A year ago this spring, when the 2024 presidential campaign was just kicking off, it seemed evident that Melania Trump, wife of former President Donald Trump, had decided to give it a miss. Little has changed since then. Her continued detachment from campaign events and rallies, her absence in all the primaries save Florida’s (where she voted), her skipping her husband’s lengthy hush money trial and his June 28 debate against President Joe Biden come alongside the strong speculation that she won’t live full-time in the White House again should Trump be re-elected.
Her silence will end an unbroken tradition that goes back to Barbara Bush in 1992 of first ladies and candidates’ spouses giving significant addresses at conventions.
All of it taken together seems only to confirm that her distance from Trump’s political life will continue no matter what happens Nov. 5. Melania Trump has, it is true, held two campaign fundraisers for the Log Cabin Republicans at her homes; but by contrast, first lady Jill Biden has held frequent fundraising tours with multiple destinations.
Jill Biden, described as “defender-in-chief” of her husband’s campaign by the Economist, and described by The New York Times as “comforter-in-chief” to some jittery Democrats, has visited red states and blue ones, often alone, and been an actively political surrogate for her husband. Melania Trump’s limited appearances could not be in starker contrast.
Though she has been harder to find, Melania Trump did attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. However, unlike she did in 2016 and 2020, this time she did not speak. Her silence ends an unbroken tradition that goes back to Barbara Bush in 1992 of first ladies and candidates’ spouses giving significant addresses at conventions.
As long as she is visible at the convention, even if she’s silent, Melania Trump will win plaudits from Trump fans, many of whom only want more of her. Still, her silence and her rare appearances are further evidence, as Katie Rogers noted recently, that Melania Trump has significantly reshaped the role of first lady: “She broke open the role and actually showed us [that] you don’t have to do anything with it if you don’t want to.”
For more than a century, whether they desired it or not, first ladies have been highly visible campaigners. As many American women got to vote for the first time in 1920, for example, Florence Harding eagerly stood on her front porch, in what was called the Front Porch Campaign, hosting tens of thousands of visitors alongside her husband, President Warren G. Harding. Similarly, Eleanor Roosevelt called for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s unprecedented third term during her “no ordinary time” speech at the Democratic convention in 1940, a step that, as First Ladies Association for Research and Education President Nancy Kegan Smith notes, “was credited with helping FDR to unify the convention.”
Two decades later, Lady Bird Johnson was the first to take to the hustings on her own, with the whistle-stop tour in 1964 — a bold venture into a hostile South that helped bring about LBJ’s victory. Pat Nixon was the next to appear at a convention, in 1972, thrilled to offer remarks about her husband, Richard Nixon, following an eight-minute standing ovation. Then in 1992, Barbara Bush, already known for a significant speech at Wellesley College, had the opportunity to speak “about the centrality of family … in a model of conciliatory rhetoric,” as scholar Myra Gutin explains. Since then, first ladies’ speeches at conventions have often focused on family matters; Hillary Clinton spoke of children and family in 1996, as did Michelle Obama in 2008: “I come here as a wife; I come here as a mom.” In 2012, Michelle Obama further highlighted hers and President Barack Obama’s humble family histories. In 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, Jill Biden offered a speech “as a mother and a grandmother” from a classroom at a high school where she once taught. Both Melania Trump’s speeches in 2016 and 2020 were similarly focused on family, addressing mothers like herself — and women as a whole. First ladies’ speeches at conventions have often focused on family matters. This theme of family was also echoed by Melania Trump this past weekend in the wake of the assassination attempt on her husband. In an effort to reach across the aisle, she pointed out that “every single politician is a man or a woman with a loving family.” Her statement was heartfelt and empathic, calling for Americans to see each other as “human beings.” Considering her absence during so much of the campaign so far, her outspokenness at this moment was notable — and will likely carry significant political weight. Her comments, of course, stand in stark contrast to the way her husband told supporters to “fight like hell” right before the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Melania Trump’s words were important in humanizing her husband, and they suggest that GOP strategist Alex Conant is overlooking something significant when he claims that “people vote for the presidential candidate, not their spouse or their vice president.” This is because for more than a century now, whether they are particularly interested in politicking or not, first ladies have served their spouses’ campaigns immeasurably, by humanizing and broadening their appeal. With her statement, Melania Trump did just that after the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. And Jill Biden’s call to her in the wake of the attack underlined the sisterhood of first ladies, all of whom know that what happened Saturday is what each of them dreads the most.
Katherine A.S. Sibley
Katherine A.S. Sibley is a professor of history at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Her books include "A Companion to First Ladies," "Southern First Ladies: Culture and Place in White House History" and "First Lady Florence Harding: Behind the Tragedy and Controversy." 
