Betty Ford chose to tackle addiction, Barbara Bush addressed literacy, Michelle Obama went after childhood obesity and now the wait is over for our newest first lady's official initiative: cyber bullying.
In a rare press conference on Monday, First Lady Melania Trump announced “Be Best,” her formal initiative that will focus on well-being, combating opioid abuse, and positivity on social media. The latter of those has raised the most questions, as her husband’s penchant for name-calling on Twitter is well-known.
The announcement comes as at least one national survey shows her popularity ticking up. In a CNN poll conducted last week, 57 percent of respondents said they had a favorable impression of the First Lady, which is up 10 percent from where she was in January.
What opportunities will Melania have to achieve the goals she has set out in her platform? How have other first ladies had success in championing their initiatives? Larry talks with two experts on American first ladies about this and the general idea of the first lady as an icon and a TV personality.
Guests:
Catherine Allgor, first ladies historian and president of the Massachusetts Historical Society; she tweets
Katherine Jellison, first ladies historian and professor and chair of the department of history at Ohio University