There's one question that people have asked Hillary Clinton so often on the campaign trail that it’s become an unfortunate running gag: “What would your husband’s role be in the White House?”
Yes, this annoying question is still being asked. It seems that no one is satisfied with any answer that Clinton supplies. So today, I’d like to try to answer it once and for all.
Do you want to know what a hypothetical “First Gentleman” would do? Let’s look at what our First Ladies have done with their time while related to the President of the United States.
Dolley Madison was a fundraiser and board member for an orphanage in Washington D.C. and rescued George Washington’s White House portrait when the city was burned in 1812. Julia Tyler ensured her husband’s safety when he made public appearances, reconfiguring events so that he was always in a part of the room where he couldn’t be mobbed by guests. Sarah Polk became her husband’s “personal secretary,” going through newspapers and letters so she could tell him what was important to know about the world. Harriet Lane, with civil war looming, managed relations between stage dignitaries by creating seating arrangements that kept enemies apart but made everyone feel appropriately honored. Lucy Hayes was known to investigate any situation of poverty she became aware of and to give money from her personal account in order to rectify it, including funding a college scholarship for a Native American girl. Frances Cleveland helped found The Washington Home for Friendless Colored Girls, the University Women’s Club, and the New Jersey College for Women. Caroline Harrison raised funds for the Johns Hopkins University medical school — on the condition that it admit women as students. Ida McKinley sponsored music events at the White House, edited drafts of her husband’s speeches, and lobbied for the creation of a wartime nursing corps, the retention of the Philippines as a United States territory, and women’s suffrage. Edith Roosevelt privately relayed information about the conflict between Japan and Russia from a British government representative to her husband, leading to the successful negotiation of the Russo-Japanese War. Nellie Taft, honorary chair of the National Civic Federation, worked for three years to inspect and better the conditions of working women and children, in the end successfully initiating an executive order to standardize sanitary, safe conditions in all executive branch government buildings and offices. Edith Wilson, after her husband suffered a stroke in the middle of World War One, became the conduit between the President and Congress, ensuring that neither Congress nor the public ever realized how serious his health condition actually was. Florence Harding took firm, public political stances on women’s rights, including reproductive and workplace rights. Lou Hoover made regular speeches over nationwide radio. Eleanor Roosevelt held her own press conferences, wrote newspaper articles, and traveled not only across the nation but around the world giving lectures and political speeches. Jackie Kennedy provided tours of the White House on national television and fostered in the American public a widespread interest in historical preservation. “Lady Bird” Johnson campaigned for other Democratic candidates and championed the Head Start anti-poverty project. Pat Nixon traveled the world, making solo trips to Africa and South America as the “Personal Representative of the President”. Betty Ford was open and frank about both her support of the Equal Rights Amendment and her experiences with breast cancer. Rosalynn Carter became the Honorary Chairperson of the President's Commission on Mental Health. Nancy Reagan traveled the nation to promote drug prevention programs for children. Barbara Bush founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and used it as a platform to address other social issues like education, homelessness, crime, and public health. Hillary Clinton initiated the Children's Health Insurance Program and the Adoption and Safe Families Act and advocated globally for gender equity. Laura Bush advocated for the No Child Left Behind Act, founded the National Book Festival, and visited schools around the world. Michelle Obama has launched several initiatives, including Let’s Move! for childhood obesity, Joining Forces for veterans and their families, and Reach Higher for post-high school education.
That is not an exclusive list, but it’s more than long enough to answer the question that’s, well, in question. There are no rules about what a President’s “First Person” should do. It’s not a salaried position, and there isn’t even a constitutional requirement to have one. Each First Lady of the United States to date has taken the initiative to find a role that best fit both her own interests and the needs of the society she lived in. Each of them has had an influence on the nation and is a celebrated member of American history. It would be the same for a “First Gentleman.”
For months, Mrs. Clinton has been under pressure to assure the public that Mr. Clinton won’t be stuck handling girly things like “the menus, the flowers…and White House decor.” There is absolutely no reason — sans sexism, of course — that a man should be kept away from any task that a First Lady has performed. Is a man incapable of organizing an event? Is he inherently unable to found or fund a charitable organization? Would it be unequivocally wrong for him to travel the world and give speeches about the rights of disadvantaged people, to make radio and television appearances, to edit drafts of his President’s speeches, to chair a committee, to make sure that foreign dignitaries aren't offended when they visit the White House, to promote appreciation of art and history, or to facilitate communication between his President and other political figures?
If men are so incapable of all these tasks that are a part of being a major social and political figure, then why have we been so foolish as to trust them with the highest office of the United States for the past two hundred years?
Okay, sarcasm over. It’s time to stop asking Hillary Clinton to define her husband’s potential gender-boundary-breaking role. She has her own potential breaking of gender boundaries to focus on.
