Everything about Geraldine A Ferraro totally explained
Geraldine Anne Ferraro (born
August 26 1935) is a
Democratic politician and a former member of the
United States House of Representatives. She is perhaps best known as the first—and, to date, only—female
Vice Presidential candidate representing a major
American political party.
Ferraro was a
teacher,
lawyer, and member of the
Queens County District Attorney's Office prior to being elected to the
United States Congress in 1978. In 1984, former Vice President and Presidential candidate
Walter Mondale selected Ferraro to be his running mate in the
upcoming election. The positive polling Mondale received when she joined him didn't last until November, and they were defeated in an electoral landslide by incumbent
President Ronald Reagan and Vice President
George H. W. Bush. Following the 1984 election, she ran two campaigns for a seat in the
United States Senate, but twice lost the nomination of her party in the primaries (by less than one percent in
1992, by considerably more in
1998). She served as a
United States Ambassador to the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights from
1993 until
1996 in the
Presidential administration of
Bill Clinton. She has also countinued her career as a
journalist,
author, and
businesswoman, and served in the
Presidential campaign of
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Personal life
Ferraro was born in
Newburgh, New York, the daughter of
Italian American parents Antonetta L. (
née Corrieri), a seamstress, and Dominick Ferraro, who died when she was eight. Ferraro received her undergraduate degree from
Marymount Manhattan College, and a
J.D. degree from
Fordham University School of Law, going to classes at night while working as a second-grade teacher in
public schools during the day. Ferraro graduated from law school in 1960, one of only two women in her graduating class.
She is married to
real estate agent John Zaccaro and they've three children.
She was inducted into the
National Women's Hall of Fame in 1994, and is a board member of the
National Organization of Italian American Women.
In 1998, she was diagnosed with
multiple myeloma and has become an avid supporter of the
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
She and her husband lived for many years in
Forest Hills Gardens, Queens and moved to Manhattan in 2004.
House of Representatives
Ferraro was elected to the House of Representatives from
New York's 9th Congressional District in Queens in 1978 and served three two-year terms, compiling a generally liberal voting record on social and economic issues.
While in Congress she served on the Public Works Committee, the Budget Committee, and the Post Office Committee. She also served a term as the Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus, the first woman in that position. She was the Chairwoman of the Platform Committee for the 1984 Democratic National Convention.
Ferraro took a trip to
Nicaragua and
El Salvador in January 1984, where she spoke to the Contras, and blamed the situation in Central America on the policies of the
Reagan Administration.
1984 Vice Presidential candidacy
Mondale selected Geraldine Ferraro to be his Vice Presidential candidate on
July 12 1984. Mondale made his decision after interviewing several candidates, including Colorado Sen.
Gary Hart, San Antonio Mayor
Henry Cisneros,
San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein,
Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley,
Philadelphia Mayor Wilson Goode,
Kentucky Governor Martha Layne Collins, and
Senator Lloyd Bentsen. In her acceptance speech upon being chosen as Mondale's running mate, Ferraro said, "The daughter of an immigrant from Italy has been chosen to run for vice president in the new land my father came to love."
The choice of Ferraro was viewed as a gamble, and pundits were uncertain whether the choice would result in a net gain or loss of votes for the Mondale campaign. However Ferraro noted that prior to choosing a running mate, Mondale was 16 points behind Reagan; after her selection, polling was "dead even."
As a Catholic, Ferraro came under fire from the
Roman Catholic Church for being
pro-choice on
abortion, a position in conflict with
Catholic moral doctrine.
There was only one
Vice Presidential debate between Congresswoman Ferraro and Vice President Bush, which was proclaimed mostly neutral by the press. Ferraro criticized Reagan's actions of refusing to support the
Voting Rights Act. Her experience was questioned at the debate and she was asked how her three terms in Congress stacked up with Bush's experience. She strongly defended her position on abortion, which earned her applause and a respectful reply from her opponent, Vice President Bush.
After the debate,
Barbara Bush was asked what she thought of Ferraro; she responded, "I can’t say it, but it rhymes with rich." Later that evening, Mrs. Bush called Ferraro to apologize. Ferraro now explains Bush's words as having been said in defense of her own husband; Mrs. Bush had said this after an open microphone had caught
George H.W. Bush bragging that he'd "kicked a little ass" following the debate.
During the campaign financial questions were raised surrounding the release of Ferraro's husband's tax returns. In July 1984, she said she'd release both her and her husband's tax returns. A month later she said she'd release only her returns, then she said her husband would release "a financial — a tax statement" on August 20. But Zaccaro initially refused to do so. After the election the House Ethics Committee "found that Ferraro had violated the Ethics in Government Act by failing to disclose details of her family's finances", but "concluded that she acted without 'deceptive intent'."
Post 1984 campaign
In 1992 she ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for the New York Senate seat, finishing second in the primary behind State Attorney General
Robert Abrams, ahead of Rev.
Al Sharpton and New York City Comptroller and former congresswoman
Elizabeth Holtzman. She has said that if she hadn't run for Vice President, she'd have sought the Senate seat in 1986.
President
Bill Clinton appointed Ferraro ambassador to the
United Nations Committee on Human Rights in 1993.
In 1998, Ferraro ran for the Senate again. She started off as the frontrunner for the nomination but lost ground in the late summer months. She finished second behind Congressman
Charles Schumer and placed ahead of New York City Public Advocate
Mark J. Green.
Media commentator
From 1996 to 1997, she was co-host on
Crossfire, a political commentary show on the cable television network
CNN. As of March 2008 she holds a position as a political analyst on
Fox News Channel and a columnist for the
New York Times syndicate.
Business career
Ferraro became a Principal in the government relations practice of Blank Rome law firm on
February 1,
2007.
2008 presidential campaign involvement
In December 2006, Ferraro announced her support for presidential candidate
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The comment drew criticism from the Obama campaign and others. Clinton expressed disagreement with Ferraro's remarks, but the Clinton campaign never asked for her resignation. On March 11, again speaking to the
Breeze, Ferraro remained defiant: "I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?" and continued to defend and explain her comments. She resigned from Clinton's finance committee the next day, saying that she didn't want the Obama camp to use her comments to hurt Clinton's campaign.
After leaving the Clinton campaign, Ferraro continued to attack Obama on racial issues via her position as a FoxNews contributor.
After initially calling the media sexist during the fallout over her initial remarks, Ferraro stated in May 2008 that she thought Obama himself was sexist and that she might not vote for him in the general election.
Books authored
In 1985 she published an autobiography,
Ferraro: My Story.
Her second book, a collection of her speeches, was titled
Changing History: Women, Power and Politics and was published in 1993.
Framing a Life: A Family Memoir, her 1998 book, is the life story of her immigrant mother.
Electoral history
New York's 9th congressional district, 1978
New York's 9th congressional district, 1980
Geraldine Ferraro (D) (Inc.) - 63,796 (58.34%)
Vito P. Battista (R) - 44,473 (40.67%)
Gertrude Geniale (Liberal) - 1,091 (1.00%)
Battista also ran on Conservative and Right to Life tickets
New York's 9th congressional district, 1982
Geraldine Ferraro (D) (Inc.) - 75,286 (73.22%)
John J. Weigandt - 20,352 (19.79%)
Ralph G. Groves (Conservative) - 6,011 (5.85%)
Patricia A. Salargo (Liberal) - 1,171 (1.14%)
1984 Democratic National Convention (Vice Presidential tally)
Geraldine Ferraro - 3,920 (99.90%)
Shirley Chisholm - 3 (0.08%)
Scattering - 1 (0.03%)
United States presidential election, 1984
Ronald Reagan/George H. W. Bush (R) (Inc.) - 54,455,472 (58.8%) and 525 electoral votes (49 states carried)
Walter Mondale/Geraldine Ferraro (D) - 37,577,352 (40.6%) and 13 electoral votes (1 state and D.C. carried)
David Bergland/Jim Lewis (L) - 228,111 (0.3%) and 0 electoral votes
Democratic primary for the United States Senate, 1992
Robert Abrams - 426,904 (37.02%)
Geraldine Ferraro - 415,650 (36.04%)
Al Sharpton - 166,665 (14.45%)
Elizabeth Holtzman - 144,026 (12.49%)
Democratic primary for the United States Senate, 1998
Chuck Schumer - 388,701 (50.84%)
Geraldine Ferraro - 201,625 (26.37%)
Mark Green - 145,819 (19.07%)
Eric Ruano-Melendez - 28,493 (3.73%)
See
Further Information
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