Love and Power: A Midwestern First Lady by Margarita Papandreou (review)

Abstract

In 2000, I briefly corresponded with Margarita Papandreou, seeking her permission to use extracts from her personal correspondence, which I had come across in my own research. I still possess those letters. In the first, Margarita (first name used to distinguish her from other Papandreous) gave me permission to quote her. In a second letter, she invited me to call on her on my next trip through Greece. While that call was never made, I recall being pleasantly surprised by her warmth and generosity — clearly a sign of unpretentiousness by a former first lady who was willing to give time to someone she did not know. Her personal memoir, Love and Power: A Midwestern First Lady, appears to confirm this character trait and sheds light on the complexity of one of Greece’s most politically active and longestserving first ladies since the fall of the Greek dictatorship. A memoir of her public and private life, the book focuses on Margarita’s work as a feminist within Greece, her activism internationally, and her personal life, especially her marriage to Andreas Papandreou and subsequent divorce. Margarita’s work as an activist in the Greek women’s movement began when she and Andreas returned to Athens after the fall of the military dictatorship. There, she founded the Women’s Union of Greece (EGE), the first and, at the time, only grassroots organization for women in the country. In her book, Margarita chronicles EGE as well as her own work to revise the Greek family code and to legalize abortion in Greece. Particularly interesting is her account of the closed-door meeting she and other leading EGE members had with Archbishop Seraphim of Athens, when they endeavored to persuade the archbishop on the issue of abortion. Her memoir is full of such interesting