summary 2

Summary
Jan 24, 2010
In Hye Park
According to L. Burns in “The First Lady as Political celebrity, 1932-1961” in “First Ladies and the Fourth Estate”, 2008, pages 77-101, certain first ladies of this period were elevated to “political celebrity” (L. Burns, 2008, p.95) promoting the value of their domestic role as traditional woman. First, the author pointed out that first ladies of this period embodied their “domesticity ideology” (L. Burns, 2008, p.84) stressing an economic contribution of women’s housework. That is, according to the author, the first ladies publicly acknowledged social importance of women’s domestic roles, which was rare before this era. In addition, she indicated that mass media concentrated more on “domestic empowerment” (L. Burns, 2008, p.84), which ultimately involve the political influence. Furthermore, the author stated that the first ladies were more dedicated and supportive of their husband’s career as “two-career person” (L. Burns, 2008, p.90). In other words, they extended the range of their role from more traditional helpmate to public protector. Finally, the author focused on the first lady as celebrity. He indicated that the first ladies began to attract more public attention separately from their husband with development of mass media. They were attributed to role models of American woman from political activities to fashion style. Although the first ladies of this period were more active as “political celebrity” (L. Burns, 2008, p.95) performing various social roles, they still put more emphasis on the roles as housewives than the duties as first lady in public area.