Transformative First Ladies: How Dolley Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Hillary Clinton established, modernized, and changed the institution of First Lady / by Maggie Ross.

The duties expected to be performed by the First Lady establish an institution, overtly undefined in the American political system. Instead, the First Lady acts upon the duties defined by the American public. Moreover, these responsibilities are constantly evolving. The goal of this paper is to define what these responsibilities entailed through history and how it affected the institution. Through research, it was clear that three women influenced, established, and evolved what these duties were. Thus, Dolley Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Hillary Clinton are the pillars that help explain why the institution of the First Lady is so constrained to tradition despite the influence of progress. Using personal communications, news articles, interviews, biographies, and other forms of scholarship, the accomplishments these women made as well as the criticism they received helped form an answer.