Part I Public Expectations

KATHA POLLITT, Columnist: Being a first lady is a virtually impossible job.

LAURA BUSH, First Lady: It's not an office; you're not elected to it.

ANN GERHART, Reporter and Biographer: There's no salary. There's no job description.

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, Former First Lady: It is by nature a vicarious role.

ANN GERHART: It's the most bizarre volunteer job in the world.

STOCKARD CHANNING, Actress: The title of first lady may seem glamorous, but unless you play the role properly you might get boos instead of flowers. You are the president's wife after all, but if you overreach, the audience may complain, "Who elected her?" It's a fair question to ask -- whether the first lady is a mere prop for her husband or … can she be a star in her own right?

I'm Stockard Channing, here at the first ladies gallery of the National Museum of American History. I'm not a real first lady of course, but I am first lady Abigail Bartlet of the West Wing so I do have some on-the-job experience.

The role of women has changed dramatically over the past 30 years, but many think that the role of the first lady has not kept up with the times. Even though the first lady has no official job description, there are, well, expectations about what she can and cannot do. If she steps too far over the invisible line, be she Democrat or Republican, it can cause a little bit of a fuss. I know, I've stepped over a line or two myself.

ACTRESS, clip of the West Wing: You've never been the traditional hat-knitting president's wife.

MRS. BARTLET: Oh shoot, was that in the handbook?

ACTRESS: Can you tell me why you decided to volunteer at the free clinic?

MRS. BARTLET: 'Cause instead of putting out a press release I decided to roll up my sleeves and help treat children.

ACTRESS: Is there any particular --

MRS. BARTLET: There are any number of children's health issues I am interested in. So I thought it was appropriate to go out and just see what is going on first hand.

ACTRESS: Great, but until the press understands that they're gonna fill in the blanks with self aggrandizing, craven, vote grabbing, public prop-

MRS. BARTLET: Would you like me to do interviews with the press corps?

ACTRESS: [sighs] I checked out the reject list from your invitation file, and there are a few things in here I think you should reconsider, the first of which is Muppets.

MRS. BARTLET: Pardon?

ACTRESS: Going on Sesame Street would give you an opportunity to reintroduce yourself as the first lady who is also a working doctor and address the press' questions about your work at the clinic. Give a Muppet a checkup, get your message out.

MRS. BARTLET: No Meet the Press?

ACTRESS: Mrs. Bartlet.

MRS. BARTLET: Muppets.

STOCKARD CHANNING: Well, at least I'm in good company.

Women's roles

GIL TROY, Historian: …Women's roles have changed dramatically. … I think we here in the 21st century are still stuck in the 20th century in our conversation about first ladies. ... First ladies again and again [and] again run into the same set of expectations, the same demands that they be traditional.

BARBARA BUSH: They want you to be active, but they don't want you to be controversial.

GIL TROY: … Many modern, American reporters -- be they women or -- or -- or men -- seem to be thrashing those women who tend to be too bold, be it -- Judith Steinberg Dean or a Teresa Heinz Kerry. So, what we see in many ways is that the first ladyship remains frozen in time …

NARRATOR: The campaign of 2004 has sparked a spirited debate about the role of a first lady -- highlighting the tension between the public's expectations for her, and the realities of how women live today.

KATHA POLLITT: We started out with Judy Dean. Dr. Judith Steinberg, who received a tremendous amount of negative attention in the media for what the media perceived as her - (chuckling) - lack of wifely devotion

NARRATOR: Judy Dean was rarely seen on the campaign trail, preferring to be home in Vermont with their teenage son and her small-town medical practice.

KATHA POLLITT: Judith Dean went on Diane Sawyer, and Diane Sawyer says, "Now, what -- what should I call you? Is it -- is it Judy Dean? Judy Steinberg Dean?" As if women had not been keeping their own names after marriage for quite some time. Interesting - Diane Sawyer - now, who calls her Mrs. Mike Nichols?

GIL TROY: And it's very strange that reporters who often push the first ladies to be bold, and often in their own lives - if they're women - are bold, are the ones who are now attacking the first ladies - or, the potential first ladies - for being a little bit too bold.

Meaning of first lady

NARRATOR: Why do we make such a fuss over a first lady? What does she mean to us?

EDITH MAYO, Curator Emeritus, National Museum of American History: She represents the "kinder, gentler" side of the presidency, and I think she has always been a voice in this country for those who don't have a political voice.

KATI MARTON: The first lady is one of our most cherished institutions. We're a deeply traditional people, and maybe out of some residual nostalgia for the monarchy that we - that we fought so hard to shed, we really set up the White House and the presidency as sort of semi-monarchical.

LAURA BUSH: The White House itself is a symbol of our country, and that's something you have to be aware of when you live here.

ALLIDA BLACK, Historian: Well, if we had a palace in the United States, it would be the White House. And if we had regents, it would be the president and the first lady. And that complicates their role even more, because here they are. They're supposed to represent common folk. They're supposed to represent shrewd, political leaders. And they're supposed to be the cultural symbols of the nation, which superimposes, if you will, the responsibilities of royalty on people who are decidedly non-regal.

EDITH MAYO: On the one hand, you have star, glamour, royalty aspects. On the other, she's criticized for everything that she does, and there just doesn't seem to be any pleasing everyone.

ANN GERHART: They want you to go cut all those ribbons and show off the Christmas decorations, but they want you to do more than that, too. And in many ways, it's very confining and very limiting.

KATI MARTON: I think that the boundaries are appropriate for a role that's as historic and - and without a parallel in the world, really. … I mean Eleanor Roosevelt did not look forward to being first lady one bit, because she thought it was all about having to give up all the things that she'd been doing. She had a political life all her own. … But she discovered that suddenly, she had a stage that was without bounds. She became the Roosevelt administration's moral voice.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: I think we'll win out.