Anonymous wrote:I have to throw Eleanor Roosevelt into this ring. She didn't have a lot of degrees (they were super uncommon for women in 1900) but she was VERY accomplished:
She was a delegate to the UN, was heavily involved in civil rights issues (especially for African Americans), worked in social services at the Settlement House, and during WWII worked with the Red Cross and volunteered at Navy hospitals. Once FDR was stricken with polio, she got even more involved with social and political issues. She was the first first lady to hold her own press conference (and only allowed female reporters to attend!) She served in the UN's General Assembly, was chair of the Human Rights Commission, and so much more. She is really remembered and respected in the field of social work.
Eleanor Roosevelt, Dolly Madison and the others mentioned here were definitely accomplished women. But if we are going to discount Hillary's accomplishments by saying she wouldn't have gotten them if her husband weren't president, couldn't the same be said of Eleanor Roosevelt and the others?
Would Eleanor have been a delegate to the UN if not for FDR? Would she have gotten such a big microphone via her newspaper column if not for FDR? Would she have given a press conference if not for FDR? It goes on and on and on.
If Hillary is to get dinged because she wouldn't have had her accomplishments without her husband, then all the other first ladies need to as well.