“First of All, A Wife: Sketches of American First Ladies” by Anne Adams At first Jacqueline Kennedy disliked the title “First Lady” - in fact she said it sounded like a saddle horse! Yet she soon she recognized what it meant. There was only one First Lady, she occupied that position and it was a unique, one of a kind job. For just as there can only be one President of the United States, so can there be only one wife of the president – only one First Lady. Some 40 women have occupied the position, and each has brought her own unique abilities and personality to the role. For example, Abigail Adams was not only politically insightful but also resourceful enough to hang her wash in the White House East Room, a depressed Jane Pierce spent many of her White House years secluded, and writing letters to her dead son and Margaret Taylor remained so much out of the public eye that there is no verifiable portrait of her. Other First Ladies coped with illnesses. One of these was Ida McKinley who though suffered frequent epileptic seizures, and who fulfilled her First Lady duties because of her husband’s total commitment to her care. Seizures that apparently ceased upon his death. Yet no matter she is, the First Lady’s role has been as individual as the one holding the position. In “First of all, a Wife; Sketches of American First Ladies” the author not only describes the lives of these remarkable women but also incorporates their observations as well as those of their contemporaries and associates. Indeed, each First Lady was a unique and distinctive person and it was these individual traits that enriched their tenure as First Lady as well as their entire era. Ebook.