Overview Essay: The Ongoing Evolution of the Position of First Lady
Remarks and Statements by the First Lady
Education Background of the First Lady (Since 1900)
| Dolley Madison | Elizabeth Monroe | |||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 04/30/1789 - 03/04/1797 George Washington |
03/04/1797- |
03/04/1801- |
03/04/1809- 03/04/1817 James Madison |
03/04/1817- 03/04/1825 James Monroe |
| Louisa Adams | Emily Donelson | Sarah Jackson | Angelica Van Buren | Anna Harrison |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 03/04/1825- 03/04/1829 John Quincy Adams |
03/04/1829- |
11/26/1834- 03/04/1837 Andrew Jackson |
11/27/1838- 03/04/1841 Martin Van Buren |
03/04/1841- 04/04/1841 William H. Harrison |
| Letitia Tyler | Sarah Polk | Margaret Taylor | Abigail Fillmore | |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 04/04/1841- 09/10/1842 John Tyler |
06/24/1844- 04/04/1845 John Tyler |
03/04/1845- 03/04/1849 James Polk |
03/04/1849- 07/09/1850 Zachary Taylor |
07/09/1850- 03/04/1853 Millard Fillmore |
| Jane Pierce | Harriet Johnston | Mary Lincoln | Eliza Johnson | Julia Grant |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 03/04/1853- 03/04/1857 Franklin Pierce |
04/15/1865- 03/04/1869 James Buchanan |
03/04/1861- 04/15/1865 Abraham Lincoln |
03/04/1857- 03/04/1861 Andrew Johnson |
03/04/1869- 03/04/1877 Ulysses S. Grant |
| Lucy Hayes | Lucretia Garfield | Mary Arthur | Rose Cleveland | Frances Cleveland |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 03/04/1877- 03/04/1881 Rutherford B. Hayes |
03/04/1881- 09/19/1881 James A. Garfield |
09/19/1881- 03/04/1885 Chester A. Arthur |
03/04/1885 - |
06/02/1866 - 03/04/1897; 03/04/1893 - 03/04/1897 Grover Cleveland |
| Caroline Harrison | Ida McKinley | Edith Roosevelt | Helen Taft | Ellen Wilson |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 03/04/1889- 10/25/1892 Benjamin Harrison |
03/04/1897- |
09/14/1901- 03/04/1909 Theodore Roosevelt |
03/04/1909- 03/04/1913 William Howard Taft |
03/04/1913- 08/06/1914 Woodrow Wilson |
| Edith Wilson | Florence Harding | Grace Coolidge | Lou Hoover | Eleanor Roosevelt |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 12/18/1915- 03/04/1921 Woodrow Wilson |
03/04/1921- 08/02/1923 Warren G. Harding |
08/02/1923- |
03/04/1929- 03/04/1933 Herbert Hoover |
03/04/1933- 04/12/1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| "Bess" Truman | “Mamie” Eisenhower | Jacqueline Kennedy | "Lady Bird" Johnson | "Pat" Nixon |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
| 04/12/1945- 01/20/1953 Harry Truman |
01/20/1953- 01/20/1961 Dwight Eisenhower |
01/20/1961- 11/22/1963 John F. Kennedy |
11/22/1963- 01/20/1969 Lyndon B. Johnson |
01/20/1969- 08/09/1974 Richard Nixon |
| “Betty” Ford | Rosalynn Carter | Nancy Reagan | Barbara Bush | Hillary Clinton |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 08/09/1974- 01/20/1977 Gerald Ford |
01/20/1977- 01/20/1981 Jimmy Carter |
01/20/1981- 01/20/1989 Ronald Reagan |
01/20/1989- 01/20/1993 George H.W. Bush |
01/20/1993- 01/20/2001 William J. Clinton |
| Laura Bush | Michelle Obama | Melania Trump | Jill Biden | |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| 01/20/2001- 01/20/2009 George W. Bush |
01/20/2009- 01/20/2017 Barack Obama |
01/20/2017- 01/20/2021 Donald J. Trump |
01/20/2021- present Joseph R. Biden |
