# First Ladies: Influence & Image

First Ladies: Influence & Image is a 35-episode American television series produced by C-SPAN that originally aired from February 25, 2013 to February 10, 2014. Each episode originally aired live and looked at the life and times of one or more of the first ladies of the United States. Episodes featured interviews with historians, journalists, and other experts; included footage of locations significant to the featured first lady and interviews with several contemporary first ladies; and incorporated calls and tweets from viewers. C-SPAN has archived all video from the series to its website. It was produced in cooperation with the White House Historical Association, and was hosted by C-SPAN co-CEO Susan Swain.
In April 2015, PublicAffairs Books published the companion book First Ladies: Presidential Historians on the Lives of 45 Iconic American Women by Swain and C-SPAN. The network began re-airing the TV series on C-SPAN3 in April 2015.

## Background and production

The series was executive produced by Mark Farkas, who also produced C-SPAN's series on presidents, unsuccessful candidates and the Abraham Lincoln-Stephen Douglas debates of 1858, and feature documentaries on the Capitol, White House and Supreme Court. The idea for the series came from Richard Norton Smith, a presidential historian and former head of five presidential libraries. Norton Smith and historians William Seale, Rosalyn Terborg-Penn and Edith Mayo served as the show's academic advisors. Producer Andy Och, a video journalist, visited historic sites significant to the first ladies. Farkas and Och spoke with historians, archivists and curators. The show was hosted by C-SPAN co-CEO Susan Swain. Peter Slen hosted the program on Eleanor Roosevelt and co-hosted programs on Mamie Eisenhower, and Edith Wilson.
With First Ladies: Influence & Image, C-SPAN featured the history of the first ladies in chronological order during two seasons broadcast over the course of one year. Season 1, featuring Martha Washington through Ida McKinley, ran from February 25, 2013 to June 10, 2013. Three months later, the following season ran, featuring Edith Roosevelt through Michelle Obama, from September 9, 2013 to February 10, 2014. C-SPAN devoted most of the 90-minute episodes to a single first lady, but some early programs covered several within one broadcast. The Eleanor Roosevelt episode was 2 hours long.
The live broadcasts included commentary from in-studio historians, journalists and experts, as well as calls and interaction from viewers and social media users, and pre-recorded on-location footage at historical sites of significance to the featured first lady. The first season relied mainly on letters and written materials to provide insight into the first ladies’ lives. As the second season moved into modern times, the broadcasts included audio and video of the women.
First Ladies: Influence & Image delved into how FLOTUS' role has evolved since the 18th century. The series aimed to underscore how the presidents' wives—who were respectively fashion icons, advocates for their husbands, advisors and champions of their own causes—impacted political, social and White House history.

## Programs

| Date of first broadcast (with link to video) | First Lady profiled (with link to First Ladies page) | President | Guests |
| February 25, 2013 | Martha Washington (First Ladies) | George Washington | Patricia Brady, Richard Norton Smith |
| March 4, 2013 | Abigail Adams (First Ladies) | John Adams | Edith Gelles, C. James Taylor |
| March 11, 2013 | Martha Jefferson Randolph (First Ladies) | Thomas Jefferson | Catherine Allgor, Edith Mayo |
| March 11, 2013 | Dolley Madison (First Ladies) | James Madison | Catherine Allgor, Edith Mayo |
| March 18, 2013 | Elizabeth Monroe (First Ladies) | James Monroe | Daniel F. Preston, Richard Norton Smith |
| March 18, 2013 | Louisa Adams (First Ladies) | John Quincy Adams | Amanda Mathews, Richard Norton Smith |
| March 25, 2013 | Rachel Jackson (First Ladies) | Andrew Jackson | Patricia Brady, Michael Douglas Henderson |
| March 25, 2013 | Hannah Van Buren (First Ladies) | Martin Van Buren | Patricia Brady, Michael Douglas Henderson |
| April 1, 2013 | Anna Harrison (First Ladies) | William Henry Harrison | Edna Greene Medford, Taylor Stoermer |
| April 1, 2013 | Letitia Tyler (First Ladies) | John Tyler | Edna Greene Medford, Taylor Stoermer |
| April 1, 2013 | Julia Tyler (First Ladies) | John Tyler | Edna Greene Medford, Taylor Stoermer |
| April 8, 2013 | Sarah Polk (First Ladies) | James K. Polk | Paul Finkelman, Conover Hunt |
| April 8, 2013 | Margaret Taylor (First Ladies) | Zachary Taylor | Paul Finkelman, Conover Hunt |
| April 8, 2013 | Abigail Fillmore (First Ladies) | Millard Fillmore | Paul Finkelman, Conover Hunt |
| April 15, 2013 | Jane Pierce (First Ladies) | Franklin Pierce | Ann Covell, Feather Schwartz Foster |
| April 15, 2013 | Harriet Lane (First Ladies) | James Buchanan | Ann Covell, Feather Schwartz Foster |
| April 22, 2013 | Mary Lincoln (First Ladies) | Abraham Lincoln | Richard Norton Smith, Rosalyn Terborg-Penn |
| April 29, 2013 | Eliza Johnson (First Ladies) | Andrew Johnson | Jacqueline Berger, Kendra Hinkle |
| May 6, 2013 | Julia Grant (First Ladies) | Ulysses S. Grant | William Seale, Pamela Sanfilippo |
| May 13, 2013 | Lucy Hayes (First Ladies) | Rutherford B. Hayes | Allida Black, Thomas Culbertson |
| May 20, 2013 | Lucretia Garfield (First Ladies) | James A. Garfield | Carl Sferrazza Anthony |
| May 20, 2013 | Ellen Arthur (First Ladies) | Chester A. Arthur | Carl Sferrazza Anthony |
| May 27, 2013 | Frances Cleveland (First Ladies) | Grover Cleveland | Annette Dunlap, Taylor Stoermer |
| June 3, 2013 | Caroline Harrison (First Ladies) | Benjamin Harrison | Edith Mayo, William Seale |
| June 10, 2013 | Ida McKinley (First Ladies) | William McKinley | Carl Sferrazza Anthony, Richard Norton Smith |
| September 9, 2013 | Edith Roosevelt (First Ladies) | Theodore Roosevelt | Stacy Cordery, Kathleen Dalton |
| September 16, 2013 | Helen Taft (First Ladies) | William Howard Taft | Jane Hampton Cook, Lewis Gould |
| September 23, 2013 | Ellen Wilson (First Ladies) | Woodrow Wilson | John Milton Cooper Jr., Kristie Miller |
| September 23, 2013 | Edith Wilson (First Ladies) | Woodrow Wilson | John Milton Cooper Jr., Kristie Miller |
| September 30, 2013 | Florence Harding (First Ladies) | Warren G. Harding | David Pietrusza, Katherine Sibley |
| October 7, 2013 | Grace Coolidge (First Ladies) | Calvin Coolidge | Cynthia Bittinger, Amity Shlaes |
| October 14, 2013 | Lou Hoover (First Ladies) | Herbert Hoover | Emily Charnock, Annette B. Dunlap |
| October 21, 2013 | Eleanor Roosevelt (First Ladies) | Franklin D. Roosevelt | Allida M. Black, Douglas Brinkley |
| October 28, 2013 | Bess Truman (First Ladies) | Harry S. Truman | Nicole Anslover, William Seale |
| November 4, 2013 | Mamie Eisenhower (First Ladies) | Dwight D. Eisenhower | Marilyn Irvin Holt, Edith Mayo |
| November 11, 2013 | Jacqueline Kennedy (First Ladies) | John F. Kennedy | Michael Beschloss, Barbara A. Perry |
| November 18, 2013 | Lady Bird Johnson (First Ladies) | Lyndon B. Johnson | Betty Boyd Caroli, Cokie Roberts |
| November 25, 2013 | Pat Nixon (First Ladies) | Richard Nixon | Mary Brennan, Timothy Naftali |
| December 2, 2013 | Betty Ford (First Ladies) | Gerald Ford | Steven M. Ford, Richard Norton Smith |
| December 9, 2013 | Rosalynn Carter (First Ladies) | Jimmy Carter | Jay E. Hakes, Grace Elizabeth Hale |
| January 13, 2014 | Nancy Reagan (First Ladies) | Ronald Reagan | Carl Cannon, Judy Woodruff |
| January 20, 2014 | Barbara Bush (First Ladies) | George H. W. Bush | Jeffrey A. Engel, Myra Gutin |
| January 27, 2014 | Hillary Clinton (First Ladies) | Bill Clinton | David Maraniss, Gail Sheehy |
| February 3, 2014 | Laura Bush (First Ladies) | George W. Bush | Ann Gerhart, Mark Updegrove |
| February 10, 2014 | Michelle Obama (First Ladies) | Barack Obama | Liza Mundy, Krissah Thompson |

## Other media

PublicAffairs Books published First Ladies: Presidential Historians on the Lives of 45 Iconic American Women, written by Susan Swain and C-SPAN, on April 14, 2015. The work pairs historians together to discuss the lives and legacies of the first ladies. A companion piece to the TV series, the book features historians' takes on the first ladies' personalities, marriages, passions and legacies. Kirkus Reviews said the 496-page book portrays where each first lady came from "and what was truly important to her".
C-SPAN and the White House Historical Association each launched websites to tie in with the series. The sites include essays, educational materials, videos, photographs and historical documents.