Famous first ladies:  Martha Washington;  Dolley Madison; Edith Kermit Roosevelt; Eleanor Roosevelt; Jacqueline Kennedy; Pat Nixon; Elizabeth Ford; Rosalynn Carter; Nancy Reagan; Barbara Bush; Hillary Rodham Clinton; Laura Bush

The first first lady to:

★ Establish a library in the White House: Abigail Fillmore, with a $2,000 congressional appropriation that her husband obtained at her request, 1850-1853.

★ Hire a social secretary: Edith Kermit Roosevelt, in 1902.

★ Reach out to female journalists and allow them to quote her directly: Helen Herron Taft, 1909-1913.

★ Ride in an "aeroplane": Florence Kling Harding, in 1921. She donned pants, a helmet and goggles for the occasion.

★ Deliver a radio address: Lou Henry Hoover, in 1929.

★ Lobby members of Congress directly for legislation: Lady Bird Johnson, in pushing for passage of a strong version of the Highway Beautification Act of 1965.

★ Attend Cabinet meetings: Rosalynn Carter, 1977-1981. She sat on the side of the room with staff members and took notes.

★ The first wife of a president to consider running for senator from New York?

It wasn't Hillary Rodham Clinton. In 1945, as Eleanor Roosevelt weighed what to do in her post-White House years, Interior Secretary Harold Ickes urged her to run. "You would be unbeatable," he wrote her. She considered the suggestion but demurred. In 1999, it was Ickes' son, a longtime Democratic activist, who was among those urging Hillary Clinton to take the same step. She ran, of course, and won.

★ Shortest tenure: Anna Harrison, at six weeks. William Henry Harrison caught pneumonia and died in April 1841, before she had arrived in Washington.

★ Longest tenure: Eleanor Roosevelt, at 12 years.

★ Youngest: Frances Folsom Cleveland, 21 years old when she married then-President Cleveland.

★ Oldest: Anna Harrison, 65 when her husband took office. (Others were older by the end of their husband's terms.)

★ Women who were wives to and then mothers of a president: Abigail Adams and Barbara Bush. Anna Harrison was both the wife to and the grandmother of a president (Benjamin Harrison).

Historians' ranking

The Siena Research Institution in 1993 surveyed historians at 102 colleges and universities. They were asked to rank first ladies in 10 categories, including accomplishments, public image and value to president. Note that Laura Bush had not yet assumed the role by that time. Their ranking, by total score:

1. Eleanor Roosevelt

2. Hillary Rodham Clinton

3. Abigail Adams

4. Dolley Madison

5. Rosalynn Carter

6. Lady Bird Johnson

7. Jacqueline Kennedy

8. Barbara Bush

9. Betty Ford

10. Edith Bolling Wilson

 
(Agencies)