Following her years in the White House, Ford continued to lobby for the ERA, and remained active in thefeminist movement. Soon after leaving office, she raised awareness ofaddiction when she sought help for, and publicly disclosed, her long-running struggle with alcoholism andsubstance abuse. After recovering, she founded and served as the first board chair of theBetty Ford Center, which provides treatment services for people withsubstance use disorders. Ford also became involved in causes related toHIV/AIDS. For years after leaving the White House, Ford continued to enjoy great influence and popularity, continuing to rank in the top ten ofGallup's annualmost admired woman poll every year through 1991.
Betty Ford was born Elizabeth Anne Bloomer on April 8, 1918, in Chicago, Illinois, the third child and only daughter of Hortense (née Neahr; 1884–1948) and William Stephenson Bloomer Sr. (1874–1934), who was a travelling salesman for Royal Rubber Co.[3] She was called Betty as a child.
Hortense and William married on November 9, 1904, in Chicago. Betty's two older brothers were Robert (d. 1971) and William Jr. After the family lived briefly inDenver, Colorado, she grew up inGrand Rapids, Michigan, where she graduated fromCentral High School.[4]
In 1926, when Bloomer was eight years old, her mother, who valued social graces, enrolled her in the Calla Travis Dance Studio in Grand Rapids, where Ford was taught ballet,tap dancing, andmodern movement. She developed a passion for dance, and she decided she wanted to pursue a career in the field.[5] At the age of 14, she began modeling clothes and teaching children popular dances, such as thefoxtrot,waltz, andbig apple, to earn money in the wake of theGreat Depression. She worked with children withdisabilities at the Mary Free Bed Home for Crippled Children. She studied dance at the Calla Travis Dance Studio, graduating in 1935.[3][5][6] While she was still in high school, she started her own dance school, instructing both youth and adults.[5]
Growing up, she was subject toteasing about her surname, with other kids in school calling her "BettyPants" (a play on "bloomers" being a name for a type of lower-body garment). Bloomer disliked the surname.[7]
When Ford herself began the process of recovering from her ownalcoholism, she disclosed to the public that both her father and her brother Bob had suffered from alcoholism as well.[8]
When Bloomer was 16, her father died ofcarbon monoxide poisoning in the family'sgarage while working under their car, despite the garage doors being open.[9][10] He died the day before his 60th birthday.[3] It was never confirmed whether his death had beenaccidental or a suicide.[5] With her father's death, her family lost its primarybreadwinner, and her mother began working as a real estate agent to support the family. Her mother's actions in the wake of her father's death are said to have been formative for her views in support ofequal pay andgender equality.[5]
In 1936, after graduating from high school, Bloomer proposed continuing her study of dance in New York City, but her mother refused on account of the relatively recent loss of her husband. She instead attended theBennington School of Dance inBennington, Vermont, for two summers, where she studied under directorMartha Hill with choreographersMartha Graham andHanya Holm. After being accepted by Graham as a student in 1940, Bloomer moved to New York to live inManhattan'sChelsea neighborhood; she worked as a fashion model for theJohn Robert Powers firm in order to finance her dance studies. She joined Graham's auxiliary troupe and eventually performed with thecompany atCarnegie Hall in New York City.[3][5]
Bloomer's mother was opposed to her pursuing a career in dance and insisted that she return home, and, as a compromise, they agreed that Bloomer would return home for six months and, if she still wanted to return to New York City at the end of that time, her mother would not protest further. Bloomer became immersed in her life in Grand Rapids and did not return to New York. Her mother remarried, to family friend and neighbor Arthur Meigs Godwin, and Bloomer lived with them. She got a job as assistant to the fashion coordinator forHerpolsheimer's, a localdepartment store. She also organized her own dance group and taught dance at various sites in Grand Rapids, including the Calla Travis Dance Studio. She further taughtballroom dancing lessons for children withvisual impairment andhearing loss and gave weekly dance lessons to African American children.[3][5]
In 1942, Elizabeth Bloomer married William G. Warren,[5][4] whom she had known since she was 12.[5] At the time they married, Warren worked for his own father in insurance sales. Shortly after they married, he began to sell insurance for another company. He later worked for theContinental Can Company, and after that for theWiddicomb Furniture Company. The couple moved frequently because of his work. At one point, they lived inToledo, Ohio, where Elizabeth was employed at the department storeLasalle & Koch as a demonstrator, a job that entailed being a model andsaleswoman. She worked a production line for afrozen food company inFulton, New York. When they returned to Grand Rapids, she worked again at Herpolsheimer's, this time as the fashion coordinator.[11] She had, three years into the marriage, concluded that their relationship was a failure. She desired to have a family with children and was unhappy with the frequent moves between cities she had experienced in her marriage.[5] Warren was an alcoholic anddiabetic, and was in poor health. Shortly after she decided to file for divorce, Warren fell into a coma. She paused her divorce, and supported him, living at Warren's family's home for the next two years as his health recovered. During these two years, she lived upstairs while he was nursed downstairs.[3] She worked jobs in order to support both herself and Warren. This experience has been credited with further cementing Ford's understanding ofgender-based income inequalities between individuals doing the same work.[5] After he recovered, they were divorced on September 22, 1947.[3][5]
Betty and Gerald Ford on their wedding day, 1948Betty and Gerald Ford joinDwight D. Eisenhower and his wifeMamie Eisenhower at aGrand Rapids, Michigan, event for Dwight D. Eisenhower's1952 presidential campaign.
In August 1947, she was introduced by mutual friends toGerald Ford, a lawyer andWorld War II veteran who had just resumed his legal practice after returning fromNavy service, and was planning to run for theUnited States House of Representatives.[3][5][12] They married on October 15, 1948, at GraceEpiscopal Church in Grand Rapids. Gerald Ford was in the middle of his campaign. In the first of adjustments for politics, he had asked her to delay the wedding until shortly before theprimary election because, asThe New York Times reported, "Jerry was running for Congress and wasn't sure how voters might feel about his marrying a divorced ex-dancer."[3][13] For their honeymoon, the two briefly traveled toAnn Arbor, Michigan, where they attended acollege football game between theMichigan Wolverines and theNorthwestern Wildcats, before driving toOwosso, Michigan, to attend a campaign rally for Republican presidential nomineeThomas Dewey.[14] The Fords would ultimately be married for the next 58 years, until Gerald Ford's death.[15] An anecdote that was later reported was that, when Gerald Ford left Grand Rapids for Washington, D.C., Betty Ford's new sister-in-law Janet Ford remarked to her, "with Jerry, you'll never have to worry about other women. Your cross will be his work."[7]
The Fords with their children in 1959Ford (third from left) and her family in theOval Office of theWhite House in 1974
The Fords lived in Washington, D.C. after his election, until the spring of 1955, when the Fords moved into a house they constructed in the D.C. suburb ofAlexandria, Virginia.[3][14][17] Gerald Ford had ambitions to rise to the rank ofspeaker of the house, and therefore maintained a busy travel schedule, regularly crisscrossing the United States to fundraise and campaign on behalf of other Republicans in hopes that they would, in turn, provide him with the support he would eventually need to become speaker. This meant that Gerald Ford was away from home for roughly half the year, placing a great burden on Ford to raise their children.[3] As a mother, Ford neverspanked or hit her children, believing that there were better, more constructive ways to deal withdiscipline and punishment.[18]
Ford served as aparent-teacher association member, Sunday school teacher at Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill, and aCub Scout "den mother". She regularly drove her children around to their activities, such as her sons'Little League Baseball games and her daughter's dance classes. She was also involved in her husband's political career by fulfilling the commitments expected of congressional spouses to help elevate her husband's regard among his House colleagues. She accompanied her husband to congressional and White House events, as well as on some trips abroad, and made herself available to newspaper and magazine articles.[3][19] Ford also posed for newspaper publicity photographs and was a clothing model for charityfashion 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.[3] Ford alsovolunteered for local charitable organizations, including serving as the program director of the Alexandria Cancer Fund Drive.[3] Ford also held active membership in groups such as the 81st Congress Club andNational Federation of Republican Women.[3]
Ford's busy life took a toll. In 1964, apinched nerve on the left side of Ford'sneck sent her to the hospital for two weeks. After her pinched nerve, she began suffering several effects, includingmuscle spasms, periphrasic neuropathy,numbing the left side of her neck, andarthritis on hershoulder and arm. She would be givenprescription medication, includingValium. Ford would ultimately develop anaddiction to prescription medication (and would ultimately confront and recover from this addiction in 1978).[3][19] Ford's health problems and the stress of her husband's career (which saw him frequently away from their household) compounded, particularly after her husband's career became even more demanding after he becameHouse minority leader in January 1965. In 1965, Ford suffered a significantnervous breakdown, erupting in severecrying that had appeared inexplicable to others. This led her to seekpsychiatric assistance. Ford had weekly meetings with apsychiatrist approximately between August 1965 and April 1967.[3] Ford received support from her family and managed to resume a busy lifestyle.[3][20] However, notably, Ford had not yet managed to address her increasing prescriptionpain medication dependency, which sometimes saw her taking as many as twenty pills in a single day. Nor had she yet addressed her relationship with alcohol, which she, at the time, believed was typical consumption.[3]
Ford accompanied her husband on a trip tomainland China in 1972.[21] That same year, her husband brought up the possibility that he might retire from congress in 1977, which would make the1974 United States House of Representatives election the last he would run in. This prospect elated Ford.[20] Such talk was due to her husband seeing it as unlikely that he would ever fulfill his ambition of becoming speaker of the House in light of the Republican Party's failure to win a majority in the1972 United States House of Representatives elections.[3]
The Fords pose with PresidentRichard Nixon and First LadyPat Nixon on October 13, 1973, the day after President Nixon nominated Ford to be appointed as his new vice president.TheFrankie Welch-designed dress that Ford wore to her husband's swearing-in as vice president
Spiro Agnew resigned as vice president on October 10, 1973.[22] Two days later, on October 12, 1973, PresidentRichard Nixon nominated Gerald Ford to serve as vice president.[12] Ford felt an obligation to attend her husband'stestimony at his confirmation hearings. During his testimony, Gerald Ford was questioned about attending psychiatric care. After this, Betty Ford was transparent with the news media that she had received psychiatric care. She explained that, while her husband had attended two sessions with a psychiatric doctor, those sessions were for her care, and not care of his own.[3] Gerald Ford was confirmed as vice president by theUnited States Congress on December 6, 1973, and he took theoath of office before ajoint session of the United States Congress while placing his hand upon a bible that Betty Ford held.[3][12] With her husband assuming the office of vice president, Ford became thesecond lady of the United States.[3]
Before the end of December, Ford played a role in establishing the Republican Women's Federal Forum, partnering withBarbara Bush, whose husbandGeorge H. W. Bush waschairman of theRepublican National Committee at the time. The organization sought to bring together political spouses and female government federal employees to discuss current party activities and ideas about legislation. Ford also, in a television interview withBarbara Walters, expressed her support for theUnited States Supreme Court'sRoe v. Wade decision rulingabortion as constitutionally protected.[3] Ford remarked, "I agree with the Supreme Court's ruling. I think it's time to bring abortion out of the backwoods and put it in the hospitals, where it belongs." Disregarding criticism to her stance, Ford would remark, "Maybe I shouldn't have said it, but I couldn't lie. That's the way I feel."[23]
The media "broke" the story that Ford had a previous marriage and had been divorced, initially reporting it as a secret revelation. However, Ford simply responded by giving the explanation that it was not something that she had tried to hide, but rather, something that she had only neglected to share with the news media because none of them had broached the subject in their previous questions to her. This response proved effective in killing the speculation that she was covering-up her past and earned her some admiration in the media.[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.[21] Ford became overwhelmed by the media attention she received and became somewhat reclusive for a period early into her time as second lady.[24] However, by the spring of 1974, Ford was seen as embracing her position as second lady, becoming less reclusive and more active.[21] Ford would, ultimately, for most of the nine months that she was second lady, be a high-profile public figure.[3]
As she became a more active second lady, Ford adopted an objective of promoting the arts. In April 1974, she made her first official solo trip as second lady when she spent two-days visiting the states ofGeorgia andTennessee to help in publicizing the "ARTRAIN", which was a traveling exhibit of art, visual displays, and performance pieces housed in sixrailway cars, and which was to travel through small towns across the southern United States. Ford was the most prominent national supporter of the project.[3][21] Her candor on this trip received a positive reception by the news media.[21] Among those that she met on the two-day trip wasGeorgia GovernorJimmy Carter and his wifeRosalynn.[24] The Carters would ultimately go on to be the Fords' successors as president and first lady after Jimmy Carter defeated President Ford in the1976 United States presidential election.[24] On May 31, 1973, Ford made her first major speech when she gave acommencement address to the graduates of theWestminster Choir College. This set a contrast with First LadyPat Nixon, who routinely rejected invitations to give formal speeches. Ford was also observed to be upgrading her wardrobe, addingdesigner clothing.[21] In addition to the arts, Ford also gave focus to projects helping thedisabled during her time as second lady.[3]
In June 1974, Ford attended the funeral ofAlberta Williams King, the assassinated mother of the latecivil rights leaderMartin Luther King Jr. OtherNixon administration official figures did not attend, continuing with other obligations.[3][24] Ford was the only individual in attendance at the funeral not directly ingrained in the civil rights movement or black politics, with the exception of Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter.[24] Ford's attendance at the funeral was, in actuality, a break from the administration. 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. Ford also broke from the administration in giving her support to the prospect of federally-fundedchild daycare, which the Nixon administration opposed.[3]
Ford had an extremely busy schedule by July 1974. Magazines such asVogue andLadies Home Journal were planning to publish spreads on Ford in upcoming issues.[24] With her husband, as vice president, tasked with heavily campaigning on behalf of his party for the1974 midterm elections, Ford occasionally hit the campaign trail herself. Ford had declared that she would be accompanying her husband at campaign functions, "when he wants me to."[21][24] The Fords had planned to make a diplomatic trip to European nations after the midterm elections.[21]
Both Betty and Gerald Ford refused to comment on speculation that President Nixon might be forced out of office due to theWatergate scandal. Ford did indirectly indicate her willingness to step into the role of first lady by affirming that she would make any sacrifices required for her husband to carry out his constitutional obligations, but also opined that it would be traumatic if the nation had to endure a president being forced from office. Ford also publicly expressed admiration and friendship toward First LadyPat Nixon.[3]
On August 9, 1974, after theresignation of Richard Nixon (who was facing the prospect of likelyimpeachment and removal from office), Gerald Ford ascended to the position of president of the United States[12] and Betty Ford became thefirst lady of the United States. As was the case during Gerald Ford's vice presidential swearing-in, Betty Ford held the Bible upon which he placed his hand while taking hisoath of office. In his remarks athis inauguration, Gerald Ford remarked, "I am indebted to no man and only one woman, my dear wife, Betty, as I begin this very difficult job."[3]
At the time her husband assumed the presidency, reporters speculated on what kind of first lady Ford would be, as they thought her predecessor, Pat Nixon, as noted by one reporter, to be the "most disciplined, composed first lady in history."[28] Ford ultimately became a popular and influential first lady. In the opinion ofThe New York Times and several presidential historians, "Mrs. Ford's impact on American culture may be far wider and more lasting than that of her husband, who served a mere 896 days, much of it spent trying to restore the dignity of the office of the president."[29] She was regarded to be the most politically outspoken first lady sinceEleanor Roosevelt,[7][30] whom she regarded as a role model.[31] Active in social policy, Ford broke new ground as a politically active presidential spouse.[32]
Repeatedly speaking out on women's issues, Ford was a leader in championing the changing status of women in American society. Ford surprised the media and the public by explicitly supporting a woman's right to an abortion, theEqual Rights Amendment (ERA), and grass roots activism. Ford took these stances despite recognizing that they created a political risk ofconservative backlash against her husband. However, not everything Ford did as first lady broke tradition. 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 serving as a surrogate for her husband on the political campaign trail.[33]
Betty and Gerald Ford riding in the presidential limousine in 1974
Steinhauer ofThe New York Times described Ford as "a product and symbol of the cultural and political times—doingthe Bump dance along the corridors of the White House, donning amood ring, chatting on herCB radio with the handle First Mama—a housewife who argued passionately for equal rights for women, a mother of four who mused about drugs, abortion andpremarital sex aloud and without regret."[34] Ford was open about the benefits ofpsychiatric treatment and spoke understandingly aboutmarijuana use and premarital sex.[35] TheNew York News Service wrote that Ford was, "constitutionally incapable of uttering 'no comment' or otherwise fudging an answer."[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." In another instance, she commented, "it's just impossible for me to lie and look someone in the eyes and talk to them. This is my problem."[7][36] While President Ford never attempted to silence his wife, some of his senior staff resented her independent candor.[3]Margaret Brown Klapthor later wrote of Ford's candor, "she has the self-confidence to express herself with humor and forthrightness whether she speaks to friends, to the press or to a multitude."[37]
Ford filmed an interview with the television news program60 Minutes which was broadcast on August 10, 1975.[3] The broadcast of the interview saw strong interest from the public.[3] After the interview aired, a number of Ford's remarks in this interview on hot-button issues generated particularly immense media attention.[7] Due to conservative backlash from Ford's comments onpremarital sex,marijuana use, and abortion in the60 Minutes interview, President Ford initially quipped to her that her comments had lost him a large number of votes.[7][34][38] However, polling would show that her comments were accepted by many Americans.[7][38][39]
In 1975, whenTime named the "American women" as its "Person of the Year",[40] the magazine profiled Ford as one of eleven women selected to represent "American women". That same year,People named Ford one of the three most intriguing people in America.[41] In 1977, theWorld Almanac included Ford in its ranking of the 25 most-influential American women.[39] In January 1976, Ford made acameo appearance on the popular television programThe Mary Tyler Moore Show.[42]
The Fords were among the more openly affectionate first couples in United States history. Neither was shy about their mutual love and equal respect, and they were known to have a strong personal and political partnership.[15] This open affection was evident from the beginning of Gerald Ford's presidency. Ford was observed audibly telling her husband "I love you" following a kiss they shared right after he was sworn in as president. Later that day, President Ford was caught momentarily patting Betty'sbuttocks before the press gathered outside of their Virginia residence.[7] Weeks later, when the Fords moved from their Virginia residence into the White House[3] theirking size bed was photographed being moved into the White House, which prompted Betty to quip that they had been outed for breaking the tradition of first couples keeping separate bedrooms in the White House.[7] Early into her time in the White House, during a televised tour of the White House, Ford once again noted that she and her husband shared the same bed.[35] In a 1975 interview withMcCall's, Ford remarked that she was asked just about everything, except for how often she and the president had sex. "And if they'd asked me that I would have told them," she said, adding that her response would be, "as often as possible."[10]
Ford was popular with the American public. Her overall approval rating was, at times, as high as 75%.[34] Ford's popularity often was higher than her husband's.[19] Ford said, during her husband's failed1976 presidential campaign, "I would give my life to have Jerry have my poll numbers."[34] This reflects a common trend of American first ladies often being more popular than the presidents to whom they are married.[43]
Ford ranked as one of the top-10 most admired women in the results ofGallup's annualmost admired man and woman poll every year from 1974 (the year her husband first became president) through 1991,[44][45][46] with the exception of Gallup having not conducted such a poll in 1976 (the final full year of her husband's presidency).[47] The poll gauges Americans' most admired men and women without providing respondents any pre-arranged list of names.[44] In 1974, Ford placed second in the poll.[48] She placed first in 1975.[47] In 1977, the year her husband left office, she placed fourth.[49] After her tenure as first lady ended, she would top the poll for a second time in 1978, the year she had established herself as an advocate for people with drug and alcohol dependence.[47][45] Contrarily to her, while President Ford ranked in the top-10 positions of most admired men in multiple years,[50][51][52][53] he never managed to top it.[47]
InGood Housekeeping's annual readers' poll of most admired women, Ford placed second in 1974[54] and first in 1975.[41] By late-1975,Harris found Ford to have established herself as one of America's most popular first ladies.[38][33] In January 1976, the editors of theNew York News Service wrote that Ford was, "one of the most charming and popular First Ladies ever to occupy the White House".[36]
Ranking in Gallup's annual poll of "Most Admired Women"
A sign being displayed inPortland, Maine, in August 1975 expressing support for Ford's stance on various women's issues
During her time as first lady, Ford was an outspoken advocate ofwomen's rights and was a prominent force in theWomen's Movement of the 1970s.[55] Her active political role promptedTime to call her the country's "Fighting First Lady" and was the reason they profiled her, among several others, to represent the "American Women" as the magazine's 1975Person of the Year.[32] On September 4, 1974, weeks after becoming first lady, Ford conducted a press conference in theState 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."[19]
A handmade flag given to Betty Ford that demonstrates her support for theEqual Rights Amendment
Ford avidly supported the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. In her September 4, 1974 press conference, Ford declared her support for it.[19] Ford lobbied state legislatures to ratify the amendment, and took on opponents of the amendment.[55][33] Ford utilizedphone calls, letter-writing, andtelegrams as means of lobbying in support of the ERA.[33]
Ford was also unapologeticallypro-abortion rights.[19][55] In a 1975 interview with the news program60 Minutes, Ford calledRoe v. Wade a "great, great decision".[19] Ford's abortion position differed from the political platform of the Republican Party.[19] For a long time, it was unclear whether Gerald Ford shared his wife's pro-abortion rights viewpoint. In December 1999, he told interviewerLarry King that he, too, was pro-abortion rights and had been criticized for that stance by conservative forces within theRepublican Party.[55]
Ford's involvement in political issues received some conservative criticism.Phyllis Schlafly accused Ford of acting improperly by intervening in state affairs. Some women protested Ford's lobbying for the ERA by carrying placards outside of the White House reading "Betty Ford, Get Off the Phone".[33] On June 30, 1976, Ford attended the opening of "Remember the Ladies", a Revolutionary War-era women's exhibit. She drew boos from demonstrators against the Equal Rights Amendment in stating, "This exhibit about neglected Americans should give us strength and courage to seek equal rights for women today."[58]
President Ford sits at Betty's bedside atBethesda Naval Hospital on October 2, 1974, as she recovers from hermastectomy.Ford hosts actressRosalind Russell at the White House on May 11, 1976. Russell was suffering from breast cancer, and would die 6 months later.Ford viewing the Queen's Sitting Room during a tour of the White House, 1977
Weeks after Ford became first lady, she underwent amastectomy for breast cancer on September 28, 1974, after having been diagnosed with the disease.[59] Ford decided to be open about her illness because "There had been so much cover-up duringWatergate that we wanted to be sure there would be no cover-up in the Ford administration."[60] She was the first American First Lady to permit for the public release of reports on her own medical condition sinceFlorence Harding in 1922.[3] Her openness about her cancer and treatment raised the visibility of a disease that Americans had previously been reluctant to talk about. Ford commented toTime,
When other women have this same operation, it doesn't make any headlines. But the fact that I was the wife of the President put it in headlines and brought before the public this particular experience I was going through. It made a lot of women realize that it could happen to them. I'm sure I've saved at least one person—maybe more.[61]
Adding to heightened publicawareness of breast cancer were reports that several weeks after Ford's cancer surgery,Happy Rockefeller, the wife of Vice PresidentNelson Rockefeller, also had a mastectomy.[61] The spike in womenself-examining after Ford went public with the diagnosis led to an increase in reported cases of breast cancer, a phenomenon known as the "Betty Ford blip".[60]
After her mastectomy, Ford receivedchemotherapy treatments and saw regular checkups. White House Physician William M. Lukash claimed in a March 1975 statement that Ford was suffering no side effects from her chemotherapy.[62]
In March 1975, Ford temporarily cut back her public schedule after suffering a flareup of her chronic arthritis.[62]
Despite the brevity of her husband's presidency (roughly two and a half years), he hosted 33 state dinners, the fifth most state dinners of any United States president.[25] The first of these came only a week into Ford's presidency, hosting KingHussein of Jordan on August 16, 1974.[25][63] Once she became first lady, it fell to Ford to arrange this already-scheduled dinner.[8][64] 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.[65] As previously mentioned, the Fords had hosted a state dinner for King Hussein months earlier, during Gerald Ford's vice presidency, on March 12, 1974, after president Nixon asked then-Vice President Ford to take over for him in hosting a planned dinner for the King.[25][26] At the first state dinner that she arranged as first lady, Ford revived dancing as an activity of White House state dinners. The Nixons had previously removed dancing from the state dinners during Nixon's presidency.[63] At the state dinners of the Ford presidency, the president and first lady always led off the dancing, and dancing often lasted beyond midnight.[63]
The Fords opted to have eclectic array of guests at their state dinners, including notable celebrities from the entertainment industry. The Fords' children often also attended the dinners they hosted.[63]
During their final year in the White House, the Fords hosted eleven state dinners. This large number of state dinners was, in part, due to great interest from foreign dignitaries in visiting the United States for a state dinner amid theUnited States Bicentennial celebrations. Ford made the decision that year to erect atent in theWhite House Rose Garden to host dinners outside. For state dinners held using this tent, the receptions, entertainment, and dancing portions of the evenings were still held inside of the White House.[63]
Of the state dinners she planned, Ford said, "From the beginning, Jerry and I tried to make the White House a place where people could have fun and enjoy themselves. Most of all we wanted the state dinners to express the very best about America, particularly during the bicentennial year."[63]
Dishes that Ford particularly liked serving at state dinners includedwild rice,[25][68]Columbia River salmon,soufflé, andflambé. The state dinners that Ford planned as first lady made a deliberate effort to showcase American ingredients.[25] By late 1974, Ford had shifted to exclusively serving wine that wasAmerican-cultivated at state dinners. The November 12, 1974 state dinner for AustrianChancellorBruno Kreisky saw the first instance in which awine from the Fords' home state of Michigan was served at a White House state dinner, with wine from the Tabor Hill Winery being served. It was not until 2016, during the presidency ofBarack Obama, that a Michigan wine would again be served at a White House state dinner.[25]
Ford reviews the table settings while preparing for the September 21, 1976 state dinner in honor of Liberian President William Tolbert.
Ford and Social Secretary Maria Downs give the media a tour of the tent erected in the South Lawn for the July 1976 state dinner honoringQueen Elizabeth II andPrince Philip of Great Britain.
The Fords escort Japanese EmperorHirohito andEmpress Kōjun down theCross Hall towards theEast Room during an October 1975 state dinner honoring the Japanese royals.
Ford joining dance students at the May 7th College of Art in Beijing, China (December 3, 1975)
Ford accompanied her husband abroad on several diplomatic trips. Among the nations that Ford accompanied her husband to were China,Poland,Romania, andYugoslavia.[3]
Ford did not take any solo trips abroad as first lady.[3][69] She is the most recent first lady not to have done so. The first instance of a first lady conducting one had beenEleanor Roosevelt in 1942. Ford's recent predecessorLady Bird Johnson was among other first ladies that did not conduct solo trips abroad.[69]
During the Fords' 1976 trip to mainland China, when being shown an exhibition by a Chinese arts college dance group, Ford decided to join the dancers. Photos of this moment were published widely in the American press, resulting in Betty Ford somewhat upstaging President Ford in the press.[7]
Ford supported numerous charities as first lady. Ford assisted in fundraising for the little-known Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, D.C., whose patients were predominantly African American. She also fundraised forNo Greater Love, in appreciation of its work benefiting Children ofVietnam WarMIA andPOWs. She served as the honorary president of the National Lupus Foundation, regardinglupus as a disease which impacted women, yet received minimal public attention. Her philanthropic support additionally placed a specific focus on charities serving children withspecial needs.[3]
In November 1975, it was reported by theAssociated 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.[38] Ford ultimately played an important role in the 1976 election campaign. Ford made campaign appearances and delivered speeches across the United States.[3]
Ford was also used, both by Ford supporters and detractors, as a symbol ofliberal Republicanism, with her politics contrasting with the Republican Party's conservative andmoderate wings.[3]
During the campaign, many Ford supporters worecampaign buttons with phrases like "Betty's Husband for President in '76" and "Keep Betty in the White House".[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. 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). In contrast, there was tremendous organic excitement for Betty Ford among supporters of the campaign.[3]
Ford campaigned actively both duringprimary elections and the general election. A contrast was publicly drawn between Ford andNancy Reagan, the wife of Ford's primary election challengerRonald Reagan. Reagan had contrasting views on issues such as drug experimentation by teenagers and theEqual Rights Amendment (which she opposed passing).[3] Many of Ford's views were aligned-with, or even more liberal than, Rosalynn Carter, the wife of Ford's Democratic general election opponent Jimmy Carter.[3]
During the primaries, Ford recordedradio advertisements on behalf of the campaign that were broadcast inNew Hampshire. She also traveled toIowa before itscaucus, 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.[3] The campaign made a deliberate effort, ahead of the1976 Republican National Convention, of sending Ford to liberal and moderate-leaning states and not more conservative states in thewestern andsouthern United States.[3]
Between Labor Day and election day, for the general election campaign, Ford conducted multi-stop speaking tours, during which she visited western states (including California,Colorado,Texas, andUtah) as well was northernmidwest states includingIllinois,Michigan, andWisconsin.[3]
The heavy campaigning placed a strain on Ford's health. During the general election, her busy campaign activity saw the reigniting of her pinched nerve. However, even after this, Ford continued with her planned campaign schedule.[3]
After Gerald Ford's defeat by Jimmy Carter in the1976 presidential election, she delivered her husband'sconcession speech because he hadlost his voice while campaigning.[3][16] The speech was delivered on the day after the election. This is the only time that a major United States presidential candidate's spouse has delivered their concession on their behalf.[3]
After her husband's narrow defeat, there was some anecdotal speculation that Ford may have both have helped to alienate conservative Republicans from voting for her husband and at the same time helped attract him support from liberal and moderate Republicans,Democrats, and independents.[3]
Campaign button in support of President Ford's1976 presidential campaign with the phrase "Keep Betty in the White House"
Photograph of Ford dancing on the table of theCabinet Room
During the period after the election, Ford postponed scheduled plans to give her slated successor, Rosalynn Carter, a tour of the White House. Unknown to Carter at the time, this was likely due to Ford's fragility caused by her prescription drug abuse. When Ford attempted to postpone the plans a second time,President-elect Carter called the White House and threatened to make a fuss in the news if the tour was not held as planned. Ford capitulated and gave a brief, but cordial, tour of the White House to Rosalynn Carter on November 22, 1976, coinciding with President-elect Carter's White House meeting with President Ford.[70][71]
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 theCabinet Room table. White House photographerDavid Hume Kennerly took a photo of her on the table.[72][73][74] Gerald Ford did not know about or see the photo until 1994.[75] A Ford family friend said that President Ford "about fell off his chair" when he saw the photo for the first time.[76][77] The photo was subsequently published and is regarded as an "iconic" photograph of Ford's time as First Lady.[77] Kennerly has touted the image as both capturing Ford's personality and being a symbolic image showing the feminist first lady posing in what had been a space occupied predominantly bywhite men.[75][78]
At his inauguration, Jimmy Carter takes the oath of office to succeed Gerald Ford as president. Betty Ford stands in the lower-left corner of this image.
After leaving theWhite House in 1977, Ford continued to lead an active public life. In addition to founding theBetty Ford Center, she remained active in women's issues, taking on numerous speaking engagements and lending her name to charities for fundraising.[79] Many of Ford's most significant contributions as an activist came following the Fords' departure from the White House.[19]
In March 1977, Ford signed withNBC News to appear in two news specials within the following two years and to serve as a contributor toToday,[80] and jointly signed a publishing deal alongside her husband to for their forthcomingmemoirs.[81] In June 1977, Ford was a speaker at the Arthritis Association Convention.[82] In September of that year, Ford traveled to Moscow for a television program taping and to serve as hostess forThe Nutcracker.[83] In November 1977, Ford appeared at the opening session of theNational Women's Conference inHouston, Texas.[84][85]
Recovery from alcoholism and prescription drug addiction
Ford had suffered from a dependency on prescription medication and from alcoholism prior even to her husband's presidency.[19] Ford had, particularly, become addicted to prescription medication (opioidanalgesics) that she had been originally prescribed in the early 1960s to treat a pinched nerve.[3][19] Ford took doses of this medication in excess of her prescription.[19] In her 1987 memoir, she reflected on these addictions, writing, "I liked alcohol, it made me feel warm. And I loved pills. They took away my tension and my pain".[86] The fact that Ford had, for years, been giventranquilizers to treat a pinched nerve in her neck was public knowledge as far back as her time as second lady.[21] During her time as first lady, there had even been some private speculation that Ford might have been suffering from substance abuse, as her friends and members of the press had observed occasional slurred speech from Ford.[87]
After the Fords left the White House, her addictions became more evident to her family and appeared life-threatening. On April 1, 1978, her family staged anintervention.[3][19] In order to be at Betty Ford's intervention, President Ford had made last minute cancellations of numerous appearances that he had been scheduled to make on the East Coast. In making these cancellations, the former president cited "personal and family reasons".[88] The intervention forced Betty Ford to acknowledge the negative impact that her addiction was having on her health and family relationships. She agreed that day todetox from her medicine. She also, ultimately, agreed to attendrehab at the Naval Regional Medical Center inLong Beach, California. Ford registered herself at the hospital on April 11, 1978.[3][19]
As she had previously been with her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, Ford was transparent with the public about her addictions and admittance to rehab. Ford's transparency was praised by experts in drug abuse treatment, who predicted that it would make a major and positive impact. The week she entered rehab, Ford disclosed her addiction to prescription medication. Days later, Ford also disclosed to the public that she had come to realize that she was additionally an alcoholic. She disclosed her alcoholism through a statement that a family spokesman read on her behalf at a press conference (at which Ford was not herself present) held outside of the hospital. 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". In this statement, she also praised the reputation of the hospital's addiction treatment program, and declared her pleasure to have the opportunity to attend the treatment. The statement also declared, "I expect this treatment and fellowship to be a solution for my problems. I embrace it, not only for me, but all the many others who are here to participate."The Washington Post reported that Ford's disclosure of alcoholism came as a surprise to a number of her close friends, who had regarded her as merely a social drinker and were oblivious to her drinking problem.[87]
Ford succeeded in getting sober.[3][19] She published her first memoir,The Times of My Life, later in 1978 in which she discussed her battle with addiction.[19]
During a January 1984 address in Michigan to a crowd of individuals who were in the early stages of alcohol and drug dependency treatment, Ford reflected that the six years since she began her treatment for alcohol and drug abuse, "have been the best years in my life from the standpoint of feeling healthier and feeling more comfortable with myself".[89]
In 1982, after recovering from her own addictions, Ford established theBetty Ford Center (initially called the Betty Ford Clinic) in Rancho Mirage, California. Its mission specializes in the treatment of chemical dependency,[90] including treating the children of alcoholics.[91] She partnered with her friend AmbassadorLeonard Firestone to found it.[92] She served as chair of the board of directors. She also co-authored withChris Chase a book about her treatment,Betty: A Glad Awakening (1987). In 2003, Ford produced another book,Healing and Hope: Six Women from the Betty Ford Center Share Their Powerful Journeys of Addiction and Recovery. In 2005, Ford relinquished her chair of the center's board of directors to her daughter Susan. She had held the top post at the center since its founding.[15][92]
Barbara Bush, a later first lady, opined that Ford, after discovering she was dependent on drugs, "transformed her pain into something great for the common good. Because she suffered, there will be more healing. Because of her grief, there will be more joy."[93]
Ford continued to be an active leader and activist of the feminist movement after the Ford administration. She continued to strongly advocate and lobby politicians and state legislatures for passage of the ERA. In 1977, PresidentJimmy Carter appointed Ford to the second National Commission on the Observance ofInternational Women's Year (the first had been appointed by President Ford). That same year, she joined First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson andRosalynn Carter to open and participate in theNational Women's Conference inHouston, Texas, where she endorsed measures in the convention's National Plan of Action, a report sent to the state legislatures, theU.S. Congress, and the President on how to improve the status of American women.[94] Ford continued to be an outspoken supporter of equal pay for women, breast cancer awareness, and the ERA throughout her life.[95] She was an active member of theJunior League.[96]
Ford continued to advocate for the ratification of the ERA. In November 1977, Ford and First Lady Rosalynn Carter joined to advocate for its ratification at theNational Women's Conference inHouston.[97] In 1978, the deadline for ratification of the ERA was extended from 1979 to 1982, resulting largely from a march of a hundred thousand people onPennsylvania Avenue in Washington. The march was led by prominent feminist leaders, including Ford,Bella Abzug,Elizabeth Chittick,Betty Friedan andGloria Steinem. In 1981,Eleanor Smeal, theNational Organization for Women's president, announced Ford's appointment to be the co-chair, withAlan Alda, of the ERA Countdown Campaign.[98] In November 1981, Ford stated thatGovernor of IllinoisJames R. Thompson had not done enough in support of the ERA as well as her disappointment with First LadyNancy 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.[99] As the deadline approached, Ford led marches, parades and rallies for the ERA with other feminists, including First DaughterMaureen Reagan and various Hollywood actors. Ford was credited with rejuvenating the ERA movement and inspiring more women to continue working for the ERA. She visited states, including Illinois, where ratification was believed to have the most realistic chance of passing.[100] On October 12, 1981, Ford spoke in support of the ERA on a rally held at theNational Mall.[97] The amendment did not receive enough states' ratification. In 2004, Ford reaffirmed her pro-abortion rights stance and her support for the 1973U.S. Supreme Court decision inRoe v. Wade, as well as her belief in and support for the ratification of the ERA.[101]
Decades later, in his 2014 memoir, television producerNorman Lear revealed that in the late-1970s Ford had played a significant role in helping to persuade television executives to purchase thesyndication rights to the seriesMaude, of which she was an avid viewer. He wrote that, at his request, Ford had attended theNational Association of Television Program Executives convention and spoke to executives about her love of the series to help pique their interest in the series.[103]
Ford tackled the stigmatized issue ofHIV/AIDS during the HIV/AIDS crisis. Through the work she did at the Betty Ford Center, Ford recognized the link between drug abuse and AIDS. She involved herself in the Los Angeles AIDS Project. In 1985, Ford received the Los Angeles AIDS Projects "Commitment to Life Award". Her acceptance speech spoke hopefully of the prospect that attitudes towards HIV/AIDS would shift, being de-stigmatized as cancer and alcoholism had (in part due to her contribution). When she attended the1992 Republican National Convention, Ford wore an AIDS ribbon pin.[87][104]
Constitutionally all citizens have the right to serve their country as long as they abide by the rules and regulations of military service. There have been gays and lesbians serving our country for many years. There haven't been any more problems than there have been in situations like Tailhook with heterosexuals. I do not believe they should be asked to leave the military.[104]
In 1985, Ford received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an annual award given by theJefferson Awards.[105] That same year, Ford received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement. This was formally presented to her by President Ford, who was an Academy Awards Council member.[106]
In the early 1990s, Ford voiced admiration for First LadyHillary Clinton and praised her for taking an active role in policy within her husband's administration by leading theClinton health care plan[104]
During her and President Ford's later years together, they resided in Rancho Mirage and inBeaver Creek, Colorado.[3]President Ford died, aged 93, of heart failure on December 26, 2006, at their Rancho Mirage home. Despite her advanced age and frail physical condition, Ford traveled across the country and took part in the funeral events in California, Washington, D.C., and Michigan.[3] Following her husband's death, Ford continued to live in Rancho Mirage. Poor health and increasing frailty due to operations in August 2006 and April 2007 for blood clots in her legs caused her to largely curtail her public life. Ill health prevented Ford from attending the funeral of former First LadyLady Bird Johnson's in July 2007, and her daughter Susan Ford Bales instead represented her at the funeral service.[3]
PresidentBill Clinton speaking with the Fords at the White House ceremony awarding the at a 1999 Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony
Ford with other U.S. First Ladies at the 1994 National Garden Gala, which was themed "A Tribune to America's First Ladies". L–R: Nancy Reagan, Ladybird Johnson,Hillary Clinton, Rosalyn Carter, Ford, Barbara Bush
The Fords posing for a photograph with three other U.S. first couples (George H. W. and Barbara Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton,Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter) as well as former first lady Lady Bird Johnson during at the 2000White House Historical Association Dinner
Burial site of Betty and Gerald Ford (photo was taken in 2007 while Betty was still alive)
Betty Ford died of natural causes on July 8, 2011, atEisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.[16][113] Ford left $500,000 to the Betty Ford Center.[87]
On July 14, a second service was held at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, with eulogies given byLynne Cheney, former Ford Museum directorRichard Norton Smith, and Ford's son Steven. In attendance were former presidentBill Clinton, former vice presidentDick Cheney and former first lady Barbara Bush.[79] In her remarks, Mrs. Cheney noted that July 14 would have been Gerald Ford's 98th birthday.[115] After the service, Betty Ford was buried next to her husband on the museum grounds.[114]
Only a part of Betty Ford's legacy will be that of her role as first lady. Throughout her post-Washington life, she established herself as one of the nation's first public advocates for women's self-examination, a prodigious fund-raiser for arthritis research, and, most important, a tireless campaigner for the rights and dignity of those afflicted with the disease of substance abuse. Her role as a public health advocate distinguishes her as one of the most influential women of the latter part of the twentieth century.[117]
Since 1982Siena 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. Ford has consistently ranked among the top-nine most highly assessed first ladies in these surveys.[118] In terms of cumulative assessment, Ford has been ranked:
The 2008 Siena Research Institute survey ranked Ford the 5th-highest of the twenty 20th and 21st century First Ladies. The 2008 survey also ranked Ford the 5th-highest in their assessment of first ladies who were "their own women" as well as 5th-highest incourage.[120] In both the 1993 and 2003 Siena Research Institute surveys, Ford was similarly ranked the 5th-highest in historians' assessment of first ladies' courage.[121][122] In supplementary questions asked during the 2014 Siena Research Institute survey, historians and scholars ranked Ford 3rd-highest among 20th and 21st century First Ladies in the greatness of post-White House service (with 16% ranking her as having had the best among all first ladies), 3rd-highest in advancement of women's issues (with 19% ranking her as having done the best), and 4th-highest in creating a lasting legacy (with 10% of ranking her as having done the best).[118] In the 2014 Siena Research Institute survey, Ford and her husband were ranked the 19th-highest out of 39 first couples in terms of being a "power couple".[123] In supplementary questions asked in the 2020 survey, historians and scholars ranked Ford 4th-highest among 20th and 21st century First Ladies in the greatness of post-White House service (with 10% ranking her as having had the best among all first ladies) and 4th-highest in advancement of women's issues (with 18% ranking her as having done the best). They also ranked her work on women's rights as the third-most effective signature initiatives among those of the then first ladies between 1964 and 2020.[119]
In 2021, Zogby Analytics conducted a poll in which a sample of the American public was asked to assess the greatness of twelve First Ladies fromJacqueline Kennedy onwards. The American public ranked Ford as the eighth-greatest among these first ladies.[124]
In 1975, whenTime named "American women" as its "Time Person of the Year",[40] the magazine profiled Ford as one of eleven women selected to represent "American women".[41]
1976Parsons Annual Critics Awards Show "Parsons Award" (an award given to individuals that, "not only advance the cause of American fashion, but in doing so serve as an inspiration for students who are about to assume professional and citizenship roles in American society.")[133]
Betty Ford Cancer Research Center atCedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, California (named after Ford in 1978)[134]
Betty Ford Center for Comprehensive Breast Diagnosis atColumbia Hospital for Women in Washington, D.C. (named for Ford in 1980;[134] hospital now defunct[137])
^abcdefgTobin, Leesa E. (1990). "Betty Ford as First Lady: A Woman for Women".Presidential Studies Quarterly.20 (4):761–767.ISSN0360-4918.JSTOR20700159.
Gallup, George (January 23, 1980)."Gallup/Rosalynn Carter Most Admired".Newspapers.com. Newsday (Suffolk Edition) (Melville, New York). RetrievedMay 13, 2022.
Gallup, George Jr. (January 2, 1985)."Thatcher America's 'most admired woman'".Newspapers.com. The Tampa Tribune. Los Angeles Times syndacate. RetrievedJanuary 14, 2023.
^Jackson, Harold (July 10, 2011)."Betty Ford obituary".The Guardian. RetrievedMay 10, 2022.
^Gutgold, Nichola; Hobgood, Linda (January 1, 2004)."A Certain Comfort: Betty Ford as First Lady".Inventing a Voice: The Rhetoric of American First Ladies of the Twentieth Century:325–340. RetrievedSeptember 22, 2022.
^"2014 Power Couple Score"(PDF).scri.siena.edu/. Siena Research Institute/C-SPAN Study of the First Ladies of the United States. RetrievedOctober 9, 2022.
Brower, Kate Andersen.First women: The grace and power of America's modern First Ladies (HarperCollins, 2017).
Dubriwny, Tasha N. "Constructing breast cancer in the news: Betty Ford and the evolution of the breast cancer patient."Journal of Communication Inquiry 33.2 (2009): 104–125.
Gregory Knight, Myra. "Issues of Openness and Privacy: Press and Public Response to Betty Ford's Breast Cancer."American Journalism 17.1 (2000): 53–71.
Hummer, Jill Abraham. "First Ladies and the Cultural Everywoman Ideal: Gender Performance and Representation."White House Studies 9.4 (2009) pp. 403–422. Compares Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, and Barbara Bush.
McClellan, Michelle L. "Fame through Shame: Women Alcoholics, Celebrity, and Disclosure."Journal of Historical Biography 13 (2013): 93–122, includes Margaret Mann, Lillian Roth, and Betty Ford.
McCubbin, Lisa (2018).Betty Ford: First Lady, Women's Advocate, Survivor, Trailblazer. New York: Gallery Books.ISBN978-1501164682.
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