She also, ultimately agreed to attend rehab at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Long Beach, California. [5] With her father's passing, her family lost its primary breadwinner, and her mother began working as a real estate agent to support the family. Bush. [100], In 1985, Ford received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an annual award given by the Jefferson Awards. Ive been at meetings where someone turned and thanked me, and I hugged the person and said, Dont thank me, thank yourself, youre the one who did it, with Gods help. From the beginning, we have wanted every patient at the center to feel, Im important here, I have some dignity.. She always wanted to be called Elizabeth but ended up with Betty, Bet or Bets. She further taught ballroom dancing lessons for children with visual impairment and hearing loss and gave weekly dance lessons to African American children. In the months that followed, tens of thousands of American women, inspired by Mrs. Fords forthrightness and courage in facing her illness, crowded into doctors offices and clinics for breast-cancer examinations. 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. She said nothing about the Republican platform that called for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. She began dancing lessons when she was 8, and for two summers after graduation from high school she attended Bennington School of the Dance at Bennington College in Vermont. "Her death should not be politicized that is not the life she lived." Ford died Friday at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., ABC News has learned. "[59] Her openness about her cancer and treatment raised the visibility of a disease that Americans had previously been reluctant to talk about. That same year, she joined First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson and Rosalynn Carter to open and participate in the National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas, where she endorsed measures in the convention's National Plan of Action, a report sent to the state legislatures, the U.S. Congress, and the President on how to improve the status of American women. Later that year, despite her advocacy for abortion rights, she reined herself in. After her husband's death on December 26, 2006, Mrs. Ford led her family and the nation with grace and strength through several days of national memorial Surveys of historians conducted by the Siena College Research Institute have shown that historians regard Ford to be among the best and most courageous American first ladies. [33] On June 30, 1976, Ford attended the opening of "Remember the Ladies", a Revolutionary War-era women's exhibit. She worked with children with disabilities at the Mary Free Bed Home for Crippled Children. [78] Many of Ford's most significant contributions as an activist came following the Fords' departure from the White House. ", 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. [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. The Bloomers were financially comfortable, lived in a fashionable area and spent summers at Whitefish Lake. [21] During her time as first lady, there had even been some speculation about substance abuse by friends and members of the press who observed occasional slurred speech from Ford. Ford also served as the second lady of the United States from 1973 to 1974 when her husband was vice president. No! 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. On April 1, 1978, her family staged an intervention which forced her to acknowledge the negative impact that her addiction was having on her health and family relationships. The Nixons had previously removed dancing from the state dinners during Nixon's presidency. 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 the United States bicentennial celebrations. 'Not at all,' he replied. [120][121][122] Ford is also one of three former first ladies whose lives are the focus of the Emmy-nominated 2022 Showtime television series The First Lady, in which she is portrayed by Kristine Froseth and Michelle Pfeiffer. Your cross will be his work. [3], Ford was also used, both by Ford supporters and detractors, as a symbol of liberal Republicanism, with her politics contrasting with the Republican Party's conservative and moderate wings. [3][5][12] They married on October 15, 1948, at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids. [46] In 1977, the year her husband left office, she placed fourth. [65][66], 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. ", Tasha N. Dubriwny, "Constructing breast cancer in the news: Betty Ford and the evolution of the breast cancer patient.". Through the work she did at the Betty Ford Center, Ford recognized the link between drug abuse and AIDS. Hes a very shy man and he really didnt tell me he loved me, she wrote. After leaving the White House, Mrs. Ford helped reduce the social stigma surrounding addiction and inspired thousands to seek much-needed treatment. Most of all we wanted the state dinners to express the very best about America, particularly during the bicentennial year. She also co-authored with Chris Chase a book about her treatment, Betty: A Glad Awakening (1987). As Betty Ford recounted at the time, the wedding was delayed until shortly before the election because, "Jerry was running for Congress and wasn't sure how voters might feel about his marrying a divorced ex-dancer.". [3] Many of Fords views were aligned-with, or even more liberal than, Rosalyn Carter, the wife of Fords Democratic general election opponent Jimmy Carter. Betty Ford and former President Gerald R. Ford at the White House in 1977. Betty" (2013). "Betty was a remarkable woman whose legacy will live on in people around the country whose lives are longer and better because of her work. [110], On July 14, a second service was held at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, with eulogies given by Lynne Cheney, former Ford Museum director Richard Norton Smith, and Ford's son Steven. [33], Ford was also unapologetically pro-abortion rights. They married in 1948, two weeks before he was elected to his first term in Congress. "I'm not out to rescue anybody who doesn't want to be rescued," she once said. "[60], Adding to heightened public awareness of breast cancer were reports that several weeks after Ford's cancer surgery, Happy Rockefeller, the wife of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, also had a mastectomy. First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977, 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). [48] 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. Former President Gerald R. Ford embraced the former first lady, Betty Ford, at the White House Oval Office in 1974. [54] Her active political role prompted Time 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 1975 Person of the Year. 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. Ford has consistently ranked among the top-nine most highly assessed first ladies in these surveys. In that book she said she had known that a pardon would be unpopular but that she had supported it anyway. [102], In 1987, Ford underwent quadruple coronary bypass surgery and recovered without complications. She was a remarkable political spouse, whose courageous candor helped forge a new era of openness after the divisiveness of the Vietnam War and Watergate. She made countless contributions to our country, and we especially appreciate her courage in calling attention to breast cancer and substance abuse. [71][72][73] Gerald Ford did not know about or see the photo until 1994. [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." On July 8, 2011, Betty died of natural causes at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California. After her death, her casket was flown to Grand Rapids, [3] Ford remarked, "I agree with the Supreme Courts ruling. [62], During their final year in the White House, the Fords hosted eleven state dinners. In private, she triumphed over serious personal adversity. She had held the top post at the center since its founding. 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. Shortly after becoming president in 1974, Ford said, "I am indebted to no man and to only one woman, my dear wife.". [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. This phenomenon became known as the Betty Ford blip. What was her prognosis? "In terms of the White House atmosphere, there's no doubt that Mrs. Ford wanted to, in her own words, let open the windows," said Richard Norton Smith, a presidential historian and one of the eulogists at the funeral for President Ford. Bloomer became immersed in her life in Grand Rapids and did not return to New York. Former U.S. president Gerald Ford, who succeeded Richard Nixon in 1974 after he resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal, has died, his wife Betty confirmed late Tuesday. She received an award from Parsons The New School for Design in recognition of her style. Later, when she was no longer first lady, she was criticized in some circles for having a facelift almost immediately after overcoming her addictions. [7][36] While President Ford never attempted to silence his wife, some of his senior staff resented her independent candor. Betty underwent a radical mastectomy at Bethesda Naval Hospital and inadvertently destigmatized breast cancer by addressing her illness publicly during a 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 in courage. [7] Weeks later, when the Fords moved from their Virginia residence into the White House[3] their king 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. Married and divorced in her 20s, in 1947 her life changed forever when she met Gerald R. Ford. Her cause of death was not immediately clear. [21] Among those she met on the two-day trip was Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. At 14, she was confirmed as an Episcopalian (her mothers religion; her father was a Christian Scientist) and began working on Saturdays, for $3, as a model for Herpolsheimers department store. Thats the way I feel. Ive heard women say theyd rather lose their right arm, and I cant imagine it. Hes a very shy man and he really didnt tell me he loved,... Attention how did betty ford die breast cancer and substance abuse before he was elected to his first term in.... I 'm not out to rescue anybody who does n't want to be rescued, '' she once.... House, the Fords hosted eleven state dinners eleven state dinners during Nixon 's presidency loss gave! Most highly assessed first ladies in these surveys the Fords hosted eleven state dinners or... Stigma surrounding addiction and inspired thousands to seek much-needed treatment [ 46 in... Betty Ford and former President Gerald R. Ford embraced the former first lady, Betty died of natural causes Eisenhower... 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She also, ultimately agreed to attend rehab at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Long Beach, California. [5] With her father's passing, her family lost its primary breadwinner, and her mother began working as a real estate agent to support the family. Bush. [100], In 1985, Ford received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an annual award given by the Jefferson Awards. Ive been at meetings where someone turned and thanked me, and I hugged the person and said, Dont thank me, thank yourself, youre the one who did it, with Gods help. From the beginning, we have wanted every patient at the center to feel, Im important here, I have some dignity.. She always wanted to be called Elizabeth but ended up with Betty, Bet or Bets. She further taught ballroom dancing lessons for children with visual impairment and hearing loss and gave weekly dance lessons to African American children. In the months that followed, tens of thousands of American women, inspired by Mrs. Fords forthrightness and courage in facing her illness, crowded into doctors offices and clinics for breast-cancer examinations. 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. 
She said nothing about the Republican platform that called for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. She began dancing lessons when she was 8, and for two summers after graduation from high school she attended Bennington School of the Dance at Bennington College in Vermont. "Her death should not be politicized that is not the life she lived." Ford died Friday at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., ABC News has learned. "[59] Her openness about her cancer and treatment raised the visibility of a disease that Americans had previously been reluctant to talk about. That same year, she joined First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson and Rosalynn Carter to open and participate in the National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas, where she endorsed measures in the convention's National Plan of Action, a report sent to the state legislatures, the U.S. Congress, and the President on how to improve the status of American women. Later that year, despite her advocacy for abortion rights, she reined herself in. After her husband's death on December 26, 2006, Mrs. Ford led her family and the nation with grace and strength through several days of national memorial Surveys of historians conducted by the Siena College Research Institute have shown that historians regard Ford to be among the best and most courageous American first ladies. [33] On June 30, 1976, Ford attended the opening of "Remember the Ladies", a Revolutionary War-era women's exhibit. She worked with children with disabilities at the Mary Free Bed Home for Crippled Children. [78] Many of Ford's most significant contributions as an activist came following the Fords' departure from the White House. ", 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. [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. The Bloomers were financially comfortable, lived in a fashionable area and spent summers at Whitefish Lake. [21] During her time as first lady, there had even been some speculation about substance abuse by friends and members of the press who observed occasional slurred speech from Ford. Ford also served as the second lady of the United States from 1973 to 1974 when her husband was vice president. No! 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. On April 1, 1978, her family staged an intervention which forced her to acknowledge the negative impact that her addiction was having on her health and family relationships. The Nixons had previously removed dancing from the state dinners during Nixon's presidency. 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 the United States bicentennial celebrations. 'Not at all,' he replied. [120][121][122] Ford is also one of three former first ladies whose lives are the focus of the Emmy-nominated 2022 Showtime television series The First Lady, in which she is portrayed by Kristine Froseth and Michelle Pfeiffer. Your cross will be his work. [3], Ford was also used, both by Ford supporters and detractors, as a symbol of liberal Republicanism, with her politics contrasting with the Republican Party's conservative and moderate wings. [3][5][12] They married on October 15, 1948, at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids. [46] In 1977, the year her husband left office, she placed fourth. [65][66], 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. ", Tasha N. Dubriwny, "Constructing breast cancer in the news: Betty Ford and the evolution of the breast cancer patient.". Through the work she did at the Betty Ford Center, Ford recognized the link between drug abuse and AIDS. Hes a very shy man and he really didnt tell me he loved me, she wrote. After leaving the White House, Mrs. Ford helped reduce the social stigma surrounding addiction and inspired thousands to seek much-needed treatment. Most of all we wanted the state dinners to express the very best about America, particularly during the bicentennial year. She also co-authored with Chris Chase a book about her treatment, Betty: A Glad Awakening (1987). As Betty Ford recounted at the time, the wedding was delayed until shortly before the election because, "Jerry was running for Congress and wasn't sure how voters might feel about his marrying a divorced ex-dancer.". [3] Many of Fords views were aligned-with, or even more liberal than, Rosalyn Carter, the wife of Fords Democratic general election opponent Jimmy Carter. Betty Ford and former President Gerald R. Ford at the White House in 1977. Betty" (2013). "Betty was a remarkable woman whose legacy will live on in people around the country whose lives are longer and better because of her work. [110], On July 14, a second service was held at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, with eulogies given by Lynne Cheney, former Ford Museum director Richard Norton Smith, and Ford's son Steven. [33], Ford was also unapologetically pro-abortion rights. They married in 1948, two weeks before he was elected to his first term in Congress. "I'm not out to rescue anybody who doesn't want to be rescued," she once said. "[60], Adding to heightened public awareness of breast cancer were reports that several weeks after Ford's cancer surgery, Happy Rockefeller, the wife of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, also had a mastectomy. First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977, 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). [48] 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. Former President Gerald R. Ford embraced the former first lady, Betty Ford, at the White House Oval Office in 1974. [54] Her active political role prompted Time 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 1975 Person of the Year. 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. Ford has consistently ranked among the top-nine most highly assessed first ladies in these surveys. In that book she said she had known that a pardon would be unpopular but that she had supported it anyway. [102], In 1987, Ford underwent quadruple coronary bypass surgery and recovered without complications. She was a remarkable political spouse, whose courageous candor helped forge a new era of openness after the divisiveness of the Vietnam War and Watergate. She made countless contributions to our country, and we especially appreciate her courage in calling attention to breast cancer and substance abuse. [71][72][73] Gerald Ford did not know about or see the photo until 1994. [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." On July 8, 2011, Betty died of natural causes at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California. After her death, her casket was flown to Grand Rapids, [3] Ford remarked, "I agree with the Supreme Courts ruling. [62], During their final year in the White House, the Fords hosted eleven state dinners. In private, she triumphed over serious personal adversity. She had held the top post at the center since its founding. 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. Shortly after becoming president in 1974, Ford said, "I am indebted to no man and to only one woman, my dear wife.". [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. This phenomenon became known as the Betty Ford blip. What was her prognosis? "In terms of the White House atmosphere, there's no doubt that Mrs. Ford wanted to, in her own words, let open the windows," said Richard Norton Smith, a presidential historian and one of the eulogists at the funeral for President Ford. Bloomer became immersed in her life in Grand Rapids and did not return to New York. Former U.S. president Gerald Ford, who succeeded Richard Nixon in 1974 after he resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal, has died, his wife Betty confirmed late Tuesday. She received an award from Parsons The New School for Design in recognition of her style. Later, when she was no longer first lady, she was criticized in some circles for having a facelift almost immediately after overcoming her addictions. [7][36] While President Ford never attempted to silence his wife, some of his senior staff resented her independent candor. Betty underwent a radical mastectomy at Bethesda Naval Hospital and inadvertently destigmatized breast cancer by addressing her illness publicly during a 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 in courage. [7] Weeks later, when the Fords moved from their Virginia residence into the White House[3] their king 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. Married and divorced in her 20s, in 1947 her life changed forever when she met Gerald R. Ford. Her cause of death was not immediately clear. [21] Among those she met on the two-day trip was Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. At 14, she was confirmed as an Episcopalian (her mothers religion; her father was a Christian Scientist) and began working on Saturdays, for $3, as a model for Herpolsheimers department store. Thats the way I feel. Ive heard women say theyd rather lose their right arm, and I cant imagine it. Hes a very shy man and he really didnt tell me he loved,... 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