First Lady Fact Files

Browse through our First Lady Fact Files to discover the roles played—or not played—by every one of America’s first ladies.

Click any name for detailed information about each first lady.

From the Foundation Up

Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (1789-1797)
Abigail Smith Adams (1797-1801)
Dolley Payne Todd Madison (1801-1809)
Martha Jefferson Randolph (1801-1809)

Struggling To Stand

Dolley Payne Todd Madison (1809-1817)
Elisabeth Kortright Monroe (1817-1825)
Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams (1825-1829)
Emily Donelson (1829-1836)
Sarah Yorke Jackson (1836-1837)
Angelica Singleton Van Buren (1838-1841)
Ann Tuthill Symmes Harrison (1841)

Annexation and Division

Letitia Christian Tyler (1841-1842)
Julia Gardiner Tyler (1844-1845)
Sarah Childress Polk (1845-1849)
Margaret Mackall Smith Taylor (1849-1850)
Abigail Powers Fillmore (1850-1853)
Jane Means Appleton Pierce (1853-1857)
Harriet Lane (1857-1861)
Mary Todd Lincoln (1861-1865)
Eliza McCardle Johnson (1865-1869)

One Lamp Lights Another

Julia Boggs Dent Grant (1869-1877)
Lucy Ware Webb Hayes (1877-1881)
Lucretia Rudolph Garfield (1881)
Mary Arthur McElroy (1881-1885)
Rose Elizabeth Cleveland (1885-1886)
Frances Folsom Cleveland (1886-1889)
Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison (1889-1892)
Frances Folsom Cleveland (1893-1897)
Ida Saxton McKinley (1897-1901)
Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt (1901-1909)
Helen Herron Taft (1909-1913)

With Courage and Determination

Ellen Louise Axson Wilson (1913-1914)
Edith Bolling Galt Wilson (1915-1921)
Florence Kling Harding (1921-1923)
Grace Anna Goodhue Coolidge (1923-1929)
Lou Henry Hoover (1929-1933)
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1933-1945)
Elizabeth Virginia Wallace Truman (1945-1953)
Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower (1953-1961)

The People’s House

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy (1961-1963)
Claudia Taylor Johnson (1963-1969)
Thelma Patricia Ryan Nixon (1969-1974)
Elizabeth Bloomer Ford (1974-1977)

The Great House Endures

Rosalynn Smith Carter (1977-1981)
Nancy Davis Reagan (1981-1989)
Barbara Pierce Bush (1989-1993)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (1993-2001)
Laura Welch Bush (2001-2009)
Michelle Robinson Obama (2009-2017)
Melania Knauss Trump (2017-2021)
Jill Jacobs Biden (2021-2025)

To visit the Presidential Fact Files, click here.