Dr. Elizabeth Rees

Elizabeth Rees is the Mark E. Solomons Fellow in American Political Thought and Government at the Ronald Reagan Institute and a research fellow at the Miller Center working on the Presidential Oral History Project. Her work focuses on the evolution of the East Wing staff and the establishment of the Office of the First Lady in the 20th century. 

Prior to joining the Institute and UVA, Rees was a postdoctoral fellow at the Southern Methodist University’s Center for Presidential History in Dallas, Texas. Trained in the United Kingdom, Rees earned her DPhil in history at the University of Oxford. She graduated from University College London with an MA in U.S. Studies: History and Politics with Distinction and also holds a BA in History and English Literature from the University of Exeter

Her two-volume book project, Inside the East Wing (forthcoming, UVA Press), investigates how the modern administrative unit of the First Lady's staff was integrated into the broader presidential staff structure in the 20th and 21st centuries. More than just an administrative history, the development of the East Wing staff also sheds light on broader changes related to the position of women in national politics, intersecting with the histories of feminist movements, particularly the second wave. Volume I covers the administrations from 1961-1981, while Volume II analyzes the administrations from 1981 to the present day. 

Rees is a White House Historical Association Next Generation Leader and has been the recipient of numerous fellowships in the field of presidential history, including the White House Historical Association's Inaugural Rubenstein Center Fellowship, the Theodore C. Sorensen Fellowship at the John F. Kennedy Library, the Harry Middleton Fellowship at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library, and the Ford Scholar Award at the Gerald R. Ford Library. In addition, she was recognized by the National Archives Foundation as a highly commended scholar for the Cokie Roberts Fellowship for Women’s History. 

Rees has written for both academic and public audiences. She has contributed book chapters on presidents, running, and perceptions of strength in Sports and the American Presidency, From Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump, (Edinburgh University Press, 2023) and on Jimmy Carter and Plains, Georgia, in Presidents and Place, America’s Favorite Sons (Lexington Books, 2023) In addition, she has contributed to the Notes from the Miller Center Substack on a regular basis.