Betty Ford

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Betty Ford (1974)

Betty Ford (born Elizabeth Ann Bloomer ; born April 8, 1918 in Chicago , † July 8, 2011 in Rancho Mirage , California ) was the wife of the 38th US President Gerald Ford and the First Lady of the United States from 8. August 1974 to January 20, 1977.

Youth and Studies

Betty was the third child and only daughter of Hortense Neahr and William Stephenson Bloomer. She had two older brothers, Robert and William Jr.

She grew up from the age of three in Grand Rapids (Michigan) and graduated from Central High School there. She studied dance at the Calla Travis Dance Studio and graduated from there in 1935.

After Black Thursday , which Betty experienced when she was 11, she began working as a model and teaching other children to dance. She taught Foxtrot , Waltz and Big Apple . During the Great Depression , the independent first lady Eleanor Roosevelt was a huge influence on Betty Bloomer.

When Betty was sixteen her father died. In 1936 she finished high school and wanted to continue her dance studies in New York. Her mother refused to allow her to do this. Instead, Betty attended the Bennington School of Dance in Bennington, Vermont for two summers , where she was tutored by Martha Graham . Martha was a tough, demanding teacher who dominated the lives of young Betty Bloomer.

Working life

Betty moved to Chelsea in Manhattan and worked as a mannequin for the John Robert Powers company. She showed off hats and dresses so she could pay for her hours with Martha Graham. Betty was chosen to work in their volunteer group and was allowed to practice at Carnegie Hall .

Betty's mother, Hortense, was against her daughter's career choice and asked for her to return home, but Betty refused. Eventually, however, they came to an agreement.

As a result, Betty returned to Grand Rapids in 1941; she became a fashion designer for the Herpolsheimer’s department store . She organized her own dance group and taught dance in numerous locations in Grand Rapids. There were also disabled children among their students. Betty was actively involved in social issues.

marriage and family

Among the men she dated was William G. ("Bill") Warren, a furniture dealer she had known since the age of twelve. Betty's mother and stepfather, Arthur Godwin, did not approve of the two of them being together. Eventually they agreed to Betty and Bill's wedding, which took place at their home in 1942. They divorced in 1947 due to some intolerance.

Not long after that, she met Gerald Ford Jr. who was known in college for his success in football . He had studied at the University of Michigan and Yale Law School and was soon running for the convention. She married him on October 15, 1948 at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids. She was 30, he was 35.

They had four children:

Official portrait
  • Michael Gerald Ford (* 1950), pastor
  • John Gardner "Jack" Ford (* 1952), journalist and PR consultant
  • Steven Meigs Ford (* 1956), actor and rodeo rider
  • Susan Elizabeth Ford Vance Bales (born 1957), photographer

In 2005 the Fords were seven-time grandparents.

In 1974, Gerald Ford, appointed US Vice President in 1973, succeeded Richard Nixon as US President after he had resigned as a result of the Watergate affair . During her time as First Lady , Betty Ford had a mastectomy on September 28, 1974 . Two weeks later, Happy Rockefeller also had to undergo breast cancer treatment, which she succeeded as Second Lady as the wife of Vice President- elect Nelson Rockefeller .

Betty Ford suffered from alcoholism for a long time . She managed to get rid of the disease at Long Beach Naval Hospital . She then founded the Betty Ford Center in California in 1982 , a drug and alcohol withdrawal clinic that is now run by her daughter Susan. Celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor were also treated in the clinic.

Next life

Betty Ford published her autobiography in 1978 under the title The Times of My Life . In 1987 she was immortalized in the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame . Together with her husband, she received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999 .

Ford died of natural causes at the age of 93.

literature

  • Myra G. Gutin: Betty Ford: “When Ordinary becomes Extraordinary” In Katherine AS Sibley (Ed.): A Companion to First Ladies. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester 2016, ISBN 978-1-118-73222-9 , pp. 552-568.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Report on CNN
  2. ↑ Completely gone , article from January 7, 1985 on Spiegel Online

Web links

Commons : Betty Ford  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Ford, Betty
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bloomer Warren Ford, Elizabeth Ann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American first lady
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois, USA
DATE OF DEATH July 8, 2011
Place of death Rancho Mirage , California, USA