KU News Release

Dole Institute panel to focus on the role of presidential spouses

LAWRENCE — The Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas will host a panel discussion titled “First Spouses: Changing Roles and Expectations” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 3. Panelists will share historical facts and first-lady anecdotes as they examine the roles of former and current first ladies and speculate on the role of the next first spouse. The program is free and open to the public.

Panelists are South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford; Carl Sferrazza Anthony, an expert and biographer of first families and their political impact; and Paul Boller, a presidential historian.

“The current presidential campaign is having a new discussion over whether serving as first lady for eight years gives someone government expertise and how that experience compares with other records of service,” said Jennifer Schmidt, senior fellow at the Dole Institute. “This question is forcing society to consider what a first spouse actually does and how it may differ from what we expect.”

Hillary Clinton’s candidacy aside, the changing role of political spouses is due for discussion. Many political spouses have been profoundly impacted by their other half’s public service, such as Maria Shriver, who left her job at NBC when her husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was elected governor of California; and Connie Schultz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who wrote “And His Lovely Wife …” about her experience on the campaign trail for her husband, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

Before becoming first lady of South Carolina, Sanford worked in investment banking at Lazard Freres & Co. in New York after earning a bachelor’s degree in finance from Georgetown University. After her work in New York, Sanford managed her husband’s successful political campaigns for Congress and later, governor.

Anthony is the author of 10 books on the subject of first ladies, including the two-volume historical “Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents’ Wives and Their Power, 1789-1990,” which Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis called “a tour de force.” Anthony also was a speechwriter for Nancy Reagan and historical consultant to the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History to redefine an exhibit on first ladies.

Boller is professor emeritus of history at Texas Christian University and author of many books on presidential history, including “Presidential Diversions, Presidential Wives, Presidential Inaugurations, and Not So! Popular Myths About America From Columbus to Clinton.”

Schmidt will moderate the panel discussion. Schmidt is the former senior counsel to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and former counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Courts. Last semester, Schmidt led a study group at the Dole Institute titled “Women in Politics: Career Stories.” She is currently leading “Gender, Race and Religion in American Politics.”

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