The Nixons had previously removed dancing from the state dinners during Nixon's presidency. 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. As our nation's first lady, she was a powerful advocate for women's health and women's rights. Afterwards, Ford stated she was impressed with the conduct of the refugees. Former first lady Betty Ford has died at the age of 93. After her initial anger over the intrusion in her life, Betty remained. On December 26, 2006, Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States, died at home in Rancho Mirage, California at 6:45 p.m. local time (02:45, December 27, UTC). [78] In June 1977, Ford was a speaker at the Arthritis Association Convention. She decided to establish the Betty Ford Center with gender specific treatment for men and women (Northouse, 2013) Northouse, P. G. (2013). Bush called her, "a wonderful wife and mother; a great friend; and a courageous first lady. Since she passed, fans have wondered what Betty White's cause of death was and how she died three weeks before her 100th birthday. Jacqueline Kennedy, Pat Nixon and Betty Ford all smoked cigarettes but were never photographed doing so. She was married to Gerald Ford for 58 years. After leaving the White House in 1977, Ford continued to lead an active public life. [3][19] Ford also posed for newspaper publicity photographs and was a clothing model for charity fashion shows, after a Republican had urged her to do so since they felt that Democratic Party spouses had far outnumbered Republican spouses in such publicity-generating activity. [5] At the age of 14, she began modeling clothes and teaching children popular dances, such as the foxtrot, waltz, and big apple, to earn money in the wake of the Great Depression. 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. Bush. [33] On June 30, 1976, Ford attended the opening of "Remember the Ladies", a Revolutionary War-era women's exhibit. One day in 1934, when she was 16, Betty came home and her father, a traveling salesman who had recently lost his job, had. In public, she was one of the most visible and outspoken first ladies in history. She became well known for her openness. [40] In 1977, the World Almanac included Ford in its ranking of the 25 most-influential American women. She supported the equal rights amendment and the legalization of abortion. [92] In November 1981, Ford stated that Governor of Illinois James R. Thompson had not done enough in support of the ERA as well as her disappointment with First Lady Nancy Reagan not being in favor of the measure, though also relayed her hopes to change the incumbent First Lady's mind in further encounters with her. [3][20] However, notably, Ford had not managed to address her increasing prescription pain medication dependency, which sometimes saw her taking as many as twenty pills in a single day. "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.". Throughout her husband's term in office, she maintained high approval ratings and was considered to be an influential first lady. [8], When Bloomer was 16, her father died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the family's garage while working under their car, despite the garage doors being open. Betty Ford. During her time in the White House, she also admitted to taking Valium. Gerald Ford was in the middle of his campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives. [5], Growing up, she was subject to teasing about her surname, with other kids in school calling her "Betty Pants" (a play on "bloomers" being a name for a type of lower-body garment). [24] Ford's attendance at the funeral was, in actuality, a break from the administration. Ford has consistently ranked among the top-nine most highly assessed first ladies in these surveys. [40], In 1985, Ford received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an annual award given by the Jefferson Awards. On Aug. 9, 1974, Nixon stepped down following the Watergate scandal. After recovering, she founded and served as the first chair of the board of directors of the Betty Ford Center for substance abuse and addiction. Married and divorced in her 20s, in 1947 her life changed forever when she met Gerald R. Ford. "[3][13] For their honeymoon, the two briefly traveled to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they attended a college football game between the Michigan Wolverines and the Northwestern Wildcats, before driving to Owosso, Michigan, to attend a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee Thomas Dewey. Ford also enjoyed the traditional role as hostess of the White House and on a daily basis spent most of her energy on the family, health, and filling in for her husband on the hustings. In her September 4, 1974 press conference, Ford declared her support for it. [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. She recalled that the first time she heard someone call her father an alcoholic was at his funeral. The campaigns of the previous three presidents that sought election to an additional term (Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon) had needed to manufacture campaign publicity involving their first ladies (Mamie Eisenhower, Lady Bird Johnson, and Pat Nixon). [3], Ford did not take any solo trips aboad as first lady. [19] The use of Ford in such a manner to promote her husband's candidacy was not the work of the campaign itself, but rather, produced by supporters outside of the campaign organization. Warters, T. Alissa. He was a Bristol, Tennessee, native who had a 40-year career as a music . Ford would become the 38th president of the United States. By her second birthday, however, she was living in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the city she always considered her home. [3], On March 12, 1974, the Fords hosted a state dinner for King Hussein of Jordan after president Nixon, with a week's notice, asked Vice President Ford to take over for him in hosting the already-scheduled state dinner. [19] In her 1987 memoir she reflected on these addictions, writing, "I liked alcohol, it made me feel warm. Ford was born Elizabeth Anne Bloomer in 1918 in Chicago, Illinois, the third child and only daughter of Hortense (ne Neahr; 1884 1948) and William Stephenson Bloomer Sr. (1874 1934), who was a traveling salesman for Royal Rubber Co.[3] She was called Betty as a child. [3][19] Ford registered herself at the hospital on April 11, 1978. She served as the honorary president of the National Lupus Foundation, regarding lupus as a disease which impacted women, yet received minimal public attention. "First Ladies and the Cultural Everywoman Ideal: Gender Performance and Representation. [3], Before the end of December, Ford played a role in establishing the Republican Women's Federal Forum, partnering with Barbara Bush, whose husband George H. W. Bush was chairman of the Republican National Committee at the time. Her mother's actions in the wake of her father's passing are said to have been formative for her views in support of equal pay and gender equality. [69], During their final year in the White House, the Fords hosted eleven state dinners. She also fundraised for No Greater Love, in appreciation of its work benefiting Children of Vietnam War MIA and POWs. [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. Despite her advanced age and own frail physical condition, Ford traveled across the country and took part in the funeral events in California, Washington, D.C., and Michigan. [3][24] Ford was the only individual in attendance at the funeral not directly ingrained in the civil rights movement, with the exception of Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter. [3][5], In 1942, Elizabeth Bloomer married William G. Warren,[5][4] whom she had known since she was 12. She also traveled to Iowa before its caucus, and delivered a speech on behalf of the president (who had been unable to make his planned appearance) in which she labeled herself as being his political partner. Helping others overcome addiction became her chief cause. Best known for her leadership in the founding of the Betty Ford Clinic in California to treat addiction. When they returned to Grand Rapids, she worked again at Herpolsheimer's, this time as the fashion coordinator. The November 12, 1974 state dinner for Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky saw the first instance in which a wine from the Fords' home state of Michigan was served at a White House state dinner, with wine from the Tabor Hill Winery being served. For years after leaving the White House, Ford continued to enjoy great influence and popularity, continuing to rank in the top-ten of Gallup's annual most admired woman poll every year through 1991. Betty Ford, the outspoken and much-admired wife of President Gerald R. Ford who overcame alcoholism and an addiction to pills and helped found one of the best-known rehabilitation centers in. His wife, Betty, was the first lady during this time period. She got a job as assistant to the fashion coordinator for Herpolsheimer's, a local department store. She had held the top post at the center since its founding. [9][10] He died the day before his 60th birthday. In 2003, Ford produced another book, Healing and Hope: Six Women from the Betty Ford Center Share Their Powerful Journeys of Addiction and Recovery. Most of all we wanted the state dinners to express the very best about America, particularly during the bicentennial year. Ford, a Rancho Mirage resident who died in July 2011, had told The Desert Sun that she opposed the idea of national expansion. [31] Active in social policy, Ford broke new ground as a politically active presidential spouse. In 1965, Ford suffered a significant nervous breakdown, erupting in severe crying that had appeared inexplicable to others. Also, as a tireless advocate for women's rights and social justice, she helped to improve the lives and opportunities of countless women and children.". [61][33] Ford utilized phone calls, letter-writing, and telegrams as means of lobbying in support of the ERA. [84], In 1987, Ford underwent quadruple coronary bypass surgery and recovered without complications. She studied dance at the Calla Travis Dance Studio, graduating in 1935. [22] Two days later, on October 12, 1973, President Richard Nixon nominated Gerald Ford to serve as vice president. "This is not a lack of willpower, this is a disease," she said at the time. [12] Ford felt an obligation to attend her husband's testimony at his confirmation hearings. I got the stuff and got back to my place and did it. Thats the way I feel. Betty Ford, the first lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977, died at the age of 93. It was something the couple neither expected or wanted, Betty Ford recalled in her memoirs. Rancho Mirage, California, USA; Recently Passed Away Celebrities and Famous People. Weeks after Ford became first lady, she underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer on September 28, 1974, after having been diagnosed with the disease. Shortly after she decided to file for divorce, Warren fell into a coma. Los Angeles: Sage Publications. This video contains excerpts from the second ha. This led her to seek psychiatric assistance. [24] The Carters would, ultimately be the Fords successors as president and first lady after Carter defeated Ford in the 1976 United States presidential election. 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