View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Texas A&M Repository LADY CITIZEN: GENDER, MEMORY, AND CIVIC IDENTITY A Dissertation by SARA R. KITSCH Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Kristan Poirot Committee Members, Tasha Dubriwny Jennifer Jones Barbour Claire Katz Head of Department, J. Kevin Barge December 2017 Major Subject: Communication Copyright 2017 Sara Rae Kitsch ABSTRACT This dissertation theorizes the first lady as a distinct embodiment of gender and citizenship. In particular, I argue that by examining the intersection of the first lady role and citizenship, we gain a more complete portrait of role’s historic, rhetorical, and public significance. Specifically, this study asks: How does the role of first lady offer a particular embodiment of citizenship in the public sphere? What are the constraints and opportunities of foregrounding the first lady as a public citizen? What are the rhetorical mechanisms that help explain how the informal role persists? Utilizing a rhetorical perspective, I begin with the premise that language, symbols, and discourse are never devoid of argument. My method, then, involves attention to the context, language, visuals, and performative acts through which the first lady role is constructed, maintained, and altered. Through three case studies I trace how the first lady role is foregrounded as a public citizen. Specifically, I examine the projection of the role onto Michelle Obama during the 2008 press coverage of the presidential election, the rhetorical exigencies that compel Lady Bird Johnson’s 1964 Whistle Stop tour, as well commemoration of the role at the Smithsonian exhibit and six presidential museums. Despite the abundance of possibility in theorizing about the public nature of the first lady role, what manifests throughout this project is a model of citizenship highly constrained, and overdetermined by not only gender, but also race and class. As such, the first lady’s citizen-status is not common or accessible, but rather always circumstantial and subservient to traditions ii based in white, heteronormative, male, supremacy. Indeed, the role’s agency lies in its ability to reify the gendered, raced, and classed assumptions of our nation’s liberal roots, not challenge them. Despite these findings, the project contributes to the growing body of literature that recovers, resuscitates, and redefines how women’s narratives are being remembered, created, and appreciated. The Lady Citizen presents new obstacles to reviving the first lady’s public legacy, but paves the way future work to come. iii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my husband, Robert Hinck, for the nonstop conversations and the generally perfect balance of criticism and encouragement. It is dedicated to my adviser, Kristan Poirot, official herder of the scholar cats, for not giving up on herding me. Additionally, it is dedicated to my parents, Bill and Mandy, because without them none of this would even be possible. Finally, this dissertation is dedicated to my dogs, Larry and Louise, whose frequent puppy naps kept me jealous and motivated to finish. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Kristan Poirot, and my committee members, Dr. Tasha Dubriwny, Dr. Jennifer Jones Barbour, Dr. Claire Katz, for their continued support, patience, and insight throughout the course of my work. Each of you has brought something unique to my time at Texas A&M, throughout my coursework and during the dissertation process. Thanks also go to the wonderful friends I made at TAMU while working towards my degree—in particular, Jessica Gantt Schafer, Paige Calamari Ehrl, Carrie Murkowski, and Emily Bushnell. Without you ladies this process would have been far less fun. You are all fiercely smart, independent women, and I am so grateful for your continual encouragement and willingness to always join me for a “glass” of wine and scholarly conversation. Finally, thanks to my family. Mom and dad, you have always made the great life I lead possible through your love and support, but also because you never once questioned my goals. Because of this, I have always believed I could do anything—even earn a PhD. Ed and Shelly, your support and conversation has been a source of great comfort throughout this process and I am so lucky to have in-laws as smart and kind as you. v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES This work was supervised by a dissertation committee consisting of Professor Kristan Poirot and Professor Tasha Dubriwny of the Department of Communication, Professor Katz of the Department of Philosophy, and Professor Jennifer Jones Barbour of the Department of Communication at the University of Texas. This work was made possible in part by the Department of Communication’s Internal Student Research Grant. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Department of Communication. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................ii DEDICATION .................................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES ............................................................. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................vii 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 The First Lady of the United States ............................................................................... 4 Gender & Citizenship ..................................................................................................... 9 Theorizing the First Lady Citizen ................................................................................ 19 Dissertation Structure ................................................................................................... 23 2. CONSTRUCTING THE “SYMOBLIC” CITIZEN: MICHELLE OBAMA AS POTENTIAL FIRST LADY ............................................................................................ 32 First Ladies and the Press ............................................................................................. 35 The Symbolic Citizen ................................................................................................... 43 A Fashion Forward First Lady ................................................................................. 43 Representing American Womanhood ...................................................................... 45 The Tradition of Transitions ..................................................................................... 47 The Transformation of Michelle Obama ...................................................................... 50 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 55 3. LADY BIRD JOHNSON’S “SOUTHERN TOUR”: THE LADY BIRD SPECIAL AS A PERFORMANCE OF REGIONAL CITIZENSHIP .............................................. 62 The First Lady as a Rhetorical Citizen ......................................................................... 65 Imagining the Regional Citizen.................................................................................... 67 Performing Regional Citizenship: The Lady Bird Special........................................... 72 Cultivating Regional Culture on the Lady Bird Special........................................... 73 vii Performing Southern Womanhood ........................................................................... 78 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 85 4. THE CONTAINED CITIZEN: FIRST LADIES IN SPACES OF PUBLIC COMMEMORATION ..................................................................................................... 91 Commemorating Citizenship ....................................................................................... 93 Remembering a Presidency .......................................................................................... 98 The “Common Citizen” ............................................................................................ 99 The Contained Citizen ............................................................................................ 104 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 115 5. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 120 The Intersections of First Lady Citizenship ............................................................... 122 Implications of the “Lady Citizen” ............................................................................ 126 Directions for Future Research .................................................................................. 131 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 135 viii