List of First Lady of the United States firsts

This list lists achievements and distinctions of various first ladies of the United States. It includes distinctions achieved in their earlier life and post-first lady service.
There have been forty-two official first ladies and forty-five first ladyships. This discrepancy exists because some presidents remarried while in office and President James Buchanan never married.
Also note that first ladies not recognized by the National First Ladies' Library listing include Martha Jefferson Randolph, Emily Donelson, Sarah Yorke Jackson, Angelica Van Buren, Priscilla Tyler, Mary McElroy, Rose Cleveland, Mary McKee, and Margaret Woodrow Wilson.

Martha Washington

First first lady
First first lady to be born in Virginia
First first lady to have been born in the 18th century
First first lady to have had children when she became first lady
First first lady to outlive her children
First first lady to outlive her husband
First first lady to be older than her husband
First first lady to appear on a U.S. postage stamp

Abigail Adams

First first lady to be born in Massachusetts
First first lady to serve as Second Lady and First Lady on the same day
First first lady to be younger than her husband
First first lady to live in the White House
First first lady to have biological children with a husband who was a president
First first lady to be the mother of another president

Martha Jefferson Randolph

First first lady to not be the wife of the president

Dolley Madison

First first lady to be born in North Carolina
First first lady to have a parrot as a pet at the White House
First first lady given an honorary seat on the floor of Congress
First first lady to respond to a telegraph message
First first lady to be taller than the president
First first lady to be photographed

Louisa Adams

First first lady born outside of the United States
First first lady to have both houses of the United States Congress adjourn in mourning on the day of her funeral

Sarah Yorke Jackson

First first lady born in Pennsylvania

Anna Harrison

First first lady to be born in New Jersey
First first lady to be widowed while holding the title
First first lady to be granted by law a pension as a president's widow
First first lady to be the grandmother of a president

Letitia Tyler

First first lady to die in the White House

Julia Tyler

First first lady to marry a president who was already in office at the time of the wedding

Abigail Fillmore

First first lady to hold a job while married
First first lady to establish a permanent White House library

Mary Todd Lincoln

First first lady to hold séances in the White House

Julia Grant

First first lady to be born in Missouri
First first lady recorded on film
First first lady to write her memoirs

Lucy Hayes

First first lady to be born in Ohio
First first lady to earn a college degree
First first lady to ban all alcoholic beverages from the White House
First first lady to host an Easter Egg roll on the White House lawn

Frances Cleveland

First first lady to marry in the White House
First first lady to hold the position of first lady for two nonconsecutive terms
First first lady to be pregnant at the White House
First first lady to give birth in the White House

Caroline Harrison

First first lady to use electricity
First first lady to raise a Christmas tree in the White House
First first lady to have written a speech she delivered herself

Edith Roosevelt

First first lady to be born in Connecticut
First sitting first lady to travel abroad

Helen Taft

First first lady to own and drive a car
First first lady to ride in her husband's inaugural parade
First first lady to support women's suffrage
First first lady to publish her memoirs
First first lady to smoke cigarettes
First first lady to successfully lobby for safety standards in federal workplaces
First first lady to plant the first cherry tree saplings that are along Washington, D.C.'s Tidal Basin
First first lady to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery
First sitting first lady to turn 50

Edith Wilson

First first lady to unofficially assume presidential functions

Florence Harding

First first lady to vote
First first lady to fly in an airplane
First first lady to operate a movie camera
First first lady to own a radio
First first lady to invite movie stars to the White House

Grace Coolidge

First first lady to born in Vermont
First first lady to earn a four-year undergraduate degree
First first lady to speak in sound newsreels

Lou Hoover

First first lady to be born in Iowa
First first lady to make regular nationwide radio broadcasts

Eleanor Roosevelt

First first lady to hold regular press conferences
First first lady to write a daily newspaper column and to write a monthly magazine column
First first lady to host a weekly radio show
First first lady to fly in an airplane while first lady; she flew with Amelia Earhart in April 1933.
First first lady to speak at a national party convention
First first lady to be depicted as part of a presidential memorial
First first lady to serve in the role for 12 years

Bess Truman

First first lady to live to the age of 97

Mamie Eisenhower

First first lady to initiate Halloween decorations to be put up in the White House

Jacqueline Kennedy

First first lady to hire a press secretary
First first lady to hire a White House curator
First first lady to win an Emmy Award
First first lady to be born in a hospital
First first lady to select a theme for the White House Christmas tree

Lady Bird Johnson

First first lady to be born in Texas

Pat Nixon

First first lady to be born in Nevada
First first lady to enter a combat zone
First first lady to travel to Africa, the People's Republic of China, and the Soviet Union
First first Lady to model trousers in a national magazine
First first lady to address a Republican National Convention

Betty Ford

First first lady to be born in Illinois
First first lady to have a successful battle against dependency on drugs and alcohol, and openly talk about it

Rosalynn Carter

First first lady to keep her own office in the East Wing
First first lady to have a VCR in the White House
First first lady to have been married for over 75 years

Nancy Reagan

First first lady to be legally adopted by her mother's second husband
First first lady invited to address the United Nations General Assembly
First first lady married to a divorcé
First first lady to attend a British royal wedding
First sitting first lady to attend an Olympic Games

Barbara Bush

First first lady to live to see a son become president
First first lady to have lived at both Number One Observatory Circle and the White House
First first lady to hire an African-American as her press secretary
First first lady to throw out a ball to open the baseball season
First first lady to write a memoir from her dog's perspective
First first lady to give a live nationally broadcast speech
First first lady to have been married for over 70 years

Hillary Clinton

First first lady to earn a postgraduate degree
First first lady to have her own professional career up to the time of entering the White House
First first lady to wear trousers in an official first lady portrait
First first lady with an office in the West Wing
First first lady to win a Grammy Award
First first lady to be subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury
First first lady to run for and to win elected office
First first lady to march in an LGBT pride parade
First first lady to run for president
First first lady to be nominated for president by a major U.S. political party
First first lady to serve as Chancellor at Queen's University Belfast
First first lady to be an electoral college elector

Laura Bush

First first lady to give birth to twins
First first lady to substitute for the president in the president's weekly radio address
First sitting first lady to have a mother-in-law who was also a first lady

Michelle Obama

First African American first lady.
First first lady to attend an Ivy League university for her undergraduate degree
First first lady to announce the winner of an Oscar
First first lady to host the Girl Scouts campout at the White House

Melania Trump

First first lady not to have been born a citizen of the United States or in what would later become the United States
First first lady to be fluent in a Slavic language
First first lady to fly in a V-22 Osprey aircraft
First first lady to visit Malawi
First first lady to have two official state visits to the United Kingdom
First sitting first lady to have a self-produced documentary released in theaters

Jill Biden

First first lady to have a research doctorate
First first lady to bring a rescue dog to the White House
First first lady to hold a salaried job during the majority of her husband's tenure
First first lady to carry on with her professional career outside the White House for the majority of her tenure as first lady
First first lady to attend a British coronation
First sitting first lady to meet with two British monarchs
First sitting first lady to reach the age of 70
First sitting first lady to have one of her stepchildren convicted in a criminal trial
First sitting first lady to become a step-great-grandmother