The Hill News

First lady Betty Ford was both a controversial pioneer, a crusader for women’s rights and one of the most respected and beloved women in America. 

Like the suffragists, she empowered generations and changed the lives of thousands. It is women like her who have shaped our nation, and as the president and CEO of the National Women’s History Museum, I feel a special obligation to pay tribute to her. 

Soon after her husband was inaugurated, the first lady held her first press conference, immediately addressing the Equal Rights Amendment. In 1975, Ford spoke at the International Women’s Year meeting, where she made what was called “the most progressive [speech] made by any president’s wife since Eleanor Roosevelt” encouraging all women to work for passage of the ERA. To quote Mrs. Ford: “The search for human freedom can never be complete without freedom for women.”

Before Ford’s admission, the subject of breast cancer and substance ! abuse was taboo. She freed women from their emotional solitary confinement. Ford’s brave disclosure gave men and women suffering from addiction a sense they were not alone.

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