Keeping Control of the Narrative

The media meets first ladies and their press secretaries who help mold the messages.

This is the second story in a two-part series analyzing the evolving relationship between America’s modern first ladies and the media.

 First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton tapes a Larry King weekend show in the Vermeil Room of the White House in 1993. (Credit: Ralph Alswang)

Since the days of Jackie Kennedy and Lady Bird Johnson, a first lady’s press secretary has had her work cut out for her. 

As press secretary, the main goal is to portray a fulsome picture of the first lady that includes her values, passions and work, whether it’s traditional hostess duties at the White House or policy and advocacy initiatives, says Lisa Caputo, who served as Hillary Clinton’s press secretary from 1992-1996 and is now executive vice president and chief marketing, communications and customer experience officer for The Travelers Companies, Inc. With Hillary Clinton, this was a difficult task, because she “didn’t neatly fit into what one may categorize as the ‘traditional’ role of the first lady,” Caputo s…