The First Family of the United States is the unofficial title for the family of the President of the United States, who is both head of state and head of government of the United States. Members of the First Family consist of the President, the First Lady of the United States, and any of their children. However, other close relatives of the President and First Lady, such as parents, grandchildren, stepchildren, and in-laws, may be classified as members of the First Family if they reside in the Executive Residence of the White House Complex.
In the United States, the term "First Family" in casual reference to the President's immediate family, is most often used by the media and in particular, the White House press corps. Individually, each member of the First Family is designated a Secret Service codename by the United States Secret Service. Used by special agents, these code names uniquely identify members of the First Family for their ongoing protection as well as for the sake of brevity, clarity, and tradition.
| Portrait | Administration | Years | Members of the First Family | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Obama | 2009–present | Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Malia Ann Obama, Natasha "Sasha" Obama, and Marian Shields Robinson | Marian Shields Robinson, mother to the current First Lady and mother-in-law to the current President, lives with the First Family in the Executive Residence at the White House Complex. | |
| George W. Bush | 2001–2009 | George W. Bush, Laura Bush, Barbara Pierce Bush, and Jenna Bush | Barbara and Jenna, fraternal twins, were also the nation's First Granddaughters, from January 20, 1989-January 20, 1993. Barbara and Jenna were eight years old at the time of George H. W. Bush, their grandfather's, inauguration and twelve years old when he left office. The twins were both First Daughters of Texas from 1995, when they were fourteen, to 2001, when they were nineteen. Barbara and Jenna did not live in the White house, as both attended college while their father was the President. Jenna married Henry Chase Hager at the Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas on May 10, 2008. | |
| Clinton | 1993–2001 | Bill Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton | The President and First Lady's daughter Chelsea was born a First Daughter of Arkansas. Until she left the White House in 2001, the two-year period between her father's first and second terms as the Governor of Arkansas would be the only time when she did not have an unofficial title. Beginning on January 3, 2001, Hillary Rodham Clinton was both a United States Senator for the state of New York while simultaneously carrying out her formal duties as First Lady, a title which she lost 17 days later on January 20, 2001 when President Clinton's term in office expired. To date, Hillary Rodham Clinton remains as the only First Lady to be elected and to hold a political office. | |
| George H. W. Bush | 1989–1993 | George H. W. Bush, Barbara Bush, George W. Bush, Jeb Bush, Neil Bush, Marvin Bush, and Dorothy Bush Koch. | Arguably, other members of the First Family included First Grandsons George, Jeb Jr., Pierce, and Walker Bush; and First Granddaughters Barbara, Jenna, Noelle, Lauren, Ashley, and Dorothy Bush | |
| Reagan | 1981–1989 | Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Maureen Reagan, Michael Reagan, Patti Davis, and Ron Reagan | Maureen and Michael were two of the President's children from his first marriage to Hollywood actress Jane Wyman while Patti and Ron were the President's two youngest children from his second marriage to Nancy Reagan. | |
| Carter | 1977–1981 | Jimmy Carter, Rosalynn Carter, John William Carter, James Earl Carter III, Donnel Jeffrey Carter, and Amy Carter | The President and First Lady's three sons John, James, and Donnel were all grown adults when the First Family moved into the Executive Residence in 1977. Their daughter Amy was the only true child to live in the White House since the Kennedy children lived there between 1961 and 1963. | |
| Ford | 1974–1977 | Gerald Ford, Betty Ford, Susan Ford, Michael Gerald Ford, John "Jack" Gardner Ford, and Steven Ford | The President and First Lady's daughter Susan was a teenage high school student during her time in the White House. Their three sons Michael, Jack, and Steven were all grown adults when the First Family moved into the Executive Residence in 1974. | |
| Nixon | 1969–1974 | Richard Nixon, Pat Nixon, Tricia Nixon Cox, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower | One of the most thrilling occurrences during the President's administration was the marriage of his daughter Tricia to Edward Cox, who were wed in a fairytale ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House on June 12, 1971. The President and First Lady's other daughter, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, was married to David Eisenhower, a grandson of Dwight D. Eisenhower. | |
| Lyndon B. Johnson | 1963–1969 | Lyndon B. Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson, Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, and Luci Baines Johnson Turpin | The President and First Lady's oldest daughter Lynda married Charles S. Robb, a former Governor of Virginia and two-term senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the East Room at the White House on December 9, 1967. | |
| Kennedy | 1961–1963 | John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Jr., and Patrick Bouvier Kennedy | The President and First Lady's first-born daughter, Arabella, was delivered as a stillborn in 1956. The First Lady gave birth prematurely to a second son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, on August 7, 1963. The child died two days later due to hyaline membrane disease. In 1999, John Jr. died in a plane crash, leaving his sister Caroline as the only surviving child of the President and First Lady. | |
| Eisenhower | 1953–1961 | Dwight D. Eisenhower, Mamie Eisenhower, and John Eisenhower | President and Mrs. Eisenhower posed for this portrait on their 39th wedding anniversary at their farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. During his father's presidency, John Eisenhower served various roles as an Assistant Staff Secretary in the West Wing, on the Army's General Staff, and in the White House as assistant to General Andrew Goodpaster. |
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| Truman | 1945–1953 | Harry S. Truman, Bess Truman, and Margaret Truman | Between the years 1948 and 1952, the First Family resided at Blair House, the official guest quarters of foreign heads of state and government located near Lafayette Park, while the White House underwent a complete interior restoration. | |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | 1933–1945 | Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Anna Roosevelt Halsted, James Roosevelt, Elliott Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., and John Aspinwall Roosevelt | In 1937, the President's oldest son James moved into the Executive Residence and served as an advisor and private secretary in the West Wing. At the President's request, his daughter Anna moved into the Executive Residence in 1944 to serve as an assistant to the President and as White House hostess during the First Lady's frequent absences. A fifth son, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. (III), was born on March 18, 1909 and died approximately eight months later on November 7, 1909. | |
| Hoover | 1929–1933 | Herbert Hoover, Lou Henry Hoover, Herbert Clark Hoover, and Alan Henry Hoover | ||
| Coolidge | 1923–1929 | Calvin Coolidge, Grace Coolidge, Calvin Coolidge, Jr., and John Coolidge. | The President and First Lady's oldest son, Calvin Jr., died during the President's 1924 election campaign. Their son John who lived until 2000, married the daughter of Connecticut governor John H. Trumbull. | |
| Harding | 1921–1923 | Warren G. Harding and Florence Kling Harding | The President never had children. In a previous marriage, the First Lady had a son named Marshall Eugene DeWolfe who died from complications of alcoholism and tuberculosis on January 1, 1915, at the age of 34. | |
| Wilson | 1913–1921 | Woodrow Wilson, Ellen Axson Wilson, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, Margaret Woodrow Wilson, Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre, and Eleanor Randolph Wilson | On November 25, 1913, the second oldest daughter Jessie married Francis Bowes Sayre at the White House. On January 17, 1915, Jessie gave birth to a son, Francis B. Sayre, Jr., at the White House. On May 7, 1914, the youngest daughter Eleanor married her father's Secretary of the Treasury, William Gibbs McAdoo. There were two First Ladies during the Wilson Administration. The President's first wife, Ellen, died at the White House on August 6, 1914 due to complications of Bright's disease. The following year, the President married his second wife, Edith. At the time of her mother's death in 1914, the oldest daughter Margaret served the role as First Lady until her father remarried in 1915. | |
| Taft | 1909–1913 | William Howard Taft, Helen Herron Taft, Robert Taft, Helen Taft Manning, and Charles Phelps Taft II | After the First Lady suffered a stroke in 1909, daughter Helen moved into the Executive Residence and helped her mother to regain body movement and speech. The President and First Lady's daughter, Helen, also served as official hostess for many White House functions while the First Lady was disabled. The youngest son, Charles, was only 12 years old when he moved into the Executive Residence, upon his father's election as President. | |
| Theodore Roosevelt | 1901–1909 | Theodore Roosevelt, Edith Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt Jr., Kermit Roosevelt, Ethel Roosevelt Derby, Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt, and Quentin Roosevelt | In 1906, the President's oldest daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, married Nicholas Longworth at the White House. Alice was another child from the President's previous marriage to his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, who died in 1884 due to childbirth complications and the disease known as Bright's disease. The President's fifth cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, would become the 32nd President of the United States in 1933. | |
| McKinley | 1897–1901 | William McKinley, Ida Saxton McKinley, Katherine McKinley, and Ida McKinley | ||
| Cleveland | 1893–1897 | Grover Cleveland, Frances Folsom Cleveland, Ruth Cleveland, Esther Cleveland, Marion Cleveland, Richard Folsom Cleveland, Francis Grover Cleveland | ||
| Benjamin Harrison | 1889–1893 | Benjamin Harrison, Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison, Russell Benjamin Harrison, Mary Scott Harrison McKee, and Elizabeth Harrison Walker | ||
| Cleveland | 1885–1889 | Grover Cleveland, Frances Folsom Cleveland, Ruth Cleveland, Esther Cleveland, Marion Cleveland, Richard Folsom Cleveland, Francis Grover Cleveland | ||
| Arthur | 1881–1885 | Chester A. Arthur, Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur, William Lewis Herndon Arthur, Chester Alan Arthur II, Ellen Hansbrough Herndon Arthur | ||
| Garfield | 1881 | James Garfield, Lucretia Garfield, Harry Augustus Garfield, James Rudolph Garfield, Mary Garfield, Irvin Garfield, Abram Garfield, and Edward Garfield. | ||
| Hayes | 1877–1881 | Rutherford B. Hayes, Lucy Hayes, Birchard Austin Hayes, Webb Hayes, Rutherford Platt Hayes, Joseph Thompson Hayes, George Crook Hayes, Fanny Hayes, Scott Russell Hayes, Manning Force Hayes | ||
| Grant | 1869–1877 | Ulysses S. Grant, Julia Grant, Jesse Root Grant, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., Nellie Grant, and Frederick Dent Grant. | ||
| Andrew Johnson | 1865–1869 | Andrew Johnson, Eliza McCardle Johnson, Martha Johnson, Charles Johnson, Mary Johnson, Robert Johnson, and Andrew Johnson, Jr. | ||
| Lincoln | 1861–1865 | Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, Robert Todd Lincoln, Edward "Eddie" Baker Lincoln, William "Willie" Wallace Lincoln, and Thomas "Tad" Lincoln | In 1862, Willie, after riding his pony in bad weather, became ill. His condition fluctuated from day to day. The most likely cause of the illness was typhoid fever, contracted from contaminated drinking water. Gradually Willie weakened. Finally on February 20, 1862, the young boy died. The President and First Lady's second son, Edward, died earlier in 1850, most likely from a wasting disease called medullary thyroid cancer as part of the genetic cancer syndrome - multiple endocrine neoplasia, type 2B - that his father and two of his brothers may have shared. In 1871, their son Tad died at the age of 18 due to tuberculosis. Of the President and First Lady's four children, only Robert lived into adulthood; he died in 1926. Throughout the President's term in office, the First Lady suffered from severe headaches. Dealing with the death of her son Willie in 1862, as well as the deaths of siblings killed in the American Civil War, difficult bouts of mourning, especially after Willie's death, led to protracted depression. During her years at the White House, the First Lady suffered a severe head injury in a carriage accident, thought to be an assassination attempt aimed at the President, who was not with her at the time. In addition to depression, the First Lady suffered from irrational, sometimes public outbursts. | |
| Buchanan | 1857–1861 | none | The President never married or had children. The President's niece, Harriet Lane, acted as First Lady and served as hostess at White House functions. | |
| Pierce | 1853–1857 | Franklin Pierce, Jane Appleton Pierce, Franklin Pierce, Jr., Frank Robert Pierce, and Benjamin Pierce | ||
| Fillmore | 1850–1853 | Millard Fillmore, Abigail Powers Fillmore, Millard Powers Fillmore, and Mary Abigail Fillmore | During the presidential inauguration for her husband's successor Franklin Pierce in 1853, the First Lady caught a cold and the next day came down with a fever. Abigail Fillmore developed pneumonia and died weeks later, on March 30, 1853. Throughout much of the President's term in office and due to the First Lady's illness, their daughter Mary was hostess at many White House functions from 1850 to 1853. | |
| Taylor | 1849–1850 | Zachary Taylor, Margaret Taylor, Ann Mackall Taylor, Sarah Knox Taylor, Octavia Pannell Taylor, Mary Smith Taylor, Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Taylor, and Richard Taylor | As a semi-invalid, the First Lady became a recluse and remained in seclusion on the second floor of the Executive Residence, leaving the duties of official hostess to her daughter Mary Elizabeth. | |
| Polk | 1845–1849 | James K. Polk and Sarah Childress Polk | The President and First Lady never had children. | |
| Tyler | 1841–1845 | John Tyler, Letitia Christian Tyler, Julia Gardiner Tyler, Mary Tyler, Robert Tyler, John Tyler, Letitia Tyler, Elizabeth Tyler, Anne Contesse Tyler, Alice Tyler, Tazewell Tyler, David Gardiner Tyler, John Alexander Tyler, Julia Gardiner Tyler, Lachlan Tyler, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Robert Fitzwalter Tyler, and Pearl Tyler | During the President's term in office, there were two First Ladies. In 1839, Letitia, suffered a paralytic stroke that left her an invalid. As First Lady, she remained in the upstairs living quarters of the White House only coming downstairs just once, to attend the wedding of her daughter Elizabeth in January 1842. On the evening of September 10, 1842, the First Lady died peacefully. At the time of her death, she was 51 years old, making her the youngest First Lady to die. John and Letita Tyler's children were the following: Mary Tyler-Jones, Robert Tyler (who served as the President's private secretary at the White House), John Tyler III, Letitia Tyler-Semple, Elizabeth Tyler-Waller (marrying William N. Waller at a White House wedding in 1842), Alice Tyler-Denison, and Tazewell Tyler. The second First Lady was Julia, who at age 24, married the President at the age of 54 on June 26, 1844. John and Julia's children were the following: David Gardiner Tyler, John "Alex" Alexander Tyler, Julia Gardiner Tyler-Spencer, Lachlan Gardiner Tyler, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Robert "Fitz" Fitzwalter Tyler, and Pearl Tyler-Ellis. | |
| William Henry Harrison | 1841–1841 | William Henry Harrison and Anna Harrison | The President and First Lady had ten children. After taking the Oath of Office in March 1841, the President died just 32 days later of complications of a cold, making William Henry Harrison's term the shortest in United States presidential history to date. | |
| Van Buren | 1837–1841 | Martin Van Buren, Abraham Van Buren, John Van Buren, Martin Van Buren, and Smith Thompson Van Buren | During the President's term, there was no First Lady. The President's wife died from tuberculosis much earlier in 1819. Their oldest son Abraham had a wife, Angelica Singleton Van Buren (a cousin of Dolley Madison), who assumed the duties being hostess at White House functions. | |
| Jackson | 1829–1837 | Andrew Jackson, Rachel Donelson Robards Jackson, Andrew Jackson, Jr., Lyncoya Jackson, John Samuel Donelson, Daniel Smith Donelson, Andrew Jackson Donelson, Andrew Jackson Hutchings, Carolina Butler, Eliza Butler, Edward Butler, and Anthony Butler | ||
| John Quincy Adams | 1825–1829 | John Quincy Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson-Adams, Louisa Adams, George Washington Adams, John Adams, and Charles Francis Adams, Sr. | The President was the oldest son of the 2nd President of the United States, John Adams and his wife, Abigail Adams. The President and First Lady's son, George led a troubled life of alcoholism, womanizing, and depression who finally succumbed to an apparent suicide during the President's final year in office in 1829. Louisa Adams was the first and to date, remains as the only foreign-born First Lady in United States history. | |
| Monroe | 1817–1825 | James Monroe, Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, Eliza Monroe Hay, James Spence Monroe, and Maria Hester Monroe-Gouverneur | During the President's term in office, his oldest daughter Eliza often substituted as official White House hostess for her ailing mother, the First Lady. Appearing as a haughty and often pompous socialite, Eliza soon alienated most of Washington society for her refusal to call on wives of the diplomatic corps, as was the custom. She caused another uproar when she closed her sister's wedding to all but family and friends. was still a child when her father was elected president. The second daughter named Maria was only a child when her father was elected president. When she finished school in Philadelphia, she moved into the Executive Residence in 1819. On March 9, 1820, she married her first cousin, Samuel L. Gouverneur, in the first wedding ever performed at the White House. The President and First Lady's only son, James, died much earlier in childhood. | |
| Madison | 1809–1817 | James Madison, Dolley Payne Todd-Madison, and John Payne Todd | Prior to becoming First Lady and marrying the President, Dolley Madison was a widow who had two children, John Payne Todd and William Temple Todd, from a previous marriage to Quaker lawyer John Todd. Her husband and youngest son both suddenly died when yellow fever struck Philadelphia in 1793. The following year, she accepted Madison's proposal of marriage. Madison adopted her oldest son John. Perhaps Dolley Madison's most courageous act as First Lady was when she removed and saved several priceless valuables, objets d'art, china, silverware, and the famous Lansdowne portrait of George Washington painted by Gilbert Stuart prior to British Redcoats burning down the White House during the War of 1812. | |
| Jefferson | 1801–1809 | Thomas Jefferson, Martha Jefferson Randolph, Jane Randolph Jefferson, stillborn son, Mary Wayles Jefferson, Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson I, and Lucy Elizabeth Jefferson II. | There was no First Lady during the Presidency as Jefferson's former wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, died shortly after giving birth to their sixth child in 1782. In the conspicuous absence of First Lady, James Madison's wife, Dolley Madison, often served in the capacity as a White House hostess. Out of all six children of the Jefferson's, only Martha and Mary would survive into early adulthood. | |
| John Adams | 1797–1801 | John Adams, Abigail Adams, Abigail "Nabby" Adams Smith, John Quincy Adams, Susanna Adams, Charles Adams, Thomas Boylston Adams, and Elizabeth Adams (stillborn). | The First Family during the Adams administration was the first to reside in the newly constructed White House (then known as the President's House) designed by Irish architect James Hoban. In 1797, the President appointed his oldest son, John Quincy, as Minister to Prussia. In 1800, the President and First Lady's second oldest son Charles, died due to complications of alcoholism. Following in his father's footsteps, John Quincy would eventually be elected to the Presidency in 1824 and take the oath of office the next year. | |
| Washington | 1789–1797 | George Washington, Martha Washington, John "Jack" Parke Custis, Martha "Patsy" Parke Custis, Eleanor "Nelly" Parke Custis and George Washington Parke Custis | Since the Federal City was not completed when the President was inaugurated in 1789, the capital of the United States was first located in New York City between the years 1785 and 1790, later uprooting the Federal Government and moving it temporarily to the city of Philadelphia between the years 1790 and 1800. Because of this, the First Family never lived in the unfinished White House. Between April 1789 and February 1790, the First Family resided at the Alexander Macomb mansion at 39–41 Broadway Avenue in New York City. In Philadelphia, Robert Morris's mansion at 190 High Street was rented for the First Family to reside at. During his lifetime, the President never had children. However, he adopted the First Lady's two children, Jack and Patsy, from a previous marriage to Daniel Parke Custis. Likewise, the President also raised the First Lady's two youngest grandchildren, Nelly and George. |
Famous quotes containing the words united states, family, united and/or states:
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
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