War Puts Demands on First Ladies, Too

Back in October, when talk of war began to dominate the headlines, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked First Lady Laura Bush whether she’d thought about becoming a wartime first lady. “No, I haven’t,” she answered. “I’m still working on the same issues. And certainly, in uncertain times, it’s very important for us to continue reading. It’s a good way for parents to reassure their children at night, to read stories to them.”

No one could argue with that. Yet, as the conflict continues in Iraq, Laura Bush has become -- whether or not she’s comfortable with that role -- a wartime first lady. And, like those who came before her, she may find that war changes everything.

During the congressional debate over Iraq last fall, it was hard to miss the reference by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to “my eight years of experience on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.” Sure, she was talking about what she saw her husband endure during the Balkan conflicts. But she also must have been thinking about what she experienced during those times.

On May 11, 1999, we were among a small group of staff members accompanying Hillary Clinton on an overseas visit that was different from the solo international trips she had been making since 1995. Before our motorcade departed for Andrews Air Force Base, President Clinton walked over from the Oval Office to say goodbye to his wife in the diplomatic reception room. He was clearly nervous -- and with good reason. One of our possible stops was Macedonia, within firing range of heavy artillery being used by the Serbs. A violent mob, angry about NATO bombing of Serbia and the hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming across the border, had recently stormed the U.S. Embassy there, forcing the staff to take refuge in a basement vault.

Macedonia had already closed its borders to the refugees once, and administration officials were very worried it would happen again. The president couldn’t go; he was running the military campaign, and there were security concerns about any presidential travel to the region. So, according to Susan Braden, then a director at the National Security Council, “it was important for Mrs. Clinton to go -- to send a strong message that the U.S. appreciated the sacrifices Macedonia was making and to see what was happening on the ground.”

While there, Mrs. Clinton heard from the Macedonian president, the prime minister and small- business owners, who told her how the war was destroying their economy. But nothing prepared her for what she saw at a hot, dusty refugee camp outside of Skopje: tents as far as the eye could see, with more than 30,000 refugees crammed into a space the size of 80 football fields. Women and children grabbed hold of her, telling of massacres and villages destroyed, of husbands killed and mothers raped, of entire families separated and loved ones still not found.

Hillary Clinton’s experience was not unique. Every wartime first lady has to find a way to respond to the gravest challenge that exists for a president and a nation. Some did so out of the public eye, by supporting their husbands behind the scenes. Others rallied the troops or calmed the fears of the American people. A few sparked controversy along the way. Some examples:

* World War I, advisor in chief: The war in Europe had just begun when Woodrow Wilson met his second wife, and he quickly shared with her both his love and his power. Edith Galt was a jewelry store owner who would soon be decoding secret war documents in the Oval Office and commenting on official papers that the president sent her daily. Their frequent love letters were often an eerie mix of sweet nothings and state secrets. “I love the way you put your dear hand on mine while with the other you turn the pages of history,” she wrote.

Here was a presidential spouse who opposed suffrage for women. Yet she acted like a chief of staff during the war and almost as proxy president when her husband’s stroke left him incapacitated after the war.

* World War II, rallying the troops: Just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Eleanor Roosevelt gave her previously scheduled radio address, telling the nation: “I hope that the certainty of what we have to meet will make you rise above these fears.” Her message -- for citizens to be brave in the face of crisis -- has often been delivered by wartime first ladies. But its timing was unprecedented. Because President Roosevelt didn’t give his “Day of Infamy” speech until the next day, the first voice that Americans heard from the White House was Eleanor Roosevelt’s.

She would continue to use that voice throughout the war: to build morale and encourage volunteerism among citizens; to serve as her husband’s eyes and ears; and, like other first ladies, to rally the troops fighting for, and dying for, their country.

Mary Todd Lincoln went to hospitals and the front lines during the Civil War. Pat Nixon broke off from her husband on their trip to Vietnam to visit a war orphanage and field hospital near Saigon. Barbara Bush accompanied her husband to spend Thanksgiving with U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War.

But Eleanor Roosevelt’s wartime travels are still in a league of their own. The first presidential wife to visit an overseas war zone, Mrs. Roosevelt went in an unheated army bomber to the South Pacific, where she spent five grueling weeks visiting 400,000 troops stationed in Australia, New Zealand and 17 islands. So legendary were her travels that when soldiers asked Gary Cooper, “Where’s Eleanor?” he reportedly answered: “Well, we saw her tracks in the sand at one of the islands where we stopped, but we couldn’t tell which way they were headed.”

* Vietnam, standing by your man: As Lyndon Johnson agonized over Vietnam, he -- perhaps more than any other president -- depended on his wife for unconditional support. Lady Bird’s diaries detail the turmoil the president shared with her privately over mounting death tolls, stinging press coverage and ultimately the quagmire that consumed him and ripped apart the country. The first lady wanted to avoid talking about the war in public and instead focus on her beautification projects. But on college campuses, she was booed and hissed. Demonstrators held up signs mocking her work: “Let’s build a beautiful world. End war now.” Even the White House wasn’t safe. When she hosted a gathering of women in the dining room to discuss fighting crime, singer Eartha Kitt stood up to verbally attack the first lady about the war.

Lady Bird learned the hard way that there is no business as usual during wartime, a lesson Laura Bush may be starting to learn as well. Recently, the first lady abruptly canceled a White House poetry symposium after hearing that some poets might use the venue to express their opposition to the war. In fact, despite what Mrs. Bush said to CNN about continuing the same activities during wartime, what she did after 9/11 -- including taking over her husband’s usual weekly radio slot to speak to the nation about Afghan women -- shows she understands that more is required of her during a crisis.

The outcome of the war in Iraq will define George W. Bush’s presidency. But what it means for his wife remains to be seen. During the anguishing days of this conflict and the difficult years it may take to rebuild Iraq, Mrs. Bush will have to decide how, not whether, she’s going to be a wartime first lady. And when she does, she could also be deciding her own place in history.