--- description: The pairs who said "I do" and changed the world title: These Are The 25 Most Influential Marriages of All Time image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Living](/tag/time-section-living/) ## Living Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The 25 Most Influential Marriages of All Time by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 12, 2015 9:00 AM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 12, 2015 9:00 AM CUT We are gathered here today to anoint these 26 men and 24 women as the most influential married couples of all time. But before I ask if there are any objections, I’d like to start with a clarification: Influence and fame are not the same thing. Fame (think about Scarlett and Rhett) doesn’t always mean influence. And influence (see Michael McConnell and Jack Baker, below) doesn’t always come with fame. The couples on this list are here because, one way or another, they left or are leaving a lasting mark (some, like Homer and Marge Simpson, quite colorful ones). My husband and I have gotten to know these couples very well in the six years we’ve spent researching marriage for a juicy new [anthology, _The Marriage Book_](http://amzn.to/1bPcipD "undefined"). They are just 25 of the thousands we met—in books, films, photographs, fables—and they’re here because, more than any others, they live in history—or fiction—together. You might ask: What about Bonnie and Clyde? (Never married.) Tracy and Hepburn? (Same.) Vladimir Lenin and…? Christopher Columbus and…? Their spouses may have helped them, but they weren’t essential to their legacies. And plenty of spouses have been a hindrance more than a help: Maybe Einstein might actually have achieved a Unified Theory if he hadn’t seen his wife, Mileva, as “an employee whom I cannot fire.” To be sure, some of the couples on this list did call it quits. But saying “I don’t” doesn’t diminish the influence they had by saying “I do.” ### Adam and Eve  Classic Collection, Page 118, 10418653, A Biblical illustration showing Eve tempting Adam with the apple in the Garden of Eden (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images) Popperfoto/Getty Images You take a man and his rib, add a garden, a snake, and an apple, and the next thing you know, you have the human race. When there’s no one to influence until you procreate, _that’s_ influence. ### Abigail and John Adams  Getty Images (2) Her plea to him during the Continental Congress to “remember the ladies” proved futile. But she herself was unforgettable as wife, confidante, First Lady, and indispensible advisor. ### Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz  Cuban-born American actor Desi Arnaz hugging his wife, American actress Lucille Ball on the set of the TV series I Love Lucy. 1950s Mondadori/Getty Images As a real-life couple, they created a fictional world in which Lucy was forever trying—and hilariously failing—to escape the confines of the wifely role that the 1950s and Ricky demanded of her. The Arnazes’ marriage ultimately sank, but the Ricardos live on all over the world. ### Beyoncé and Jay Z  Myrna Suarez— WireImage/Getty Images Individual monarchs of the music industry, they began their combined reign when they married in 2008\. They now have a daughter named Blue Ivy, an estimated net worth over $1 billion and the ability to make or break world trends overnight. ### Archie and Edith Bunker  LOS ANGELES - JANUARY 1: ALL IN THE FAMILY . Featuring Jean Stapleton (as Edith Bunker) and Carroll O'Connor (as Archie Bunker). 1973\. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images) \*\*\* Local Caption \*\*\* Carroll O'Connor;Jean Stapleton CBS/Getty Images His bigotry and her battiness aside, it was the love between Archie and Edith on _All in the Family_ that allowed Americans to look at both the worst and the best in themselves. ### Bill and Hillary Clinton  Hillary and Bill Clinton attends Iowa Senator Tom Harken's annual Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa Brooks Kraft—Corbis Successes and scandals, defiance and resilience, and an inimitable brand of loyalty have marked the Clintons’ unparalleled political careers. From the Arkansas State Capitol to the White House to the Senate to Foggy Bottom, their wins and losses have shaped the American narrative for a quarter of a century. With Hillary’s new run for the presidency, the next chapter has just begun. ### Marie and Pierre Curie  Pierre Curie (1859-1906) and Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934). Private Collection. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images) Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images Talk about marital chemistry. And physics. Working side by side in Paris, the Curies were pioneers in the study of radioactivity, without which we would have no x-rays, no ability to kill microorganisms in food, no sterile medical instruments, and, oh, by the way, no nuclear reactors. ### Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald  1921: Portrait of American author F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) and his wife Zelda wearing winter coats. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Hulton Archive/Getty Images No account of the Jazz Age, or perhaps of the 20th century, can be made without the couple who danced, drank, loved and fought their way through it. Their reckless intensity reflected and encouraged the new freedoms of a modern age. Scott once wrote: “We felt like small children in a great bright unexplored barn.” Eventually, they burned the barn down. ### Bill and Melinda Gates  Melinda and Bill Gates attend a session at the Congress Center during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting on January 23, 2015 in Davos. AFP PHOTO / FABRICE COFFRINI (Photo credit should read FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images) Fabrice Coffrini—AFP/Getty Images In his garage, Harvard dropout Bill pondered why computer hardware was sold but computer software was just passed around. From that question grew Microsoft, where Melinda eventually went to work. Married in 1994, they created the largest private foundation in the world, and, with the “Giving Pledge,” successfully urged other billionaires to follow their philanthropic lead. ### Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine  Getty Images (2) The two married in 1152 and were forceful and combative with their court, their neighbors, their six living children and—famously—with each other. At the height of their reign, they were _the_ ultimate power couple, controlling most of the land in Great Britain and France. ### Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn  First meeting of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, 1835\. Private Collection. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images) Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images True, Henry had Anne beheaded after just three years. But he married her because his first wife had failed to produce a male heir. His insistence on a divorce so he could marry Anne led directly to Henry’s excommunication by the Catholic Church and thus to the birth of the Reformation. ### Pat and Bill Loud  THE DICK CAVETT SHOW - The Loud Family of the PBS Documentary TV Series, 'An American Family' - Shoot Date: February 6, 1973\. (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images) WILLIAM 'BILL' LOUD;PATRICIA 'PAT' LOUD ABC/Getty Images Decades before Kris and Bruce Jenner spawned the Kardashian universe—along with its controversies, revelations, accusations and affections—American TV audiences were spellbound by another married couple. During its twelve weekly episodes in the early 70s, “An American Family” gripped TV viewers as the Louds, married for 21 years with five children, allowed cameras into their home. The series—highlighted by the riveting moments in which son Lance came out as gay and Pat told Bill that she wanted a divorce—was trumpeted as portraying real life, making the Louds the parents of reality TV. ### John and Jackie Kennedy  Massachusetts, USA, 1950's, President of the United States of America John F, Kennedy pictured as a young man with his wife Jackie Kennedy (Jacqueline Bouvier) early in their marriage (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images) Popperfoto/Getty Images He once introduced himself as the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and her style and elegance set the tone for an erudite yet modern White House that was fated to be remembered, both in its charm and its tragedy, as Camelot. ### John Lennon and Yoko Ono  British musican and artist John Lennon (1940 - 1980) holds Japanese-born artist and musician Yoko Ono in his arms, December 1968\. (Photo by Susan Wood/Getty Images) Susan Wood—Getty Images Sure, she was reviled for breaking up the Beatles. But their marriage gave us indelible images of intimacy—from the friendly zoo of their honeymoon bed-in to the Annie Leibovitz–photographed _Rolling Stone_ cover of Yoko with a naked, embryonic John curled around her. Along the way, her passion for peace inspired his signature anthem; Imagine no “Imagine.” ### Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette  Getty Images (2) Married in their mid-teens and residing in splendor at Versailles, they were destined to embody (until forcefully disembodied) the final throes of the French monarchy, with its spectacular excesses, huge public debts, and let-them-eat-cake contempt for the poor. ### Mao Tse-Tung and Jiang Qing  Getty Images (2) As Mao’s fourth and last wife, Madame Mao was a partner in some of the most brutal aspects of the Cultural Revolution, supporting the Red Guard as it attempted to purge China of all perceived threats to the Communist order. Eventually, as one of the treacherous “Gang of Four,” she effectively ran the propaganda machine that created and sustained the Cult of Mao. ### Bill Masters and Virginia Johnson  UNITED STATES - MAY 01: Sex therapists Dr. Virginia Johnson and Dr. William Masters. This is the image used in montage for TIME cover 5/25/1970\. (Photo by Art Shay/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images) Art Shay—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images Inevitably glamorized by the Showtime series about them, Masters, a gynecologist, and Johnson, initially his research assistant, did share first a mission and then a life. Their groundbreaking numbers-heavy studies of sex made them the punch line of a million jokes, but ultimately contributed to the demystification of one of life’s most miraculous and complex subjects. ### Michael McConnell and Jack Baker Jack proposed to Michael in 1969, and Michael accepted with the proviso that they make the union legal. Their attempt to do just that eventually led them to the Supreme Court, which in 1972 dismissed the case. But the substance of their initial argument—that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples was irrational and discriminatory—paved the way for legal victories in state after state—including, two years ago, in their home state of Minnesota. ### Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio  SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED STATES: Picture dated of the fifties showing American actress Marilyn Monroe (L) with her husband baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. (Photo credit should read AFP/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Married for 274 days, the baseball giant and the screen legend turned out to be ill-suited and ill-fated. He was possessive, jealous, volatile. She was Marilyn. Their legacy was unintentional, but the multi-media circus that followed them was unprecedented, just warming the world up for the likes of Liz and Dick, Grace and Rainier, even Diana and Charles. They were the first celebrity couple of the modern age. ### Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz  Original caption: Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986), American painter, pictured with her husband, Alfred Stieglitz. Undated photo. --- Image by © Corbis Corbis He fell in love first with her drawings, then with her. They became photographer and subject, then lovers, then spouses. Long separations and infidelity were obstacles, yet they remained married until Stieglitz’s death in 1946, and united forever by their contributions to and championing of modern art. ### Eva and Juan Peron  BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA: Picture taken in the 1940s in Buenos Aires shows Eva Peron (1919-52) and her husband Juan Peron. Eva Peron, known as Evita, the second wife of Argentine President Juan Peron, was a radio and screen actress before her marriage in 1945\. She became a powerful political influence and a mainstay of the Peron government. She was idolized by the poor, and after her death, in Buenos Aires, support for her husband waned. AFP PHOTO FILES/INTERCONTINENTALE (Photo credit should read AFP/Getty Images) Intercontinental/AFP/Getty Images The left-wing Argentinian president and charismatic first lady (“Evita” to anyone who’s seen the musical and been tempted to cry for her) fought poverty, sought to improve public health, and backed labor reforms, mixing public-mindedness with a sometimes ruthless authoritarianism. ### Romeo and Juliet  Illustration of Juliet embracing Romeo on her balcony in Act II, Scene 2 of William Shakespeare's play 'Romeo and Juliet.' (Kean Collection/Getty Images) Kean Collection/Getty Images They married in passionate defiance of their feuding families. Though there had been other versions of the story—and would be more, in poems, ballets, and even the musical _West Side Story_—it was the indelibility of Shakespeare’s 16th-century tragedy that made Romeo and Juliet the universal symbols of star-crossed fate and perfect love. ### Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt  07 Oct 1930, Albany, New York State, USA --- Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt --- Image by © CORBIS Corbis While he battled the Great Depression and the Axis Powers, she used their private moments to lobby him on the progressive issues about which she was most passionate. Along the way, she transformed the role of First Lady into a bully pulpit from which she could fight for civil rights and greater workplace opportunities for women. ### Julius and Ethel Rosenberg  Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Found in the collection of Library of Congress, Washington D. C.. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images) Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images Were they innocent victims of the Red Scare, misguided progressives or traitorous spies who passed atomic secrets to the Russians? The epic debate over these questions encapsulated an era in which the enemy was particularly fearsome because it was so insidious. The married parents of two young sons were electrocuted within hours of each other, adding an extra chill to the Cold War. ### Marge and Homer Simpson  THE SIMPSONS: Homer and Marge Simpson on THE SIMPSONS on FOX. THE SIMPSONS ™ and © 2002 TCFFC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Fox Marge is both hotter and cooler than the ever-ditzy Homer, but his unwavering, unconditional, unquenchable love wins her heart and ours even as they, and we, understand that he doesn’t remotely deserve her. Their co-dependency—he adores her, she adores being adored—mirrors millions of modern marriages, and their longevity has somehow made even our own dysfunctions enviable. _Read next:_ [_George Clooney Says Marriage to Amal ‘Changed Everything’_](http://time.com/3853144/george-clooney-amal-marriage/?iid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/autoplay/?xid=spl-fullbrief-article "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3843579/influential-marriages/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3843579/influential-marriages/"},"headline":"The 25 Most Influential Marriages of All Time","datePublished":"2015-05-12T09:00:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:35.281Z","description":"The pairs who said \"I do\" and changed the world","url":"https://time.com/3843579/influential-marriages/","keywords":["Living","Marriage"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3843579/influential-marriages/","name":"The 25 Most Influential Marriages of All Time"}}]}] ```