Andrew Och is the author of a new book about America’s First Ladies, “Unusual For Their Time: On the Road With America’s First Ladies: Volume I.” He joins WYPR’s Lisa Morgan to tell the stories behind the women behind the men in the White House.
Och is an award-winning TV producer who began traversing the United States in 2012 for the C-SPAN Series “First Ladies: Influence and Image,”which aired in aired 2013 and 2014. For the TV series and the book, Och journeyed across the United States to research every first lady.
As he puts it, “I have traveled to nearly every city, town, village, home, school, church, birthplace, cemetery, train station, farm, plantation, library, museum, general store, town center and cottage that relates to these women, these ladies. I wanted to find out what type of woman grows up to become married to a president of the United States. What I discovered was that many of our presidents married up. Most of these men would not have made it to the White House without the help, influence, and support of their wives. Nearly all of our presidents married a woman who was unusual for her time.”
