Office of the First Lady of the United States Staff, White House Social Secretary, Press Secretary, White House Chief Floral Designer, and White House Executive Chef. Though the persona, activities, and initiatives of the First Lady have always been significant to the history of the United States, the first First Lady to hire federally funded staff was Edith Roosevelt, who hired Belle Hagner as the first White House Social Secretary on October 2, 1901. Eleanor Roosevelt became the first First Lady to expand the office beyond social and administrative secretaries by hiring Malvina Thompson as her personal secretary and Jackie Kennedy was the first to employ a Press Secretary.
First Lady of the United States their own preference for how they were addressed, including the use of such titles as "Lady", "Mrs. President" and "Mrs. Presidentress"; Martha Washington was often referred to as "Lady Washington." One of the earliest uses of the term "First Lady" was applied to her in an 1838 newspaper article that appeared in the "St. Johnsbury Caledonian", the author, "Mrs. Sigourney", discussing how Martha Washington had not changed, even after her husband George became president. She wrote that "The first lady of the nation still preserved the habits of early life. Indulging in no indolence, she left the pillow at dawn,