The first lady has a complex job.
She isn't paid, and doesn't even really have an official position, but she has to always
look perfect, represent her country well, and champion her own causes.
We expect a lot from a person who only got there because of someone else's ambitions.
But not all first ladies have toed the line.
Some of them found ways of being themselves in a manner that was a little un-first-lady-like,
and some of them were just plain weird.
Here's what you might not know about the former first ladies of America.
Party animal
James Madison's wife Dolley would prove to be one of the 1800s' biggest party animals,
and while it might seem silly now, throwing huge shindigs like she did was a little taboo
at the time.
Every week, she hosted her so-called "Wednesday Night Squeezes" and invited everyone from
politicians to celebrities to shoemakers off the street.
"Dolly wanted to include a true cross section of her countrymen."
"By the end of the day it was like the more the merrier."
On top of that, she also tended to dress a little provocatively at her soirees.
Dolly Madison might not have been the first society woman to live in the White House,
but she was perhaps the busiest.
Ghost hunter
Of all the first ladies, Mary Todd Lincoln is perhaps the most famous for being odd.
After losing two of her children she turned to spiritualism, as she was sure that their
ghosts showed up at the end of her bed every night and were trying to contact her.
Her seances were led by a variety of mediums and took place at the White House, and President
Lincoln attended at least one of them.
"On an endless journey of wonder and discovery!"
Amazingly, if Lincoln had listened to the warnings of one medium he might have escaped
his fate.
Ordinarily, telling a president people are out to get him might be worth a shrug, but
Charles Colchester had more reason to know the truth than most people.
He just so happened to be drinking buddies with John Wilkes Booth, who wasn't shy when
it came to talking about his desire to harm Abe.
Forget ethereal spirits; it was the sharing of earthly spirits that might have saved him.
After her husband's untimely passing Mary Todd became even more into her rituals, attending
a "spiritualist commune" for a few days.
She eventually visited a famous "ghost photographer" who superimposed an image of her late husband
behind her but made it look like his spirit was lingering around her, just as she would
want.
Bad medicine
When it came to the occult, Florence Harding was all in as well.
She grew up surrounded by people who put hexes on their barns to ward off evil spirits, so
when she got to the White House, she hired a clairvoyant to sniff out anyone in the administration
who was out to get her husband.
In addition to her belief in mediums, she also bought into homeopathy.
When she had a kidney issue, she was so impressed with her treatment that she had her husband
bring her "doctor" to Washington and appoint him as the official presidential physician.
This would prove fatal, however, when that medic misdiagnosed President Warren G. Harding's
heart attack as mere food poisoning, and the flub cost him his life.
"YOU IDIOT!"
Groovy chick
Betty Ford might have become first lady suddenly due to the resignation of Richard Nixon, but
she wasn't going to let her new role cramp her style.
She was a true child of the 1970s, no matter what her real age, and she indulged in many
of the fads.
This involved wearing a mood ring and dancing around the halls of the White House.
She even spoke in radically modern terms about people using marijuana and having premarital
relations, and she wasn't shy when it came to talking about her progressive political
positions.
"I think I'm a feminist really."
"The equal rights amendment is a necessity of life."
But her biggest cliche '70s thing was using a CB radio.
In 1976, the first lady was dealing with chronic arthritis and couldn't join her husband on
the campaign trail.
So she got her own license and campaigned for him through the CB.
Her handle was "Big Mama."
Of course, despite her quirks, Ford is perhaps best known for her very candid experience
battling addiction, which led to the foundation of the Betty Ford Center and made her name
forever associated with alcohol recovery efforts.
Astrology addict
Nancy Reagan came from Hollywood, so it is not too surprising she brought some strange
habits to Washington.
But instead of following fad diets or signing on to ad campaigns, she picked up astrology.
And she picked it up hard.
What had been a mere pastime became an absolute obsession after Ronald Reagan was shot.
From then on, she had her astrologer plan virtually every event in the President's life
in order to keep him safe, even though she only ever met her once.
"I timed most of the speeches.
I timed when he would take Air Force One when he would take off and when he would land."
Nancy tried to hide her reliance on the controversial calendar-maker by paying through a third party,
but the public still found out, and she was mercilessly mocked for the rest of her life.
"I didn't want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any seances."
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