Dr. Katherine Jellison, portrait
The Associated Press quoted Dr. Katherine Jellison, Professor & Chair of History at Ohio University, in a story headlined “First lady: Growing ease in official role, but not politics.”
Recent first ladies have all taken prominent roles in re-election campaigns. Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton and Barbara Bush all campaigned separately from their husbands at re-election time.
Katherine Jellison, a history professor at Ohio University who studies first ladies, said they can help their husbands politically by reaching out to female audiences and showing up at smaller venues than where the president campaigns.
“Typically, the president and the first lady are the family superstars,” said Jellison, adding that it was hard to find a more reclusive first lady in recent history than Mrs. Trump.
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