First ladies are doing a lot. But the job remains undefined, frequently misunderstood, and subject to political attacks far nastier in some ways than those any President has ever faced.

No matter how different our First Ladies have been - and as individual women they have ranged from recluses to vibrant hostesses to political manipulators on a par with Machiavelli - they have all shared the unnerving experience of facing a job they did not choose.

He's [Harry S. Truman] just your dad, and you love him. It's only when you grow up, and step back from him, or leave him for your own career and your own home - it's only then that you can measure his greatness and fully appreciate it. Pride reinforces love. My father was a great man.

Mother ... considered a press conference on a par with a visit to a cage full of cobras.

The men who espoused unpopular causes may have been considered misguided, but they were rarely attacked for their morals or their masculinity. Women who did the same thing were apt to be denounced as harlots or condemned for being unfeminine - an all-purpose word that was used to describe almost any category of female behavior of which men disapproved.

He [Harry S. Truman] loved politicians - even Republicans.

Courage is rarely reckless or foolish... courage usually involves a highly realistic estimate of the odds that must be faced.