US first lady (19747), born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Trained as a dancer, she spent a few years in the 1930s with the Martha Graham company. Her first marriage ended in divorce, and she married Gerald Ford in 1948. A most outspoken first lady, she endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment and women's right to abortion. Following the presidency and her own problems with alcohol and drugs, she helped establish a highly publicized treatment centre in California.
| Betty Ford | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April, 1918 Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Occupation | First Lady of the United States |
| Spouse | Gerald R. Ford |
Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren Ford (born April 8, 1918) is the wife of former President Gerald R.
Early life
Betty Bloomer is the third child and only daughter of Hortense Neahr and William Stephenson Bloomer, an industrial supply salesman.
After the 1929 stock market crash, when Betty was eleven, she began modeling clothes and teaching other children dances such as the foxtrot, waltz, and big apple.
When Betty was sixteen, her father died accidentally from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Model and fashion coordinator, dancer and dance teacher
Betty Bloomer moved to Manhattan’s Chelsea section and worked as a fashion model for the John Robert Powers firm.
Betty’s mother was opposed to her daughter’s choice of a career and insisted that Betty move home, but Betty resisted.
Betty consequently moved back to Grand Rapids in 1941, becoming fashion coordinator for Herpolscheimer's department store.
Marriages and family
Among those Betty dated was William G.
Not long afterward, she began dating Gerald Ford, Jr., college football star and graduate of the University of Michigan and Yale Law School.
Ford was then campaigning for what would be his first of fourteen terms as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Fords relocated again upon the resignation of President Nixon, when Jerry was sworn in as the 38th President of the United States and he and Betty moved into the White House.
The Fords have three sons and one daughter:
Michael Gerald Ford (b. 1957) - a photographerAs of 2005, the Fords have seven grandchildren.
First Lady of the United States
Gerald Ford became President in 1974 on the resignation of President Richard Nixon, who had named Gerald Ford to the Vice Presidency in 1973.
As First Lady, Betty Ford became quickly known for being willing and eager to speak her mind on a host of issues, both political and otherwise.
Betty Ford was also an outspoken advocate of women's rights.
Shortly after Betty Ford became First Lady she underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer.
Betty Ford was an advocate of the arts while First Lady, and was able to help Martha Graham become the first dancer to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The Betty Ford Center
In 1978, Betty's family staged an intervention and forced her to confront her alcoholism and addiction to opioid analgesics and seek treatment. In 1982, after her recovery, she established the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California for the treatment of chemical dependency. The Betty Ford Center was especially attractive to women and celebrities seeking treatment.
In 2003 Betty Ford published Healing and Hope: Six Women from the Betty Ford Center Share Their Powerful Journeys of Addiction and Recovery. As of 2005, she remains the active Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Betty Ford Center.
Later life
In 1978, Ford published her autobiography The Times of My Life.
In 1987, Betty Ford was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.
In 1999, President Gerald Ford and Betty Ford were jointly given the Congressional Gold Medal, "in recognition of their dedicated public service and outstanding humanitarian contributions to the people of the United States of America."
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