US First Ladies: How Does Melania Trump compare to Jill Biden, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and others

Who do you think is more disappointed to see Melania Trump as First Lady redux? Her husband’s detractors? Or Melania herself?

The title and responsibilities were never a comfortable fit for the former model.

She didn’t move into the White House until five months into Donald Trump’s first time as Commander-in-Chief and gave several indications she wasn’t interested in the job.

In a leaked tape secretly made by a former aide, Mr Trump had whinged about needing to oversee the White House Christmas decorations – “Who gives a f—k?” – and appeared to be unmoved by the plight of children being forcibly separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border.

In 2018, she also wore a jacket on an official trip to visit an immigrant children’s shelter with the combative words printed on the back, “I really don’t care. Do U?”. She claimed the message was for reporters and not the kids.

Her anti-bullying campaign, “Be Best”, was roundly mocked for hypocrisy. Be the change you want to see? Perhaps not.

She became a figure of intense fascination, as much for her absence as she was for her presence. Her enigmatic, often expressionless face at the few public appearances she made fuelled narratives that she either hated her husband or hated everyone.

Then there were the persistent rumours of a Melania body double which became the internet’s favourite guessing game and provided fodder for dinner parties all over the world. Everyone had a theory as to “when” the “real Melania” left her cheating husband.

During a recent TV interview, Ms Trump doused speculation she would not return to Washington D.C. But note her wording – “I will be in the White House, and, you know, when I need to be in New York, I will be in New York. When I need to be in Palm Beach, I will be in Palm Beach.”

That leaves a lot of wiggle room for how much time she’ll actually spend in the official residence. The reason given: her first priority is to be a mum to Barron, who is enrolled at university in New York City.

Of course, what every first-year uni student wants is to be shackled to their mummy.

When her husband was democratically voted out of office in 2020, Mr Trump had a historically low approval rating (a 42 per cent favourable versus 47 per cent unfavourable in a CNN/SSRS poll), which goes against the trend of the women before her.

Even the always divisive Hillary Clinton had better numbers, and she had, by that point, run a partisan election campaign for her own Senate candidacy and been sworn into her new gig.

The First Lady role has been ill-defined throughout American history and has shifted with each individual that has occupied it. An unelected office, coming with a massive budget and an even bigger platform.

From Martha Washington to Jill Biden, there have been 54 First Ladies, some acting in an unofficial capacity.

They have overwhelmingly been the presidents’ spouses but there has been a niece (to James Buchanan), a daughter (to Thomas Jefferson), a sister (Grover Cleveland) and even a few daughters-in-law (to Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison and John Tyler).

While many of the duties of the First Lady have been confined to ceremonial matters (redecorating the White House, hosting state dinners, smiling at the Easter egg roll) and championed causes in the “domestic” sphere (children’s nutrition, education), some have had immense cultural influence and political capital of their own, especially in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Jackie Kennedy was lauded globally for her style and poise and came to represent modern American womanhood in the 1960s. While she didn’t seek to exert her direct political influence, she was a huge boon to American cultural soft power during the era.

Her individual popularity bolstered John F. Kennedy’s and their combined image of what a young American family should look like, gave him more leverage to push through reforms in civil rights. She embodied optimism and progress, changing the national mood.

Similarly, Michelle Obama became a figure of inspiration to many, not only as the first Black woman to hold the office but for the tone she set as a warm presence and as a dynamic public speaker. She advocated for the arts, education, nutrition and became a role model for working mothers.

Eleanor Roosevelt has consistently been ranked number one in polls for her leadership and accomplishments. Before her husband was elected to the presidency in 1932, she had already been involved in social projects teaching immigrant children, volunteered with relief agencies during World War I and was part of the League of Women Voters and the Women’s Trade Union.

Politically active with a fierce intellect and heightened social conscience, Roosevelt wrote thousands of articles during her husband’s four-year term and penned six months. She was constantly travelling the country and held press conferences with female reporters.

She shaped his cabinet decisions and helped him craft the New Deal. After FDR’s death, she served as a delegate to the newly established United Nations and helped write its 1948 Declaration of Human Rights, spoke out for racial justice and against McCarthyism, and helped the Equal Pay Act pass.

If you go further back, Abigail Adams, wife to the second president, John Adams, was a sharp political thinker and gave crucial advice to both her husband and her son, John Quincy Adams, who would go on to be the sixth president, documented in letters.

Adams was a passionate advocate for women’s rights and had written to her husband five months before he became one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

She wrote, “Remember the ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands.

“Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves be bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”

Nancy Reagan’s legacy has been tainted by her refusal to publicly acknowledge the engulfing AIDs crisis which went on to kill 650,000 Americans. She even turned her back on personal friend Rock Hudson, who was gay, when he pled for intervention during a health episode in 1985.

Reagan and her husband pushed the idea of the “moral majority” during their time in the White House, stagnating social progress in favour of so-called traditional values that marginalised and stigmatised difference. She was a big part of that projection to the country and the world.

It was this hangover of the Reagan-era social conservatism that Clinton walked into when she entered the White House in 1993. A highly educated lawyer, Clinton’s involvement in healthcare reform during Bill’s first term led to accusations of interference after she was appointed to head a taskforce.

Clinton was never able to shake off a 1992 comment during the election campaign in which she was seen to denigrate housewives, but her achievements as First Lady included the Adoption and Safe Families Act.

She remained a divisive figure through her terms as Senator for New York, Secretary of State and presidential candidate, but perhaps her critics would not have called her First Lady political actions unprecedented if they were more familiar with Edith Wilson, the wife of Woodrow Wilson.

Her husband suffered a severe stroke in October 1919 which left him paralysed on his left side and partially blind. It was much easier to keep those things secret back then, but what was extraordinary was his cabinet, congress and staff were also kept in the dark along with the public.

With his doctor and a few close friends, Wilson ran the office of the president as de facto leader for a year and a half. She later called it a “stewardship” but she took charge of what issues was heard by her bedridden husband and was the gatekeeper between him and the rest of government.

Trump has never sought to emulate any of her predecessors and it’s not clear if she intentionally forged a path of seeming nonchalance towards her role and platform or if it happened organically. There is something bolshie about a woman who decides she’s not interested in a job she didn’t apply for.

She wasn’t a “traditional” First Lady but neither were some of the most memorable ones. How she might approach a second term is anyone’s guess but if one thing is certain, she’ll remain a figure of fascination, for better or worse.