Geraldine Ferraro: When Walter Mondale Put a Woman on His - History [142], President Clinton appointed Ferraro as a member of the United States delegation to United Nations Commission on Human Rights in January 1993. Zaccaro did plead guilty in January 1985 to a misdemeanor charge for submitting fraudulent information as part of a mortgage application. [70] She joked, "So you people married to Italian men, you know what it's like. Visit Sehitkamil: 2023 Sehitkamil, Gaziantep Travel Guide | Expedia Geraldine Anne Ferraro was born on August 26, 1935, in Newburgh, New York,[1] the daughter of Antonetta L. Ferraro (ne Corrieri), a first-generation Italian American seamstress, and Dominick Ferraro, an Italian immigrant (from Marcianise, Campania) and owner of two restaurants. All this unfolded amid an outpouring of feminist activism and shifting attitudes about women in politics. [48], Ferraro took a congressional trip to Nicaragua at the start of 1984, where she spoke to the Contras. It is a high-risk strategy designed to upset Ronald Reagan. [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. And that shone through when the country was introduced to her, says Barnett. 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. [1], While in Congress, Ferraro focused much of her legislative attention on equity for women in the areas of wages, pensions, and retirement plans. [167], Framing a Life: A Family Memoir was published by Ferraro in November 1998. She adopted, Finally, a tough Democrat, as her campaign slogan in her first campaign for Congress. [215][216][217], Ferraro was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1994. [24][25] She spent time at local Democratic clubs, which allowed her to maintain contacts within the legal profession and become involved in local politics and campaigns. [203] In reaction to the nomination, Ferraro said, "It's great to be the first, but I don't want to be the only. 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.. [100] Reagan's personal appeal and campaign themes of prosperity and "It's morning again in America" were quite strong, while Mondale's liberal campaign alienated Southern whites and northern blue-collar workers who usually voted Democratic. But I know full well the only reason Im on that short list is because Im a woman, she told the Washington Post), feather-duster platinum hair, her figure. In one, a medical worker in New York wrote: While on my way to work this morning, I turned on the car radio and heard what has got to be some of the best news Ive heard in a long time. [31] Ferraro's strong performance at an August 22 press conference covering the final disclosurewhere she answered all questions for two hourseffectively ended the issue for the remainder of the campaign, but significant damage had been done. [36] Although Ferraro and Zaccaro's finances were often interwoven on paper,[23] with each half partners in Zaccaro's company,[37] Ferraro had little knowledge of his business, or even how much he was worth. [17] Grumblings that she was the beneficiary of nepotism were countered by her being rated as qualified by a screening committee and by her early job performance in the Investigations Bureau. [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. [9][10] At Marymount Ferraro was a member of the honor society, active in several clubs and sports, voted most likely to succeed,[4] and graduated in 1952. The National Organization for Women (NOW) and its president, Eleanor Smeal, looked at the exit poll data and dubbed the difference the gender gap. While the concept of the gender gap can oversimplify nuanced voter behavior, parsing the meaning of this gulf between men and women voters has become a mainstay of American elections ever since. 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. The lawyer whod helped Mondale with his own vice-presidential debate eight years prior, Bob Barnett, oversaw Ferraros debate prep. [31] The printing of the story led Ferraro to state that Post publisher Rupert Murdoch "does not have the worth to wipe the dirt under [my mother's] shoes. [112], Holtzman, who was trailing in polls, borrowed over $400,000 from Fleet Bank to run a negative ad accusing Ferraro and Zaccaro of taking more than $300,000 in rent in the 1980s from the DiBernardo-run pornography company whose presence in Zaccaro's building had been raised during her 1984 vice-presidential campaign. She also continued her career as a journalist, author, and businesswoman, and served in the 2008 presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Clinton. The election ended poorly for the Democrats: Reagan and his vice president, George H.W. How's that? 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. [182], In December 2006, Ferraro announced her support for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. 290 in Ridgewood, Queens was renamed the Geraldine A. Ferraro Campus. It was the year in which Americans said goodbye to `Ma Bell' and hello to Geraldine Ferraro. The womens vote, a powerful new voting bloc, will make the difference in political contests, wrote Smeal in her 1984 book, Why Women Will Elect the Next President. Their question to Ferraro: Was she game? You will win big in 84, read the piece of paper inside Queens congresswoman Geraldine Ferraros cookie. Thats almost exactly what happened. [137][138][139], Following the Senate primary loss, Ferraro became a managing partner in the New York office of Keck, Mahin & Cate, a Chicago-based law firm. The gender gap is the new wild card in political sweepstakes.. [226], Democratic primary for New York's 9th congressional district, 1978[227], New York's 9th congressional district, 1978[228], New York's 9th congressional district, 1980[229], New York's 9th congressional district, 1982[230], 1984 Democratic National Convention (Vice-Presidential tally)[nb 6], 1984 United States presidential election[231], Democratic primary for the United States Senate, 1992[133], Democratic primary for the United States Senate, 1998[232], Business career, illness and medical activism, Although Ferraro was the first woman to be on a major-party ticket for one of the nation's two highest offices, she was not the first woman to receive an, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Public Works and Transportation Committee, United States presidential election, 1984, A Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion, 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, 2020 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, 1986 United States Senate election in New York, 1992 United States Senate election in New York, United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 1998 United States Senate election in New York, National Organization of Italian American Women, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, Hematological Cancer Research Investment and Education Act, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, candidacy in the party's presidential primaries, Women in the United States House of Representatives, "Women Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates: A Selected List", "When a Catholic Terrified the Heartland", "She Ended the Men's Club of National Politics", "Geraldine A. Ferraro, first woman major-party candidate on presidential ticket, dies at 75", "Geraldine Ferraro dies at 75; shattered political barrier for women as vice presidential nominee in 1984", "Geraldine Ferraro, First Woman VP Candidate, Dies at 75", "Ferraro Won't Release Husband's Tax Returns", "Woman in the News; Democrat, Peacemaker: Geraldine Anne Ferraro", "John Zaccaro Fiance of Geraldine Ferraro", Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "Italian-Americans Coming Into Their Own", "Ex-Colleagues Praise Rep. Ferraro As Lawyer", "Ferraro's Husband: Competitive, Private Man", "On Fire Island, Family Haven From City Life", "Finances of Ferraro and Husband Are Interwoven", "Of Ferraro's Roles in Many Arenas, a Favorite: Gerry From Queens", "Geraldine A. Ferraro, 19352011: She Ended The Men's Club of National Politics", "Rep. Ferraro's Transactions Detailed in Public Records", "When the Press Vetted Geraldine Ferraro", "Women Elected to Party Leadership Positions", "2 Areas of Queens Cut ZIP Tie to Brooklyn", "LIC post office renamed for Geraldine Ferraro", "Ferraro joins Democratic ticket July12, 1984", "First female VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro dies at 75", "Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century by Rank", "Geraldine Ferraro: A Break with Tradition", "G.O.P. "[54] The Mondale campaign hoped that her selection would change a campaign in which he was well behind; in addition to attracting women, they hoped she could attract ethnic Democrats in the Northeast U.S. who had abandoned their party for Reagan in 1980. But, as Mondale later reflected to the New York Times, the snowballing scandal cost the already struggling campaign time and momentum. [17] Ferraro was upset to discover that her superior was paying her less than equivalent male colleagues because she was a married woman and already had a husband. : information and details about the item, including transport, addresses, and nearby businesses Yandex Maps 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. The womens movement had just lost a hard-fought battle to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment before its deadline expired; the Supreme Courts 1973 ruling on abortion rights in Roe v. Wade was still fresh. [42] In particular, she assisted the successful effort of the Ridgewood and Glendale neighborhoods to get their ZIP codes changed from Brooklyn to their native Queens. [9] Beginning in 1947, she attended and lived at the parochial Marymount Academy in Tarrytown, New York, using income from a family rental property in Italy and skipping seventh grade. [24] She won the three-way primary with 53percent of the vote, and then captured the general election as well, defeating Republican Alfred A. DelliBovi by a 10-percentage-point margin in a contest in which dealing with crime was the major issue and personal attacks by DelliBovi were frequent. Now they had to sell the would-be candidate herself on the idea. [nb 4] The AFLCIO's Committee on Political Education gave her an average approval rating of 91percent. 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. [32][33][34] Her main issues were law and order, support for the elderly, and neighborhood preservation. Ferraro twice ran campaigns for a seat in the United States Senate from New York, in 1992 and in 1998, both times starting as the front-runner for her party's nomination before losing in the primary election. [30] She grew frustrated that she was unable to deal with root causes, and talked about running for legislative office;[17] Cuomo, now Secretary of State of New York, suggested the United States Congress. Other women harbored doubts. Geraldine Ferraro and Walter Mondale during the 1984 Democratic National Convention. [49] She decided that the Reagan Administration's military interventions there and in El Salvador were counterproductive towards reaching U.S. security goals, and that regional negotiations would be better. [110] However, she lost ground during the summer, with Schumer catching up in the polls by early August and then soon passing her. [77] Ferraro said the statements proved overall that she had nothing to hide and that there had been no financial wrongdoing. [36] The media also reported on the FEC's past investigation into Ferraro's 1978 campaign funds. Team A also made note of womens mobilization and wondered how they could expand the pool of women running for higher office. [158] Schumer would go on to decisively unseat D'Amato in the general election. [153], Ferraro became a principal in the government relations practice of the Blank Rome law firm in February 2007, working both in New York and Washington[181][182] about two days a week in their lobbying and communications activities. [55] Once there, however, doctors discovered she had come down with pneumonia. She served as one of the deputy chairs for the 1980 Carter-Mondale campaign. 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 . ", "Geraldine Ferraro Reacts to Barack Obama's Speech on Race", "Geraldine Ferraro Reacts to Liberal Radio Host's Foul Comments", "Can People Talk About Race in America Without Being Branded Racist? 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. Blge 83501 Nolu Cad. [53], Mondale selected Ferraro to be his vice-presidential candidate on July 12, 1984. These articles didnt necessarily pass journalistic muster at papers like the New York Times, but they still catalyzed the news cycle. Ferraro grew up in New York City and worked as a public school teacher before training as a lawyer. Geraldine A. Ferraro - Obituary - The New York Times Ferraro held a marathon press conference after their release, answering questions from a crowd of more than 250 journalists. 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. If you purchase an item through these links, we receive a commission. [26] In 1970, she was elected president of the Queens County Women's Bar Association. You have seen my involvement with her." She's a girl. She ran unsuccessfully for the Senate twice and became the United Nations Human Rights Commission ambassador. The first . It would not be until 24 years later, when Senator John McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008, that another woman would appear on a major partys ticket. [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.
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