"Hillary Clinton should read Troy's book. Anybody who wants to be First Lady should read it. Anyone married to a powerful person, or thinking about marrying a powerful person, should read it; in fact everyone should read it. It's full of nuggets and insights about marriage, power and the presidency. I loved it."

Lesley Stahl, CBS News

"Gil Troy's riveting history of the halting, controversial emergence of the modern presidential couple is both enormously entertaining and highly provocative. It explains the deep tension between the growing power of feminism in American culture and the continuing strength of traditional notions of women's roles-a tension to which America's First Ladies have fallen victim again and again."

Alan Brinkley, author of The End of Reform: New Liberalism in Recession and War

"Troy argues that the rise of the First Couple is not simply a function of the women's movement but reflects a mixture of factors, including the weakening of parties, the rise of personality politics, the increasing power of the Presidency and the Federal Government, and , perhaps most important of all, the rise of mass media and the new political culture it spawned."

New York Times

"A must read for anyone interested in serious discussion of the power and influence of presidential spouses. It removes these women from the roles associated with tea and china and places them in the larger context of White House turf battles and American ambivalence toward women and power. While I disagree with his conclusions, I have not read a more provocative, thoroughly researched, or readable account of these women. I recommend it without reservation."

Allida Black, author of Casting Her Own Shadow: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Shaping of Postwar Liberals

Book Review

"A must read for anyone interested in the presidential marriage. Recommended for a broad audience."

Presidential Studies Quarterly

"An absorbing book full of surprises and fascinating anecdotes."

Kirkus Reviews

"Deeply engrossing."

Publishers Weekly

"It is hard to read Affairs of State without coming to the conclusion that the modern First Lady simply can't win. . . . The day's are probably long gone when most Americans could accept Mamie Eisenhower's blithe division of labor: "Ike runs the country and I turn the lamb chops." . . . [Nevertheless,] Mr. Troy clearly comes down on the side of stiff upper lips and maintaining appearances."

Robin Toner, The New York Times Book Review February 2, 1997 

"This overview of post-WWII U.S. presidential couples by Troy... is deeply engrossing. ... Drawing on extensive research, Troy examines each partnership and evaluates whether the marriage helped the presidency. Truman's emotional dependence on Bess, who disliked politics, distracted him, while Mamie Eisenhower and Barbara Bush filled supportive roles. According to Troy, the presidencies of Ford, Carter and Clinton were impacted negatively by the public's perception of their wives as wielding too much power."

Publishers Weekly, November 11, 1996

"Emphasizing the increasingly complex political and cultural roles of the First Lady, Troy takes an unusual look at the travails of ten modern presidential couples, from the Trumans to the Clintons. 

While First Ladies could be popular or unpopular, and could always exert an influence on policy (most dramatically in the case of Woodrow Wilson's wife, Edith, after Wilson's stroke in 1919), Troy argues, only recently has the concept of the "First Couple" emerged, in which the role of the president's wife helps define the direction and success of her husband's administration. Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, and Jackie Kennedy were high-profile women whose popularity contributed to their husbands' electoral successes, but in contrast to more recent First Ladies, they didn't play a direct role in formulating policy, Troy points out. The Eisenhower's strong marriage, for instance, helped Ike maintain high approval ratings throughout his two administrations. Jackie Kennedy, with her enormous popularity and glamour, self-consciously created a Kennedy myth that concealed the president's marital infidelities and other sordid truths for years. As the role of women changed in society in recent decades, so did that of the First Lady; Lady Bird Johnson and Betty Ford were activist First Ladies who became lightning rods for criticism of their husbands; the Carters and Reagans were "co-presidents," with the First Lady having a direct impact on important aspects of policy. The Clintons represent the culmination of this trend: Hillary Rodham Clinton was put in charge of a major policy initiative, and her activities became a principal headache for her husband. Her unpopularity demonstrated the popular confusion and discomfort over the First Lady's evolution from simply the president's wife to a political partner. 

Full of surprising and fascinating anecdotes, this is an absorbing look at an often-overlooked aspect of the modern presidency." 

From: Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 1996