A 2013 - 2014 original C-SPAN feature series telling the stories of America's First Ladies - from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama -
through conversations with top experts, video tours of historic sites, and questions from C-SPAN's audience.

America's First Ladies — from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama
Betty Ford
First Lady: 1974 - 1977
Click the list to watch videos
  • Betty Ford program
  • Betty Ford - The Right Woman for the Right Job
  • Steve Ford Interview
  • Bill Clinton Awards Betty Ford with the Congressional Medal of Honor
  • Steve Ford on the Intervention & Betty Ford on Addiction Treatment
  • Delivers her Husband's Concession Speech
  • Entertaining in the White House
  • Her Style
  • Her Support of the ERA
  • On Breast Cancer
  • First News Conference as First Lady
  • Steve Ford on the Congressional Years
  • Steve Ford on the transition to the White House
  • Speaking at a Women's Conference
  • Life After the White House
  • Her Personality
  • Her Image
  • Her Influence
  • Her Legacy
  • Her Influence
  • Betty Ford Clinic
  • As First Lady
  • Her Health
  • Her Marriage
  • Early Life
  • Testifies at a House Committee Hearing
  • President Ford Concession Speech
  • Gerald Ford's 80th Birthday Party
  • Struggle Against Drugs
  • Congressonal Gold Medal Awards
  • National Tribute
  • Mental Health and Substance Abuse Issues
  • Women and Substance Abuse
  • First Ladies Panel
  • An Evening with Former First Ladies
  • President Ford U.S. Capitol Service
  • President Ford Lying-In-State
  • Presidential Descendants
  • First Ladies through the Eyes of their Descendants
  • First Ladies' Influence
  • Former First Lady Perspective

Biography

Betty Ford

Gerald Ford
While I hope I never get too old to learn and grow, I think it wasn’t so much that the White House altered me in any essential way as that I found the resources with which to respond to a series of challenges. You never know what you can do until you have to do it.

Born - April 8, 1918 in Chicago, Illinois

Parents - William Stephenson Bloomer & Hortense Neahr Bloomer

Married - October 15, 1948 to Gerald Ford (first marriage to William C. Warren in 1942, divorced in 1947)

Children - Michael Gerald (1950 – present),
John Gardner “Jack” (1952 – present),
Steven Meigs (1956 – present),
Susan Elizabeth (1957 – present)

Education - Bennington School of Dance in Bennington, Vermont in summers of 1936 & 1937

Occupation - professional dancer, teacher of dance, model, department store fashion coordinator

Post White House residence - Rancho Mirage, California

Causes - Betty Ford Center, established to treat drug and alcohol abuse and supported the Equal Rights Amendment

Died - July 8, 2011 in Rancho Mirage, California

Click here to see full bio of Betty Ford

 
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