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Mr. and Mrs.President

See How They Ran

In "Hidden Power" Kati Marton does what many first ladies have done -- she sidesteps many of these difficult dilemmas. A former correspondent for ABC News and National Public Radio and the author of three previous books, Marton has plowed through the research and woven a tale focusing on the presidential marriages. The result is like many successful first ladies' tenures. It is pleasant enough. It is illuminating enough. But it is not as penetrating or as important as it should be.

In 11 fun, anecdote-filled and well-paced chapters, Marton explores "the presidential marriages that shaped our recent history." In a relatively conventional move, she begins with the Woodrow Wilsons, the Franklin Roosevelts and the Harry Trumans. She then discusses the last eight presidential couples, from the Kennedys through the Clintons, becoming more insightful along the way. Her epilogue introduces the newest occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., George and Laura Bush.

Marriage presumably involves two people. Yet Marton emphasizes the women in each relationship. Insights about the presidents, and the presidency, emerge indirectly.

This book belongs to the progressive tradition of first lady historiography. For generations, most authors have celebrated the first ladies. Originally, the feminine sensibility prevailed, and writers from "the tea and crumpets" school of first lady historiography breathlessly praised the various White House mistresses. More recently, the feminist sensibility has prevailed and most writers from the "I am woman" school of first lady historiography have glorified new role models for a heroine-starved age.

Such celebrations are particularly jarring because many first ladies have disliked their tasks. Martha Washington considered herself a "state prisoner." Bess Truman loathed the "Great White Jail." First lady hagiography never reconciles the rocky tenures with the happy memories.

In this book as well, Marton weaves a series of compelling but mostly upbeat stories. We learn about Woodrow Wilson's passionate affair with his second wife, and how affairs of state bonded them, even before Edith Wilson took charge after the president's stroke. We learn about the unique Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson bond, a bond that withstood LBJ's personal infidelities, political miscalculations and volcanic eruptions.

Marton has an eye for the great quotation and an ear for the apt phrase. She captures the odd dynamics of the Kennedy marriage by quoting Jackie Kennedy's description of herself and her husband as "a couple of icebergs, with most of who we are submerged beneath the surface." Marton describes Barbara Bush's subtle influence in the White House by noting that Mrs. Bush "was brilliant at sending a signal without leaving an imprint." As for Bill and Hillary, Marton notes that "Love and ambition cohabited seamlessly with the Clintons."

Alas, part of the reason why the stories are so compelling is because their story lines are too simple. Most of Marton's assessments lack nuance -- except for her Clinton chapter. Paradoxically, offering clarity instead of complexity makes the book more readable. For example, Marton reports that the Carters, one of her favorite couples, "were an exemplary pair. ... From the beginning they were everything to each other: friend, lover, confidant, business and, later, political partners." Yet the Carters' partnership evolved and only emerged after Rosalynn Carter became more confident. Marton herself reports that the way Rosalynn discovered her peanut farmer husband was entering politics was that, as Mrs. Carter later recalled, "He got up one morning and put on some dress slacks instead of his khaki pants and I said why are you dressing up on a weekday?" Jimmy Carter replied, "I'm going to Americus to sign up to run for the [state] Senate." A decade and a half later, during the 1976 presidential campaign, Jimmy Carter was less imperious; Rosalynn, less compliant.

Similarly, Marton's characterization of her least favorite couple, the Nixons, verges on caricature. Marton claims that in 1958, when then-Vice President Richard Nixon's goodwill tour in Venezuela soured, an unfeeling Nixon failed to protect his wife as protesters rained spit on her. "Nixon preferred spit, or any other indignity, to betraying human emotion," Marton snaps. "It was not the first time his wife was reminded that no personal cost was too high for her husband's political ambition." While there were indeed vast lacunas in the Nixons' emotional landscape, and Richard Nixon often did subordinate his wife to his political life, the Venezuela incident is a misleading example. Both Nixons were trying to represent the United States of America with steely aplomb. Both Nixons received kudos for their dignity in the face of hostility, which included, Nixon would later write, being "as cold as the mob was hot." This incident had far less to do with the Nixon marital dynamic and far more to do with Cold War politics and 1950s conceptions of propriety. Throughout the chapter, Marton fails to see Richard Nixon's softer side, and the bond between Pat and Dick Nixon. This tie, by the way, makes the missed signals, the long silences, the great pain that burdened the relationship, all the more poignant, but all the more complex.

Ultimately, this book is too concentrated on the personal side of what is admittedly an idiosyncratic office. Marton researched the stories of each couple extensively. As the wife of a leading American diplomat, Richard C. Holbrooke, she has enjoyed a bird's-eye view of presidents Clinton, Carter and George H.W. Bush. Yet her sources do not mention one broader history of first ladies or the presidency. Focussing on individuals rather than the institution itself, Marton does not provide a context for assessing this enduring source of hidden power.

Gil Troy is professor of history at McGill University. His latest book is "Mr. and Mrs. President: From the Trumans to the Clintons."