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 choices: style writer Robin Givhan praised her in "The Daily Beast", arguing that the First Lady's style has helped to enhance the public image of the office. , there are four living former First Ladies, as identified below. The most recent First Lady to die was Barbara Bush (served 1989–1993), on April 17, 2018, at the age of 92. The greatest number of former First Ladies to be alive at one time was ten, during the period from June 2, 1886 to August 23, 1887, when Sarah Yorke Jackson, Priscilla Cooper Tyler, Julia Gardiner Tyler, Sarah Childress Polk, Harriet Lane,