairs in her housecoat, and said everything was wonderful!” ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/33 "2017-06-13T00:30:50Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I have to say, it’s a toss-up between Eleanor Roosevelt and Michelle Obama. What he said. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/34 "2017-06-13T00:35:26Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Abigail Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Michelle Obama. Not ranked, as I don’t think that is possible. > > Can’t understand why anyone would pick Jackie O. All she did was be arm candy, as far as I know. Just like Mrs. the-republicans-president. Vastly classier but in the same category. Or is it a beauty contest? [There is this.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Kennedy_Onassis#White_House_restoration) > [@](#): > > **Prior to Kennedy’s years as First Lady, furnishings and other items had been taken from the White House by presidents and their families when they departed** ; this led to the lack of original historical pieces in the mansion. To track down these missing furnishings and other historical pieces of interest, she personally wrote to possible donors.[81] **She also initiated a Congressional bill establishing that White House furnishings would be the property of the Smithsonian Institution, rather than available to departing ex-presidents to claim as their own, and founded the White House Historical Association, the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, the position of a permanent Curator of the White House, the White House Endowment Trust, and the White House Acquisition Trust.** [82] She was the first presidential spouse to hire a White House curator. Certainly not on the level of a literacy or nutrition program but significant in preserving history. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/35 "2017-06-13T01:04:26Z")
Historically speaking, Abigail Adams; in my lifetime, Michelle Obama. Loathsome as some of their husbands have been to my mind, I don’t dislike any FLOTUS - they’ve served the American people in a largely thankless position they did not know the \*\*full \*\*extent of before undertaking it. Sure, Melania posed nude and probably was an illegal worker in the US during her modeling career; sure, Laura Bush killed a guy w/ her car; sure, Edith Wilson kept her husband’s illness a secret and handled POTUS affairs for nearly a year and half, largely leaving the US w/o its elected leadership; who can say which is worse than any other? ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/36 "2017-06-13T01:50:22Z")
If this thread is any indication both Laura Bush and Michelle Obama have a much better chance of becoming President than Hillary Clinton. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/37 "2017-06-13T02:11:12Z")
While I adore Michelle Obama, I think Roselyn (sp?) Carter is getting short shrift in this thread. She was an excellent FLOTUS by most accounts. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/38 "2017-06-13T02:24:52Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Dolly Madison of course. I’ll go the same with Ms. Rosalynn among those of my lifetime. I actually got to meet her a couple times and she was a real sweetheart. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/39 "2017-06-13T02:25:20Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > While I adore Michelle Obama, I think Roselyn (sp?) Carter is getting short shrift in this thread. She was an excellent FLOTUS by most accounts. Indeed, Mrs. Carter once gave me directions to the ladies room in a vintage store in Plains, GA (when I accidentally walked behind the table she was at for signing books, Secret Service agent at her elbow). ---
**Author:** ![Marci\_Al](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Marci\_Al](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marci_Al)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2017, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759/40 "2017-06-13T02:28:27Z")
Mamie Daud Eisenhower (“Divorce me for an English bimbo, huh?”) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-your-favorite-first-lady/788759.md?page=3)