First ladies and war
Presidential spouses long have fought the good fight
Read the full article at The Hill
From the moment first lady Jill Biden welcomed Ukraine’s Ambassador Oksana Markarova to the 2022 State of the Union address, President Biden’s spouse has been following in the footsteps of her predecessors’ wartime contributions to our nation.
How can first ladies, who are unelected and have no government authority, participate in a traditionally male arena of war? Such conflict is the epitome of “hard power,” exercised through military means. In contrast, first ladies typically have mastered “soft power,” marked by cultural exchanges and public diplomacy, which can be especially useful in wartime. But presidential spouses have gone beyond these symbolic roles to embrace substantive duties, too. Their historic efforts fall into the following octet of accomplishments.
