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Betty Ford was born Elizabeth Ann Bloomer in Chicago on April 8, 1918. Her parents, William and Hortense, moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she spent the rest of her childhood. Betty was an outgoing little girl who loved music and dance. When Betty graduated from high school, she attended the School of Dance at Bennington College, in Vermont. Bennington was a “progressive” school, which encouraged creativity in its students, and Betty thrived while studying modern dance. Famed dance instructor Martha Graham took notice of her and she spent the next few years at the Graham School in New York City, graduating to the Martha Graham Auxiliary Group.
In 1941, she returned to Grand Rapids to begin a career in fashion. In her spare time she volunteered, teaching handicapped children music and dance. In 1947 she met Gerald R. Ford, a young attorney who had served in the Navy during World War II. They wed on October 15, 1948, and, shortly thereafter, Ford was elected to congress. He eventually became the House Minority Leader. During the years that Ford served in Congress, the Ford family lived in Alexandria, Virginia, and Betty threw herself into homemaking with her characteristic energy. She needed that energy to keep up with the activities of the four Ford children: Michael, John, Steven, and Susan.
Gerald Ford’s dream was to be Speaker of the House, but the Republicans never had the majority in the House that he needed to secure the job. Little did he and Betty know that fate had even bigger plans in store for him. Just as Ford was about to retire from politics, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in the wake of a financial scandal, and President Richard Nixon chose Ford to replace Agnew. Ford was not even Vice President for a year, however, before Nixon, too, resigned over the Watergate affair. On August 9, 1974, Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 37th President of the United States.
The Fords moved into the White House, and Betty became one of the most popular First Ladies of the 20th Century. She supported her husband in most things, as when he pardoned Richard Nixon, but when she disagreed with him on an issue, she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. She actively campaigned for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, which Ford opposed. She told a reporter that she wouldn’t be shocked if her unmarried daughter, Susan, had an affair. In 1974, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was open and honest about her surgery and recovery, becoming one of the most admired women in the world. Not all was well even then, though; there were several times when reporters noticed Betty slurring her words.
After Gerald Ford lost the White House to Jimmy Carter in 1976, Betty devoted herself to the arts and charity, and wrote a best-selling memoir, “The Times of My Life,” in 1978. However, with her job as First Lady over and her children grown, Betty’s dependence on pills and alcohol spiraled out of control. Her husband and children staged an intervention, and she successfully completed a rehabilitation program. This experience, too, she courageously shared with the public. Her journey through substance abuse and recovery led her to open her own rehab clinic, The Betty Ford Center, in Rancho Mirage, California, October 1982. Beyond those thousands who have been treated at the center, she has inspired millions the world over to change their lives. In October 1999, Betty and Gerald Ford were presented with the Congressional Gold Medal for their humanitarian and charitable achievements.
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