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Betty Ford

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Betty Ford as First Lady: A Woman for Women
Author(s): LEESA E. TOBIN
Source: Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 4, Modern First Ladies White House
Organization (FALL 1990), pp. 761-767
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress
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Accessed: 05/04/2014 08:14
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsBetty Ford as First Lady: A Woman for Women
LEESA E. TOBIN
Archivist
Gerald R. Ford Library
On April 4, 1954, the women's page of The Washington Post carried a fea ture story on Mrs. Gerald R. Ford, a young congressman's wife with a penchant for
"quiet" suits and "slightly more talkative" hats. "Mrs. Ford," the writer confided,
"believes that wives of congressmen look better on a speaking platform when they're saying nothing. She leaves politics to her husband."1
Twenty-one years later, on October 25, 1975, Mrs. Ford stepped to the podium at the International Woman's Year Congress in Cleveland. In a major address on the role of women in society, Mrs. Ford spoke in support

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