[65] Ford decided to be open about her illness because "There had been so much cover-up during Watergate that we wanted to be sure there would be no cover-up in the Ford administration. Ford had weekly meetings with a psychiatrist approximately between August 1965 and April 1967. [21] Ford would, ultimately, for most of the nine months she was second lady, be a high-profile public figure. Ford also, in a television interview with Barbara Walters, expressed her support for the United States Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision ruling abortion as constitutionally protected. Everyone recognizes the namethanks in large part to the Betty Ford Clinic she co-founded in 1982 . Ford, who during her husband's 1974-77 administration had set a new standard for White House candor by speaking openly about her breast cancer and mastectomy, brought addiction out of the closet. (National Archives Identifier 187012) "Did they dislike her? Thats the way I feel. ", Gould, Lewis L. "Modern first ladies in historical perspective. In December 1999, he told interviewer Larry King that he, too, was pro-abortion rights and had been criticized for that stance by conservative forces within the Republican Party. Ford reads her husband's 1976 presidential concession speech to the press. "[88], Ford continued to be an active leader and activist of the feminist movement after the Ford administration. Ford had declared that she would be accompanying her husband at campaign functions, "when he wants me to. [25][69] Once she became first lady, it fell to Ford to arrange this already-scheduled dinner. Photos of this moment were published widely in the American press, resulting in Betty Ford somewhat upstaging President Ford in the press. During and after her years in the White House, 1974 to 1977, Mrs.. "I just think it's important to say how easy it is to slip into a dependency on pills or alcohol, and how hard it is to admit that dependency.". Betty was 93 years old at the time of death. Betty Ford died in 2011 at age 93, having overcome her addictions and founding the Betty Ford Center in 1982 to help other addicts recover. Betty Ford Birthday and Date of Death. [94] The amendment did not receive enough states' ratification. [3][5], In 1942, Elizabeth Bloomer married William G. Warren,[5][4] whom she had known since she was 12. It was something the couple neither expected or wanted, Betty Ford recalled in her memoirs. [3], The Fords meet with President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan in the White House Oval Office in March 1981. "[69], Dishes that Ford particularly liked serving at state dinners included wild rice,[25][74] Columbia River salmon, souffl, and flamb. [3], After Gerald Ford's defeat by Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election she delivered her husband's concession speech because he had lost his voice while campaigning. The Nixons had previously removed dancing from the state dinners during Nixon's presidency. After leaving the White House in 1977, Ford continued to lead an active public life. As first lady, Betty Ford was active in social policy and shattered precedents as a politically active presidential wife (Time considered her "the most since Eleanor [Roosevelt . In the first of adjustments for politics, he had asked her to delay the wedding until shortly before the primary election because, as The New York Times reported, "Jerry was running for Congress and wasn't sure how voters might feel about his marrying a divorced ex-dancer. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Ford to the second National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year (the first had been appointed by President Ford). Ford had believed it to be of great importance for the administration to show an expression of direct concern pertaining to the assassination, while Nixon's staff disagreed with her. [3] Following her husband's death, Ford continued to live in Rancho Mirage. "[28] Ford ultimately became a popular and impactful first lady. [5] At the time they married, Warren worked for his own father in insurance sales. [63], Ford's involvement in political issues received some conservative criticism. . [53] In 1977, the year her husband left office, she placed fourth. [35] In a 1975 interview with McCall's, Ford remarked that she was asked just about everything, except for how often she and the president had sex. His wife, Betty, was the first lady during this time period. She was 93 years old when she died. In 2003, Ford produced another book, Healing and Hope: Six Women from the Betty Ford Center Share Their Powerful Journeys of Addiction and Recovery. It amounted to as aestheticization of breast cancer and her coverage became the major discursive model for looking at all breast cancer survivors. In 1982, she co-founded the Betty Ford Center in California. [3] After the interview aired, a number of Ford's remarks in this interview on hot-button issues generated particularly immense media attention. She was 93. After being accepted by Graham as a student in 1940, Bloomer moved to New York to live in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood; she worked as a fashion model for the John Robert Powers firm in order to finance her dance studies. In this statement, Ford disclosed, "I have found I am not only addicted to the medication I have been taking for my arthritis but also to alcohol". [3] At one point, Ford disclosed to the public that her husband had previously promised her that he would retire from the House of Representatives in 1976 in order to return to private legal practice and dedicate more time to his family. [117], Second Lady of the United States (19731974), First Lady of the United States (19741977), Ranking in Gallup's annual poll of "Most Admired Women", Recovery from alcoholism and prescription drug addiction, Steinhauer, Jennifer (December 31, 2006). In private, she triumphed over serious personal adversity. "[10], On January 19, 1977, her last full day as first lady, Betty Ford used her training as a Martha Graham dancer to jump up on the Cabinet Room table. Betty White died from a stroke suffered on Dec. 25, 2021, six days before her Dec. 31 death at age 99, according to her death certificate, the Associated Press reports. Stay tuned to our website for additional information. Among the nations that Ford accompanied her husband to were China, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Gena Rowlands won both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for her portrayal of Ford. "And if they'd asked me that I would have told them," she said, adding that her response would be, "As often as possible. LOS ANGELES (AP) Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, whether as a man-crazy TV hostess on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" or the loopy housemate on "The Golden Girls," has died. Shortly after she decided to file for divorce, Warren fell into a coma. She also fundraised for No Greater Love, in appreciation of its work benefiting Children of Vietnam War MIA and POWs. This is the only time that a major United States presidential candidate's spouse has delivered their concession on their behalf. [101], In July 2018, a statue of Ford was unveiled outside of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. [3], During her and President Ford's later years together, they resided in Rancho Mirage and in Beaver Creek, Colorado. After leaving the White House, Betty Ford publicly acknowledged her addiction to alcohol and painkillers. White's death was confirmed Friday by Jeff Witjas, her longtime agent and friend. "Issues of Openness and Privacy: Press and Public Response to Betty Ford's Breast Cancer. [8][70] She found out of this upcoming dinner and her responsibility for planning it through a phone call she received within 24-hours after her husband's swearing-in as president. TMZ was the first to report the news.. A cerebrovascular accident, commonly known as a stroke, is a loss of blood flow to part of the brain, which damages brain tissue. [36] As first lady, remarking on her honest candor and the sometimes-controversial remarks it resulted in, Ford declared, "I am not very good at making up stories." Since 1982 Siena College Research Institute has conducted occasional surveys asking historians to assess American first ladies according to a cumulative score on the independent criteria of their background, value to the country, intelligence, courage, accomplishments, integrity, leadership, being their own women, public image, and value to the president. Betty Ford. July 8, 2011 -- Betty Ford, wife of former President Gerald Ford and the founder of the Betty Ford Center for substance abuse and addiction, has died at age 93. [40] By late-1975, Harris found Ford to have established herself as one of America's most popular first ladies. . "She was Jerry Ford's strength through some very difficult days in our country's history, and I admired her courage in facing and sharing her personal struggles with all of us. Nor did she address her relationship with alcohol, which she, at the time, believed was typical consumption. They took away my tension and my pain". This prospect elated Ford. Ford assisted in fundraising for the little-known Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, D.C., whose patients were predominantly African American. [93] As the deadline approached, Ford led marches, parades and rallies for the ERA with other feminists, including First Daughter Maureen Reagan and various Hollywood actors. [3], In November 1975, it was reported by the Associated Press that Ford's husband's advisors, who had previously worried her outspoken comments would hurt him in the 1976 presidential election, were now recognizing her popularity and desiring for her to have a greater role in the campaign. [3] Ford remarked, "I agree with the Supreme Courts ruling. That same year, People named Ford one of the three most intriguing people in America. Established in 1949 on lakeside acreage in Center City, Minnesota, the Hazelden Betty Ford . [3] The campaign made a deliberate effort, ahead of the 1976 Republican National Convention, of sending Ford to liberal and moderate-leaning states and not more conservative states in the western and southern United States. "[19], Ford avidly supported the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. [19] Ford lobbied state legislatures to ratify the amendment, and took on opponents of the amendment. She was 99. ", President Carter and his wife Rosalynn, who succeeded the Fords in the White House, recalled "a close personal friend and our frequent partner in bipartisan efforts to improve mental health and substance abuse care in our nation. The IMDb credits for the May 1 episode, "Please Allow Me," show that Thomas E. Sullivan an actor who has had recurring parts on . I got the stuff and got back to my place and did it. Ford surprised the media and the public by explicitly supporting a woman's right to an abortion, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and grass roots activism. [32] On September 4, 1974, weeks after becoming first lady, Ford conducted press conference in the State Dining Room of the White House in which she remarked that she, "would like to be remembered in a very kind way; also as a constructive wife of a president. She also organized her own dance group and taught dance at various sites in Grand Rapids, including the Calla Travis Dance Studio. However, not everything Ford did as first lady broke tradition. Weeks after Ford became first lady, she underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer on September 28, 1974, after having been diagnosed with the disease. [25][26] At the first state dinner that she arranged as first lady, Ford revived dancing as an activity of White House state dinners. [3], Ford's busy life took a toll. [12] Ford felt an obligation to attend her husband's testimony at his confirmation hearings. Her candor in talking about and dealing with substance abuse and treatment helped led to an improvement in how Americans talk about such matters. During the general election, her busy campaign activity saw the reigniting of her pinched nerve. [5] After he recovered, they were divorced on September 22, 1947. She became famous for her candor. She was never more blunt and open than in 1978 when she revealed to the world her struggle to recover from her addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs. 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