Building on her advocacy for America’s youth in foster care, First Lady Melania Trump alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday unveiled new savings accounts designed to establish financial stability for young people aging out of foster care.

“Fostering the Future Accounts give foster children the same chance for asset ownership and long-term wealth building as every other American child. By investing in our foster youth now, we help strengthen America’s workforce, communities, and economic future,” Mrs. Trump said.

This historic measure is a first for the United States and is designed by the first lady in tandem with the U.S. Department of Treasury, according to the White House. To date, 23 governors have pledged to set up Fostering the Future Accounts for children within their states’ care.

“For Fostering the Future youth, empowerment comes through ownership. This includes ownership of knowledge through education and now ownership through savings and investment accounts. Education and savings accounts are the first steps toward personal independence,” Mrs. Trump said.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Office of Management and Budget issued Federal guidance allowing state, territorial and tribal child welfare agencies to open the accounts for any child or youth in their care, according to the White House.

Under that guidance, the U.S. Department of the Treasury will recognize state child welfare agencies acting as a guardian for children and youth in foster care, or their designees, as eligible individuals for opening an account when a child is in foster care. A dedicated helpline designed specifically to assist states in setting up these accounts for children and youth in foster care has also been established, Bessent said in his remarks.

Fostering the Future Accounts expands access to the Trump Accounts for youth in foster care and provides states a pathway to direct existing resources to their future, Bessent said. Trump Accounts, launching on July 4, 2026, are designed for children who are born between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2028, and include a $1,000 federal contribution. President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill Act” authorized the creation of the account, according to the White House.

On average in the United States there are about 400,000 children in foster care and about 20,000 young people age out of foster care every year, according to the National Foster Youth Initiative. Many of those children lack the resources to support themselves financially or know where to find support.

Bessent praised the first lady for helping advance the Trump accounts. He called the new foster care initiative and the Trump Accounts “the most important benefit for young people since the GI Bill.”

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Melania Trump Gives Awards to Student AI Projects

In the midst of a race for artificial intelligence development in the United States and among debates about the potential harms vs. benefits of the innovation, First Lady Melania Trump on Tuesday encouraged students “to build boldly” and “to safeguard America’s leading position in the world of technology.”

From the White House East Room, Mrs. Trump welcomed teams of students who participated in the Presidential Artificial Intelligence Challenge to a National Champion Awards Ceremony. There, the first lady awarded six teams and 120 finalists for their projects, which were designed to use artificial intelligence to tackle real-world challenges. The challenge engaged more than 20,000 students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 49 Department of Defense Education Activity schools from 10 countries, according to the White House.

“Artificial intelligence gives your communities access to the largest amount of information ever recorded in humanity’s history. This fundamental democratization of intellect will profoundly alter society: our industries, our social safety net, and even our open-mindedness toward cultural diversity,” Mrs. Trump said. “Wisdom is tolerance, and change will be enhanced at hyper-speed.”

The White House event comes on the heels of a new NPR/Ipsos poll of K-12 teachers released last week that found that nearly 3-in-4 believe AI has bigger implications for education than past innovations like the internet or computers. The poll also showed that more than half, 54%, of polled teachers say AI makes it harder for students to learn critical thinking skills and 55% believe AI is mostly used as a shortcut for students to avoid doing more work.

The Presidential Challenge projects awarded were “Homework Helper” and “Friendzone Chatbot Bullying Prevention App” from elementary school teams from Alcoa, Tennessee, and Aldie, Virginia; “Skill Up” and “Using AI Models to Detect Urban Blight Using Streetview Images” from the middle school teams from Sammamish, Washington, and Jacksonville, Florida; and “Utilizing Computer Vision for Hotel Room Identification in Criminal Investigations” and “IRIS: A Low-Cost Spatiotemporal AI Framework for Visually Impaired Navigation in Complex Urban Environments” from the high school teams in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, and Sewickley, Pennsylvania.

After Mrs. Trump’s remarks, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios spoke about how AI is “a magical technology” that needs to be demystified.

The winners were recognized on stage where the first lady gave them their award certificates, shook their hands and posed for pictures with them.

Mrs. Trump spent a few minutes after the ceremony talking to the kids prior to a reception in the Rose Garden for winners and attendees. Select winners met with the first lady in the Blue Room to show her their inventions.

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The Weekly Wrap

The Weekly Wrap is a collection of headlines from the past week. Some publications have paywalls.

Time

Jill Biden on Democrats’ Backlash to her Memoir

June 10, 2026 – Jill Biden says she’s unbothered by Democrats’ response to her memoir. Read more

IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson

Jessica Williams Gets Real About Confidence, Comedy & Growing Up Tall

June 10, 2026 – Michelle and Craig sit down with comedian, actor, writer Jessica Williams for a conversation about confidence, creativity, and what it means to grow into yourself. Jessica reflects on her journey from performing in school improv groups to becoming one of comedy’s most distinctive voices at a young age, opens up about growing up as a tall girl, and shares why she’s passionate about challenging Hollywood’s outdated ideas about romance and beauty. View here

Entertainment Weekly

Jenna Bush Hager Once Found Her Mom Laura Bush Googling Her Exes

June 10, 2026 – Not even a former first lady of the United States can resist the temptation of using the internet to check in on an old flame. Read more

East Wing Magazine

The Famous Voices That Will Guide You at the Obama Presidential Center

June 9, 2026 – The Obama Presidential Center official mobile digital guides housed on Bloomberg Connect will be voiced by President Obama, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, Stephen Curry and Cree Summer, and other renowned voices, the Obama Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies announced last week. Read more

Tudum

New Doc ‘The American Experiment’ Marks The Nation’s 250th Anniversary

June 8, 2026 – As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, a new five-part historical documentary reexamines the improbable achievement that was the nation’s founding, and the radical question at the center of the American Revolution: Can a people govern themselves? Streaming this June 24, The American Experiment will feature a wide range of voices, including former vice presidents, Sec. Hillary Clinton, former cabinet officials, current and former members of Congress, a former Supreme Court justice, leading historians, tribal chiefs, military experts, and thought leaders across the political spectrum to present uniquely bipartisan and deeply informed conversations about the origins and future of American democracy. Read more

The Guardian

Yes, Michelle Obama Knows a Lot About Resilience. She Still Shouldn’t Be Lecturing Gen Z About It

June 8, 2026 – Uh oh, Michelle Obama has been advising gen Z on navigating work. “One thing that’s important is to learn how to do something you don’t like to do and be good at it,” she told the audience at a podcast recording in London. “Every experience—the bad boss, the boring assistant job, the job you thought that you weren’t appreciated, the one that didn’t give you the assignment you wanted when you wanted it—all of that is learning to be resilient.” Read more

East Wing Magazine

The Wisdom of Jimmy, the Presence of Rosalynn

June 7, 2026 – One Sunday, September 20, 1998, to be exact, Jimmy Carter had nothing but time on his mind.

When the former president, who was a young 73 years old then, looked out at the congregants attending what had become his legendary Sunday School lessons at the Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, he quizzed them. Read more

In Pursuit with Colleen Shogan

Dolley Madison Takes Command

June 2, 2026 – How did Dolley Madison create bipartisan possibilities under the glow of candle light? Colleen Shogan talks with Catherine Allgor about Mrs. Madison’s famous “Wednesday nights,” the turbulent politics of the early American republic, and the burning of the White House during the War of 1812. View here

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The Obama Presidential Center official mobile digital guides housed on Bloomberg Connect will be voiced by President Obama, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, Stephen Curry and Cree Summer, and other renowned voices, the Obama Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies announced last week.

They will be available starting June 19, at the Center’s grand opening.

The Obama Presidential Center, a 19.3-acre campus and museum, is designed for community use and includes the Obama Presidential Center Museum, a new Chicago Public Library branch, a dynamic playground, a garden classroom, an NBA regulation-sized basketball court, and green spaces with commissioned works by leading artists, along with other amenities.

As the first presidential library on the platform, the Obama Presidential Center’s digital guides shed light on the Center’s mission, exhibitions, and commissioned art through compelling narratives intimately voiced by artists, cultural figures, and everyday people whose stories are woven together with those of the Obamas, according to the Obama Foundation.

The Campus Guide explores the history and vision of the Obama Presidential Center and its roots on Chicago’s South Side. Narrated by Oprah Winfrey, the guide features President and Mrs. Obama alongside perspectives from the Obamas’ friends and collaborators—from late artist Richard Hunt providing insight about his final commission, to Tafari’s Kitchen chef Cliff Rome talking about food’s power to bring people together and Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry speaking about basketball and democracy from Home Court. The guide offers a comprehensive look at the Center’s 19.3-acre campus and is also available in American Sign Language signed by Jeremy Lee Stone, April Jackson-Woodard, Alexandria Wailes, Tyrone Giordano and Amelia Hensley, and Christina Hopewell-Albert.

And, an interactive and imaginative version of the Campus Guide narrated by the Obamas’ dogs, Bo and Sunny (as voiced by Cree Summer), is geared toward elementary schoolchildren and includes prompts to inform and entertain the youngest visitors as they explore the Center.

Michelle Obama introduces the Art Guide, which explores 14 commissioned artworks, each representing what Mrs. Obama calls the “strong link between art and democracy.” Users can hear from artists including Mark Bradford, Nick Cave and Marie Watt, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Nekisha Durrett, Theaster Gates, Maya Lin, Julie Mehretu, Aliza Nisenbaum, Martin Puryear, Alison Saar, and others, on the inspiration behind each piece and the steps it took to bring them to fruition. A dedicated mini-tour highlights the works by Jenny Holzer, Carrie Mae Weems, and Idris Khan in the Museum’s Sky Room, which provides panoramic views of Chicago’s South and West Sides.

Introduced by President Obama and narrated by actor Tom Hanks, the Museum Guide provides an up-close-and-personalized look at the stories, moments, and artifacts that shaped the Obama administration. Users will be able to explore key exhibits and learn more about President Obama’s vision for the Center, the Obama family’s time in the White House, and key moments from the Obama campaigns and presidency from contributors including Michelle Obama and archival audio from campaign volunteers, White House visitors, and the media. The Museum Guide will also be available on free loaner devices for those who don’t have or want to use their own smartphone.

An Audio Described Guide, introduced by President Obama and guided by Kareem Dale, who served as President Obama’s special assistant for disability policy, also is available.

The guides are available via a user’s own mobile phone to enhance onsite visits and can also be used to explore the institution’s collection and artwork from anywhere in the world.

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Calendar

June 12, 2026

Specialty Tour: Architecture of Tudor Place

Tudor Place in Washington, D.C., presents an architecture tour of the historic house from noon to 1 p.m. EDT on June 12, 2026. From the original 1795 portion to the 1870 kitchen addition, there have been several significant structural changes over the 200-plus year history of this house. Read more

June 12, 2026

Legacy Lecture: Louisa Catherine Adams in America

The National First Ladies Library & Museum presents an online, one-woman play at noon EDT on June 12, 2026, on Louisa Catherine Adams, one of America’s most fascinating first ladies performed by award-winning actress and historical interpreter Laura Rocklyn. Audiences will explore Louisa’s personal journey and consider her potential future as a widow. The year is 1848: John Quincy Adams has suffered a fatal stroke on the House floor, and Louisa reflects on her years in the White House, her decades of public service, and the sacrifices she made alongside her husband as he fought against slavery in the House of Representatives. Read more

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June 12, 2026

Bush Birthday Celebration

Join the George and Barbara Bush Foundation on June 12, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum in College Station, Texas, for a family-friendly celebration honoring the birthdays of President and Mrs. Bush. The celebration will feature story hour with special guest readers, birthday cake, and refreshments. Read more

June 18, 2026

Third Thursday: First Ladies and Their Orchids

The National First Ladies Library & Museum presents from 6 to 8 p.m. local time on June 18, 2026, an in-person Third Thursday program exploring Cattleya orchids named for America’s First Ladies. Arthur E. Chadwick highlights 19 consecutive first ladies, from Edith Bolling Wilson through today, celebrated with orchid hybrids, offering a unique perspective on history, horticulture, and legacy. The evening includes a presentation on a century of first ladies’ namesake orchids and a live show-and-tell of the plants. Read more

June 19, 2026

The Obama Presidential Center Grand Opening

There will be music, dancing, food, art and sports among the festivities planned for the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago taking place June 19 through 21.

The programming will offer diverse experiences connected to arts and culture, civics and democracy, gardening and food, and sports and well-being, according to the Obama Foundation.

Tickets to the museum are sold out for the opening, but no admission is required to attend the festival. Organizers are asking people to register for some events open to the public because of limited capacity. The grand opening will also be livestreamed. Read more

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June 27, 2026

The Story of Arthurdale: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Vision of Community

The Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill presents the fundraising panel discussion “The Story of Arthurdale: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Vision of Community” on June 27, 2026, from 12:30 to 3 p.m. local time. Following an informal lunch, join the Eleanor Roosevelt Center and Arthurdale Heritage for a special fundraiser and panel discussion exploring the extraordinary history of Arthurdale and Eleanor Roosevelt’s enduring connection to the community she called her “pet project.”

The afternoon will feature a panel discussion with Franceska Urbin, Supervisory Park Ranger at National Park Service, and Elizabeth Satterfield, Curator and Director of Education at Arthurdale Heritage, and moderated by Anna Fierst, Board Chair of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center (ERVK). They will examine the origins of Arthurdale, Eleanor Roosevelt’s advocacy for struggling families during the Great Depression, and the continued relevance of her vision today. Read more

June 27, 2026

The Grants’ World Tour

The bicentennial celebration of Julia Dent Grant at the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site at White Haven continues with a Ranger Talk on The Grants’ World Tour from 10 to 11 a.m. local time. For more information about the events call 314-842-1867.

June 27, 2026

First Ladies for Kids – Celebrate Ida McKinley

The National First Ladies Library & Museum in Canton, Ohio, invites parents to bring their young historian to First Ladies for Kids in the First Ladies Park at the historic site from 11 to 11:30 a.m. local time

The free monthly event is designed for children ages 7–10. This month, Ida McKinley, a Canton native who became one of the most beloved first ladies of her era will be introduced with hands-on activities that bring history to life through creativity and play, a complimentary take-home workbook with interactive exercises in art, reading, spelling, and math and exploration of the historic Saxton-McKinley House with a National Park Service Ranger. Registration is requested. Read more

July 1, 2026

People’s House Party: White House History Ball

The People’s House: A White House Experience in Washington, D.C., presents a Civic Season after-hours ball on July 1, 2026, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. local time inspired by the dramatic burning of the White House by British troops in 1814. This evening transports attendees back in time to Federal America.

Tickets includes two drink tickets, tea cakes and desserts, history pop-ups about the US-UK relationship, and period-inspired activations like live traditional silhouettes from Silhouettes by Hand and Regency fan decorating. Regency/Federal Era-inspired fits are highly encouraged! Read more

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July 4, 2026

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Grand Opening

The Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library (TRPL) will celebrate its grand opening on July 4, 2026, aligning with the 250th anniversary of the United States. Following an official dedication ceremony in the morning, the Library will formally open its doors to the public for the very first time.

Grand opening ticket holders will be among the first to experience what the Library has to offer. Going beyond traditional displays, visitors will step directly into Roosevelt’s life through galleries using AI, holograms, and immersive storytelling. Tickets are required and in high demand. It is strongly encouraged to become a Founding Member if visitors want to attend the grand opening.

The July 4th celebrations will conclude with “Eyes on the Stars,” an immersive drone show serving as a celebratory close to the day’s events. Choreographed to celebrate the American West and the night sky that Roosevelt cherished, the aerial exhibition uses light and storytelling to narrate his legacy directly above the Badlands.

Throughout the celebration week, programming will feature live music, author talks, and guest speakers, including Secretary Doug Burgum, Edward F. O’Keefe, Douglas Brinkley, and Doris Kearns Goodwin. Read more

July 10, 2026

Legacy Lecture: A Tea with Ohio’s First Ladies

Experience history in a new way as Women in History Ohio brings Helen Taft, Ida McKinley, and Florence Harding together for a virtual tea. The First Ladies Library & Museum in Canton, Ohio, presents a virtual program from noon to 1 p.m. EDT on July 10, 2026, featuring the three former first lady portrayals as women connected to Ohio and the White House whose lives spanned very different eras of American history. Read more

Send calendar items, press releases and announcements to jtaylor@eastwingmagazine.com.

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One Sunday, September 20, 1998, to be exact, Jimmy Carter had nothing but time on his mind.

When the former president, who was a young 73 years old then, looked out at the congregants attending what had become his legendary Sunday School lessons at the Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, he quizzed them.

“What visitors can tell me what the Wisdom Books are?” he asked. It wasn’t a rhetorical question. In fact, most of the questions the 39th president of the United States asked were meant to be answered by people in his audience.

That was apparently understood as the visitors shouted out their answers to which he responded: “Very wise. Very good. I told you this was a high quality group.”

This particular lesson began with Ecclesiastes’ book of wisdom and contemplated the concept of time. As he read through a series of verses emphasizing time, Mr. Carter brought the lesson home—close to home—when he spoke candidly to the folks about how his personal fixation with time had been a point of contention between him and his wife, Rosalynn, the former first lady, for years.

“As Rosalynn would testify enthusiastically, I’m obsessed with time and being on time and keeping time,” he said during the lesson.

Present that day in the church, Mrs. Carter did not contest.

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A steady presence

Rosalynn Carter was always present alongside her husband when it came to their shared Christian faith including on most Sundays in their post-White House years at Maranatha Baptist Church. The recently released book, More than a President: Sundays with Jimmy Carter, edited by Andrew Greer, chronicles selected transcribed lessons delivered by Carter from the 1970s when he taught Sunday School lessons as president from First Baptist Church of the City of Washington through his last year in 2019 at Maranatha Baptist.

The collection takes readers not only back in time, but it puts readers “in the room” to hear the back-and-forth discussions between Mr. Carter and the widely diverse audience who came to listen. And very subtly, readers hear Mrs. Carter, also in the room.

“They seem, to me, to be full partners in every aspect of their lives and their work,” Greer, who has been promoting his book for the past several months, tells East Wing Magazine in a recent Zoom interview.

This idea of Rosalynn Carter’s constant presence when it comes to her husband’s career path is mostly settled history, especially for those who were close to the Carters. It is well-documented that in their early years together Rosalynn Carter helped run the family’s peanut farm after he resigned from the Navy. She is wholeheartedly described as a “full partner” when her husband served as governor of Georgia and most notably when he served a single term as president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. Their work continued to intertwine and grow in their post-White House years as global humanitarians for their various causes through The Carter Center in Atlanta.

That partnership, naturally, was exemplified and tethered in their faith.

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Kim Carter Fuller, a niece of the Carters and former executive director of Friends of Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, joined in the conference call from inside Maranatha Baptist where she attests to her aunt’s presence and influence in the couple’s church life. Mrs. Carter, in fact, was “famous for correcting him in Sunday School,” Fuller notes.

“I would not doubt that when he worked on those lessons that she didn’t preview the lessons,” Fuller says. “He was constantly running ideas by her. This is common knowledge.”

Fuller, for years, was also a Sunday School fixture at Maranatha where she would teach and also fill in for her uncle. She was close to both her aunt, who died at age 96 in November 2023, and uncle, who died about a year later at age 100 in December 2024. She recalls how the couple prayed together and for others every single night.

Growing up, Rosalynn Carter notes in her autobiography First Lady from Plains that God “was a real presence in my life.” Greer, reading a passage from her book, shares her words:

“We were taught to love him and felt very much the necessity and desire to live the kind of life he would have us live—to love one another and be kind, too, and help those who needed to be helped and to be good. But we were also taught to fear God, and though I loved him, I was afraid of displeasing him all my young life.”

For Greer, her words illustrate just how much faith was part of both of their lives and how, over time, their beliefs grew into seeing the neighbor in need as an equal throughout their lives.

Make no mistake, though, Jimmy Carter was the main draw at his Sunday School lessons.

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People like Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, an author and member of the Board of Trustees at Mercer University by Mr. Carter’s nudging, knew this. By the time Greer’s book published in 2025 she had grown to regret that she never got around to making the 228-mile “pilgrimage” from her home in Clarksville to Maranatha Baptist to study the Bible with the former president, she writes in the Foreword.

“His Sunday school class was so famous that I knew I could watch recordings online or listen to them on Audible, but that wasn’t the point,” she writes. “I wanted to be in his presence.”

Most of the time, though, if visitors were in Mr. Carter’s presence at Maranatha they were likely in Rosalynn’s presence, too.

All in good time

At length on that Sunday in 1998, the former president explained his rigidity about time, specifically punctuality.

At one point, Mr. Carter begins talking about his watch and how it is “rarely five seconds off.” He admits that was the way he lived. He attributed his structure to the Navy or, perhaps, his father, who was even more stringent about timeliness than he.

And then the former president shares a tender story about the day he wed Rosalynn and, remarkably, distilled it down to the second.

“So, we were at her mother’s house, and we got in my car—I was watching the time. We drove in front of the church, I would say, 10 seconds before three o’clock—we were supposed to be married at three—and they were playing “Here Comes the Bride” for the second time. So, we got there, dashed down the aisle and we got married successfully, and it’s lasted 52 years,” Mr. Carter said. “After that, though, I couldn’t get away from my preoccupation with time.”

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In the lesson, though, he faced that preoccupation head on and how it was a constant tension between the couple that fueled “the worst arguments.”

“...If I thought Rosalynn was going to be late, which she claims she never was, and we won’t get into that this morning because she’s here, we had a very unpleasant relationship,” Mr. Carter said to the congregants and then checked with his wife, asking, “What about five minutes, Rosalynn?

“It was more than five,” she responded.

To which he said, “Whatever, Rosalynn,” drawing laughter from the room.

From that exchange, readers as well as the visitors that day sensed their protracted marital fray. They also felt the power of her presence.

‘That’s a vibe’

About 20 years ago, Greer writes in the Introduction, he was a 20-something tourist in Plains drawn to hear “the former leader of the free world” deliver “practical life lessons from the chronicles of the Holy Scripture.” Greer, fully read-in on the Carters, brought two friends, who by comparison, had not been as acquainted with the couple and their work.

Sometimes Mrs. Carter would walk into Sunday School shortly after the lesson started. She would stop and talk with people or look in on the nursery, Greer says. On this day, it would not go unnoticed.

At one point, sitting in the pew next to Greer toward the back, his friend directed her attention away from the lesson, her eyes mesmerized by the woman entering the room—a little late.

“Oh, that’s a vibe,” Greer recalls the friend saying to him.

How many people would walk in while the former president was preaching just because they can? This question was rhetorical. Everyone knows the answer is one—Rosalynn.

Greer vaguely remembers Mr. Carter’s reaction to his wife’s arrival, recalling him saying something like, “Hi Rosalynn. Glad you came in.”

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But more often, Fuller says, Mrs. Carter was in the background. Her niece also notes that Rosalynn “wasn’t wallpaper.” She taught her own Sunday School class, served as a deacon and inspired the food drive at the church.

On the occasions when Mrs. Carter would not be at Sunday School there would be an obligatory explanation of her whereabouts, including a time when Mr. Carter shared that she was absent because of a surgery.

“If Rosalynn was not present, he always said something because that was a tangible absence,” Greer says, adding that they were very open about their relationship with each other.

Better late than never

The point former President Carter was making in that Sunday School lesson about time homes in on his desire for punctuality and the constant aggravation it caused in their marriage.

“Quite often we’d get into the car to drive to church, or to drive to a movie, or drive to a party or to drive to anywhere, and we would be angry with each other because of that argument about punctuality,” he said.

But one day 10 years before he delivered that Sunday School lesson, the former president woke up and realized it was Rosalynn’s birthday, August 18, and he forgot. The stores were closed. With time ever present on his mind, he penned, perhaps one of his greatest gifts in this one-line note he wrote to his wife:

“Never again in my life will I make an unpleasant comment about punctuality.”

Ever since, he said, he successfully eliminated that source of their arguments. Rosalynn Carter is not heard from again in that lesson, but it underscores how essential she was to him, Fuller says.

“She was an equal partner,” she adds.

Mrs. Carter has been commonly referred to as such by scholars and historians. Toward the end of her uncle’s life, Fuller says, he had a daybed built that was placed in a room at the back of their Plains home where he spent most of his time after his wife passed away. He had his healthcare aides position a favorite picture of Rosalynn where he could see her all the time.

That, she says, was testament to his desire for his wife to be ever present.

It’s been more than a year since the former president passed away. Still, Plains continues to be a destination for visitors to discover the Carters. Maranatha Baptist, after years of hundreds of people traveling to attend Jimmy Carter’s Sunday School lessons, is transitioning to a true local community church, Greer says. A question before them now is: How do they preserve that history for people coming from around the world? His book, he hopes, helps put readers in those rooms. And for now, only time will tell.

When Greer sees tourists in the church parking lot, he’ll invite them in. He’ll play the piano. But, he notes that in the Carters, Plains didn’t just lose two congregants. It lost two pastoral people.

“That’s a big gap that goes far beyond them being world leaders in a small town,” Greer says. “For the church, that’s personal.”

Updated June 7, 2026

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When Lois Romano, a former Washington, D.C., veteran journalist who has covered first ladies, began researching her narrative-shattering, new biography about Mary Todd Lincoln, she was appalled by the way the wife of the revered Abraham Lincoln was treated by his friends, his enemies and the press.

But when it came time for Romano, author of The New York Times bestseller An Inconvenient Widow: The Torment, Trial, and Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln, to distill her life down to one lesson for the ongoing In Pursuit essay series about America’s presidents and select first ladies, the widowed first lady’s narrative shifted away from the tragedies to one simple word–resilience.

“You can’t judge someone’s resilience in real time. You have to wait and step back,” Romano tells East Wing Magazine in a recent Zoom interview about the newly published essay “Public Service Demands Loyalty, Courage, and Resilience–Not Perfection.”

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In it, Romano acknowledges the tragedies, loss as well as the mental illness the sometimes “difficult” Mary Lincoln endured. But what history has overlooked about Mary Lincoln is what Romano has amplified in her essay that discusses the strength, courage and resourcefulness she harnessed in the hardest years of her life.

“Mary was an incredibly resilient woman,” Romano says. “[The essay] is all about what she went through and how she survived it.”

The initial harsh narratives crafted by Mary Lincoln’s “contemporaries and excoriated by both her husband’s enemies and sensational press corps,” Romano writes, took hold and have been tolerated for more than 100 years.

In Pursuit, a bi-partisan initiative created by the Washington, D.C.-based organization More Perfect, includes an alliance of 43 presidential centers and foundations and educational and civic initiatives from around the country. It aims to share wisdom about leadership and democracy from former American presidents and selected first ladies, a part of which Mary Lincoln proudly sits.

Colleen Shogan, CEO of In Pursuit and the 11th Archivist of the United States, calls Mary Lincoln’s resilience theme and “its relevance undeniable” in a social media post, just days after former President Barack Obama’s In Pursuit essay on Abraham Lincoln published.

Mary Lincoln lived another 17 years after her husband was murdered in Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, “as they held hands,” Romano writes in the essay. Early in her husband’s political career, Mrs. Lincoln was seen by family members as the “fire, will, and ambition” that helped thrust the talented Lincoln out of his common depressive state and into the White House.

Romano points out that Mrs. Lincoln was vilified for spending money on decorating the White House during the Civil War. Her long and unprecedented fight for a widow’s pension from Congress tormented her, but in the end, when Congress granted her one, it “paved the way for future widows to receive government pensions,” Romano writes.

The essay shows how Mary Lincoln was “getting up every day, putting on a dress and trying to get through life with all this incredible loss she had suffered,” says Romano, who believes the stories of presidential spouses are essential because the women are “a part of the fabric of the country.”

Whether first ladies were just supporting their husbands or had agendas of their own, they contributed. In Mary Lincoln’s case, she supported the Civil War and she became the face of the war in many ways, Romano says, adding of first ladies that “they all played a role.”

Read the full In Pursuit essay

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The Weekly Wrap

The Weekly Wrap is a collection of headlines from the past week. Some publications have paywalls.

In Pursuit

Mary Todd Lincoln by Lois Romano

June 4, 2026 – Mary Todd Lincoln’s capacity to endure profound personal loss, political hostility, and public judgment reveals a core strength that is often overlooked. She was confronted with war, the loss of three children, the murder of her husband, mental and physical illnesses, and betrayal by family and friends. Bowed but not broken, she would not be defeated. Read more

American FLOTUS

Lou Henry Hoover, a Woman of Adventure Featuring Annette B. Dunlap

June 4, 2026 – American FLOTUS podcast host Alan Lowe is joined by scholar and journalist Annette B. Dunlap to discuss her book, A Woman of Adventure: The Life and Times of First Lady Lou Henry Hoover. Their conversation includes topics such as Lou Henry’s success as the first woman to obtain a degree in geology at Stanford University; her travels around the world and subsequent roles in public life; her important contributions as first lady, including advocating for White House renovations; and her very consequential and complex relationship with Herbert. Listen here

The Hill

Six GOP Senators Vote to Block Trump’s White House Ballroom

June 4, 2026 – Six GOP senators voted with Democrats in support of a proposal sponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) to block the construction of President Trump’s 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom unless Congress authorizes the project. Read more

WTTW Chicago

Obama Presidential Center Is Ready for Its Close-Up: First Look at Obama Foundation’s ‘Beacon of Hope’ and Economic Engine

June 4, 2026 – Valerie Jarrett has been waiting nearly a decade to utter six simple words: “Welcome to the Obama Presidential Center.” Read more

East Wing Magazine

Michelle Obama: ‘It’s a Story of Style’

June 2, 2026 – Michelle Obama gave a sneak peek Tuesday on social media of an exhibit where her fashion sense and strategy will be on full display.

“Mrs. Obama’s Touch at the OPC” the social media post teased with Mrs. Obama speaking for about a minute about how she approached her sartorial choices as first lady. Read more

The Hollywood Reporter

Michelle Obama Embraces Her ‘Last Chapter’ as a Podcaster: ‘The Choices I Make Now Are Going to Be for Me — Not My Husband, Kids, the Country’

June 2, 2026 – Things got a little morbid at SXSW London‘s headline Michelle Obama session. The former first lady was speaking with her brother, Craig Robinson, at a live recording of their podcast, IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson. The year-old podcast usually involves a guest, but Obama kicked off the session by declaring they’d be “flipping the script” and, sans guest, would be interviewing each other. Read more

In Pursuit

Individual Liberty Is Served by Pursuit of the Common Good - By President Barack Obama

June 2, 2026 – Most Americans know Abraham Lincoln as a marble giant, the Great Emancipator, the president who saved the union. But it is perhaps more instructive, and more honest, to see him as he was in the decade before he rose to the White House: a Springfield lawyer who’d served just a single term in Congress. Read more

Bethesda Magazine

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High Seniors Wanted Michelle Obama to Speak at Graduation. They Got Their Wish.

June 2, 2026 – For months, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School seniors publicly begged former First Lady Michelle Obama to speak at their June graduation ceremony. While Obama did not make an in-person appearance at Monday’s ceremony at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in Baltimore, she did send a video message that was shown during the ceremony. Read more

The Associated Press

Jill Biden Says She’s Sorry She Didn’t Talk More About Son Hunter’s Drug Addiction

June 2, 2026 – Jill Biden says she’s sorry she didn’t talk more about her son Hunter’s drug addiction during her time in the White House, explaining that she now realizes that being open about his substance abuse and his recovery can offer hope to others in the same situation. Read more

Newsweek

Jill Biden Reveals Details of ‘Frosty’ Interaction With Melania Trump at Inauguration

June 2, 2026 – Former First Lady Jill Biden described a tense and largely one-sided conversation with Melania Trump during the car ride to President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, according to excerpts from her memoir, View From the East Wing, obtained by Newsweek. Read more

East Wing Magazine

Jill Biden Describes Her East Wing Grief From ‘Every Blow of the Wrecking Ball’

June 1, 2026 – The White House East Wing used to be situated on the east side of the Executive Residence, connected by the East Colonnade. A small building in stature, it stood opposite of the West Wing on the complex and served as the official public entrance into the White House and Office of the First Lady before President Donald Trump demolished it in October of 2025. But Dr. Jill Biden, who was the last first lady to work her husband’s full term from the space carved out for future first ladies by Rosalynn Carter in 1977, compares the destruction of the symbolic structure to that of stalked prey. Read more

CNN

Ex-Jill Biden Spokesperson on Why He Thinks Former First Lady’s Recent CBS Interview Has Damaged Her Credibility

June 1, 2026 – Jill Biden’s ex-spokesperson Michael LaRosa talks with CNN’s Paula Reid about the former first lady’s recent interview with CBS. View here

East Wing Magazine

DJs, Dancing, Double Dutch and More Set for Obama Center Grand Opening

May 30, 2026 – There will be music, dancing, food, art and sports among the festivities planned for the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago taking place June 19 through 21. Read more

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The White House East Wing used to be situated on the east side of the Executive Residence, connected by the East Colonnade. A small building in stature, it stood opposite of the West Wing on the complex and served as the official public entrance into the White House and Office of the First Lady before President Donald Trump demolished it in October of 2025. But Dr. Jill Biden, who was the last first lady to work her husband’s full term from the space carved out for future first ladies by Rosalynn Carter in 1977, compares the destruction of the symbolic structure to that of stalked prey.

Ahead of the release of Biden’s second memoir View from the East Wing on Tuesday, the former first lady in a CBS Sunday Morning interview was asked what she thought of President Donald Trump’s White House East Wing destruction to make way for a ballroom.

“What do you think I think?” she quipped back in the interview that took place from the home she and former President Joe Biden share in Delaware.

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The interview cuts away to an excerpt of the memoir where Dr. Biden writes about how she “felt a sense of loss and grief with every blow from the wrecking ball.”

She goes on to write: “The innards of the East Wing were spread out for everyone to see, like a rare and precious animal that had been hunted down and killed.”

The title of her book, she noted in the interview, was not an accident. Indeed, she said, she thought “it was the perfect title for my book.”

“There was so much institutional memory in that building,” Biden said in the interview. “I loved the East Wing.”

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The interview that aired on Sunday would go on to include other pressing questions like what happened with her husband in the devastating June 2024 presidential debate on CNN against the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. When asked just that, she explains she was afraid her husband was having a stroke, and that she didn’t know exactly what happened.

“I as I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh my God, he’s having a stroke.’ And it scared me to death,” the former first lady said in the interview.

Despite support from family members and others, Mr. Biden’s poor performance and pressure from people in his own party would ultimately cause him to withdraw from the race. He endorsed his then-Vice President Kamala Harris, and not long thereafter, Harris was selected as the Democratic nominee with about three months left before Election Day.

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But much has been speculated up until now about the first lady’s role in all of it. In the interview, she makes clear that it wasn’t her decision to make and even told her husband that she didn’t want him to have her opinion.

“It couldn’t be me. It had to be his decision,” Dr. Biden said in the interview. “Whether he stayed in or got out, he had to live with that the rest of his life. It had to be his decision alone. And, it was.”

Making matters worse, though, Dr. Biden said in the interview, was how hurtful it was to see many of the people they thought supported her husband come out and attack him, although she declined to name who specifically.

“He said, ‘Jilly, I had no choice,’” Dr. Biden recalled from their exchange after he made the decision to step out of the race. About that moment, the former first lady said she was “heartbroken.”

“He didn’t have the support of the Democratic Party,” Dr. Biden said in the interview. But, it wouldn’t be long before she was out campaigning for Harris, the new Democratic presidential nominee. On Election Night, Dr. Biden said she “was shocked that she didn’t win.”

During the interview, the reporter asked Dr. Biden if she ever saw signs of her husband falling into cognitive decline.

“No,” the former first lady said, who defended her husband when the reporter followed up stating that people were saying he wasn’t the same Joe Biden.

“Well, I don’t think that’s true,” Dr. Biden said of her 83-year-old husband. “He was the same, the essence of the same Joe Biden. But yeah, he was slowing down. He was getting older. I mean, we all observe that … It’s a very intense job. I think it ages you quickly.”

There were other moments in the interview when Dr. Biden talked about some of her upsides and pitfalls serving as first lady, a role that remains undefined and unpaid.

She described in the interview how she and her husband worked well “in tandem,” while at the same time having to walk a fine line as has every preceding first lady.

She recalled what it was like in her first year serving as first lady with her main focus on helping heal the nation emerging from the coronavirus pandemic. She traveled the country, sometimes accompanied by Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to the president from 2021 to 2022, to encourage people to get vaccinated.

Dr. Biden also described a moment she would never forget—secretly meeting with Olena Zelenska, first lady of Ukraine and wife of President Volodymir Zelensky, in the early days of the Russian-led war with Ukraine. She recalled saying to the first lady that she brought her support from all the American people at that time.

The former first lady, the first presidential spouse to maintain her job as a community college English professor, also spoke of her support of the Biden administration’s efforts to make community college free. The policy, however, was unsuccessful and traded for funding for free early childhood education.

During her tenure as first lady, Dr. Biden attended the trial of her stepson Hunter Biden who was convicted on all three counts of federal gun charges linked to his drug use.

“Even though I had a really busy schedule, I did what any other parent would do, and that is support their child,” she said in the interview. Later, after Trump was elected, she also said she supported her husband pardoning Hunter out of fear that Trump would target their son.

“We just couldn’t let our son go to jail on a charge … that no one has ever gone to jail for,” she said.

Since leaving the White House, Dr. Biden said they are both keeping busy with speaking engagements and now promoting her book. She shares that she was “shocked” by her husband’s stage four prostate cancer diagnosis announced in May 2025 that has spread to the bone. She noted that he had amazing care at the White hHouse, but “somehow this was missed.”

“He will live with cancer the rest of his life,” she said in an interview on the Today show on Monday.

When asked about the current direction of the country, Dr. Biden believes there “has to be more civility” and that “she still has hope.”

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Obama Foundation Announces Spaces Named for Leaders Who Inspire Young People to Civic Action

The Obama Foundation has announced a selection of spaces in the Obama Presidential Center, opening June 19, that will honor leaders who have inspired young people to make change. The named spaces are made possible through the generosity of individuals and organizations that are supporting the Center’s efforts to inspire, empower, and connect the next generation of changemakers and tell the stories of those who influenced the journey of former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, according to the foundation.

“President and Mrs. Obama’s story is only possible through the collective action and contributions of people who made their voices heard,” said Valerie Jarrett, CEO of The Obama Foundation. “We are grateful for our supporters who are honoring the lives and legacies of leaders upon whose shoulders we stand.”

The spaces include:

• ‘Toward A More Perfect Union’ Exhibit in the Obama Presidential Center Museum, in honor of Jane Addams: Located on Museum Level 2, and made possible by Joe and Rika Mansueto, this exhibit explores the push and pull of democratic progress, featuring artifacts and stories from historic civil and workers’ rights movements that shaped the Obamas’ values and paved the way for the 2008 election. It honors the Nobel Peace Prize-winning social reformer and founder of Chicago’s Hull House who advanced labor rights, protected vulnerable children, and championed immigrant advocacy, guided by her unwavering belief that democracy depends on shared responsibility and inclusion.

• ‘Yes We Can’ Exhibit in the Obama Presidential Center Museum, in honor of John W. Gardner: Also located on Museum Level 2, this immersive exhibit, made possible by Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling, captures the grassroots energy of the 2008 presidential campaign, featuring a film about the campaign and a display of 440 campaign buttons that honor the volunteers who fueled the movement. It honors the social reformer and former secretary of health, education, and welfare who championed lifelong learning, citizen participation, and the launch of Medicare.

• Eunice Kennedy Shriver Lobby at Home Court: Serving as the light-filled entrance to the Home Court programs and athletic center, this lobby, made possible by Northwestern Medicine, features a welcome desk, grand terrazzo staircase, and expansive views through glass windows from the Main Court. It honors the founder of the Special Olympics, who created global programs that promoted inclusion, empowerment, and opportunity for individuals historically overlooked by society.

• Paul Farmer Special Exhibitions Gallery in the Obama Presidential Center: Located on the Lower Level of the Museum building, this dedicated space, made possible by the family of Jessie Reid Taylor, will host future rotating temporary exhibitions that deepen visitor engagement on campus. It honors the global health leader and Partners In Health co-founder who dedicated his life to the belief that healthcare is a human right. Dr. Farmer linked medicine with social justice to build health systems and proved effective care is possible in underserved communities worldwide, providing an example of radical compassion and resilience in solving our toughest challenges.

Other spaces at the center previously announced include Opening the White House Exhibit in the Obama Presidential Center Museum, in honor of Marian Robinson. the Nancy Pelosi Garden Pavilion and the Eleanor Roosevelt Fruit & Vegetable Garden.

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Calendar

June 2, 2026

America at Night

David Lee, the CEO and president of the National First Ladies Library & Museum will be featured on the radio show America at Night at 10 p.m. EDT talking about its historic site and the ongoing Eras Exhibit. Tune in here

June 3, 2026

Cookin’ with Congress: Drink Like a First Lady

The National First Ladies Library & Museum presents a one-of-a-kind, virtual mixology experience “Cookin’ with Congress: Drink Like a First Lady” with Bennett Rhea the viral creator behind “Cookin’ with Congress.” Step inside the private lives of America’s First Ladies—one cocktail at a time. Discover how drinks like Jackie Kennedy’s daiquiri and Dolley Madison’s Yard of Flannel offer insights into the personalities, eras, and cultural moments of the women who shaped history. Read more

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June 4, 2026

Around the Family Table: Stories from Presidential Descendants

Friends of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library presents a new exhibit The American Experiment and an evening to hear stories from presidential descendants about their ancestors and their family legacies. The in-person event will take place on June 4, 2026, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. local time at the LBJ Presidential Library. A moderated conversation will feature Ulysses Grant Dietz, second great grandson of Ulysses S. Grant; Richard Gatchell, fifth great grandson of James Monroe; Massee McKinley, second great grandson of Grover Cleveland; Birch Taylor, second great grandson of Rutherford B. Hayes; and moderator Tweed Roosevelt, great grandson of Theodore Roosevelt. Read more

June 12, 2026

Legacy Lecture: Louisa Catherine Adams in America

The National First Ladies Library & Museum presents an online, one-woman play at noon EDT on June 12, 2026, on Louisa Catherine Adams, one of America’s most fascinating first ladies performed by award-winning actress and historical interpreter Laura Rocklyn. Audiences will explore Louisa’s personal journey and consider her potential future as a widow. The year is 1848: John Quincy Adams has suffered a fatal stroke on the House floor, and Louisa reflects on her years in the White House, her decades of public service, and the sacrifices she made alongside her husband as he fought against slavery in the House of Representatives. Read more

June 12, 2026

Bush Birthday Celebration

Join the George and Barbara Bush Foundation on June 12, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum in College Station, Texas, for a family-friendly celebration honoring the birthdays of President and Mrs. Bush. The celebration will feature story hour with special guest readers, birthday cake, and refreshments. Read more

June 18, 2026

Third Thursday: First Ladies and Their Orchids

The National First Ladies Library & Museum presents from 6 to 8 p.m. local time on June 18, 2026, an in-person Third Thursday program exploring Cattleya orchids named for America’s First Ladies. Arthur E. Chadwick highlights 19 consecutive first ladies, from Edith Bolling Wilson through today, celebrated with orchid hybrids, offering a unique perspective on history, horticulture, and legacy. The evening includes a presentation on a century of first ladies’ namesake orchids and a live show-and-tell of the plants. Read more

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June 19, 2026

The Obama Presidential Center Grand Opening

There will be music, dancing, food, art and sports among the festivities planned for the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago taking place June 19 through 21.

The programming will offer diverse experiences connected to arts and culture, civics and democracy, gardening and food, and sports and well-being, according to the Obama Foundation.

Tickets to the museum are sold out for the opening, but no admission is required to attend the festival. Organizers are asking people to register for some events open to the public because of limited capacity. Read more

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June 27, 2026

The Story of Arthurdale: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Vision of Community

The Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill presents the fundraising panel discussion “The Story of Arthurdale: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Vision of Community” on June 27, 2026, from 12:30 to 3 p.m. local time. Following an informal lunch, join the Eleanor Roosevelt Center and Arthurdale Heritage for a special fundraiser and panel discussion exploring the extraordinary history of Arthurdale and Eleanor Roosevelt’s enduring connection to the community she called her “pet project.”

The afternoon will feature a panel discussion with Franceska Urbin, Supervisory Park Ranger at National Park Service, and Elizabeth Satterfield, Curator and Director of Education at Arthurdale Heritage, and moderated by Anna Fierst, Board Chair of the Eleanor Roosevelt Center (ERVK). They will examine the origins of Arthurdale, Eleanor Roosevelt’s advocacy for struggling families during the Great Depression, and the continued relevance of her vision today. Read more

June 27, 2026

The Grants’ World Tour

The bicentennial celebration of Julia Dent Grant at the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site at White Haven continues with a Ranger Talk on The Grants’ World Tour from 10 to 11 a.m. local time. For more information about the events call 314-842-1867.

June 27, 2026

First Ladies for Kids – Celebrate Ida McKinley

The National First Ladies Library & Museum in Canton, Ohio, invites parents to bring their young historian to First Ladies for Kids in the First Ladies Park at the historic site from 11 to 11:30 a.m. local time.

The in-person, free monthly event is designed for children ages 7 to10. This month, Ida McKinley, a Canton native who became one of the most beloved first ladies of her era will be introduced with hands-on activities that bring history to life through creativity and play, a complimentary take-home workbook with interactive exercises in art, reading, spelling, and math, and exploration of the historic Saxton-McKinley House with a National Park Service Ranger. Registration is requested. Read more

Send calendar items, press releases and announcements to jtaylor@eastwingmagazine.com.

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There will be music, dancing, food, art and sports among the festivities planned for the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago taking place June 19 through 21.

Earlier this week, the Obama Foundation announced the full schedule of activities that reflects the Obamas’ legacy from their time in the White House. The programming will offer diverse experiences connected to arts and culture, civics and democracy, gardening and food, and sports and well-being, the foundation announced in a press release.

“We are so excited to welcome our neighbors on the South Side, people across the city of Chicago, and visitors from around the globe to the Obama Presidential Center, starting with our free Grand Opening Weekend festival,” said Valerie Jarrett, CEO of The Obama Foundation in the…

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The historical narrative around Jane Pierce, the wife of the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce, has long been overshadowed by the horrific death of their 11-year-old son “Bennie” in 1853 as a result of a train accident just weeks before her husband’s inauguration.

The tragic event led future writers to characterize Mrs. Pierce during her tenure as a presidential spouse as an absent and secluded first lady in mourning and in ill health.

But that narrative appears to be incomplete, according to Diana Carlin, co-author of Remember the First Ladies: The Legacies of America’s History-Making Women, in a new essay, “Grief Can Narrow a Life–or Deepen Moral Resolve” spotlighting Mrs. Pierce’s contributions for the national initiative—In Pursuit. The bi-partisan initiative, created by the Washington, D.C.-based organization More Perfect, which includes an alliance of 43 presidential …

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First Lady Melania Trump appealed to lawmakers and their spouses this week to help push the Fostering the Future Act—legislation with a series of foster care reforms—through the Senate.

“If every one of your states gets involved to support our foster care community, we can accelerate our vision to protect these individuals and set them on a pathway to shine,” the first lady said at the 2026 United States Senate Spouses Luncheon in Washington, D.C. “I consider this your moral obligation.”

Last month, the Ways and Means Committee advanced six bills that would modernize the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood (“Chafee”), the nation’s program exclusively for the 20,000 youth who age out of the foster care system each year.

The propos…

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On a bright and sunny Friday at American University in Washington D.C., students have wrapped up their school year. But inside the Mary Graydon Student Center, on an otherwise quiet campus, there were dozens of experts from diverse backgrounds who came together for their one common interest—American presidential first ladies.

They came to listen and share the stories of first ladies as part of this year’s 250th anniversary celebra…

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Beginning in high school, Lady Bird Johnson suffered from severe public speaking anxiety. The idea of giving a speech left Johnson with what one journalist called a “terror of oratory.” So great was this terror that Johnson expressed relief when her grade point average slipped just enough to place her out of range for the valedictorian or salutatorian honor, both of which would have required a commencement speech. Biographer Jan Jarboe Russell writes that Johnson later remarked, “I had enough pride to want to amount to something, but not enough to pay the price to make a speech.”

Johnson was certainly not alone. An unusually high number of Americans—up to 75%, according to some studies—report experiencing some degree of apprehension about the prospect of addressing a public audience, defending arguments, and…

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Ahead of Mother’s Day weekend on Friday, First Lady Melania Trump acknowledged the “balancing act” many working mothers face when in an op-ed for The Washington Post she urged “modern” mothers to revisit American family traditions by preserving elements of the past “that have proven their worth.”

“In doing so,” the first lady wrote, “America can restore the honor of motherhood after years in which feminism often placed career above family, with consequences to our nation.”

The exact consequences Mrs. Trump referred to were unclear in the op-ed. Her remedy offered included mothers making themselves available to their children “not just when it is convenient, but wh…

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Historian Amy Greenberg was deep into researching the U.S.-Mexican War for her book A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico when another unexpected and mostly unknown historic figure kept cropping up—President James Polk’s wife, Sarah.

Fascinated, Greenberg set out to learn more about the first lady only to find that no other scholar had written about her.

“As a historian, this was exactly the kind of little mystery and challenge that I wanted to follow up on,” Greenberg tells East Wing Magazine in a recent phone interview. “The more I got into researching who Sarah Polk was, looking at her relationships with men, political men, looking at relationships with her family, I just got so excited about her.”

That drove Greenberg to write the very first scholarly biography about the former first lady, Lady First: The World of First Lady …

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A broken landscape difficult to traverse was the consensus of people—indigenous and explorers—that first came upon the Badlands near Medora in southwestern North Dakota. And it was the rugged and colorful countryside that also drew in the future 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt.

At 24 years old, a young Roosevelt from New York visited the area in 1883 for a bison hunting trip and to experience the American West. He was so taken with it, he invested in a ranch. The following year, Roosevelt suffered the tragic loss of his wife and mother on the same day—February 14, 1884. In mourning, Roosevelt returned to the Badlands where he established the Elkhorn Ranch and, when there, embraced life as a rancher, hunter and conservationist.

One hundred twenty-five years after being elected president in 1901, a presidenti…

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About two weeks after First Lady Melania Trump returned to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers about foster care reforms, six pieces of overwhelming bipartisan-supported legislation have been approved by members of a Congressional committee.

On Wednesday, the Ways and Means Committee announced the advancement of six bills that would modernize the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood (“Chafee”), the nation’s program exclusively for the 20,000 youth who age out of the foster care system each year.

In a statement, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, a Republican from Missouri, said the needed improvements to the Chafee program were the first since its creation in 1999.

“Together with the spotlight First Lady Melania Trump has shone on the dire circumstances many foster y…

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First Lady Melania Trump, speaking out for the first time since a man was apprehended and later accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump, excoriated comedian Jimmy Kimmel in a social media post Monday after he called her an “expectant widow” during a skit airing Thursday on his late night show.

The joke was made on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” during the monologue days before an accused gunman charged through a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in a hotel in Washington, D.C., where shots were fired resulting in a Secret Service agent being shot, but saved by his bulletproof vest. The president and first lady were rushed out of the hotel ballroom unharmed. The satirical skit showed Kimmel rotating thro…

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A new scholarly publication exclusively dedicated to assessing the impact of American first ladies debuted Saturday with two peer-reviewed articles about former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower.

The First Ladies Association for Research and Education released the inaugural, online issue of The Journal of First Ladies Studies designed to advance research on the lives, influence and historical impact of presidential spouses.

For decades, scholars studying first ladies have faced difficulty trying to publish research in history journals that focus broadly on time periods or geographic areas.

“There wasn’t really any dedicated scholarly space for people who work on first ladies,” Christopher J. Leahy, Ph.D., editor of the journal and Professor of History at Keuka College, tells East Wing …

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