Betty Ford

On news of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, she wryly told Jerry "Did you hear, Al Gore is one organism away from the presidency?"

Jerry blushed.

She IS Betty Ford!

Both Betty and Jerry were a beautiful couple.

On news of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, she wryly told Jerry "Did you hear, Al Gore is one orgasm away from the presidency?"

Jerry blushed.

[quote] one of the most popular Frist Ladies

One of my fave frist ladies.

The First Lady series that aired on Showtime was, generally, good. The Betty Ford arc was superior to the others.

A good tribute.

A good interview.

Betty Ford: The Real Deal

No vanilla extract in the White House.

Great fuck.

Does anyone else remember how entirely different - & glamorous - she looked after her ‘70s facelift?

R12 You mean her cutting out alcohol and pills?

Her son Jack was a fucking stud.

Before she was FORCED into recovery, she would appear on tv swacked out of fucking mind and barely able to talk.

And of course she later said - like that dumb ass Dukakis woman - "no one knew I was drinking, I handled all of my public appearances without a problem....."

Loved her. What a woman, and what a legacy. Jerry was a good man and it was unfortunate how he was portrayed as a bumbling fool so often.

R15 Any clips?

No, R13, she was very open about her facelift. She went from dowdy midwesterner to Palm Springs glamorous overnight.

Betty on Mary Tyler Moore

I liked her but she was overrated as a First Lady---she didn't serve long, didn't have a specific project, and was a drunk.

Her satin wedding suit was beautiful.

She gave her husband's concession speech because Jerry lost his voice and he was very emotional about the loss. She took charge.

Betty at Studio 54 with Liza and Liz

That, R22, was after her facelift.

Liza asking Betty if she'd like to rail some lines in the ladies' room while Liz is eyeing the buffet table.

R19 You completely missed her legacy.

She was an honest and real person. She did not hide herself in front of the cameras, she understood what it was like raising kids alone while her husband was away. She understood cancer and substance abuse and divorce.

Unlike any other First Lady, she was open and honest about being a human being with actual struggles. Every. Damn. Day.

No First Lady before or since has been able to genuinely relate to real Americans in the way that Betty Ford could.

Facelift? Thank goodness! @R7 she looks like Laura Linney trying to portray Margaret Thatcher!

Meanwhile @ r8 and r9 she merely looks like Nancy Reagan should have looked if she hadn’t overworked her cheek muscles giving all that extraordinary head!

R19 During the late 1980's/early 1990's, one of her assistants was a recovering alcoholic. She lapsed very bad and it was ugly.

Besides firing her or lecturing her, Betty hugged her and started crying while sharing how hard the fight was and that her assistant would never be alone.

Wow. She really shared her experiences.

She used to spike her morning tea with vodka. She would have been welcome at my house for breakfast any time.

Well I never got drunk and knocked over the White House Christmas tree!

Oh, go suck a cock in hell, Nancy!

Grls, GIRLS! You're both cunts!

She seemed like a decent person.

A nose job came with the facelift. No one mentions that - then or now.

R12 - I do. It was one of the best makeovers of a public figure ever.

She had been a very attractive dancer in her youth. The facelift and change in styling (as well as sobriety) de-aged her tremendously and turned her from matronly back to glamourous.

R22 yikes times three.

She never spiked my drink!

I remember when some First Ladies were gathered by Oprah Winfrey for a reading of The Vagina Monologues some years back, all of them but Barbara Bush were given uplifting passages. It really turned out to be unintentionally comical, at Bar’s expense.

R25 - Sorry if the rest of us don't share your adoration for her.

Her husband pardoned Nixon which led us down the path to today's fuckery. Nixon should have gone to jail.

How do you think Gerald was in the sack?

Talk about Pat Nixon!

R39, *best* Gerald Ford move as president - FOR TO CITY: DROP DEAD

Impressions of Ford’s pardon have changed over the years. From the initial outrage to his receiving the JFK Profile in Courage Award. And then came Trump.

An article on the debut of Betty Ford’s facelift.

Ford never actually said that, R42. It was the creation of a Daily News headline writer.

R2 damn it, you beat me to it LOL

DUH, R45. The story of Ford refusing to help NYC during the severe financial crisis is TRUE. Then he changed his mind.

Betty tried to rape Pat Nixon.

R27 "besides" does not equal "instead of".

DUH, R47, I know the underlying story is true. I just wouldn’t want to leave the uninitiated here with the false impression that the headline was a direct quote.

R48 I was molested.

People were in awe when she premiered her new face. She did more for plastic surgery than she did for sobriety.

Her transformation was really jawbreaking..

Great photo taken by David Hume Kennerly. A wonderful hotel in Portland exhibits his photos. The key card with her picture on it now lives on my nightstand.

R39 I agree with you, but my affection for her is completely separate from my feelings about her husband’s politics.

Ford wanted the spare the country a trial, everybody just wanted to move on.

Ford was right in pardoning Nixon, but the people didn't like the timing.

Ford was so preoccupied cleaning up the economy, foreign policy, and the energy crisis to really care about Nixon. He pardoned Nixon early so he could carry on with real issues.

Betty didn't have long-term impact, although she was symbolic as a figure as First Lady. Lady Bird's work has had lasting effects on highway beautification, wildflowers, etc. Jackie had a lot of impact--with White House restoration and redevelopment of Pennsylvania Avenue that continued well beyond her short time in the White House. She also played an important role in historic preservation in NYC which was a natural outgrowth of her work in teh White House.

She looks like she gave ol' Gerry a mercy fuck twice a week, while staring at the ceiling and warning. "Don't muss my hair, now".

I can't find any clips but have a clear memory of her talking about some triviality in a monotone with a glazed look on her face, practically comatose. She was a decent person married to a wooden nickel who nearly died from the way women were treated back in the day.

"She’d proudly declared her enthusiastic support for the Equal Rights Amendment for women — a position not shared by her husband or his party — and when her husband was vice president under Richard Nixon, she told Barbara Walters how pleased she was by the Supreme Court’s 1972 Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion. President Ford’s press secretary issued a statement declaring that Gerald Ford “long [ago] ceased to be perturbed by his wife’s remarks.”

R56, how old are you? NO ONE wanted to move on. 90% of the public wanted Nixon's ass in jail.

[quote]From pre-marital sex to abortion to cancer to alcoholism, she always gracefully but bluntly opened up about her (and many other women's) life struggles.

Well, of course, she was shitfaced.

During their retirement, Betty drug Jerry to see The First Wives Club.

He reported to his female staff that "it was a pretty good comedy, but I didn't know any of the actors."

r61 the national psyche was already whipped and the times were depressing enough. A long drawn out trial wouldn't have been good for the country.

There was some school of thought that Nixon's resignation was, in itself, punishment.

Hindsight is 20/20 regarding Nixon and how he was dealt with. I think his ass should have gone to the slammer--always thinking Republicans will do the right thing eventually is how they just kept getting more and more emboldened and resulted in Trump.

R64 = born in 1999

r67 I'm much older than that. It's been noted in countless sources that Ford just wanted the country to move on.

[quote]Betty didn't have long-term impact, although she was symbolic as a figure as First Lady.

You couldn't be more wrong, R58.

Betty Ford was instrumental in lifting the stigma associated with breast cancer, saving countless lives of women (and men)'through her emphasis on encouraging early detection and self-examination.

Thanks to Mrs. Ford doctors and researchers, through public awareness and demand, began to treat breast cancer as the major disease it is and not as merely a women's issue.

Did they flash the lights in the White House when it was time for last call?

R70 it was never last call for Betty

Jerry was her enabler really. He never said anything. It was the kids that got involved.

R69: She was one of a number of well known women who were open about breast cancer. The impact of those things was not lasting--you get a bump from celebrities (much like the short-term impact of Magic Johnson's HIV disclosure of HIV testing), but its not a big thing in the bigger scheme. Ditto coming out as a drinker---her drying out place was/is for the rich. Sorry, but Lady Bird and Jackie had more lasting impact than any of the first ladies who followed, Hillary could have been different but blew it with health care.

Betty Ford helped to get rid of the stigma of addiction. For a first lady, such a prominent public figure, to come out and say that she was an alcoholic and drug addict was revolutionary at that time. Those things were kept hidden and there was a lot of shame involved.

She was perfectly imperfect.

R73: I stand by my statement and praise for Betty Ford.

Your arrogance and ignorance in diminishing her role in breast cancer care is staggering, as is your flippancy towards the disease.

May cancer bypass your house, you stupid, stupid person.

I worked with oncology patients for a number of years. Celebrity patients had little meaning for them. The experience of women they knew was much more credible and critical. They recognized that celebs had options they didn't. Hype about celebs doing "important things" is just that.

I wish they would release the Michelle Pfiffer portions of that miniseries on their own — Michelle was great!

Betty was leaps and bounds above Jacqueline, Hillary, and Michelle.

Art and nature are nice, but cancer, alcoholism, abortion, divorce, and pill dependency are serious issues that no First Lady before or since has ever addressed as honestly and gracefully as Betty Ford. She related to and understood REAL WORLD problems.

Those who say otherwise either don't know history or are so privilege they don't know real people.

But I was the most glamorous FLOTUS ever.