First Lady 1937

Lucy Chase Wayne, Kay Francis quietly campaigns to secure the presidential nomination for her husband, Stephen Wayne, Preston Foster. She targets rising Senator Gordon Keane, Victor Jory, a formidable figure who is Irene Hibbard’s, Verree Teasdale, protégé and ally.

Irene Hibbard, Verree Teasdale is married to the unexciting Supreme Court Justice Carter Hibbard Walter Connolly, yet she plans to divorce him and marry Keane to advance her own preferred path to power. Lucy devises a calculated ruse to fool Irene into believing that Carter will be the party’s candidate, even though he has little real chance. To tilt the balance, she wins Lavinia Mae Creevey, Louise Fazenda, the provincial leader of a five-million-woman organization, to back Carter. Adding weight to the effort, newspaper magnate Ellsworth T. Banning, Grant Mitchell, lends his influence, and Carter is indeed offered the nomination.

Lucy then learns that Prince Boris Gregoravitch, Gregory Gaye, Irene’s ex-husband, is in Washington for negotiations. From the prince, she gleans crucial leverage and arranges a dinner in which Carter will announce his acceptance of the nomination. Gregoravitch, delighted to see Irene, reveals a developing arrangement: a treaty between their countries recognizes each other’s laws, and once signed, Irene and Boris will be considered divorced under American law. Until that moment, Irene remains technically a bigamist. Seizing the opportunity, Lucy uses this information to pressure Irene into getting Carter to decline the nomination, clearing the path for Stephen Wayne.