Memoirist Ferraro in Hindsight: One Vote for Feinstein NEW: Mondale calls Ferraro a "gutsy pioneer". "[202] McCain and Palin ended up losing, but regardless of the 1984 or 2008 election result, Ferraro said that "Every time a woman runs, women win. McLean remembers the pitch the trio made to their mentor, the activist Millie Jeffrey, over a Sunday brunch: You look at her and you can imagine her as your best friend, as your sister, as your member of Congress, as somebody you want to listen to. The Truth About Geraldine Ferraro, The First Woman To Run For VP I admired Gerry in many ways, not the least of which was the dignified and principled manner she blazed new trails for women in politics. Ferraro earned her bachelor's degree at Marymount Manhattan College in 1956. [102], After the election, the House Ethics Committee found that Ferraro had technically violated the Ethics in Government Act by failing to report, or reporting incorrectly, details of her family's finances, and that she should have reported her husband's holdings on her Congressional disclosure forms. V. My husband does not do business with organized-crime figures, Ferraro to the Los Angeles Times. [36] In 1979, the campaign and Zaccaro paid $750 in fines for civil violations of election law. [29] In 1983, she was named to the powerful House Budget Committee. [69] On August 12, Ferraro announced that her husband would not in fact be releasing his tax returns, on the grounds that to do so would disadvantage his real estate business and that such a disclosure was voluntary and not part of election law. [109] Two years after the campaign, the Times finally changed its policy and began using "Ms."[108], Ferraro had relinquished her House seat to run for the vice-presidency. In Mississippi, she was asked whether she could bake a blueberry muffin; in one "Meet the Press" interview, moderated Marvin Kalb questioned both Could you push the nuclear button? and whether Mondale would have chosen her if not for her gender. "[4] Unsatisfied, she decided to attend law school;[4] an admissions officer said to her, "I hope you're serious, Gerry. 290 - ACE Academy for Scholars at the Geraldine Ferraro Campus is a highly rated, public school located in RIDGEWOOD, NY. Several of them became some of the founding mothers of EMILYs List, a prominent PAC that funds Democratic women who support reproductive rights. [11] Her mother was adamant that she get a full education,[12] despite an uncle in the family saying, "Why bother? She was the first female vice presidential candidate from a major U.S. political party . That's. Theres no question that EMILYs List is a direct outgrowth of the political force we saw in women as voters and potential voters, says Howes. [144] Then in October 1993, Clinton promoted her to be United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, saying that Ferraro had been "a highly effective voice for the human rights of women around the world. She stated, "I am absolutely thrilled. [15] She also passed the city exam to become a licensed school teacher. The 2,000-year-old castle is located in the Gaziantep region, about 80 miles south of the epicenter of one of the quakes in Kahramanmaras Province, according to the Reuters news agency. My candidacy has said the days of discrimination are numbered. But I just wish it could have been done in a different way. [17], Ferraro became engaged to Zaccaro in August 1959[10] and married him on July 16, 1960. [7] Ferraro's mother soon invested and lost the remainder of the family's money, forcing the family to move to a low-income area in the South Bronx while Ferraro's mother worked in the garment industry to support them. Her team judged the debate either a win or a tie. [134] D'Amato won the election by a very narrow margin. [1] In a three-candidate primary race for the Democratic nomination, Ferraro faced two better-known rivals, the party organization candidate, City Councilman Thomas J. Manton and Patrick Deignan. Gerry was a very real, down-to-earth, relatable person. The Associated Press article on the selection began: The usually cautious Walter Mondale has laid down the biggest wager of his political life, gambling that the nomination of Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate will energize and attract more voters than it loses. How's that? The first woman to be named a vice-presidential candidate for a major party, Ferraro, who died in 2011 at age 75 from complications due to multiple myeloma, remains one of three women, along with . . [201] In a friendly joint retrospective of her 1984 debate with George H. W. Bush, Ferraro said she had had more national issues experience in 1984 than Palin did now, but that it was important that Palin make a good showing in her vice presidential debate so that "little girls [could] see someone there who can stand toe to toe with [Biden]. Mondale remembered by Geraldine Ferraro's daughter | Fox News Teeleys crass remark was far from the only overt sexism Ferraro faced. [166] During the 2000s she was on the board of advisors to the Committee to Free Lori Berenson. [24] Moreover, Ferraro found the nature of the cases she dealt with debilitating;[1] the work left her "drained and angry" and she developed an ulcer. Blge 83501 Nolu Cad. [188] Ferraro became livid and distraught when one of her daughters voted for Obama in the Massachusetts primary, saying "What is the matter with you? [170], Though initially given only three to five years to live, by virtue of several new drug therapies and a bone marrow transplant in 2005,[170] she would beat the disease's Stage1 survival mean of 62months by over a factor of two. [152] The other candidates were Congressman Charles Schumer and New York City Public Advocate Mark J. [17] In this role, she became a strong advocate for abused children. Geraldine Ferraro and Walter Mondale during the 1984 Democratic National Convention. Their question to Ferraro: Was she game? You know Hillary. Ferraro grew up in New York City and worked as a public school teacher before training as a lawyer. Ferraro had been eight or nine at the time of her parent's arrest and only learned of the charges from the Post story. Afterward, the press asked whether shed cried when reading the news. In the Bush-Ferraro meeting, the super-credentialed Brahmin Yalie behaved like a frightened oaf, while the Italian-American ex-housewife displayed calm, breeding, and self-possession, came political analyst Morton Kondrackes assessment in the New Republic. She's a girl. Exit polling revealed that Ferraros presence on the ticket, like that of almost all vice presidential candidates, made little difference in voters choice. 57 during the day. [53], Mondale selected Ferraro to be his vice-presidential candidate on July 12, 1984. [142], President Clinton appointed Ferraro as a member of the United States delegation to United Nations Commission on Human Rights in January 1993. [90] Her experience was questioned at the debate and she was asked how her three terms in Congress stacked up with Bush's extensive government experience. [199] She thought Obama had behaved in a sexist manner and that she might not vote for him. Looking back at Ferraros candidacy puts in harsh relief the strides women in politics have made as well as the gendered relics that remain part of the political conversation today. was at its nadir in early 1983, the electoral calculus went something like this: A woman might help clinch a Democratic victory in a close race. [215][216][217], Ferraro was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1994. Oh wait. [187] Again speaking to the Breeze, Ferraro responded to the attacks by saying: "I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. The race for the White House was on. [13][37] She was the Chairwoman of the Platform Committee for the 1984 Democratic National Convention, the first woman to hold that position. How does it feel to be a part of history? Ferraro asked the room, after accepting the job. According to Kornblut, younger voters saw "Clinton [as] both a relic of that era and a victim of its success. [57] In her acceptance speech, Ferraro said, "The daughter of an immigrant from Italy has been chosen to run for vice president in the new land my father came to love. She served as the Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1993 until 1996 during the presidential administration of Bill Clinton. [119] He was convicted, and in June 1988, sentenced to four months' imprisonment; Ferraro broke down in tears in court relating the stress the episode had placed on her family. [54], By the last week of July, however, questionsdue initially to reporting by The New York Times[37]began about Ferraro's finances, the finances of her husband, John Zaccaro, and their separately filed tax returns. [81] At it, Ferraro criticized Reagan's initial refusal to support an extension to the Voting Rights Act. [27][28], Ferraro's first full-time political job came in January 1974, when she was appointed Assistant District Attorney for Queens County, New York,[29] by her cousin, District Attorney Nicholas Ferraro. In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro made history as the first woman to run for Vice President on a major party ticket alongside Democratic candidate Walter Mondale (via Time ). 2 Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro during the 1984 US election campaign Credit: Alamy Who was Geraldine Ferraro? [8] She kept her birth name professionally, as a way to honor her mother for having supported the family after her father's death,[1][2] but used his name in parts of her private life. "[210] George H. W. Bush said, "Though we were one-time political opponents, I am happy to say Gerry and I became friends in time a friendship marked by respect and affection. History | August 10, 2020 | Updated: August 11, 2020, Charismatic congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro forged a path for women in American politics, Former Associate Editor, Special Projects. [154] She had done no fundraising, out of fear of conflict of interest with her Crossfire job, but was nonetheless immediately perceived as the front-runner. [67] Nonetheless, in the days after the convention Ferraro proved an effective campaigner, with a brash and confident style that forcefully criticized the Reagan administration and sometimes almost overshadowed Mondale. 5. [199], During September 2008, Ferraro gained attention yet again after the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, the first such major party bid for a woman since her own in 1984. New York Representative Shirley Chisholm had become the first black woman to run for president 11 years prior, and in 1977, tens of thousands of women had gathered at the National Womens Conference in Houston to brainstorm policy ideas that would improve the daily lives of American women. [124] Her opponents were State Attorney General Robert Abrams, Reverend Al Sharpton, Congressman Robert J. Mrazek, and New York City Comptroller and former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman. [17] She was admitted to the bar of New York State in March 1961. Geraldine Anne Ferraro was born on Aug. 26, 1935, in the Hudson River city of Newburgh, N.Y., where she was the fourth child and only daughter of Dominick Ferraro, an Italian immigrant who owned a . At the time, national politics was even more an old boys club than it is today; just 24 of the 535 voting members of Congress and no governors were women. [20] The couple had three children, Donna (born 1962), John Jr. (born 1964), and Laura (born 1966). In Democratic circles, the idea of how a female candidate might exploit the gender gap started percolating. Cookie Settings, Wally McNamee / CORBIS / Corbis via Getty Images, National Air and Space Museum, gift of Tam O'Shaughnessy (2); National Museum of American History, And for Vice PresidentWhy Not a Woman? , The prospect of a Democrat putting a woman on the ticket was often placed in the context of electability: Would it help them unseat the incumbent President? [164] By 1993, she was serving on the Fordham Law School Board of Visitors, as well as on the boards of the National Breast Cancer Research Fund, the New York Easter Seal Society, and the Pension Rights Center, and was one of hundreds of public figures on the Planned Parenthood Federation of America's Board of Advocates. [77] The full statements included notice of payment of some $53,000 in back federal taxes that she owed due to what was described as an accountant's error. Ferraro uttered the words, I proudly accept your nomination for Vice President of the United States, and then had to pause for more than a minute for applause and cheers of Ger-ry. Foundational feminist Betty Friedan, who had been hesitant to push for a female nominee, fearing the accomplishment would be solely a symbolic gesture, wrote to Ferraro: It was a peak experience for me that day in San Francisco. [88], There was one vice-presidential debate between Congresswoman Ferraro and Vice President George H. W. Bush. Geraldine Ferraro | Biography & Facts | Britannica [61] At first, journalists focused on her novelty as a woman and her poor family background, and their coverage was overwhelmingly favorable. After the convention, the polls sloped up momentarily, offering a glimmer of hope. There she worked with corporations, non-profit organizations, state governments and political figures. A 1983 Gallup poll found that 80 percent of Americans professed that they would vote for a qualified woman for president, a marked improvement since the question had first been asked just before World War II. [103][104] Ferraro said, "I consider myself completely vindicated. [203] In reaction to the nomination, Ferraro said, "It's great to be the first, but I don't want to be the only. "[187][190] (Ferraro had made a similar comment in 1988 disparaging Jesse Jackson's candidacy in the party's presidential primaries, saying that because of his "radical" views, "if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race. "Now that was fun" Geraldine Ferraro, after the October 11 vice-presidential debate, What she went into [the debate] really wanting to prove was that she was very substantive and very knowledgeable and even-tempered, recalls Donna Zaccaro, her eldest daughter. Get the latest History stories in your inbox? American women will never be second-class citizens again., VIII. Geraldine Ferraro, First Woman VP Candidate, Dies at 75 "[73] Republicans saw her finances as a "genderless" issue that they could attack Ferraro with without creating a backlash,[70] and some Mondale staffers thought Ferraro might have to leave the ticket. [36] The media also reported on the FEC's past investigation into Ferraro's 1978 campaign funds. These articles didnt necessarily pass journalistic muster at papers like the New York Times, but they still catalyzed the news cycle. [24][32] She had been aided by $130,000 in campaign loans and donations from her own family, including $110,000 in loans from Zaccaro, of which only $4,000 was legal. [111] She also earned over $300,000 by giving speeches. Two Reagan campaign aides oversaw a covert effort to comb through the Ferraro-Zaccaro records, and then seeded stories with those two papers, including the piece about her parents. [150] She sparred effectively with "from the right" co-host Pat Buchanan,[150] for whom she developed a personal liking. The idea of a woman vice president almost got torpedoed after NOWs public threat of a convention-floor rebellion caused Mondale advisors to worry about the selection being seen as a sop to special interest groupsa coded way of saying feminists, organized labor and racial minoritiesfor which hed incurred primary criticism from rival Gary Hart. [63] Ted Koppel questioned her closely about nuclear strategy[64] and during Meet the Press she was asked, "Do you think that in any way the Soviets might be tempted to try to take advantage of you simply because you are a woman? [1] In 1982, she said her experiences as assistant district attorney had changed some of her views: " because no matter how concerned I am about spending, I have seen first hand what poverty can do to people's lives and I just can't, in good conscience, not do something about it. (83 percent of them are Democrats, 17 percent Republicans. 290 in Ridgewood, Queens was renamed the Geraldine A. Ferraro Campus. Geraldine Ferraro Named Vice Presidential Candidate - History [180] In June 2003, Ferraro was made executive vice president and managing director of the public affairs practice of the Global Consulting Group,[180] an international investor relations and corporate communications component of Huntsworth. Were on our way, were not monolithic, we have wonderfully independent minds., Campaigns, even if you lose them, do serve a purpose, she said. Her candidacy did spark enthusiasm: People donated to and volunteered for her campaign in droves, and women expressed heightened interest in politics after her run. There's lots of innuendo but no proof. In his memoir, Mondale himself discussed the two threads of the decision to renovate the image of the white, male vice president. was often directed to her. She'll get married. A hot mic at a subsequent event caught Bush saying he tried to kick a little ass last night, a locker room comment that did him a lot of good with Johnny Lunchbucket and Johnny Sixpack, in the words of Republican consultant Rich Bond. Here, compiled from sources including contemporaneousnews clippings,Ferraros memoir, and interviews with players who were part of this history, is a look back at Ferraros exhilarating, much-scrutinized path to becoming a political standard-bearer. What struck me the most was how delighted Vice President Mondale was with his choice. Like good strategists, we always [knew] you dont always get what you want, but you may get something by going after that, McLean remembers of their expectations. Geraldine A. Ferraro - Obituary - The New York Times [42], As the 1984 U.S. presidential election primary season neared its end and Walter Mondale became the likely Democratic nominee, the idea of picking a woman as his vice-presidential running mate gained considerable momentum. "[201], After her 1998 diagnosis, Ferraro continued to battle multiple myeloma, making repeated visits to hospitals during her last year and undergoing difficult procedures. Tarot Cards The Drowned Phoenician Sailor, How To Sneak Alcohol Into Lollapalooza, Snitches In Kingman, Az, Articles G
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