My No. 1 pick is, of course, Eleanor Roosevelt, who broke the mold and named herself her crippled husband’s "legs," traveling for FDR, writing a daily column called "My Day" and making herself so well known that she remained a huge international and political force after she was out of the White House. 

I loved Lady Bird Johnson for her warmth, wit, down-to-earth manner and her campaign to make America more beautiful.

I like Nancy Reagan because she was Ronnie’s chief consultant and mainstay. I think her pillow talk kept him out of a lot of trouble. And she tried hard with "Just Say No" to drugs — though I don’t believe that worked. Mrs. Reagan had taste, a wonderful sense of humor and liked to gossip. She is still tops with me, a terrific dinner companion. 

Click here on this text to read my New York Post column. 

Eleanor Roosevelt  because of what she did.
Hillary Clinton because of what she tried to do.
Abigail Adams for what she told John.

In my lifetime, Eleanor Roosevelt, who was her husband’s eyes and ears, who brought racism and poverty and the devastation of the Depression to the public consciousness and then became one of the great role models for women, as a woman on her own, was the most distinguished. 

The most enjoyable to have in office (not the most distinguished) was Jacqueline Kennedy. I loved her beauty and glamour and all the beauty and glamour she brought to the White House. 

In history, I vote for Abigail Adams who played such an important role as her husband’s adviser and soul mate during the founding of our country.

 

Rose Cleveland. (She doesn’t seem to have made the list, but she did the First Lady bit before her brother made his Gilbert & Sullivan marriage to his ward.) Because she was an intellectual, an educator and editor, and her book George Eliot’s Poetry and Other Studies, contains some nice philosophical thoughts about manners. 

Edith Wilson. Because she managed to run the country fairly discreetly (everybody guessed, but they couldn’t pin it on her) when her husband was too ill.

Lady Bird Johnson. Because of her version of the adoring-wife-next-to-podium look, which clearly telegraphed, "Shut up, Lyndon, you’re making a fool of yourself," and brought him to a sometimes abrupt, but always speedy, conclusion.

 

Eleanor Roosevelt
She is a unanimous choice among us and for good reason. While not a romantic partner to her husband, she was a partner in every other way — supporting his programs and philosophy and being his "boots on the ground." She will always be synonymous with enlightened liberalism and courage of her convictions. She acted on her convictions for the good of her country – in spite of how she would be received.

Jacqueline Kennedy
For all the obvious reasons, but also because she was in the White House when I was first a young adult. She simply dazzled. I remember her television specials on the White House (in black and white) and how she restored to it a sense of history and gave it the first true elegance. She was also the first to understand and appreciate the historical antiques and restore and incorporate them into the design. She was the most cultivated and refined First Lady and did a huge part in shaping the way America is perceived internationally.

Betty Ford
Because she took a minor character flaw and confronted it courageously and honestly in the most public forum. She then formed the Betty Ford Center which has helped many people with drug and alcohol problems face them and control them. She made drug and alcohol addiction a public problem and not a source of shame. Also, she was a great dancer.

And Michelle Obama.
Because she will be a fantastic First Lady and I can’t wait.
 

I have only known a few. Writers disagree about First Ladies of past years. I would love to have known Mrs. Adams because, as almost all research suggests, she had it all. And I would have loved to know Eleanor Roosevelt, who must have been full of beans and just naturally powerful – I would have liked to be there to reassure her that she really was The One.

But of the First Ladies I have known or, at least, have met, Hillary Clinton is the only one who went to all lengths, for good or bad, as a partner for her husband, and who did the hard work to know enough to be able to fight for her ideas and visions as well as his. She had what has traditionally been a man’s determination to win at all times and she swallowed her national humiliation when her husband permanently cheapened himself and marched on. She does march on. I am proud of the way she marches on. And I was moved by how she understood the need to glamorize herself for television when she ran for president. She was sometimes beautiful. I am glad Obama won for so many reasons. But Hillary made me care about her. 

Most First Ladies stand a little to the left behind their president husbands and smile. Lady Bird Johnson had more gumption and more power than that. I spent time with her, with them, and she was a pistol, a warm one, but over the years, pressing his pants behind the scenes, she developed a political understanding that was as clever as his and helped him from falling into a lot of black holes.

I am wild about Michelle Obama and her potential and I am joyous about the Obama relationship, which is so different from any we have known in the White House. They have fun with each other. They are happy together. They love life together. When they are filmed they become Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the way they move around the camera smiling at each other and even touching each other – offering to give us even more than a major change in the intelligent leadership of our presidency and the world’s security in our presidency, but also a view of personal life that could give a little lift to this country’s capability of human warmth.