Landing the title of America's First Lady sounds like a glamorous gig, but the role
of FLOTUS isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
Louisa Adams once said,
"There is something in this great unsocial house which depresses my spirits beyond expression
and makes it impossible for me to feel at home, or to fancy that I have a home anywhere."
And she wasn't the only person to feel cooped up in the White House.
Here's a look at some of the most remarkable First Lady tragedies and triumphs throughout
the years.
Dolley Madison's piece of history
Dolley Payne Todd Madison, the wife of fourth President James Madison, was an enormously
influential First Lady, with a vivacious, fun personality.
She first had experience in the role of First Lady before her husband was elected president,
as Dolley was Secretary of State to the widowed president Thomas Jefferson.
When she became the official First Lady in 1809, she held the first inaugural ball.
And while in the White House, she created buzz by serving ice cream, a total showstopper
at the time, since there were no freezers yet in existence.
But Dolley's most memorable moment was during the War of 1812.
When the British invaded Washington, D.C. in 1814, she filled a wagon with White House
treasures — including the famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington — before
fleeing, leaving her personal items behind.
The British burned down the White House, but her courage is still fondly remembered.
Mary Todd Lincoln, shopaholic
Abraham Lincoln's wife became one of the most controversial First Ladies in history, and
was very unpopular for a variety of reasons.
Word quickly leaked about her "hellcat" temper and her crazy shopping sprees.
She was said to have rang up debt on ridiculous purchases, including 400 gloves in four months.
The death of their son Willie in 1862 due to typhoid fever sent her into a tailspin.
She was so grief-stricken that many people, including Lincoln himself, worried about her
mental health.
One year later, Mary would suffer the ultimate tragedy when Lincoln was assassinated in front
of her.
Her mental health would continue to deteriorate, and in 1875, her son Robert had her committed
to an asylum.
Eleanor Roosevelt's marriage arrangement
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt were distant cousins who married in 1905 and
had six children.
She attempted to divorce Roosevelt after finding him in an affair with his social secretary,
Lucy Mercer, but his wealthy mother threatened to cut him off financially.
So Eleanor agreed to stay married barring that he never invite another woman in their
bed.
For the next 27 years, the two had a political partnership only.
Due to him becoming paralyzed from polio, she served as his "eyes, ears, and legs" throughout
the Great Depression and World War II.
Eleanor also had a very close friendship with reporter Lorena Hickok in the 1930s, which
appeared to contain romantic elements.
When Franklin died in Warm Springs, GA in 1945, Eleanor learned that Mercer was with
him.
Not only did Eleanor feel another betrayal, but she was devastated to learn that their
daughter Anna had arranged some of his Lucy liaisons.
Ouch.
Jackie Kennedy's other horrible loss
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier met John F. Kennedy at a dinner party, and they married in 1953.
They wanted a family, but Jackie had difficult pregnancies with Caroline and John Jr., as
well as a miscarriage, and a stillborn child.
She had also had a troubled marriage, due in part to Kennedy's womanizing.
Happy Birthday Mr. President. Happy Birthday to you.
In 1963, Jackie was the first First Lady since Frances Folsom Cleveland to have a baby while
her husband was in office.
Unfortunately, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy had respiratory distress syndrome and lived just
two days.
JFK had grown up in a household where he was told that "Kennedys don't cry," but he wept
after little Patrick died.
Betty Ford's cancer
Elizabeth Anne Bloomer Ford was arguably the first truly modern First Lady.
She was a divorcee who studied and taught modern dance when she met future president
Gerald Ford in 1947.
They married and had four children as he pursued his political career.
In 1973, Richard Nixon named Ford as vice president.
Then, after both Nixon and his vice president resigned, Ford became the only president not
elected to office.
Betty Ford was outspoken on abortion, women's rights, and divorce.
She even slept in the same White House bed as her husband, which was shocking at the
time.
Shortly after becoming First Lady, she found out she had breast cancer and had a mastectomy.
Instead of keeping it quiet, as many women did back then, she went public with her struggle,
leading many women to be proactive with their health.
Michelle Obama's garden
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson was Barack Obama's mentor at the law firm she worked at when
they met in 1989.
They married in 1992, had two children, and moved into the White House
in 2009.
Michelle's "Let's Move!" anti-childhood obesity program encouraged kids to eat better and
exercise.
But even before it launched, she set an example for the nation by creating a vegetable garden
on the White House grounds in early 2009.
This wasn't the first garden in presidential history, but this was a much more ambitious
endeavor.
Michelle wrote in her 2013 book American Grown,
"It is my hope that our garden's story — and the stories of gardens across America — will
inspire families, schools and communities to try their own hand at gardening.”
What will Melania do?
Each First Lady puts her own stamp on the White House, and on the position of First
Lady.
And many of the First Ladies have been incredibly popular — sometimes even more than their
husbands.
It is unclear where Melania Trump will fall in that spectrum.
According to the New Yorker,
“She is a model with the past of a nun.”
She's the second foreign-born First Lady, as well as the first First Lady to be a naturalized
US citizen.
In 2017, she made her mark by revealing that she would not move into the White House until
the end of her and Trump's son Barron's school year.
And in her first solo speech during the campaign, she spoke about how she wants to be an advocate
for women and children.
It remains to be seen what else she will do to make a statement as First Lady.
But as we've learned, only FLOTUS knows what truly goes on just past the White House lawn.
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