By Paulette LeBlanc, President of Friends of the Safford City-Graham County Library
Mark your calendars for Thursday, March 20th at 5:30 p.m. at the Safford Library Annex. Bonnie Briscoe and Paulette LeBlanc will offer a presentation, A Women’s Place is in the White House, Part 2, which honors our first ladies from Eleanor Roosevelt through Melania Trump. This follows the March 2024 program of the same name which highlighted first ladies to 1933.
Each woman will be profiled throughout the program. Attendees will learn about their childhoods and married lives, their successes and failures, and the marks they left on the presidency, the White House, and the nation. All of them have played a role in history, whether they were working behind the scenes or standing at the podium.
First ladies, unlike presidents, have no job descriptions or explicit rules. In that, there is a form of power. Betty Ford exemplifies this, saying “Lying in the hospital, thinking of all those women going for cancer checkups because of me, I’d come to recognize more clearly the power of the woman in the White House. Not my power, but the power of the position, a power which could be used to help.” Each first lady had the opportunity to define their roles and determine their level of power. Those who came to shape the legacy of the East Wing the most have embraced the capacity to act as allies and agents of change. Join us to learn more about these remarkable women.
Friends Night Out is sponsored by the Safford Friends of the Library, featuring a unique topic of interest each month. Refreshments will be served.
In addition to this article appearing in the Gila Valley Central, Bonnie and Paulette will be guests of KATO’s Voice of the Valley with Dave Bell on Thursday (March 13th) at 8:30 – 9:00 AM. This will give listeners an opportunity to learn more about these First Ladies along with the program that will be presented a week later at the Safford Library Annex on March 20th from 5:30 to 7:00PM.
