In your opinion, who was the best First Lady of the 20th century?

[mofford]

Pat Nixon was a hard working woman whom I deeply respect. She worked her way thru college before marrying Richard Nixon, she stood by him in the darkest days of Watergate, offering all the support she could, and encouraging him not to resign in Aug 1974.

In the 50's, The NY Times said this of Pat Nixon.........

"a paragon of wifely virtues" whose "efficiency makes other women feel slothful and untalented"

Pat Nixon was named Outstanding Homemaker of the Year (1953), Mother of the Year (1955), and the Nation's Ideal Housewife (1957). Pat did a lot of traveling while she was first lady, nothing she did in public ever clashed with the presidents political views/goals, or the party he represented. This is why I hesitate to endorse other first ladies who tried to wear the pants, or were at odds with their husband's politics or caused any embarrassment to the president. Nixon had a well adjusted family life with his wife and daughters, they thought the world of him and were always calling him up in the oval office, as heard on the tapes, offering to do anything they could to help him. His daughters were angels and Pat was so good to Richard Nixon, I miss them both very much.

I did like what Lady Bird did with the highway beautification project, but her marriage to LBJ seemed a bit more like a merger designed to rake in more cash, than a typical marriage of that time. They were in thick together in graft and fraud with the abuse of the FCC, and their ownership of a number of radio and TV stations which quickly made them super rich, thru LBJ's arm twisting of friends in the FCC to change broadcasting rules on stations they owned, and they cheated competing bidders of the stations they bought. They also used those stations to get campaign revenue by selling advertising spots to local business owners, who Johnson would call on for favors.

Nothing wrong with Nancy Reagan, Ronnie needed her to watch his back, and she did. Their daughter Patty was the anti-christ and she actually campaigned for Carter in the 1980 election. Other than his relationship with his wife, I would say the relationship they had with their kids was pretty weak and they were somewhat neglected. I would not call his family life "healthy" but Nancy did right by him, and he did need her help to gain the inner drive it takes to run for president. He never would have become president without her, that's a fact.