During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump frequently emphasized his desire to deport illegal immigrants from the United States and prevent future immigration from "terror-prone" nations. Yet, as most people know, his wife Melania, now the First Lady, is an immigrant herself -- though a legal one, and now a U.S. citizen. Melanija Knavs (better known as Melania Knauss) was born in a village in Yugoslavia, now part of Slovenia, in 1970. After pursuing a modeling career in Milan and Paris, she moved to New York in 1996 and signed a U.S.-based modeling contract. However, Melania Trump is not the first foreign-born wife of a U.S. president. Louisa Catherine Johnson was born in London to an American merchant father and an English mother in 1775. She later married John Quincy Adams, who became U.S. president in 1825.
Foreign-born First Ladies:
- Coincidentally, both Melania Trump and Louisa Adams immigrated to the United States when they were 26 years old.
- Unlike Melania, who had a small role in the Trump campaign, Louisa was active in the campaign of John Quincy Adams. Her weekly tea parties were credited with helping swing the election in his favor.
- John Kerry unsuccessfully ran for president in 2004. His wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, was born in Mozambique.