No Way to Treat a First Lady is a satirical novel by Christopher Buckley, first published in 2002

2002 in literature

The year 2002 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 16: Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested and jailed poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and fired a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem The Corrupt on Earth that criticized the state's Islamic...

. The novel follows the trial of Elizabeth Tyler MacMann, a fictional First Lady

First Lady of the United States

First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...

 accused of murdering her husband, the President of the United States

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

.

Plot

The President of the United States and Hollywood bombshell Babette Van Anka, are carrying on an extramarital affair in the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

. After a night of cheating, the president is confronted by his wife, Beth MacMann. The two get into a fight, during which she throws a historic Paul Revere

Paul Revere

Paul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride...

 spittoon at the president. The spittoon strikes the President in the head and it is alleged he later dies from the injuries.

The case is instantly declared the "Trial of the Millennium

Millennium

A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years —from the Latin phrase , thousand, and , year—often but not necessarily related numerically to a particular dating system....

". The first lady decides that to win the case, she must hire the most expensive and unscrupulous attorney in Washington

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

. The attorney who fits the bill, Boyce Baylor, happens to be her former lover from law school.

Baylor accepts her case and the trial becomes a media circus

Media circus

Media circus is a colloquial metaphor, or idiom, describing a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered, such as the number of reporters at the scene, the amount of news media published or broadcast, and the level of media hype...

, with most of the media instantly concluding the First Lady is guilty. Baylor's courtroom theatrics are planned to impress the court of public opinion as much as the jury

Jury

A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...

. Incessant media coverage of the trial smothers attempts of the new President to accomplish anything serious.

Baylor and MacMann rekindle their long-lost love affair, but Baylor's shenanigans soon find him barred from the courtroom. The trial appears lost until Van Anka confesses under oath that she had secretly administered a large dose of Viagra to the president. An autopsy

Autopsy

An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...

 confirmed that the Viagra caused the death.

MacMann is declared not guilty. She and Baylor have a baby which, coincidentally, weighs the same amount as the spittoon. The media is quick to declare that they believed the first lady was innocent all along.

Characters

• Elizabeth Tyler MacMann — First Lady of the United States. On trial for murdering her cheating husband.
• Kenneth Kemble MacMann — the former President of the United States.
• Babette Van Anka — an air-headed movie star who had an affair with the president.
• Boyce Baylor — a "$1,000 an hour" attorney, hired to represent the first lady. Also, her former lover.
• Nick Naylor — a recurring character in Buckley novels, most well known as the tobacco lobbyist in Thank You for Smoking. He does public relations
  Public relations
  Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
  
   work for Van Anka during the trial.
• Harold Farkley — the vice-president who becomes president upon MacMann's death. Farkley's attempts to govern are constantly over-shadowed by the media-circus surrounding the trial.

Similarities to Past Presidencies

The book is considered a satire of the Monica Lewinsky scandal

Lewinsky scandal

The Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging in 1998 from a sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a 25-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of...

 which consumed much of Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

's second term as president, with legal antics, massive media coverage and spin control. Like Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...

, Elizabeth MacMann met her husband, the future president, at law school. MacMann is criticized for being overly ambitious and her husband's affairs became a source of embarrassment. Buckley's real target, however, is media coverage of such events — "O. J. and the Clinton scandals rolled into one."

The book also has "hints" of the Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

presidency