The term first lady is a purely American expression that started in the United States and moved to others, and is currently called the wife of the head of state, but the title at its inception was not political, but rather it was defined by every woman of high status or a pioneer in her field.

The matter continued until I used this term to describe the lady who performed the hospitality and reception duties in the White House but was not the wife of the President.

The first to win the title

The first to be described as the first lady in a political form was during the reign of President James Buchanan (1857-1861), who had never married, so his niece Harriet Lane (Harriet Lane), who adopted after the death of her parents, undertook the duties of hospitality in the White House and other social events and other responsibilities The First Lady, and even now in the absence of a wife to the President, any lady close to him who undertakes the honorary duties will be called the First Lady.

In the American media, the first lady is described as (FLOTUS), short for the phrase "First Lady of the United States", while the president is described by the word "POTUS", which means the President of the United States.

Widowed in the White House

According to the White House page, First Lady Jill Biden is the 53rd First Lady of the United States, while her husband Joe Biden is the 46th President, because the private lives of American presidents have not always been rosy or simply what we have seen in recent decades.

The first widow in the White House was President Thomas Jefferson, whose wife died years before he won the election, and his daughter, Martha Wells Skelton Jefferson, became First Lady (1801-1809).

Whatever grief Jefferson had for his wife, what happened with President Andrew Jackson was even more tragic, as his cousin and wife Rachel Donelson Jackson died just 5 days after he won the election.

Jackson asked his wife's niece, who was her favorite, Emily Jackson, to take over the duties of the First Lady (1829-1834), and she was twenty-one years old, married and had a child, and then she had 3 other children inside the White House, and that did not prevent her from doing what was assigned. She performed her role completely until the president's son’s wife, Sarah York Jackson (1834-1837), took over.

In 1838 another widow, President Martin Van Beren, took power, and his son’s wife, Angelica Van Beren, assumed the role of First Lady (1838-1841), but this misfortune is not comparable to what happened to the next president, William Henry Harrison (1841), whose wife Anna Harrison and his son’s wife took over Jane Harrison tasks the first lady, but he was in office for only a month and died of pneumonia.

His deputy, John Taylor (1841-1845), succeeded him and thus became the tenth president of the United States. Then, for the first time, he marries a president of America during his presidency, so he marries Julia Gardinar Taylor, and thus 3 women succeeded in the honorary position during the rule of one president.

Sadness returned again with President Benjamin Harrison (1889 - 1893). His first wife, Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison, died near the end of his rule in 1892, after contracting tuberculosis, and despite her poor health, progressive and highly motivated, she renewed the White House and helped collect donations for the medical school in John Hopkins University provided that they accept female registration.

She also assisted in charitable work and hosted in the White House until her death, after which her daughter Mary McKee assumed duties of hospitality to her father (1892 - 1893), and Harrison did not remarry until after the end of his rule.

The circumstances of President Woodrow Wilson were similar to what President John Taylor went through, as his wife Ellen Axon Wilson assumed the duties of the First Lady (1913-1914) until she died, so their daughter Margaret Woodrow assumed the task until his marriage during his reign also to Edith Pauling Galt Wilson (1915-1921).

The first lady is not necessarily the president's wife, as any woman close to him may be in charge of the honorary duties (Getty Images)

5 are alive

Five of these women are still alive: Roselyn Carter, 93, wife of US President Jimmy Carter, 96, Laura Bush, wife of President George W. Bush, and Hillary Clinton, wife of President Bill Clinton, who almost herself became the first woman to head the state. Before losing to Donald Trump in 2016, Michelle Obama, wife of President Barack Obama, and of course, Melania Trump, wife of President Donald Trump.

What if a woman ruled?

If a woman were to rule, her husband would be called the First Man or (The First Gentleman), but that never happened in the United States, and his closest scenario is in the event of a misfortune for the current President Joe Biden, in that case his Vice President Kamala Harris will assume the duties of the President of the Republic and become her husband, Daag Emhav is the first to be called "the first man" or "the first master."