Ferraro became the first female vice presidential candidate to. Geraldine Ferraro | Biography & Facts | Britannica A New York City schoolteacher, Geraldine attended Fordham Law in the evening and was one of two women in her class. [28] She subsequently received an honorary degree from Case Western Reserve University (2003). [127] She objected that a male candidate would not receive nearly as much attention regarding his wife's activities. The battle of the surrogate presidential campaigners took another unexpected twist today when Geraldine Ferraro stepped down from a fundraising post in Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign after. She adopted, Finally, a tough Democrat, as her campaign slogan in her first campaign for Congress. [4] Ferraro attended the parochial school Mount Saint Mary's in Newburgh when she was young. (Only Minnesota and the District of Columbia voted for Mondale and Ferraro.) Held on October 11, the result was proclaimed mostly even by the press and historians;[58][89] women voters tended to think Ferraro had won, while men, Bush. . The best-prepared of a well-prepared lot. . and then move on, but decades later, she labelled the medias treatment of her and her family as sexist. "[110], In 1980, Ferraro co-founded the National Organization of Italian American Women,[159] which sought to support the educational and professional goals of its members and put forward positive role models in order to fight ethnic stereotyping,[160] and was still a distinguished member of its board at the time of her death. [170], After living for many years in Forest Hills Gardens, Queens, she and her husband moved to Manhattan in 2002. [92], On October 18 the New York Post accurately reported that Ferraro's father had been arrested for possession of numbers slips in Newburgh shortly before his death, and inaccurately speculated that something mysterious had been covered up about that death. 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. [123], By October 1991, Ferraro was ready to enter elective politics again, and ran for the Democratic nomination in the 1992 United States Senate election in New York. [50], While in the House, Ferraro's political self-description evolved to "moderate". Teeleys crass remark was far from the only overt sexism Ferraro faced. Your Privacy Rights But his liberal view of the country won out. But this win wasn't easy. [209], In March 2011 she went to Massachusetts General Hospital to receive treatment for pain caused by a fracture, a common complication of multiple myeloma. 2 Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro during the 1984 US election campaign Credit: Alamy Who was Geraldine Ferraro? After reviewing the roster of experienced women politicians (an inherently short shortlist, notes Howes. Humility isn't one of her strong points and I think that comes through. [130][131] In an unusual election-eve television broadcast, Ferraro talked about "the ethnic slur that I am somehow or other connected to organized crime. [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. Their question to Ferraro: Was she game? [17], Ferraro became engaged to Zaccaro in August 1959[10] and married him on July 16, 1960. [31] Much of their wealth was tied up in real estate rather than being disposable income,[21] but the disclosures hurt Ferraro's image as a rags-to-riches story. 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. The week Ferraro accepted the nomination, one Gallup poll even showed the Democrats neck-and-neck with Reagan, though that result would prove to be a blip in the Democrats consistently trailing numbers. [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. [31] By the end, she had traveled more than Mondale and more than Reagan and Bush combined. By those standards, the notion of a female vice president was audacious. [28][140] In 1999, she joined the board of the Bertarelli Foundation,[165] and in 2003, the board of the National Women's Health Resource Center. Ferraro was born in 1935, in Newburgh, New York, the daughter of a first-generation Italian-American mother and an Italian immigrant father. [45], Ferraro also worked on some environmental issues. [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. Jeffrey, who had deep ties among labor, civil rights, and womens rights activists, was convinced, and shed drop Ferraros name in conversations with her peers when the topic turned to potential vice presidents. Because I couldn't look like I was whining or upset about it. Within the campaign, tensions arose; after she wasnt given the chance to weigh in on their campaign schedule in an early strategy meeting, Ferraro suggested Mondales staffers imagine her as a grey-haired Southern gentleman and treat her accordingly. [66] While her choice was popular among Democratic activists, polls immediately after the announcement showed that only 22percent of women were excited about Ferraro's selection, versus 18percent who agreed that it was a "bad idea". [35][57][78], Sharp criticism from Catholic Church authorities put Ferraro on the defensive during the entire campaign, with abortion opponents frequently protesting her appearances with a level of fervor not usually encountered by pro-choice Catholic male candidates such as Mario Cuomo and Ted Kennedy. Full Name: Geraldine Anne Ferraro Known For: First woman to run for a national office on a major political party ticket Born: August 26, 1935 in Newburgh, NY Died: March 26, 2011 in Boston, MA Parents: Antonetta and Dominick Ferraro Spouse: John Zaccaro Children: Donna Zaccaro, John Jr. Zaccaro, Laura Zaccaro Kamala Harris is the nation's third woman vice presidential candidate from a major party. [3], In 2007, Ferraro received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sons of Italy Foundation. He beamed. When Reagans popularity 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. If you purchase an item through these links, we receive a commission. Political trailblazer Geraldine Ferraro dies - CBS News After the convention, the polls sloped up momentarily, offering a glimmer of hope. [185] She was also a board member for New York Bancorp in the 1990s. He represented her memoirthe 1985 equivalent of Hillary Clintons What Happenedwhich sold for $1 million and became an early example of a politician-as-celebrity bestseller. But in December 1985, she said she would not run, due to an ongoing U.S. Justice Department probe on her and her husband's finances stemming from the 1984 campaign revelations. [119] Ferraro worked on an unpublished book about the conflicting rights between a free press and being able to have fair trials. Ferraro had drawn attention, Sheila Caudle wrote in Ms. Magazines July 1984 issue, because, She is the sort of pragmatic politician that the voting populaceand the men in the back roomscould find most palatable: Attractive, but not beauty-pageant beautifulA modern career woman, but one steeped in Old World values. "[209] Bill and Hillary Clinton said in a statement that, "Gerry Ferraro was one of a kind tough, brilliant, and never afraid to speak her mind or stand up for what she believed in a New York icon and a true American original. Several of them became some of the founding mothers of EMILYs List, a prominent PAC that funds Democratic women who support reproductive rights. According to Kornblut, younger voters saw "Clinton [as] both a relic of that era and a victim of its success. [213] Figures from local, state, and national politics were present, and Mondale and both Clintons were among the speakers. Like Kamala Harris, Ferraro was the daughter . She served as the Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1993 until 1996 during the presidential administration of Bill Clinton. [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? [14] During her senior year she began dating John Zaccaro of Forest Hills, Queens, who had graduated from Iona College with a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps. March 26, 2011, 9:43 AM. Many of these stories appeared in the pages of the New York Post and Philadelphia Inquirer, which at one point had no fewer than 25 reporters investigating the familys finances. Shes a member of the leadership; the Speaker [Tip ONeill] likes her, labor unions like her, she has been active on issues for older voters.. She also threatened to greet him by his not-favored nicknamePoppy. (For the real deal, Ferraro went with a handshake and no monikers. [177], In January 2000, Ferraro and Lynn Martina former Republican Congresswoman and U.S. Secretary of Labor who had played Ferraro in George H. W. Bush's debate preparations in 1984[178]co-founded, and served as co-presidents of, G&L Strategies, a management consulting firm underneath Weber McGinn. She has a profile that many women voters have. [116] The case against him was circumstantial, a key prosecution witness proved unreliable, and the defense did not have to present its own testimony. And for Vice PresidentWhy Not a Woman? TIME Magazine headline, June 4, 1984. In 1984, former vice president and presidential candidate Walter Mondale, seen as an underdog, selected Ferraro to be his running mate in the upcoming election. "[106] Ferraro speculated that the pick might win Republican presidential nominee John McCain the election,[204] but said that she was supporting Obama now due to his running mate selection of Joe Biden having resolved her concerns about Obama's lack of experience in certain areas. [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. . Popular consensus before the 80s held that for the most part, women cast their ballots along the same lines as men, explains Susan Carroll, a senior scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers. What was Geraldine Ferraro's cause of death? - The Sun In the general election, Mondale and Ferraro were defeated in a landslide by incumbent President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush. Are we going to win in November?. Shes too bitchy, his press secretary Peter Teeley told the Wall Street Journal. [29] In 1983, she was named to the powerful House Budget Committee. 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. "[82][83] Ferraro was criticized by Cardinal John O'Connor, the Catholic Archbishop of New York, and James Timlin, the Bishop of Scranton, for misrepresenting the Catholic Church's position on abortion. [186] She assisted with fundraising by assuming an honorary post on the finance committee for Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. During the veepstakes, I took advantage of the fact that people were talking about me, but I never, for one minute, really believed that it was going to happen, she remarks in the documentary Geraldine Ferraro: Paving the Way. NEW: Mondale calls Ferraro a "gutsy pioneer". For more than a year, feminists have been arguing that naming a woman would maximize the gender gap, electrify otherwise indifferent votersparticularly womenand give Mondale the boost he needs to overcome what some polls say is now a 19-point Reagan margin.. Still, the majority of women ultimately voted Republican. [189], The campaign between the two also saw racial dust-ups caused by perceptions of remarks made by campaign surrogates. The Reagan White House worried it could cause serious trouble for Republicans in 1984, while feminist groups pressured lawmakers to foreground womens rights issues in their campaigns and held voter registration drives. Ferraro suffered complications from . 57 during the day. [56], As Ferraro was the first woman to run on a major party national ticket in the United States,[nb 1] and the first Italian American,[nb 2] her July 19 nomination at the 1984 Democratic National Convention was one of the most emotional moments of that gathering, with female delegates appearing joyous and proud at the historic occasion. She felt that if she did a credible job, then she would change the perception of what people thought was possible for women.. "[58] She strongly defended her position on abortion, which earned her applause and a respectful reply from her opponent. A Note to our Readers Afterward, the press asked whether shed cried when reading the news. The election ended poorly for the Democrats: Reagan and his vice president, George H.W. [101] Political observers generally agree that no combination of Democrats could have won the election in 1984. Stay at this 5-star luxury hotel in Gaziantep. Ger-ry! While some polls did indicate that a woman on the Democratic ticket might sway voters, then-CBS News pollster Kathy Frankovic explained in The Ferraro Factor: The Womens Movement, the Polls, and the Press that the sum total of data yielded mostly muddy hypotheses. She ran unsuccessfully for the Senate twice and became the United Nations Human Rights Commission ambassador. [15], Ferraro began working as an elementary school teacher in public schools in Astoria, Queens,[1][8] "because that's what women were supposed to do. 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. Ferraro, first female vice president candidate, dies at 75 - NBC News Echoing a statement she wrote about herself in 1988,[31] Ferraro said that "I was talking about historic candidacies and what I started off by saying (was that) if you go back to 1984 and look at my historic candidacy, which I had just talked about all these things, in 1984, if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would have never been chosen as a vice-presidential candidate. [35][41] Her personality, variously described as blunt, feisty, spirited, and somewhat saucy, was also viewed as an asset. Many expected her to run in the 1986 United States Senate election in New York against first-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato,[111] and during 1985 she did Upstate New York groundwork towards that end. Her husband John Zaccaro had pleaded guilty in January 1985, to fraudulently obtaining bank financing in a real estate transaction and had been sentenced to 150hours of community service. [105], Ferraro is one of only four U.S. women to run on a major party national ticket. The 1998 primary defeat brought an end to Ferraro's political career. | Geraldine Ferraro | Fordham [161] Ferraro was connected with many other political and non-profit organizations. "[191]) Ferraro justified the statements by referring to her own run for vice president. [70] She joked, "So you people married to Italian men, you know what it's like. [26] In 1970, she was elected president of the Queens County Women's Bar Association. [111] She also earned over $300,000 by giving speeches. In 1984, I couldn't say, Stop it, she explained to Newsweek. [196][197][198] By early April, Ferraro said people were deluging her with negative comments and trying to get her removed from one of the boards she was on: "This has been the worst three weeks of my life. 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. [17][29] She was named head of the unit in 1977, with two other assistant district attorneys assigned to her. In 1978 she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where she rose rapidly in the party hierarchy while focusing on legislation to bring equity for women in the areas of wages, pensions, and retirement plans. II. [32] The location for the television series All in the Family, the district, which stretched from Astoria to Ozone Park was known for its ethnic composition and conservative views. [17] The following year, Ferraro was assigned to the new Special Victims Bureau, which prosecuted cases involving rape, child abuse, spouse abuse, and domestic violence. [166] During the 2000s she was on the board of advisors to the Committee to Free Lori Berenson. She is, in essence, something of a fairy-tale candidate., III. Geraldine Ferraro: When Walter Mondale Put a Woman on His - History [43][44] Male colleagues viewed her with respect as someone who was tough and ambitious[38] and in turn she was, as The New York Times later wrote, "comfortable with the boys". [28], As part of the D.A. What struck me the most was how delighted Vice President Mondale was with his choice. The lawyer whod helped Mondale with his own vice-presidential debate eight years prior, Bob Barnett, oversaw Ferraros debate prep.
