First Ladies and the Press: The Unfinished Partnership of the Media Age

Medill Visions of the American Press

by Maurine H. Beasley, Caryl Rivers (Foreword)

At her first press conference, Eleanor Roosevelt, uncertain of her role as hostess or leader, passed a box of candied grapefruit peel to the thirty-five women journalists. Nearly sixty years later, Hillary Clinton, an accomplished professional woman and lawyer, tried to mollify her critics by handing out her chocolate-chip cookie recipe. These exchanges tells us as much about the social—and political—roles of women in America as they do about the relation of the first lady to the press and the public. Looking at the personal interaction between each first lady from Martha Washington to Laura Bush and the mass media of her day, Maurine H. Beasley traces the growth of the institution of the first lady as a part of the American political system. Her work shows how media coverage of first ladies, often limited to stereotypical ideas about women, has not adequately reflected the importance of their role.

372 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

About the author

AKA Maurine Hoffman Beasley

Professor Emerita Maurine H. Beasley, a former education editor of the Kansas City (Missouri) Star and former staff writer for The Washington Post, is a journalism historian who specializes in women’s portrayal and participation in journalism. Her particular focus is Washington women journalists, including Eleanor Roosevelt, who considered herself a journalist, and the coverage of first ladies.

Her most recent book is "Women of the Washington Press" (Northwestern University Press, 2012), which chronicles for the first time the discrimination faced by Washington women journalists from the 1830s to the present day.

An earlier book, "Eleanor Roosevelt: Transformative First Lady" (University Press of Kansas, 2010), was a selection of the History Book Club. Among her other publications: "First Ladies and the Press" (Northwestern University, 2005) and the "Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia," which she coedited, (Greenwood Press, 2001). It was named one of the outstanding reference books of the year by Booklist, publication of the American Library Association.

Her coauthored/edited book, "Taking Their Place: A Documentary History of Women and Journalism," received a 2003 award for excellence from the Text and Academic Authors Association.

Beasley, who holds bachelor's degrees in history and journalism from the University of Missouri Columbia and a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, has a Ph.D. in American Civilization from George Washington University.

She was named a Distinguished Senior Scholar by the Educational Foundation of the American Association of University Women and received the Eleanor Blum Distinguished Service to Research Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication of which she is a past national president.

She also is a former president of the American Journalism Historians Association and received that organization’s Kobre Award for Lifetime Achievement in journalism history. In 2000, she taught journalism at Jinan University in China under a Fulbright grant. She has advised 20 students who have been awarded Ph.D. degrees by Merrill College, seven of whom have won national dissertation awards.

Reviews

[Ruth Soz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suspect this is somewhat of a textbook, especially since it is published by the Medill School of Journalism. But I found it suprisingly enjoyable nonetheless. The role of first ladies and their interaction with the media is an interesting subject.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a neat look at how first ladies have dealt with the press and the stress they bring. I liked it a lot, but I'm a big first ladies nerd.