Betty Ford may have been a First Lady, but she was so much more than just the wife of a President. Her death last Friday at age 93 marks the passing of a woman whose advocacy changed the way we think about breast cancer and drug and alcohol addiction, and who backed an amendment that made her beloved by progressive-minded women and feminists -- the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment.)
USA Today recalls the founding of the Betty Ford Center in 1982 and the First Lady's outspokenness on behalf of the ERA -- this from the wife of a Republican president.
CNN covers the reactions of celebrities who credit the Betty Ford Center with turning their lives around, revisits her controversial interview on 60 Minutes discussing abortion, premarital sex and equal rights for women, and celebrates the candor and frankness that made her Newsweek's Woman of the Year. And there's an essay by NOW past president Eleanor Smeal on Betty Ford's involvement as co-chair of the ERA Countdown Campaign as women fought (and failed) to have 38 states ratify the amendment.
A New York Times article from 1987 notes how Ford's forthrightness about her breast cancer and mastectomy in 1974 shifted attitudes about the disease and the surgery -- both taboo topics until the First Lady revealed her diagnosis and treatment. Her openness literally inspired thousands of women to seek out cancer screening.
One of the best tributes to Betty Ford's life and legacy comes from Pam Stephan, About.com Guide to Breast Cancer, in her blog post "Farewell, Betty Ford - Born to Be Outspoken."
More on Betty Ford's support for the ERA can be found in the About.com Women's History article, "Betty Ford and the Equal Rights Amendment."
Photo: A mourner pays her respects to Betty Ford at the Ford Presidential Library.
© Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
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I don’t recall her husband ~ a former president ~ getting this kind of media attention when he passed away. She left a phenomenal legacy.