Real Talk: Chapter One of Dr. Watson's The Presidents' Wives

Academic studies about first ladies are not limited exclusively to the discipline of political science. In fact, multiple disciplines with various insights contribute to the deeper understanding of one of the most underrated positions in the executive branch or at least the entire U.S. government. This episode starts off with the first chapter of Dr. Robert Watson, author of The Presidents' Wives: The Office of the First Lady in US Politics (2014). Chapter one, preface, foreword and the corresponding interview on C-SPAN would be the focus as the second edition of his book differs to certain degrees from his interview.

The biggest idea in the first chapter is partnership, which will be covered throughout the First Ladies series of Real Talk. Watson does more with this idea in chapters two through six. In addition, Jacob has an overview of the components of our analytical framework in which partnership factors are one-third of the framework. Internal factors are specific to each individual first lady; these are the characteristics that each first lady brings to the job. Just as we explain presidential behavior in terms of the individual president and the office of the presidency, we explain first ladies’ behavior in terms of their individual characteristics and the nature of their office, the first ladyship. Tune in as Jacob delves into this portion of this series of Real Talk in-depth to give the conversation about this important topic more substance. Other topics are to be announced.

Check out the following link below for more information:

Watson, Robert. Interview by Juana Summers. Washington Journal. C-SPAN. National Cable Satellite Corporation, 17 Feb. 2014. Web. 20 Jan. 2017. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/infoforyou/2017/01/25/real-talk-chapter-one-of-dr-watsons-the-presidents-wives