It’s strange to say, but I feel like I knew Betty Ford. I never met this lady with humor, grace, honesty and strength; however, I knew her convictions and I drew from them.
While leaving the White House, Pat Nixon quietly told Betty, “You’ll see so many of these red carpets, you’ll get so you hate them.” While Mrs. Ford said the resignation of Richard Nixon had been the saddest day of her life, I don’t believe she ever did tire of being the first lady.
As the president’s wife, yet still a private citizen, she felt the position she had gained gave her a voice, a voice she had not found before she moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Only weeks after taking residence in the White House, Mrs. Ford was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a total mastectomy. By opening up to the press about this health issue, millions of women were encouraged to have mammograms. Americans quickly came to learn that early detection was the best cure.
Creative and hip, Mrs. Ford formed magical evenings in the White House when state dinners were held, inviting such guests as Tony Orlando and Dawn. And then there was that final picture taken of her by White House photographer David Hume Kennerly as she danced barefoot on President Ford’s Cabinet table.
She didn’t shy away from “60 Minutes” interviewer Morley Safer’s questions regarding her daughter’s romantic life and what her response would be if she found out Susan Ford were having an affair with an older man. “Well, I wouldn’t be surprised,” she said without taking too long to think about it. “I would think she’s a perfectly normal human being, like all young girls.”
Some Americans found themselves uncomfortable with the new first lady’s heartfelt honesty. Countless others embraced her candor.
Mrs. Ford wasn’t quiet about women’s rights in America, including equal pay for equal work. She called members of Congress to lobby for the passage of the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment). It was her right as a private citizen to lobby, and lobby hard she did, even though the bill did not pass Congress.
Mrs. Ford was never afraid to be honest, forthright and dignified about her struggles with painkillers and alcohol after her post-White House drug rehabilitation treatment. She bravely stood behind those who dreamt to build a drug and alcohol rehabilitation hospital in California, and she humbly accepted their idea to name it after her.
She was always by the president’s side, whether they were in bed praying the night before Nixon’s resignation in 1974, delivering a heartbreaking concession speech in 1976, or visiting with George W. Bush in their home shortly before Jerry died in 2006.
I will miss you, Mrs. Ford. The unbreakable strength you exuberantly showed throughout your life encourages me to live my life with honesty to the fullest extent possible every day.
Joshua Miller of Lakewood is a researcher of American history.
