Long before their husbands were elected president or vice president, several of America’s future first and second ladies had already eclipsed them in the law school classroom.
asserted
several → elect → classroom
Usha Vance was described as “50 billion times better” than JD Vance in a moot court exercise, in a recent Vanity Fair profile of the vice president which spoke to their former professors and classmates at Yale.
asserted
which → describe → Yale
Hillary Clinton was remembered as a relentless go-getter, while Bill Clinton rarely attended class.
asserted
Clinton → remember → class
And when a professor was asked to compare Barack and Michelle Obama, he offered an unvarnished assessment: “She was better.
asserted
She → ask → assessment
Only four first or second ladies attended law school, long a training ground for America’s political elite.
asserted
ladies → attend → elite
Each met her future husband there or arrived on campus ahead of him.
asserted
Each → meet → him
Again and again, people who knew them at the time recalled a similar dynamic: The women were the standouts, seemingly destined to play second fiddle to no one.
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women → know → one
The pattern raises obvious questions: Did America elect the wrong spouses?
asserted
America → raise → spouses
What stopped the women from running and winning?
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What → stop → women
Political scientists point to several factors, including the male-dominated nature of politics, long-standing sexism and a persistent gender gap in political ambition.
asserted
scientists → point → ambition
Men, research has found, are more likely than women to seek office — including when women have comparable or stronger credentials.
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women → find → credentials
Four law school standouts
Marilyn Quayle, the daughter of Hoosier State physicians, began taking night classes at the Indiana University School of Law in the 1970s.
asserted
Quayle → take → 1970s
There, she met and married Dan Quayle, the future vice president under George H.W. Bush.
asserted
she → meet → Bush
The couple sat together in tax lectures, but Marilyn Quayle drove much of the discussion and regularly sought out the professor afterward, Time reported in 1989.
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Time → sit → 1989
Classmates nicknamed her “superwoman” for balancing family responsibilities with law school.
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Classmates → nickname → school
While pregnant, she even induced labor early so she could take the bar exam.
uncertain
she → induce → exam
That reputation endured as her husband rose through politics.
asserted
husband → endure → politics
“To be honest with you, I was campaigning for the Senate one time, and someone came up to me and said, 'I went to law school with your wife.'
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I → campaign → wife
And I said, yeah, I was there too,” Dan Quayle later said.
asserted
Quayle → say → ?
In 1988, the year Bush chose Dan Quayle as his running mate, The Washington Post reported that stories about Marilyn Quayle’s classroom prowess had circulated for years.
asserted
stories → choose → years
“Over and over, men and women who attended night law school at the University of Indiana in the early '70s say flatly that Marilyn Tucker – a bright, friendly, industrious young woman determinedly bound for a career – was smarter than her good-looking, somewhat lackadaisical classmate, Dan Quayle,” the outlet reported.
asserted
outlet → attend → classmate
Hillary Clinton attended law school at roughly the same time, studying at Yale Law School in Connecticut from 1969 to 1973.
asserted
Clinton → attend → 1973
There, she met her future husband, Bill Clinton.
asserted
she → meet → husband
The pair first spoke in the library after Hillary Rodham, as she was then known, approached him and said: “If you're going to keep staring at me, and now I'm staring back, we at least ought to know each other's name.”
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we → speak → name
Years later, several classmates remembered Hillary Clinton, a Wellesley graduate, as the stronger student out of the couple.
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classmates → remember → couple
“Hillary was the first to raise her hand and almost always had the correct answer,” former Labor Secretary Robert Reich recalled.
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Reich → raise → answer
“I raised my hand fairly often but got it wrong half the time.
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it → raise → hand
Bill missed most classes.”
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Bill → miss → classes
“When we were in law school, she was by far a better student than either Bill Clinton or me,” Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal told a local news outlet in 2015.
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Blumenthal → tell → 2015
The trend continued with Michelle Obama, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1988 — the same year her future husband began classes there.
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husband → continue → classes
The two later met at Sidley & Austin in Chicago, where the future first lady, then Michelle Robinson, was assigned to mentor Barack Obama.
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lady → meet → Obama
When asked to compare the two, their former Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree offered a blunt assessment.
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professor → ask → assessment
“[Obama’s] wife should have been president,” he told TMZ in 2017.
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he → tell → 2017
She could easily be president, but I don’t think she will.”
uncertain
she → think → ?
Usha Vance, the California-born daughter of Indian immigrants, was no exception.
asserted
Vance → bear → immigrants
Like Hillary Clinton, she met her future husband at Yale Law School — and, according to those who knew them, outshone him there.
uncertain
who → meet → him
She was “pegged as the brightest student in the class of 2013, possibly even a future president,” Vanity Fair reported earlier this month.
uncertain
Fair → peg → 2013
One classmate called her a “rock star.”
asserted
classmate → call → her
And a former professor recalled her dramatically outperforming JD Vance during a moot court exercise, telling the outlet: “I gotta tell you, Usha must have been 50 billion times better than [Vance] was at that assignment.”
asserted
Vance → recall → assignment
Did America elect the wrong spouse?
asserted
America → elect → spouse
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
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