Shadowboxing with Stereotypes: The Press, The Public, and the Candidates’ Wives

A paper by Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, fall 1992 fellow, analyzes media coverage of the presidential and vice presidential candidates’ wives during the 1992 election. Campbell examines some of the major influences on coverage of Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Tipper Gore, and Marilyn Tucker Quayle: 1. the history of presidential wives; 2. modern beliefs about their proper roles; 3. the impact of the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings; and 4. the separate but related issue of feminism as a social movement.

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