Rick Perlstein has a tribute to the late Betty Ford in today's Times, making the case that the former first lady's historical importance may have exceeded her husband's:
in August 1975 Betty Ford went on "60 Minutes" and said that if her 18-year-old daughter had an affair, she would not necessarily object. Soon after, she volunteered in McCall's that she had sex with her husband "as often as possible."
Those comments were widely reported. Less well known is what happened next.
Experts considered her a political liability. A syndicated humor columnist imagined aides seeking her resignation—before it was too late: "The networks and women's magazines…are making incredible offers to get the First Lady to sit down and openly discuss adultery, drinking, homosexuality and a proposed postal rate hike."
Bad joke. Two months later a Harris poll found that 64 percent of Americans supported what Mrs. Ford had said on "60 Minutes." By then she was known for her self-assuredness before the media: she had already announced that she had breast cancer, then let herself be photographed in her hospital room after her mastectomy—at a time when respectable people only whispered the word "cancer."
Then, a year and a half after leaving the White House, she famously owned up to her alcoholism and addiction to prescription drugs, even as her husband was quietly putting himself forward as a 1980 presidential possibility. Once more the public embraced her, voting her ahead of the first lady, Rosalynn Carter, no slouch in the popularity department herself, on Good Housekeeping's list of the country's "Most Admired Women."
No one would have predicted this. America had been a nation of shame-faced secrecy in so many of its intimate domestic affairs. The 1970s was when that began to change. Betty Ford was that transformation's Joan of Arc.
Betty Ford didn't create the social trends that she spoke about so openly, but she reflected and reinforced them. If nothing else, she allowed a cultural revolution to find a home in the White House, sharing a bed with the head of state but representing something larger and more important than mere politics.
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” Soon after, she volunteered in McCall’s that she had sex with her husband “as often as possible.””
Good thing that was 1975. Today she’d be sued for creating a “hostile work environment” for the McCall’s employees who interviewed her. And if the interview had been posted online and read by a child….well then…..
No, I will not log in to the NYT website, and fuck you Jesse for posting to a walled off article.
s/posting/linking/
Use bugmenot?
I could and have in the past, but fuck that shit. Reason should just not post to the NYT until they open up.
Its not like its anything other than some little local paper anyway.
robc sez: “Reason should just not post to the NYT…”
So yer a control freak are ya’?
Didn’t she also publicly admit her son had smoked pot?
She certainly didn’t lack for courage, and was a far more interesting person than the crafted-soundbite political spouse of today.
Just so everyone knows, the link Mr. Walker provides to the NYT article is free of charge.
Help me out…who is that fuzzy haired little guy she’s dancing with…what was his name…
Was he the brother on Kojak?
Marty Allen
Thank You.
I think he used to be upper left on the Hollywood Squares.
What’s next, a post with Totie Fields?
I think his first name is Marty.
Obviously Brotherben, your memory is sharper than mine! Kudo’s to you!
According to the title, he’s the Sword of Liberation.
wierd, though, that she looked quite a bit like her husband:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F…..-0598a.gif
RP not running for re-election to House seat:
http://thefacts.com/article_1c…..03286.html
Ron Paul is readying for Secretary of the Treasury in the Bachmann administration.
No, no. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Clinton administration.
Surgeon General
” Soon after, she volunteered in McCall’s that she had sex with her husband “as often as possible.””
Good thing that was 1975. Today she’d be sued for creating a “hostile work environment” for the McCall’s employees who interviewed her. And if the interview had been posted online and read by a child….well then…..
Chick liked to party. Gotta respect that.