Secret Lives of the First Ladies Quotes

“First ladies aren’t elected. But Betty Ford had even less of a mandate from the people than the other members of her sorority: Her husband remains the only American vice president and president who was elected to neither position. That she made the most of the situation and acted so ambitiously on projects dear to her is impressive enough. That she then went on to overcome her addictions, share them with the world, and draw upon her personal experience to help others in the same predicament - well, that’s simply heroic.”
― Cormac O'Brien, Secret Lives of the First Ladies

“[Lucretia Garfield] once likened the raising of children to spending time with “young barbarians.”
― Cormac O'Brien, Secret Lives of the First Ladies

“and the poor slob soon became a lame duck.”
― Cormac O'Brien, Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of the White House

“So it’s hardly surprising that Martha bitched up a storm”
― Cormac O'Brien, Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of the White House

“was later reinforced by a controversial New Yorker magazine cover depicting the fist-bumping Obamas in radical garb—with”
― Cormac O'Brien, Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of the White House

“for her children. If”
― Cormac O'Brien, Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of the White House

“even found time to organize relief for war orphans.”
― Cormac O'Brien, Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of the White House

“were married in 1794. It was more than the beginning of a warm and very successful marriage; it was also the birth”
― Cormac O'Brien, Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of the White House