A Day for First Ladies

Saturday marks second annual National First Ladies Day as organizers seek making the recognition a permanent federal holiday.

First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford (front row, left to right), Nancy Reagan, and Barbara Bush (standing, left to right) at the dedication of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in 1991. (Photo courtesy George Bush Presidential Library)

Scattered across the country, a little-known contingent of influential people are working diligently behind the scenes to help give America’s first ladies the recognition they say is long overdue. 

They are the descendants of first ladies, the Canton-Ohio based National First Ladies Library & Museum, historians, and community builders that make up the National First Ladies Day Commission (NFLDC), created in 2021. And, they are on a mission to help establish a federal holiday—National First Ladies Day.  

Already, their work has seen some success. On March 30, 2022, the National Day Calendar in cooperation with the NFLDC recognized the last Saturday in April as National First Ladies Day. This year, the recognition in it…