Women Who Fought Back

What would you do if you found out your husband was hiking the ol’ Appalachian trail with another woman in Argentina? South Carolina’s first lady Jenny Sanford quickly made it clear that she had no interest in helping Governor Mark Sanford play damage control when he was caught having an affair. She took the kids and moved out of the governor’s mansion. And in an interview with Vogue this fall, Mrs. Sanford came across as perhaps the strongest humiliated political wife of all time: "If you don’t forgive," she said," you become angry and bitter… All I can do is forgive. Reconciliation is something else, and that is going to be a harder road." While her husband’s political career seems all but over, Mrs. Sanford’s next act is just beginning: She filed for divorce on Friday and will publish Staying True, an inspirational memoir, in 2010. Many are encouraging her to run for office herself.