New from me at PJM:
First Ladies’ Pet Projects: Where Does Michelle Obama’s Anti-Obesity Campaign Rank?
Here’s just a sampling — a chart illustrating part of the essay:
First Lady Pet Projects: The Rankings
The following chart ranks each First Lady’s pet project according to how socially significant it was and how successful she was in bringing it to fruition.
Two First Ladies on this chart (Bess Truman and Mamie Eisenhower) did not really have any pet projects worth noting, while two others (Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton) were what I call “Power First Ladies” whose activities and political involvement were so important that they didn’t really count as “pet projects” but rather were essential components of their husbands’ administrations. Because of this, all four have been excluded from the final rankings.
Although the chart starts in 1933 to be thorough, the list of First Ladies participating in the rankings actually begins proper with Jackie Kennedy.
The column on the right totals up each First Lady’s “Pet Project Rating” by assessing (based on my research) how significant (on a scale of 1 to 10) her pet project was to the nation at large, and multiplying it by how successful she was in bringing it off (again based on my research).
A note on the background colors:
= Power First Lady (excluded from rankings)
= Non-participating First Lady (excluded from rankings)
|
First Lady (tenure) |
Primary cause (Secondary cause) |
Significance x Success (1 – 10 scale) (1 – 10 scale) = Pet Project Rating (1 – 100 scale) |
|
|
Eleanor Roosevelt (1933-1945) |
National policy |
|
|
Bess Truman (1945-1953) |
none | — |
|
Mamie Eisenhower (1953-1961) |
none | — |
|
Jackie Kennedy (1961-1963) |
White House refurbishment | 1sig. x 9suc. = 9 |
|
Lady Bird Johnson (1963-1969) |
Beautification ( + Project Head Start) |
5sig. x 8suc. = 40 |
|
Pat Nixon (1969-1974) |
Volunteerism | 4sig. x 3suc. = 12 |
|
Betty Ford (1974-1977) |
Equal Rights Amendment ( + breast cancer awareness) |
5sig. x 3suc. = 15 |
|
Rosalynn Carter (1977-1981) |
Mental Health | 4sig. x 5suc. = 20 |
|
Nancy Reagan (1981-1989) |
Drug Abuse | 6sig. x 6suc. = 36 |
|
Barbara Bush (1989-1993) |
Literacy | 5sig. x 2suc. = 10 |
|
Hillary Clinton (1993-2001) |
National policy |
|
|
Laura Bush (2001-2009) |
Education | 5sig. x 5suc. = 25 |
|
Michelle Obama (2009- ) |
Childhood Obesity | 6sig. x ?suc. = ? |
Curious about the rest? Read the whole thing here!
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