Dr. Katherine Jellison, Professor and Chair of History at Ohio University, was quoted in a Washington Post story on “Does an unmarried president still need a first lady?”
Dr. Katherine Jellison
He’s unmarried. An avowed bachelor. If he won the White House, he’d have no spouse at his side….
But why does an unmarried president even need one (or in Graham’s case, several)? Does the country still require a stand-in hostess at social events? Or a singular person to use the national platform to adopt a cause widely considered serious, but not serious enough for the president to undertake?
These are questions we haven’t faced in more than 100 years. For as long as anyone reading this has been alive, the president has had a wife and that wife was the first lady….
In the 21st century, having a ceremonial hostess might not be as much of a necessity, certainly not just to have “someone in a pretty dress to be available to shake hands,” Katherine Jellison, expert in First Ladies Studies at Ohio University, said.
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