Q 01/05

What is her traditional role at the White House?

A) Head of household staff

B) Curator of the collection

C) Chief of protocol

D) Hostess of the residence

Answer · why

D) Hostess of the residence

The job has never been codified or officially defined, which is why every occupant has redrawn it.

Q 02/05

What did presidents without a wife traditionally do about the role?

A) Leave the position vacant

B) Appoint a paid official

C) Share it among cabinet wives

D) Ask a female relative to fill in

Answer · why

D) Ask a female relative to fill in

At least thirteen women who were not presidential wives have served, including daughters, nieces and sisters.

Q 03/05

How was the first president's wife usually addressed?

A) Mrs Presidentress

B) Madam President

C) Lady Washington

D) The First Hostess

Answer · why

C) Lady Washington

There was no agreed title at the time, and several early wives simply chose their own.

Q 04/05

Who was the first woman to have the title applied to her while she actually held the role?

A) Dolley Madison

B) Mary Todd Lincoln

C) Martha Washington

D) Harriet Lane

Answer · why

D) Harriet Lane

Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper used the phrase for her in 1860; she was James Buchanan's niece.

Q 05/05

Whose 1849 funeral eulogy supposedly first used the phrase 'first lady'?

A) Dolley Madison's

B) Elizabeth Monroe's

C) Martha Jefferson's

D) Abigail Adams's

Answer · why

A) Dolley Madison's

No written record of that eulogy survives, and no newspaper of the day used the phrase for her.