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All American Moms
By Staff Writer

A mother is a woman who conceives, gives birth to, or raises a child. Because of the complexity and differences of mothers' social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to define a mother to suit a universally accepted definition. The mothers of the White House, who have occupied the esteemed American title of First Lady, honor the grace, wisdom, and strength that it takes to be a mother. In honor of Mother's Day, Valley Scene Magazine celebrates the special bonds shared between presidential mothers, their children, and the American population First Lady's hold over American culture as the representative mother figure for the U.S. to the world.

As President Ronald Reagan said, "From our mothers, we first learn about values and caring and the difference between right and wrong." Mothers help their children build healthy, successful lives. Through their positive examples, mothers teach the values of generosity, compassion, and the importance of family and community. Mothers are the founding for the future. Based on providing a quality, nurturing environment, mothers can help children develop with confident character to realize their full potential. A mother's love gives every child one of life's great gifts where her work requires extraordinary patience, compassion, and a steadfast example for the positive formation of young lives.

The current first lady mom is Michelle Obama, wife of Barack Obama. At present, there are six living former first lady moms: Betty Ford, widow of Gerald Ford; Rosalynn Carter, wife of Jimmy Carter; Nancy Reagan, widow of Ronald Reagan; Barbara Bush, wife of George H. W. Bush; Laura Bush, wife of George W. Bush; and current secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, wife of Bill Clinton.

And of course, though she is no longer living, Jackie Kennedy (wife of JFK) is and always will be an iconic figure of motherhood.

Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama is the wife of 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first First Lady of the United States of African-American heritage. The couple married in October 1992, and they have two daughters, Malia Ann (born 1998) and Natasha (known as Sasha, born 2001). Throughout her husband's 2008 campaign for President of the United States, she made a "commitment to be away overnight only once a week - to campaign only two days a week and be home by the end of the second day" for their two children. Barack Obama wrote in his second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, that "Tired and stressed, we had little time for conversation, much less romance." However, despite their family obligations and careers, they continue to attempt to schedule date nights. The combination of a family life and beginning political career led to many arguments about balancing work and family.

The Obamas' daughters attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, a private school. As a member of the school's board, Michelle fought to maintain diversity in the school when other board members connected with the University of Chicago tried to reserve more slots for children of the university faculty. This resulted in a plan to expand the school. The Obamas' daughters now attend Sidwell Friends School in Washington, after also considering Georgetown Day School. She stated in an interview on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show that the couple does not intend to have any more children. They have received advice from past first ladies Laura Bush, Rosalynn Carter, and Hillary Rodham Clinton about raising children in the White House.

Jacqueline Kennedy

Jackie Kennedy was married to John F. Kennedy, who was the 35th President of the United States. She served as First Lady from until 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Jacqueline and then-Senator John Kennedy belonged to the same social circle and often attended the same functions. In May 1952, at a dinner party organized by mutual friends, they were formally introduced. The two began dating soon afterward, and their engagement was officially announced on June 25, 1953.

Bouvier married Kennedy on September 12, 1953, at St. Mary's Church in Newport, Rhode Island in a Mass celebrated by Boston's Archbishop Richard Cushing.

Jacqueline suffered a miscarriage in 1955 and gave birth to a stillborn baby girl in 1956. Kennedy subsequently gave birth to a second daughter, Caroline, in 1957, and a son, John, in 1960.

Jacqueline Kennedy entered the role of First Lady by declaring that her priorities were her young children and maintaining her family's privacy. During the weeks before the inauguration, she began her plans to not only redecorate the family quarters of the White House but to historically restore the public rooms.

Jacqueline Kennedy also sought to use the White House to "showcase" the arts. She became the most prominent proponent for the establishment of the National Cultural Center in the nation's capital, eventually to be named for her husband.

With her husband's death, she became the sole caregiver for her two children. There is a famous photo of JFK Jr. saluting his father's coffin during his funeral. Jackie remained strong and raised the children herself, acting as mother and father until she remarried.

Betty Ford

"There is no undertaking more challenging, no responsibility more awesome, than that of being a mother." - Gerald Ford

Elizabeth Anne "Betty" Bloomer Ford is the widow of former United States President Gerald R. Ford and served as the First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977. As first lady, Betty Ford was active in social policy and shattered precedents as a politically active presidential wife (Time considered her "the most since Eleanor Roosevelt"). In the opinion of several historians, Betty had more impact upon history and culture than her husband did.

Throughout her husband's term in office, she maintained high approval ratings despite some opposition from some conservative Republicans who objected to her more moderate and liberal positions on social issues. Pro-choice on abortion and a leader in the Women's Movement, she gained fame as one of the most candid first ladies in history, commenting on every hot-button issue of the time, including feminism, equal pay, ERA, sex, drugs, abortion, and gun control. She also raised awareness of addiction when she announced her long-running battle with alcoholism in the 1970s.

On October 15, 1948, Elizabeth Bloomer Warren married Gerald R. Ford Jr., a lawyer and World War II veteran, at Grace Episcopal Church, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Married for 58 years, the couple had four children: Michael Gerald Ford (b. 1950), John Gardner Ford (nicknamed Jack, b. 1952), Steven Meigs Ford (b. 1956), and Susan Elizabeth Ford (b. 1957).The Fords moved to the Virginia suburbs of the Washington, D.C., area and lived there for 25 years. Betty and Gerald Ford were among the more openly loving and intimate First Couples in American history. Susan Ford Bales, the youngest child and only daughter of the late U.S. President Gerald R. Ford and his wife Betty, attended the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland; she held her senior prom in the East Room of the White House. She served as official White House hostess when her mother was hospitalized for breast cancer.

Rosalynn Carter

Eleanor Rosalynn Smith Carter, commonly known as Rosalynn Carter, is the wife of the former President of the United States Jimmy Carter, and in that capacity served as the First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981. As First Lady and after, she was a leading advocate for numerous causes, perhaps most prominently for mental health research. Rosalynn Smith first dated Jimmy Carter in 1945 while he was at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. On July 7, 1946, they married. The couple have four children: John William "Jack" (born 1947), James Earl "Chip" III (born 1950), Donnel Jeffrey "Jeff" (born 1952), and Amy Lynn (born 1967). In 1953, after her husband left the Navy, she helped him run the family peanut farming and warehousing business, handling the accounting responsibilities. Since 1962, the year Jimmy Carter was elected to the Georgia State Senate, she has been active in the political arena.

Nancy Reagan

"From my mother I learned the value of prayer, how to have dreams and believe I could make them come true." -Ronald Reagan

Nancy Davis Reagan is the widow of former United States President Ronald Reagan and served as an influential First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. In 1952, she married Ronald Reagan, who was then president of the Screen Actors Guild, and they had two children. Nancy restored Kennedy-esque glamour to the White House following years of lax formality, and her interest in high-end fashion garnered much attention, as well as criticism. She championed recreational drug prevention causes by founding the "Just Say No" drug awareness campaign, which was considered her major initiative as first lady.

The Reagans married on March 4, 1952 in a simple ceremony designed to avoid the press at the Little Brown Church in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. The only people in attendance were actor William Holden, the best man, and his wife, the matron of honor. The couple's first child, Patricia Ann Reagan (better known by her professional name, Patti Davis), was born on October 21, 1952. Their son, Ronald Prescott Reagan, was born six years later on May 20. Nancy Reagan also became stepmother to Maureen Reagan (1941-2001) and Michael Reagan (born 1945), the children of her husband's first marriage to Jane Wyman.

Barbara Bush

"At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, or a parent. Fathers and mothers, if you have children ... they must come first. You must read to your children, you must hug your children; you must love your children. Your success as a family ... our success as a society ... depends not on what happens at the White House, but on what happens inside your house," - Barbara Bush.

Barbara Pierce Bush is the wife of the 41st President of the United States George H. W. Bush, and served as First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993. She is the mother of the 43rd President George W. Bush and 43rd Governor of Florida Jeb Bush. Previously she had served as Second Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. She met George Herbert Walker Bush at age 16, and the two married in 1945, while he was on leave during his deployment as a naval officer in World War II. They would have six children together. The Bush family soon moved to Midland, Texas; as George Bush entered political life, Barbara raised their children.

She met George Herbert Walker Bush, a student at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts at age 16 during a dance over Christmas vacation. After a year-and-a-half, the two became engaged to be married, just before he went off to World War II as a Navy torpedo bomber pilot. He named three of his planes after her: Barbara, Barbara II, and Barbara III. When he returned on leave, she had dropped out of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts; two weeks later, on January 6, 1945, they were married at the First Presbyterian Church in Rye, New York. She gave birth to six children: George W. Bush (born July 6, 1946), 43rd President of the United States, and 46th Governor of Texas. Pauline Robinson "Robin" Bush (December 20, 1949 - October 11, 1953, died of leukemia). John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953), 43rd Governor of Florida. Neil Mallon Bush (born January 22, 1955). Marvin Pierce Bush (born October 22, 1956). Dorothy Bush Koch (born August 18, 1959).

Laura Bush

Laura Lane Welch Bush is the wife of the forty-third President of the United States, George W. Bush, and was the First Lady of the United States from January 20, 2001 to January 20, 2009. She met George Walker Bush in 1977, and they were married later that year. In 1981, the couple had twin daughters. Polled by Gallup as one of the most popular first ladies, Laura Bush was involved in topics of both national and global concern during her tenure. She met George W. Bush in 1977 at a backyard barbecue at the home of mutual friends, John and Jan O'Neill. After a three-month courtship, he proposed to her and they were married on November 5 of that year at the First United Methodist Church in Midland, the same church in which she had been baptized. The couple did not have a honeymoon. The Bushes had tried to conceive for three years, but pregnancy did not happen easily. On 25 November 1981, Laura Bush gave birth to twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna. The twins graduated from high school in 2000 and from Yale University and the University of Texas at Austin, respectively, in 2004. To date, Laura Bush is the only First Lady to give birth to twins.

Hillary Clinton

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001. In the 2008 election, Clinton was a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. When Bill Clinton took office as president in January 1993, Hillary Rodham Clinton became the First Lady of the United States, and announced that she would be using that form of her name. She was the first First Lady to hold a postgraduate degree and to have her own professional career up to the time of entering the White House. She is regarded as the most openly empowered presidential wife in American history, save for Eleanor Roosevelt.
Martha Washington

"My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her." -George Washington

Martha Dandridge Custis, aged 27, and George Washington, aged nearly 27, married on January 6, 1759 at her estate, known as the White House, on the Pamunkey River northwest of Williamsburg.

Their wedding was a grand affair. After the Reverend Peter Mossum pronounced them, man and wife, the couple honeymooned at the White House for several weeks before setting up housekeeping at Washington's Mount Vernon. Their marriage appears to have been a solid one, untroubled by infidelity or clash of temperament. Martha and George Washington had no children together, but they raised Martha's two surviving children. Her teenaged daughter, also named Martha, died during an epileptic seizure, which led John to return home from college to comfort his mother. John later served as an aide to Washington during the siege of Yorktown in 1781. John died during this military service, probably of typhus. After his death, the Washingtons raised two of John's children, Eleanor Parke Custis (March 31, 1779 - July 15, 1852), and George Washington Parke Custis (April 30, 1781 - October 10, 1857).

Mother's Day began as a day of love and friendship, designed to help heal families divided across battle lines during the Civil War. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a resolution officially establishing Mother's Day to honor the role of women in the family, stating that the observance serves as a "public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country." President John Quincy Adams once said, "All that I am my mother made me." President Abraham Lincoln believed, "All that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother. I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life."

Nearly 100 years ago, Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia helped establish the first official Mother's Day observance. Her campaign began as a remembrance of her late mother, who, in the aftermath of the Civil War, had tried to establish "Mother's Friendship Days." In 1910, West Virginia became the first State officially to observe Mother's Day. Just over a year later, nearly every State in the Union had officially recognized the day.

As President Theodore Roosevelt said of the American mother, "Upon her time and strength, demands are made not only every hour of the day but often every hour of the night. The mother is the one supreme asset of national life; she is more important by far than the successful statesman, or business man, or artist, or scientist." Motherhood proves the singularity of a human being and their encompassing affect on a young person's future. In schools and communities, mothers ensure children resist peer pressure to make the right choices. America owes much of its quality heartfelt strength to all mothers, biological, adoptive, stepmothers, and foster. "In this new era of global connections, there is perhaps no more powerful link than the love between mother and child," said George W. Bush.

Today, despite amazing technological advances, the global community challenges mothers at home and work to strive to provide safe, healthy, comfortable homes. The mothers of U.S. society, especially the presidential first lady mothers, teach children, by example, to approach conflict with words, not violence, cherish diversity, and reject prejudice.

This Mother's Day, Valley Scene Magazine wishes human beings to reflect upon their mothers, grandmothers, and/or any close maternal figures in life with deep gratitude. If you are a mother, please continue to care, provide guidance, make sacrifices, and find the heart to express your love for your children because nothing will destroy the fabric of the American way of life faster than the loss of the family unit and the important powerful role of the mother. Times are hard, technology is moving very fast, and the ability to become caught up, apathetic, and indifferent to the closest people in our life is easier than ever before. Please do not let this happen. Children love your mother. Fathers give her the purest love that that goddess that you married deserves, and remember: unconditional love is a rare commodity in this fast-paced, capitalist, globalizing, inter-connected, tech-savvy community, so do not squander it.

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