Martha Washington set the template: she presided over social functions at the presidential mansion (the White House did not yet exist) and her husband’s decision to step down after his second term “came as a relief” to her, according to Amy Russo. The Providence Journal reporter has compiled short biographies of all 46 First Ladies, many of whom have long receded into history’s shadows. Russo’s accounts, aimed at general readers, succinctly summarize the findings of recent historians. Of the current First Lady, Jill Biden, Russo writes that despite her new role, she has “no intention to set aside her love of teaching” and is “committed to supporting education.”
