For a country that likes to think of itself as a land of opportunity and a place where equality reigns, America has long lagged behind an astonishing (one could even say an embarrassing) number of other nations in one elemental respect: electing a woman to lead. Ireland, Germany, India, Pakistan, Israel, England, Bolivia, Malta, Thailand, Australia and on and on—over the past century, more countries around the world have had women presidents and prime ministers than there are American states.
The U.S., meanwhile, for those keeping score, has had none. Nada. Zilch.
When it comes to female leaders at the highest level of government, however, what America has had is an awful lot of First Ladies—and it would be a reckless sort of denial to suggest that none of them wielded power, either behind closed doors or in the wider world beyond the White House. They might not have been elected heads of state, but the wives of the men who have occupied the Oval Office have, to a greater or lesser extent, exercised their own brand of command.
Classically “strong” women like Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Rodham Clinton, of course, embraced their public roles—before, during and after their husbands’ times in office—with a readiness and skill that marked them as formidable figures in their own right. Other First Ladies might have shown a more traditional, “wifely” demeanor to the world, but the quieter sort of strength that so many of them displayed as the better halves of the most powerful men in the world, in the glare of the media spotlight and often in the midst of genuine crisis, speaks volumes about the caliber of the couples who have lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Here, LIFE.com looks back at America’s First Ladies across six decades of the 20th century with a glimpse—through classic photos, as well as pictures that never ran in LIFE—into the public and private lives of the members of an uncommonly exclusive club, before, during and after their years in the White House.
Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.
Four past, present and future First Ladies at John F. Kennedy's inauguration ceremony in January 1961: left to right: Pat Nixon, Mamie Eisenhower, Lady Bird Johnson and Jacqueline Kennedy. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesHillary Rodham Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and President Bill Clinton, Martha's Vineyard, 1993.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesAmerican ambassador to the United Nations and future president George Bush with his family, including Barbara Bush, 1971.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesFuture First Lady Barbara Bush on the golf course, 1971.Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesCalifornia gubernatorial candidate and future president Ronald Reagan with his wife Nancy and son Ron Jr., 1965.Bill Ray—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesFuture First Lady Nancy Reagan and her son, Ron Jr., 1965.Bill Ray—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesGeorgia governor and future American president Jimmy Carter with his wife, Rosalynn, in 1971.Stan Wayman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesGeorgia governor and future American president Jimmy Carter with his wife, Rosalynn, his mother, Bessie Lillian, and his daughter, Amy, in 1971.Stan Wayman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesVice President (and future president) Gerald Ford with his wife, Betty, and three of their four kids, 1973.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesVice President Richard Nixon watches his wife and future First Lady Pat cut her birthday cake, 1957.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesFuture First Lady Pat Nixon, 1968.Arthur Schatz—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesPresident-elect Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife, Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson, after his victory in the 1964 election.John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesLady Bird Johnson in the White House, 1965.Stan Wayman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesFuture First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and Sen. John Kennedy at their wedding reception, 1953.Lisa Larsen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesFuture First Lady Jackie Kennedy cuts newspaper clippings next to an open scrapbook as her daughter Caroline toys with the applicator from a glue bottle, 1960.Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesFuture president Gen. Dwight Eisenhower and his wife Mamie in Washington, DC, 1948.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesFirst Lady Mamie Eisenhower with a portrait of herself in her inauguration ball dress, given to her by husband, Dwight D. Eisenhower for her 60th birthday, 1956.Ed Clark—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesFormer president Harry Truman and wife Bess in their back yard in Independence, Missouri, 1955.Eliot Elisofon—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor in front of broadcast microphones mounted on a plank across the backseat of their limousine during a stop in Hyde Park, NY, 1944.George Skadding—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesFormer First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt walks with children en route to a picnic, 1948.Martha Holmes—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
