Why Second Lady Usha Vance’s Pregnancy Is Historic

Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President J.D. Vance, has already made history in a few ways: she’s the first person of color to become Second Lady and the youngest Second Lady since the Truman Administration. She may soon set another record: the second sitting Second Lady to bear a child. “We’re very excited to share the news that Usha is pregnant with our fourth child, a boy,” the Vice President shared on social media Tuesday. “Usha and the baby are doing well, and we are all looking forward to welcoming him in late July.” In the message, the Vice President thanked military doctors for “[taking] excellent care of our family” and staff members “who do so much to ensure that we can serve the country while enjoying a wonderful life with our children.” J.D., 41, and Usha, 40, met at Yale University and married in 2014. They have three kids: Ewan, 8; Vivek, 5; and Mirabel Rose, 4. It’s very rare for the U.S.’s top leaders to have children while in office. Usha may be the second Second Lady to get pregnant while her husband is in office, but only two former First Ladies also became pregnant while their husbands were President. Frances Cleveland, the wife of President Grover Cleveland, gave birth to their second child, Esther Cleveland, in the White House in 1893, during his second term in office.  And Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of President John F. Kennedy, gave birth to their third child—Patrick Bouvier Kennedy—in August 1963. Patrick was born 5 ½ weeks early and died from a pulmonary disease just 39 hours after birth. The Trump White House extended its congratulatory message to the Vances, and in a post on X, called itself “The most pro-family administration in history!” Vance, in particular, is an outspoken pro-natalist. He has sounded the alarm on declining birthrates, branded Democrats as “childless cat ladies” and “anti-family and anti-child,” and called Americans’ lack of desire to have children as a “civilizational crisis.” “I want more babies in the United States of America,” Vance said at a March for Life rally last year. “I want more happy children in our country, and I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them.”