Abbreviations Used in the Notes
ATTH |
Gerald R. Ford, A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford (New York: Harper & Row, 1979). |
BAGA |
Betty Ford with Chris Chase, Betty: A Glad Awakening (New York: Doubleday, 1987). |
TTOML |
Betty Ford with Chris Chase, The Times of My Life (New York: Harper & Row, 1978). |
Prologue
“It’s time”: Susan Ford Bales, in discussion with author, February 17, 2017.
“Dad,” she pleaded, “you need to come home immediately”: BAGA, 14.
“This is not going to be pleasant”: ibid., 17.
“No,” Dr. Pursch responded. “It never is”: ibid.
“scared to death”: Caroline Coventry Morgan, in discussion with author, February 27, 2017.
“After you’ve buried somebody”: BAGA, 14.
“the boys”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“Mom, you need to stop”: ibid.; also BAGA, 11.
“Well, I am stopping”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
What a bunch of pips: BAGA, 10; also Morgan, discussion, May 20, 2017.
“You’re all a bunch of monsters . . . never come back!”: BAGA, 11.
“Mike! Gayle!”: Michael Ford, discussion with author, October 26, 2017.
“Mother . . . sit down”: BAGA, 19.
“This is Dr. Joe Pursch”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“almost like a doll”: BAGA, 19.
“Mrs. Ford, you don’t have to be alarmed”: ibid.
“Mike, you start”: Michael Ford, discussion, October 26, 2017.
“Mom,” he said, “being the oldest”: ibid.; also BAGA, 18.
“Mother,” Gayle began, “you know we’ve been married”: BAGA, 19.
“There were so many times”: ibid., 18; also Jack Ford, in discussion with author, February 17, 2018.
“Betty, we love you”: Steve Ford, in discussion with author, November 23, 2016.
“Mom, do you remember that weekend”: ibid.
He’s got some nerve: BAGA, 22.
“Mom, when I was little”: BAGA, 20; also Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“We love you, Betty . . . we love you”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
PART 1: BETTY FORD, DANCER
1: The Bloomer Girl
“Mother always said I’d popped out of a bottle of champagne”: TTOML, 6.
William S. Bloomer had accepted a job: “Notes of the Rubber Trade,” India Rubber Review (June 15, 1918): 374, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433108137906;view=1up;seq=380.
The house at 1410 Josephine Street: Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fourteenth Census of the United States, State Compendium: Colorado, 1920 Population, Denver, CO, District 0247, www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1920/state-compendium/06229686v1-7ch05.pdf, 4B.
taking a position at the Quaker City Rubber Company: “Bloomer with Quaker City,” Personals of the Rubber Trade, Rubber Age and Tire News 7, no. 1 (April 10, 1920): 24, https://books.google.com/books?id=w7Y7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10&dq=%22The+Rubber+Age+and+Tire+News%22+%22April+10,+1920%22&source=bl&ots=yEerrATo02&sig=jyi2_WkeMKsrOnCN9vLS5slI-rM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj0zray0q_aAhUCyYMKHWbRCiEQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=%22The%20Rubber%20Age%20and%20Tire%20News%22%20%22April%2010%2C%201920%22&f=false.
“filled with light”: TTOML, 8.
Hortense’s cousin Charlotte Neahr Irwin: Bonnie Bloomer Baker, in discussion with author, July 13, 2017; also Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fourteenth Census of the United States, State Compendium: Michigan, 1920 Population, Grand Rapids City, Kent County, MI, Ward 3, www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1920/state-compendium/06229686v20-25ch1.pdf, 19A.
rent a lakeside cottage for $10 a week: Michigan Summer Resorts: A Guide to the Summering Places in the Lake and River Region of the State of Michigan (Detroit: Pere Marquette Railway Company, 1913), 37.
“Please do not feed this child”: TTOML, 7.
“He was a great fisherman”: ibid.
“terrible tomboy”: ibid., 9.
“Oh, dear Betty . . . don’t you realize?”: Lynn Minton, “Betty Ford Talks About Her Mother,” McCall’s, May 1976.
“You sound just like a horse”: TTOML, 10.
Spankings in the household were rare: Minton, “Betty Ford Talks About Her Mother.”
“every phase of dance art”: Calla Travis Graded System of Dance Instruction Loose Notes, Kay Clark Grand Rapids Dance Collection, box 1, folder 29, Grand Rapids Public Library, Grand Rapids, MI.
“Ladies! . . . You sit with your legs crossed!”: Ann Lewis, in discussion with author, October 29, 2016.
“I signed up for everything”: TTOML, 17.
“She was pretty”: Lilian Fisher, interview by Richard Norton Smith, February 27, 2012, transcript, Oral History Project, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, Grand Rapids, MI, 2, https://geraldrfordfoundation.org/centennial-docs/oralhistory/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Lilian-Fisher-.pdf.
“There was no kind of dance”: TTOML, 17.
Betty cleverly realized: ibid.
She would bring in a phonograph: ibid., 14.
Some committed suicide: Fisher, interview, 4.
would be no more household help: TTOML, 16.
“Twenty-five, ninety-five. Third-floor sportswear”: ibid., 18.
“Talk about personality . . . She was one hell of a gal”: Barbara Boorn, “Betty’s Blooming as First Lady No Surprise to Grand Rapids Friends,” Accent, June 1976, 18.
Betty earned $3 a week: TTOML, 18.
“she could come down the stairs”: Boorn, “Betty’s Blooming,” 14.
the girls liked her, the boys liked her: Lewis, discussion, October 29, 2016.
“She was very popular”: Fisher, interview, 3.
“I would set my cap for somebody”: TTOML, 19.
“You’re no gentleman”: ibid., 36.
“You’ll meet a tall, dark stranger”: Jean Libman Block, “The Betty Ford No One Knows,” Good Housekeeping, May 1974.
“You will be meeting kings and queens”: ibid., also TTOML, ix.
wheeling up: ibid., 21.
“waving and yelling and showing off”: ibid.
“Shh!” . . . “Just calm down”: ibid.
“What’s happened?”: ibid.
“They had to take your father”: ibid.
“efforts to revive him were of no avail”: Obituary, Grand Rapids (MI) Press, July 19, 1934.
he had been unemployed: ibid.
“He’d gone through the Depression and lost everything”: Biography: This Week, “Betty Ford: One Day at a Time.”
her father had been an alcoholic: TTOML, 286; also Biography: This Week, “Betty Ford: One Day at a Time,” featuring Betty Ford, President Gerald Ford, the Ford children, Gloria Steinem, aired October 4, 1998, on CBS, copy provided to author courtesy of GRF Library, 2003-NLF-010-025.
“It was rougher for everybody after that”: TTOML, 22.
“how independent a woman can be if she needs to be”: Betty Ford: The Real Deal (MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, PBS Home Video, 2009, 60:00), DVD.
“beautiful”: Minton, “Betty Ford Talks About Her Mother,” 76.
“I told her what I wanted to”: ibid.
“did sort of a sloppy job . . . If you don’t do it well, don’t do it at all”: ibid.
“We had black patent tap shoes”: Edith “Toto” Fisher, in discussion with author, November 20, 2016.
That year, Miss Travis invited: Kay DeFreest (name appears as Mrs. Collins C. Clark), interview by Thomas F. Soapes, January 28, 1980, Oral History Interview, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI, March 3, 2017, www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0268/38-0268-f-1536968.pdf.
2: The Martha Graham of Grand Rapids
Martha Hill, Doris Humphrey, Louis Horst: personal scrapbooks and mementoes, Betty Ford Personal Papers Collection, viewed by author at Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI, October 26, 2016.
“born to dance”: Mrs. Ford’s Remarks, Bennington Arts Center Dedication, May 22, 1976, Frances K. Pullen Files, box 1, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
“We breathed, we ate, we slept—nothing but dance”: ibid.
Betty, despite having ten years of dance experience, landed in group one: personal scrapbooks and mementoes, Betty Ford Personal Papers Collection, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
Breakfast was at seven fifteen: ibid.
“Martha Graham Technique”: Betty Ford personal memos from Bennington College, Betty Ford Personal Papers Collection, viewed by author at Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI, October 26, 2016.
In between classes: Mrs. Ford’s Remarks, Bennington Arts Center Dedication, May 22, 1976.
“Bennington Campus Seethes with Women Who Jump in Odd Fashion”: TTOML, 26.
“ecstasy”: ibid., 23.
“worshipped her as a goddess”: ibid., 24.
“a beautiful instrument”: ibid.
“grabbed Martha’s hand, and blurted out”: ibid., 26.
“colorful”: ibid.
“straight from the sticks”: ibid., 28.
“This is a waste of time, I’m not going to make it”: Block, “Betty Ford No One Knows,” 139.
“I’ll see you”: ibid.
“Come into my office”: TTOML, 28.
“pretty heavy”: ibid., 29.
She cut out all his columns: personal scrapbooks, Betty Ford Personal Papers Collection, viewed by author at Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI, October 25, 2016.
“You’ve got ability”: TTOML, 30.
“You can’t carouse and be a dancer too”: ibid.
“had arrived”: ibid., 31.
“sixteen-year-old girl with her first beau”: ibid., 34.
“come home for six months”: ibid., 31.
“part of a training of a dancer”: Anna Kisselgoff, “A Martha Graham Student Comes Back,” New York Times online, June 12, 1975.
“I’m going home for six months”: TTOML, 32.
“I think it’s a wise thing for you to do”: ibid.
“Where Fortunate Children Spend Summer at Play”: “Parents Find Good Training Is Helpful,” Rhinelander Daily News, September 4, 1930.
“a happy and safe out-of-doors vacation for the growing girl”: Bryn Afon: A Camp for Girls brochure, personal scrapbooks, Betty Ford Personal Papers Collection, viewed by author at Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI, October 27, 2016.
“You took the train”: Lewis, discussion, October 29, 2016.
“She was fun”: ibid.
Grand Rapids Concert Dance Group: Boorn, “Betty’s Blooming,” 15.
“Martha Graham of Grand Rapids”: TTOML, 33.
“wild friends”: ibid., 34.
“I won’t talk to you now”: ibid.
“That’s all right”: ibid.
“typically a generous-natured man”: ibid., 37.
“there were always boys lined up for her”: Betty Ford: The Real Deal.
“wined and dined by the local bachelors”: TTOML, 36.
“the five-year misunderstanding”: ibid., 39.
3: The Five-Year Misunderstanding
an agent with the Northwestern National Insurance Company: Ignazio Messina, “Betty Ford lived in Area with 1st Spouse,” Toledo (OH) Blade, July 11, 2011.
“demonstrator”: ibid.
“She was spectacular looking”: ibid.
“We moved around, pillar to post”: TTOML, 39.
“Bill Warren was very ambitious”: DeFreest, interview, 3.
“Why don’t you come down here, and we’ll go somewhere to eat?”: TTOML, 41.
“a little backup”: DeFreest, interview, 3.
“the things that made our dating so amusing, made the marriage difficult”: TTOML, 41.
“He can do what he wants with his life . . . this is not for me”: TTOML, 42.
“I’m sending your things to your family’s house”: ibid.
“Bill has taken ill”: ibid.
What am I doing here when I no longer love this man?: ibid.
This must be my cross: ibid.
He was physically and emotionally abusive: James Cannon, Gerald R. Ford: An Honorable Life (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2013), 41.
she called him Junior, or Junie: ibid., 42.
Gerald would take the boys camping: ATTH, 45.
“I’m Leslie King, your father”: ibid., 47.
“Now, you buy yourself something”: ibid., 48.
“a carefree, well-to-do man”: ibid.
Jerry lay in bed, sobbing, turning to prayer: Cannon, Gerald R. Ford, 47.
“Have you ever been a model?”: James Cannon, Time and Chance: Gerald Ford’s Appointment with History (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994), 28.
the two of them appeared in a six-page spread: Look, March 12, 1940, accessed online at www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/selected/Look.pdf.
“After his mother, I was the first important woman”: Cannon, Time and Chance, 29.
“The end of our relationship caused me real anguish”: ATTH, 57.
“as much action as I’d ever hoped to see”: ibid., 58.
4: A Courtship and a Campaign
“Who’s around that a bachelor my age can date?”: ATTH, 62.
The two had been friends: Gordon L. Olson, “In the Name of All Marys . . .”: A History of the Mary Free Bed Guild and the Mary Free Bed Hospital and Rehabilitation Center (Grand Rapids, MI: Mary Free Bed Guild, 1991), 53; also in TTOML, 46. Note that in TTOML, Betty incorrectly spells Peggy’s last name as Newman.
“How about Betty Warren?”: ATTH, 62.
“She’s getting a divorce”: ibid.
“Well, would you give her a call?”: ibid.
“Hello, Betty”: The pursuant conversation was re-created from ATTH, 62–63; also TTOML, 46.
“I can’t say love at first sight”: Biography: This Week, “Betty Ford: One Day at a Time.”
“quite shocked”: TTOML, 47.
Betty was officially and legally divorced: Jerald F. terHorst, “The Makings of Gerald Ford—V: Betty Ford Athletic Too,” Charleston (WV) Gazette, August 29, 1974.
“plunked himself down on the couch”: TTOML, 47.
“I don’t know about you guys”: ibid.
“What are your intentions”: ibid.
“I’m very interested”: ibid.
“Fine . . . I just wanted to find out”: ibid.
“pretty nervy”: ibid., 48.
“I wondered if I was going to ruin everything”: ibid., 47.
Jerry wasn’t very demonstrative: Betty Ford, interview by James Cannon, April 30, 1990, James M. Cannon Research Interviews and Notes, 1989–1994, box 1, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
“Betty just lit me up”: Douglas Brinkley, Gerald R. Ford (New York: Times Books, 2007), 13.
“knew darn well he would have a good time”: TTOML, 50.
“silly”: ibid.
“To the light of my life”: ibid.
Bradshaw Crandell: note that in TTOML, Crandell is spelled incorrectly as Crandel, 51–52.
“If you think I’m going to call him up”: ibid., 51.
“Darling, what a surprise!”: ibid., 52.
“At the same time, she was staking out a prior claim”: ibid.
Betty and Jerry had been writing to each other daily: ATTH, 65.
“did you by any chance get a letter”: TTOML, 53.
“It was our big Saturday bash”: ibid., 48.
“I’d like to marry you”: ATTH, 65.
“He didn’t tell me he loved me”: TTOML, 53.
“We can’t get married until next fall”: ibid., 54; also ATTH, 65.
“A fall wedding will be fine”: ATTH, 65.
“Bets darling, Your letter just arrived”: Hortense Bloomer Godwin to Betty Bloomer Warren, letter, April 9, 1948, Gerald and Betty Ford Special Materials Collection, box B2, folder “Godwin, Hortense,” Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
“it wasn’t that he didn’t trust her”: TerHorst, “Makings of Gerald Ford.”
“I’m going to run for Congress”: TTOML, 54.
She didn’t know what running for Congress meant: ibid., 55.
Only old men go to Congress: ibid.
“it was wild”: ibid.
“campaigning furiously”: ibid.
“He took to campaigning like a starving man to a roast-beef dinner”: ibid.
“I’ve never been in politics”: ibid., 56.
“most particularly because of Jerry’s character”: DeFreest, interview, 5.
“There was no pretense there”: ibid.
“It was exhilarating to be in a race like that”: TTOML, 57.
“We worked our tails off”: Cannon, Gerald R. Ford, 70.
“Like fire and water”: TerHorst, “Makings of Gerald Ford,” 1, 5A.
“What do you think about me marrying Betty?”: ibid.
“Well, I’ve known Betty”: ibid.
“What do you think about Jerry and me?”: ibid.
“Well, Betty,” Jack said, “if you can accept”: ibid.
“You won’t have to worry about other women”: TTOML, 57.
“I loved him for that”: Betty Ford, interview with James Cannon.
“because it was fall . . . we couldn’t miss a Saturday football game”: TTOML, 9.
It was four o’clock, and Jerry had yet to appear: Bonnie Bloomer Baker, discussion, November 11, 2016.
“growing more livid by the moment”: TTOML, 58.
“gave him the devil”: ibid., 59.
“whooping it up”: ibid., 60.
“The thing wasn’t over till midnight”: ibid.
“Oh, Betty . . . I won’t be home for dinner tonight”: ibid., 61; also ATTH, 67.
“Like every woman”: Betty Ford, interview with James Cannon.
PART 2: BETTY FORD, WASHINGTON WOMAN
5: A Congressman’s Wife
“Dear Betty: Your mother is sick”: Arthur Godwin to Betty Ford, letter, November 18, 1948, Gerald and Betty Ford Special Materials Collection, box B2, folder “Godwin, Arthur,” Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
“She’s gone, honey”: TTOML, 62.
“holding on to one another”: ibid.
“She would not have wanted to live a restricted life”: ibid., 63.
“I believe there’s a meaning for everyone’s coming into this world”: ibid.
was not a political animal”: Biography: This Week, “Betty Ford: One Day at a Time.”
“We were all new together”: TTOML, 65.
“Lyndon . . . I want you to meet this young couple”: ibid., 66.
“Where were you last night?”: ibid., 64.
“adjustment”: ibid., 68.
“Oh, Mrs. Truman, it’s so nice of you to have us”: ibid., 66.
“Heavens, it’s you who are nice to come out in such terrible weather”: ibid.
“with that, she went straight to my heart”: ibid.
“He was nice and fat”: ibid., 72.
“the most wonderful news of all”: William “Bill” Bloomer to Betty Ford, letter, April 28, 1950, Gerald and Betty Ford Special Materials Collection, box B2, folder “Bloomer, William,” Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
“Clara was like an angel that came into our lives”: TTOML, 69.
She and her husband, Raymond, had no children of their own: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
wearing a uniform of a white dress, always freshly cleaned and pressed: ibid.
“just beginning to giggle and grr”: TTOML, 73.
“That’s right, talk to your dad”: ibid.
“What’s new? . . . What book should I read?”: ibid., 65.
“If I acted smart, and looked smart”: BAGA, 35.
“She was terribly nervous”: Boorn, “Betty’s Blooming,” 118.
“a small act of courage”: TTOML, 65.
There were strict rules for residents: United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form,” Parkfairfax Historic District, City of Alexandria, Virginia, December 14, 1998, available at www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Cities/Alexandria/100-0151_Parkfairfax_HD_1999_Final_Nomination.pdf.
“Let me fix you something to eat”: TTOML, 75.
“All I want,” she said, “is a martini and a sandwich”: ibid.
“Once I took him to visit somebody”: ibid., 78.
“wall to wall with tricycles and wagons and toys”: Betty Ford, interview.
“If you are going to run for Congress”: ibid.
They bought a plot for a token $10: “President Ford: The House,” Clover College Park Civic Association online, www.clovercollegepark.com, accessed February 10, 2017.
“surrounded by empty lots and mounds of red Virginia clay”: TTOML, 79.
“to go out in cowboy hats and discover snakes”: ibid., 80.
“dear little pink-wrapped bundle”: ibid.
“My seat in the House seemed safe”: ATTH, 71.
“I dreamed of becoming Speaker of the House”: ibid.
“the tiniest bit sorry”: TTOML, 82.
“so swollen and sweaty”: ibid., 90.
“not because the birth was so imminent”: ibid.
6: Wife and Mother
“I don’t know how many times I went to Mount Vernon”: TTOML, 63.
“I know it’s legal”: ATTH, 70.
“I saw that I would have to grow . . . being left behind”: Boorn, “Betty’s Blooming,” 18.
“begging and borrowing from museums and friends”: TTOML, 93.
“shake up the Republican wives”: ibid., 122.
“If anybody asks you to do anything”: ibid.
“the busy wife of a congressman”: Bet Hart, “How Does She Dress So Well and Not Spend a Fortune?,” Ladies’ Home Journal, April 1961, 76.
“the party in power . . . you have to convince on legislation”: TTOML, 98.
His office happened to be across the hall from John F. Kennedy’s: President Gerald R. Ford, foreword to President John F. Kennedy Assassination Report of the Warren Commission, signed limited ed. (Nashville: FlatSigned Press, 2004), iii.
“The Kennedy White House was much more sophisticated”: TTOML, 98.
“I don’t know how Mrs. Kennedy ever got the ladies”: ibid.
Details about the Mount Vernon dinner: Clint Hill with Lisa McCubbin, Mrs. Kennedy and Me (New York: Gallery Books, 2012), 94–98.
“It took you back in time”: TTOML, 100.
“Of course, they outranked the Johnsons”: ibid.
“Being a housewife seems to me a much tougher job”: Cokie Roberts, “Eulogy by Cokie Roberts” (Betty Ford Memorial Service, Palm Desert, CA, July 12, 2011, transcript available at Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation online), https://geraldrfordfoundation.org/eulogy-by-cokie-roberts.
“All of us were always rushing”: Block, “Betty Ford Nobody Knows,” 140.
“I remember her . . . screaming at her ankles”: TTOML, 92.
“You got up, you got dressed, and we went to church on Sunday”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Dad was always home for Sunday-night dinner”: ibid.
“I know that the children looked forward”: ATTH, 72.
“Our house was chaos”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“truth test”: ibid.
“you can forget about order”: TTOML, 92.
“Jack, give Mike your gladiator helmet!”: Charles Peterson, “The First Family and Christmas Memories,” Washington Post, Parade, December 21, 1975; corroborated by Jack Ford, email message to author, April 3, 2018.
There was a joke: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Mom was able to deal with the blood”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“They’d take my roller skates”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“I put in three years’ hard time”: TTOML, 95.
“I got a modicum of respect for this minor talent”: ibid.
“Their bodies aren’t made to do that”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Be a giraffe”: ibid.
“When you have a pool in your backyard”: ibid.
“We are not lifeguards”: ibid.
“One of my strongest memories”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“We had rabbits, hamsters, gerbils—you name it, we had it”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“At the time, I guess it was legal”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“It would bite you every time you got near it”: ibid.
“I’ll never forget”: ibid.
“But Mother ended up”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Clara helped dig the grave”: TTOML, 93.
“He called to say”: Michael Ford, discussion, October 26, 2017.
“The first thing he would make us do”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016; also Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“Dear Mom, you’re the greatest”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“Okay. You’re free to go”: ibid.; corroborated by Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“We’d ride them back and forth”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“They would take all of the things”: Anne Holkeboer, interview by Richard Norton Smith, August 8, 2008, Oral History Project, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, Grand Rapids, MI, 13, https://geraldrfordfoundation.org/centennial-docs/oralhistory/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Anne-Holkeboer.pdf.
“How grown up you are”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“She ran our house”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Don’t expect me to bail you out of this”: ibid.
“They were not rescuers”: ibid.
“Wait until your father gets home”: Kenneth Gross, “Mrs. Gerald Ford Is Reluctant First Lady,” Madison (WI) Capital Times, August 14, 1974.
“Dad would always come home”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“It put a strain on the marriage”: TTOML, 126.
“I’d have my five o’clock drink”: BAGA, 34.
“Dad and Mom would always have an evening drink”: Michael Ford, interview by Richard Norton Smith, May 2, 2011, Oral History Project, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, Grand Rapids, MI, 5, https://geraldrfordfoundation.org/centennial-docs/oralhistory/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Mike-Ford.pdf.
7: A Second Mother
“She was my mom when my mom wasn’t home”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“We embraced her that way”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“I really didn’t have a chance to nurse”: TTOML, 134.
“You loved it”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“She and I used to laugh about everything”: TTOML, 136.
“She was wonderful”: Michael Ford, discussion, October 26, 2017.
“Now, Steve Ford”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“My mom made the best meatloaf”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Clara was a mainstay”: ATTH, 71.
“we’d all pile into Mom and Dad’s bed”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016; corroborated by Michael Ford, discussion, October 26, 2017; and Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“It was ‘wrasslin’ ”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Swing low, sweet chariot”: ibid.
“She was an incredible woman”: ibid.
“Whatever void needed to be filled”: Lynette Williams Thomas, in discussion with author, September 22, 2017.
“It wasn’t punishment”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“And she knew everything”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“Steve Ford”: ibid.
“She got really mad at me”: ibid.
“But,” she wrote, “in a way, she was their mother”: TTOML, 134.
“All of us loved her”: ATTH, 71.
“He seemed so much brighter”: TTOML, 114.
“The news was crushing”: ibid., 102.
“seemed to move through a haze of pomp”: ibid.
“There weren’t many tears”: ibid.
“Up until that moment”: ibid., 104.
“Jerry attended meetings religiously”: ibid., 106.
“Beyond a reasonable doubt”: ATTH, 76.
“I would imagine that Jerry knows”: TTOML, 106.
“Some of my fondest memories were spending summers at Ottawa Beach”: Carol Steves, “Once-Rebellious Jack Ford Plays Host to Republicans,” Detroit Free Press, August 4, 1996.
“I’m taking you to the emergency room”: ATTH, 83.
“I knew exactly how that happened”: DeFreest (name appears as Mrs. Collins C. Clark), interview, 22.
“put her in a soft collar”: ATTH, 83.
“The first time the hospital attendants took me”: TTOML, 118.
“Clara was indispensable”: ATTH, 83.
“Don’t let the pain start”: BAGA, 35.
In the 1960s, there were no warning labels: Dr. Marvin Seppala, chief medical officer, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, in discussion with author, September 28, 2017.
“Mother’s Little Helpers”: Deborah Frazier, “ ‘Mother’s Little Helper’: Valium: Most Abused Drug in Nation,” Eau Claire (WI) Leader Telegram, May 11, 1977.
“If I became minority leader”: ATTH, 77.
“Go for it, Dad”: ibid.
8: “Mom’s Really Upset; You Need to Go Fix It”
“he was wonderful”: Dorothy Marks, “Physical, Psychological and Emotional Changes Seen in Betty Ford,” Women’s News Service, May 17, 1974.
“Dad had tunnel vision”: BAGA, 148.
“the wife of Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford”: ibid., 35.
“I couldn’t accept that people liked me for myself”: ibid.
“What are you doing here?”: TTOML, 123.
“were going through adolescence”: Marks, “Physical, Psychological and Emotional Changes.”
“I hated feeling crippled”: BAGA, 35.
“We kids took advantage of that”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“a doormat to the kids”: BAGA, 35.
“Jack’s the son with whom I’ve crossed swords most often”: TTOML, 114; corroborated by Jack Ford, discussion, February 17, 2018.
“Mom’s really upset”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, September 24, 2017.
“It’s okay, Mom”: ibid.
“That’s it!”: ibid.; also mentioned in TTOML, 124, and BAGA, 36.
What does she mean?: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, September 24, 2017.
“whole ungrateful family”: BAGA, 36.
“I need to get hold of my dad”: Michael Ford, discussion, October 26, 2017.
“Let me go talk to Mother”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, September 24, 2017.
“Mrs. Ford, it’s Clara”: ibid.
“Dad went up with Mom”: ibid.
“Your momma is sick”: ibid.
“I’d been too busy”: BAGA, 36.
“the problem that has no name”: Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (New York: W. W. Norton, 1963), 63.
“We can no longer ignore”: ibid., 22.
“I saw no reason to discuss my drinking”: BAGA, 37.
“I had to step in”: Michael Ford, discussion, October 26, 2017.
“I think most of my family”: Jack Ford, discussion, February 17, 2018.
“No doubt that my role”: Steve Ford, discussion, January 16, 2018.
“terribly wrong”: TTOML, 127.
“I just wasn’t the Bionic Woman”: ibid.
“You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore”: Jason Schwartz, “The Last Press Conference,” Richard Nixon Foundation online, last modified November 14, 2017, www.nixonfoundation.org/2017/11/55-years-ago-last-press-conference.
“That, and by the time she got four kids”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“zooming down the slopes”: ATTH, 94.
“Come on out to Vail”: Randy Wyrick, “Jerry and Betty Focused the World on Vail,” Vail (CO) Daily, December 25, 2016.
“It was amazing”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“I, Richard Milhous Nixon”: “President Richard Nixon’s First Inaugural Address,” January 20, 1969 (Richard Nixon Foundation online, video, 17:38), www.nixonfoundation.org/1969/01/president-richard-nixons-first-inaugural-address.
“the week that changed the world”: Clint Hill with Lisa McCubbin, Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford (New York: Gallery Books, 2016), 384.
“the chance to visit China was a rare opportunity indeed”: ATTH, 97.
“I don’t give a damn”: ibid., 96.
“third-rate burglary”: ibid., 94.
“an inept effort at God knows what”: TTOML, 142.
“The Chinese are likely to feed you anything”: ibid., 140.
“trying to choke down sea slugs”: ibid.
“The people were enthralled by us”: ibid.
“Jerry and I thought President Nixon”: ibid., 139.
he logged 138,000 miles: ATTH, 99.
had attended college: Terry Ryan, “Son of Vice President Designate Not the Competitive Type,” Nashua (NH) Telegraph, November 9, 1973.
“Come sit up here”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“I can remember it to this day!”: ibid.
“You know, a boy did that to me once”: ibid.
“God, I’d have loved to have seen that!”: ibid.
“Now, if you have any questions”: ibid.
“I think I took the same box”: ibid.
“Mother would come to all my games”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“Mom!” he hissed. “What are you doing?” . . . “She was just a great mother that way”: ibid.
“We lived it”: ibid.
“baby girl”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“the Golubin twins”: ibid.
“We all got in”: ibid.
“Susan would come up, and we used to sew”: TTOML, 135.
“We agreed that I would run”: ATTH, 99.
“still active enough to practice law”: ibid.
“He promised me he would retire”: TTOML, 142.
10: A Five-Dollar Bet
“Let us think about it”: ATTH, 104.
“splendid cap”: ibid.
“What about your promise?”: implied conversation, ibid.
“That’s the best part”: ibid.
“But it is highly unlikely Nixon would choose me”: ibid.
“We’ve talked about it and agreed”: ibid.
“Has your husband told you to get your hair done?”: TTOML, 146.
“No . . . I just had it done yesterday”: ibid.
“Has your husband told you to go out and get a new dress?”: ibid.
“blood oath”: Thomas M. DeFrank, Write It When I’m Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R. Ford (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2007), 10.
“I drew the Gerald Ford straw” . . . “He did not seem like a guy who was waiting by the phone”: David Kennerly, in discussion with author, March 30, 2017.
“Mom, do you think President Nixon”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, March 8, 2017.
“No, Susan, honestly I don’t”: ibid.; also TTOML, 145.
“Well, I think it’s going to be him”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, March 8, 2017.
“All right . . . You’re on”: ibid.
It was just before six thirty: ATTH, 106.
“What’s happening, Dad?”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, March 8, 2017.
“Do you know who it is, dear?”: ibid.
“The only thing I know”: ibid.; also ATTH, 106.
“Does Dad know who it’s going to be?”: the scene on pages 111 to 113 was pieced together from information in TTOML (146–47); ATTH (106); Susan Ford Bales, discussion, March 8, 2017; corroborated by Steve Ford and Michael Ford, discussions.
“a mad dash”: TTOML, 147.
“Distinguished guests and my fellow Americans”: “Nixon Announces New Vice President,” October 13, 1973 (C-Span online, video, 12:35), www.c-span.org/video/?153731-1/nixon-announces-vice-president.
“Here’s Betty”: ibid.
“Not yet”: ibid.
“They told me to sit with you”: TTOML, 147.
“Oh, yes, of course”: ibid.
“Come on, Jerry”: Jerry Bechtle, in discussion with author, October 30, 2017.
“Jerry . . . I’d like you to meet Jerry Bechtle”: ibid.
“Nice to meet you”: ibid.
“No, Jerry, you tell him when it’s time to leave”: ibid.
“I wasn’t convinced that”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“What are you doing?!”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“It’s funny now, but we were scared to death”: ibid.
“You couldn’t move”: TTOML, 149.
“May [God] answer you in time of trouble”: ATTH, 112.
“I am a Ford—not a Lincoln”: ibid.
“You better tell the vice president”: Bechtle, discussion, October 30, 2017.
“All right . . . how much?”: ibid.
“With all the communications”: ibid.
“My God . . . the house cost only thirty-five thousand”: ibid.
“We jokingly referred to it”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“For all of us, it was fun for about ten and a half seconds”: ibid.
“Get down there as fast as you can”: TTOML, 152.
“I have no doubt whatsoever that the president is not guilty” . . . “What about the drug scene around school?”: The Dick Cavett Show, featuring Vice President Gerald Ford and the Ford family, aired January 10, 1974, on ABC Late Night (Gerald R. Ford Vice-Presidential Papers: Audiotapes, 1973–74, AV82-14-R4, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI).
“I was never so glad”: TTOML, 152.
“a thoughtful, pretty woman”: Marks, “Physical, Psychological and Emotional Changes.”
“I like to think of myself as a feminist”: ibid.
How do you feel about the Supreme Court’s ruling”: TTOML, 151.
“I agree with the Supreme Court’s ruling”: ibid.
“some high school girls who are forced to marry”: Kandy Stroud, “Betty Ford Becomes Instant First Lady,” Times-Sun (West Newton, PA), August 18, 1974.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have said it”: ibid.
“basically got hammered”: Kennerly, discussion, March 30, 2017.
“Ten o’clock. We’ll see you then”: TTOML, 146.
purchased a third-floor, three-bedroom, $50,000 condo: “Ford loved Vail, and it was mutual,” Denver Post, December 26, 2006.
“In fact, I learned how to ski”: Kennerly, discussion, March 30, 2017.
“I’d go up on the chairlift”: Dick Cavett Show, January 10, 1974.
“They were so warm and friendly”: Kennerly, discussion, March 30, 2017.
“No, no, I hope not”: ibid.
“It was our last private Christmas”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Pick Out Your Curtains, Betty”: TTOML, 152.
“I was so excited for the weekend”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Just go talk to the agents”: ibid.
“Daddy is ruining my life!”: ibid.
“I honestly did not know”: Bob Innamorati, discussion, July 21, 2017.
“We’ve got tickets to see a concert”: ibid.; also Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Unfortunately, everything you do”: ibid.
“They were shutting down my social life”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Mike is marrying a lovely girl”: Betty Ford to Mary Lou Logan, letter, May 16, 1974, courtesy of the Logan family; used with permission.
Susan wasn’t happy about sharing it: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Somebody up there has been looking out for me for years”: TTOML, 155.
“really worried”: Rosalynn Carter, in discussion with author, June 14, 2017.
“everything begins an hour earlier than it actually does”: ibid.
a long, yellow knit dress she had borrowed from Nancy Howe: Marks, “Physical, Psychological and Emotional Changes,” https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/53620695/.
“really quite beautiful”: Kandy Stroud, “She Likes Being Second Lady,” Women’s Wear Daily, Shreveport (LA) Times, April 19, 1974.
“I’d rather not talk about that”: ibid.
“Now I’m down to a size eight”: Marks, “Physical, Psychological and Emotional Changes.”
“What do you think is the role of a political wife?”: Stroud, “She Likes Being Second Lady.”
“I think we have to be supportive” . . . “sharp as a tack”: ibid.
“Do you ever become accustomed to this?” . . . “Twenty-five years”: ibid.
“we were late everywhere we went that day” . . . “No, I don’t know them at all”: Rosalynn Carter, First Lady from Plains (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984), 100; also Carter, discussion, June 14, 2017.
“Can’t I just thank the mayor and sit down?” . . . “I’ve learned to roll with the punches”: Marks, “Physical, Psychological and Emotional Changes”; also Louise Sweeney (staff correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor), “Mrs. Gerald Ford Talks About Her Role as Second Lady,” Daily Messenger (Canandaigua, NY), May 2, 1974.
“Mrs. Ford, are you on something?”: Carter, First Lady from Plains, 100; also Carter, discussion, June 14, 2017.
“Well, I do take Valium every day”: Stroud, “She Likes Being Second Lady.”
“Valium, three times a day”: ibid.
“any blemish on the public’s image”: Carter, First Lady from Plains, 100.
Betty didn’t realize that she had created a stir: Carter, discussion, June 14, 2017.
In 1974 Valium was by far the most prescribed drug: Cheryl Pilate, “Valium Becoming Socially Accepted Crutch, Just Like Double Martini,” Colorado Springs (CO) Gazette Telegraph, July 18, 1976.
“a dope addict”: Stroud, “Betty Ford Becomes Instant First Lady.”
“I’m candid”: ibid.
“My parents thought if you had the agents” . . . “before anyone could recognize me”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“The process was like undergoing a physical exam in public view”: ATTH, 110.
“the National Enquirer was going to write a piece”: Kennerly, discussion, March 30, 2017.
“I didn’t know she was married before!”: ibid.
“Well, yeah, nobody does”: ibid.
“So, essentially it drove a stake”: ibid.
“I think this is when my relationship with her got stronger”: ibid.
“I wasn’t thrilled about it at the time”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
12: The Unthinkable Happens
When Betty toured the house for the first time: Betty Monkman, interview by Richard Norton Smith, November 17, 2009, Oral History Project, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, Grand Rapids, MI, n.p., https://geraldrfordfoundation.org/centennial-docs/oralhistory/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Betty-Monkman.pdf.
“It was far more expensive”: ATTH, 7.
“I want to alert you that things are deteriorating”: ibid., 2.
“was that Nixon could agree”: ibid., 4.
“Throughout my political life”: ibid., 5.
“I want some time to think, Al”: ibid., 4.
“That was really important to him”: Michael Ford, interview, 12.
“The exercise at this moment, I felt, was ridiculous”: ATTH, 7.
“Her eyes widened in disbelief”: ibid., 9.
“dumbfounded”: ibid.
“My God, this is going to change our whole life”: ibid.
“Neither she nor her husband were emotionally prepared to ascend to the White House”: David Kennerly, discussion, March 30, 2017.
“You should not get involved”: ATTH, 10.
“I really think he got a lot of strength from her”: Michael Ford, interview, 12.
“God give us strength” . . . “and He shall direct thy paths”: ATTH, 10.
“right now I am quite involved”: Betty Ford to Mary Lou Logan, letter, August 2, 1974, courtesy of the Logan family; used with permission.
“I didn’t see it”: TTOML, 2.
“Every time you went in and out”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“Nixon is going to announce his resignation”: ATTH, 29.
“Up until then”: TTOML, 2.
“dragging a U-Haul”: ibid.
“Here I was working with all these guys”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“I was numb”: TTOML, 2.
“[S]he was not particularly well”: Michael Ford, interview, 12.
“People were crying”: TTOML, 3.
“My heavens, they’ve even rolled out the red carpet”: ibid.; also ATTH, 39.
“The moment was terribly painful” . . . “Goodbye, Mr. President”: ATTH, 39.
What does he think he has won?: Clint Hill, in discussion with author, August 9, 2017.
“We couldn’t help but feel sorry”: Kennerly, Extraordinary Circumstances, 25.
“We can do it. We’re ready”: ATTH, 40.
“Most presidents get nominated”: Kennerly, Extraordinary Circumstances, 26.
“At that historic moment”: ATTH, 40.
“Mr. Vice President, are you prepared to take the oath of office”: ibid.
“The words cut through me”: TTOML, 4.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States”: “Gerald Ford Sworn in as President of the United States,” August 9, 1974 (C-Span online, video, 11:32), www.c-span.org/video/?320430-1/gerald-ford-sworn-president-united-states.
“Mr. Chief Justice, my dear friends, my fellow Americans”: ibid.
“Way to go, Jerry!”: Kennerly, Extraordinary Circumstances, 28.
“The morning had begun with tears”: TTOML, 159.
“Jerry, something’s wrong here”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“She had a fantastic sense of humor”: Kennerly, discussion, March 30, 2017.
“David Kennerly, call the operator” . . . “you are there for a lot of very personal moments”: ibid.
PART 3: BETTY FORD, FIRST LADY
“Okay, I’ll move to the White House”: TTOML, 158.
13: The Ford White House
“Mrs. Ford, we are just wondering”: TTOML, 162; also Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“What state dinner?”: ibid.
“King Hussein is coming on the sixteenth”: ibid.
“Why don’t you go ask a few members”: Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld, in discussion with author, December 8, 2016.
“Literally ten months earlier”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“I guess we should send them to Goodwill”: DeFrank, Write It When I’m Gone, 43.
“Jerry, I think some of this stuff may be a little important now”: ibid.
“depressing”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“It was Pepto-Bismol pink”: ibid.
“Susan has always wanted a brass bed”: ibid.
“Oh, a brass bed really doesn’t fit the era”: ibid.
“If you have a brass bed in storage”: ibid.
“Jerry and I have shared the same bed”: ibid.
“Clem Conger’s taste was impeccable”: TTOML, 175.
“She didn’t want to have the presidency make her something she wasn’t”: Dick Hartwig, in discussion with author, September 15, 2016.
“I really don’t consider it my house”: Associated Press, “First Lady Gets Tour of the White House,” Daily News-Record (Harrisonburg, VA), August 14, 1974.
“People started saying I was disgraceful”: TTOML, 157.
“Fords Bring Dancing Back to White House”: United Press International, “Ford Brings Dancing Back to White House,” Holland (MI) Evening Sentinel, August 17, 1974.
“It was one of the liveliest parties in the executive mansion”: ibid.
“It’s a very strange feeling”: TTOML, 165.
“Passkey” . . . “Panda”: Hill, discussion, August 9, 2017.
“Crown”: ibid.
“a very traumatic experience”: TTOML, 165.
“The day the Fords came into the White House” . . . “It was so refreshing”: Robert Alberi, in discussion with author, March 21, 2017.
Dear _______ . . . they appreciate the effort you made to convey your opinions: First Lady Correspondence file, box FL-5-1, 10/74–12/74, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
“that is not the group you want to hang out with”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
The press focused on the aftermath: Patricia J. Matson, interview by Donna Lehman, January 16, 2015, Oral History Project, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, 2, https://geraldrfordfoundation.org/centennial-docs/oralhistory/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Patricia-J.-Matson.pdf.
Wearing a tailored shirtdress in a warm butter yellow: “First Lady Press Conference,” September 4, 1974, NPC film 1211-128-75, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI; copy provided to author courtesy of GRF Library.
“At least my checkbook has to balance” . . . “Bonnie, I hoped you were keeping it for me!”: ibid.
“I’m all for babies” . . . “But they definitely do not like it and it is not used”: Susan Peterson, CBS News, September 8, 1974, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI, WHCA F757; Mrs. Ford composite tape 1974. Copy provided to author courtesy of GRF Library.
Ford Kids Probably Tried Pot, The Brownsville Herald (TX), September 8, 1974, https://www.newspapers.com/image/23530305.
“she is like champagne”: Myra McPherson, “The Blooming of Betty Ford,” McCall’s, September 1975.
“Betty Ford, in the first month of her stay”: Sally Quinn, “Betty Ford: Speaking Out Without Speaking Up,” Washington Post, September 18, 1974.
“They’ve asked me everything”: McPherson, “Blooming of Betty Ford,” 120.
“And so, I went up there”: Betty Monkman, interview, 12.
“in the beginning”: TTOML, 179.
Privately, Betty was very spiritual: Elizabeth Peer, Jane Whitmore, and Lisa Whitman, “Free Spirit in the White House, Woman of the Year,” Newsweek, December 29, 1975.
“I think Nixon has suffered enough”: implied conversation, ATTH, 162.
“she felt enormous sympathy for his family”: ibid.
“I’ll support whatever you decide”: ibid.
one month after Gerald Ford took the oath: ibid., 180.
We were all a little reluctant: Betty Ford to Mary Lou Logan, letter, September 12, 1974, courtesy of the Logan family; used with permission.
14: Going Public with Breast Cancer
At one point, Betty commented: TTOML, 236.
“Come along with me”: Sheila Weidenfeld, interview by Richard Norton Smith, April 14, 2010, Oral History Project, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, 8, https://geraldrfordfoundation.org/centennial-docs/oralhistory/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Sheila-Weidenfel.pdf.
“There’s something I need to tell you” . . . “It was devastating”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“a woman’s disease”: ibid.
“They want to operate immediately” . . . “they can’t operate immediately”: TTOML, 183.
“I’m sure everything’s going to turn out”: ATTH, 190.
“I want to go through my activities”: TTOML, 183.
“She was adamant about going public with it”: Kennerly, discussion, March 30, 2017.
“The purpose of the surgery”: Office of the White House Press Secretary, “Statement by Ron Nessen,” news release, September 27, 1974, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI, 1, www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0248/whpr19740927-006.pdf.
“We were all scared to death” . . . “I need to talk about this”: Michael Ford, discussion, October 26, 2017.
“She showed no apprehension”: ATTH, 190.
Dearest Mom: Gerald and Betty Ford Special Materials Collection, box B2, folder: “Ford, Gerald R,” Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
“Here’s one for Women’s Wear Daily”: United Press International, “Malignancy Verified: Mrs. Ford’s Breast Removed,” Leader-Times (Kittanning, PA), September 28, 1974.
“She was the strong one, holding us all up”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“No fear”: David Kennerly, discussion, March 30, 2017.
“Throughout this ordeal”: Office of the White House Press Secretary, “The White House Press Conference of Dr. William Lukash . . .” news release, September 28, 1974, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI, 1, www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0248/whpr19740928-008.pdf.
“We all sat around and prayed”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Go ahead and cry”: ATTH, 191; also Cannon, Gerald R. Ford, 273.
“Bob, I just don’t know what I’d do”: ibid.
“How am I going to live the rest of my life without my mom?”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
In 1974 Betty Ford was one of more than ninety thousand women: Nancy G. Brinker, Promise Me: How a Sister’s Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer (New York: Crown Archetype, 2010), 215.
75 percent chance of surviving: “Fact Sheet: Breast Cancer,” National Institutes of Health online, last modified October 2010, https://report.nih.gov/nihfactsheets/Pdfs/BreastCancer(NCI).pdf; also Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and information provided by Barbara Schwarz, founder of Oklahoma Project Woman.
“Even before I was able to get up”: TTOML, 186.
“ringing off the hook”: Frances Lewine, Associated Press, “Messages to First Lady ‘Thrill’ Her,” Oakland Tribune, October 4, 1974.
“One Sunday, I was sitting at home” . . . “People saw in Mrs. Ford a woman who was so relatable”: Nancy Chirdon Forster, in discussion with author, August 22, 2017.
“This was a revelation”: Nancy Brinker, in discussion with author, October 16, 2017.
“I will even go so far as to say” . . . “You’re just a super lady”: White House Social Office Central Files, box 24, “First Lady: Health,” Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI; samples of letters written to Betty Ford following her breast cancer surgery, viewed by author, October 24–27, 2016.
“She had Dad walk into her hospital room”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Don’t be silly”: TTOML, 192.
Every time I look at these pills: ibid., 187.
“Shh!”: Hartwig, discussion, September 16, 2016.
“What are you doing out here?” . . . “Here, catch!”: ibid., TTOML, 188; also Kennerly, discussion, March 30, 2017.
“Oh, Susan, it’s beautiful”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“When is it going to stop?”: ibid.
“I knew that if she died”: ibid.
“The people are a friendly middle-aged couple”: David Hume Kennerly, Shooter (New York: Newsweek Books, 1979), 155–56.
“We Love You, Betty” and “Welcome Home”: photos from contact sheets, digital archive, “White House Photographs: October 11, 1974,” Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
“I had no words for the joy I was feeling”: TTOML, 191.
15: A Reluctant Role Model
“Come on out on the balcony”: TTOML, 192.
“It was a fantastic anniversary”: ibid.
“From that moment on”: Forster, discussion, August 22, 2017.
“Neither of us had any idea” . . . “to get the first lady off the social page and onto the front page”: Weidenfeld, discussion, December 8, 2016.
“The Christmas parties started, and I didn’t think they’d ever stop”: TTOML, 199.
“She was obviously in great pain”: Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady: With the Fords at the White House (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1979), 89.
“Who skis?” . . . “mountain familiarization”: Larry Buendorf, in discussion with author, November 11, 2016.
“I guess I’ll have to keep the drapes pulled”: Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady, 53.
“I knew them before her dad became vice president” . . . “something she did not have to do”: Barbara Yardley Manfuso Appleby, in discussion with author, August 1, 2017.
“She was a mother I never had”: Sheika Gramshammer, in discussion with author, November 10, 2016.
“We were always included” . . . “Hey, yellow bird!”: ibid.
“We were concerned because you could spot him”: Buendorf, discussion, November 10, 2016.
“Mrs. Ford Goes Shopping,” Associated Press, Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL), December 24, 1974.
“Susan’s mom came out and made a cup of tea” . . . “like I was part of the family”: Appleby, discussion, August 1, 2017.
“Hey, Dick,” the president said. “You guys did an excellent job” . . . “Yes, sir, Mr. President”: Buendorf, discussion, November 10, 2016; also Richard Keiser, in discussion with author, July 20, 2017.
16: The First Lady Speaks Out
“it had moral force”: TTOML, 202.
“legal inequities between sexes”: ibid.
“Before I sign this” . . . “I don’t quite know how to respond to that”: “Signing Ceremony Establishing a National Commission on the Observance of International Women’s Year,” January 9, 1975 (Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library online, video, 7:16), www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=62&v=9-WDtJCa0Rc.
“pillow talk at the end of the day”: TTOML, 201.
“are extremely well treated”: Marlene Cimons, “First Lady Sticks to Her Guns on ERA,” Los Angeles Times, February 18, 1975.
“It just isn’t right that we pay so much”: ibid.
“Frankly, I enjoy being a mother”: Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady, 90.
“I’m going to stick . . . I’m not bothered by it”: Cimons, “First Lady Sticks to Her Guns.”
“Betty Ford Is Trying to Press a Second-Rate Manhood on American Women”: Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady, 90.
“Why don’t I have any flags?”: Hartwig, discussion, September 16, 2016.
“We should make Mrs. Ford a flag”: ibid.
In bold white letters on top: ibid.
“She really got a kick out of it”: ibid.
Capraro, who had just gone into business: Marji Kunz, “First Lady’s Order Makes Capraro a Fashion Name,” Lifestyle, Salt Lake Tribune, January 31, 1975.
“Mr. Capraro? This is Betty Ford” . . . “Those are my designs!”: ibid.
“She loved helping someone new”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“perfect model: size six”: Kunz, “First Lady’s Order.”
“We always had fun with Albert”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“I called her the palace guard”: Weidenfeld, discussion, December 8, 2016.
“the only White House staffer” . . . “tickled”: Betty Beale, “Nancy Howe Handles Key Role for First Lady,” Indianapolis Star, October 6, 1974.
“It’s not a good time”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 18, 2017.
“She interfered with our relationship”: ibid.; also TTOML, 180.
“Betty Ford’s Best Friend”: Frances Spatz Leighton, “New Job at the White House: Betty Ford’s Best Friend,” Family Weekly, March 2, 1975.
“She was hysterical”: Weidenfeld, discussion, December 8, 2016.
“She is not my best friend!”: Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady, 90.
“Oh, David!” she exclaimed. “We heard your helicopter was shot at!”: David Kennerly, telephone discussion with author, November 17, 2017.
“Cambodia is gone”: ibid.
“babylift”: President’s Speeches and Statements, box 7, folder “4/3/75—Opening Statement at Press Conference at San Diego, California,” Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI, available at www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0122/1252273.pdf.
“I have directed that money”: ibid.
“Well, I didn’t fire Nancy Howe”: TTOML, 235.
“It broke my heart”: ibid.
Tongsun Park would eventually be indicted: Phil McCombs, “Tongsun Park’s Club,” Washington Post, October 16, 1977.
“The South Vietnamese forces were inadequate”: Kennerly, Extraordinary Circumstances, 73.
“They were only nineteen and twenty-two” . . . “Yes. Yes, I will”: Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady, 129.
“Schedule”: ibid., 139.
“there wasn’t any time to come into a city and ask which way to the beauty salon”: ibid.
“My health is good and I’m having a ball!”: United Press International, “Betty Says She ‘Had a Ball,’ ” Columbus (NE) Telegram, June 4, 1975.
“Be good”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
Susan nearly didn’t have a date: ibid.
“I was willing to take on four more years”: TTOML, 255.
“She was my teacher” . . . “We’re just good friends”: Anna Kisselgoff, “Martha Graham Is Paid Tribute by Betty Ford,” New York Times, June 13, 1975.
“I had never met her before” . . . “Look”: Arthur Unger, “Frankness and Informality Mark Betty Ford’s Style as First Lady,” Grand Rapids (MI) Press, August 12, 1975.
“enthusiastic, excellent camera presence” . . . “So was she”: Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady, 162.
“Elizabeth Ann Bloomer was her name” . . . “You know, everybody can’t be perfect”: Morley Safer, “The First Lady,” 60 Minutes, aired August 10, 1975, on CBS. Video provided to author by Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI, WHCA-F388; also, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, discussions with author, July 21, 2017.
“Well?” . . . “thirty million votes!”: Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady, 172; also corroborated by Cheney, discussion, July 21, 2017, and Rumsfeld, discussion, July 21, 2017.
“All hell broke loose”: Matson, interview, 9.
“Betty Ford said today”: Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady, 172.
“My stock with the public did not go up”: TTOML, 206.
“Even though Mrs. Ford had said more”: Unger, “Frankness and Informality Mark Betty Ford’s Style.”
“I don’t know which was more tasteless” . . . “I move Betty Ford be retained as first lady”: “The First Lady,” 60 Minutes, viewer response, aired August 17, 1975, on CBS. Video provided to author by Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI, WHCA F396.
“I had a little trouble with Donald and Dick”: TTOML.
“We think Betty needs to lay low”: Dick Cheney, in discussion with author, July 21, 2017.
“If you want Betty to tone it down”: ibid.
“had long ceased to be perturbed by his wife’s remarks”: Mary Campbell, Associated Press, “Women Made Big Headlines in 1975,” December 25, 1975.
Thank you for writing about my appearance: Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady, 177.
“the perfect letter”: ibid., 170.
“Keep Speaking Out, Betty”: ibid.
The reaction to Mrs. Ford’s remarks: ibid.
Dear Morley: ibid., 182.
17: Two Assassination Attempts
“I think I have learned over the past months”: Natalie Gittelson, “Is Betty Ford Too Frank?” McCall’s, February 1976.
“And while she acknowledged a loss of privacy”: ibid.
“Mrs. Ford, I have an emergency call from Mr. Keiser”: Keiser, discussion, July 20, 2017.
“Hello, Mrs. Ford. Not to worry”: ibid.
“But I had never worried about them”: ATTH, 310.
“Ernie, it’s such a beautiful day”: ibid.
“Of course, Mr. President”: ATTH, 310.
“Suddenly he shoots across the street”: ibid.
“The pistol was loaded with four rounds” . . . “Well, I didn’t think it would be very polite”: Buendorf, discussion, November 10, 2016.
“I remember Mom telling us” . . . “You know, that was a great thing about Mom and Dad”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“I’m so thankful you were there, Larry”: Buendorf, discussion, November 10, 2016.
“Everyone did the right thing”: ibid.
“It was very scary”: TTOML, 236.
“handshaking” . . . “I was appalled”: Weidenfeld, discussion, December 6, 2016.
“Move Pinafore to Angel with all possible speed” . . . “You tell her, Rummy”: Hartwig, discussion, September 15, 2016.
“Quite a few martinis were consumed on the flight back”: Edward Epstein, “Ford Escaped 2 Assassination Attempts—Both in California,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 27, 2006.
“We had two televisions in there”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“Shots were fired at your father”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“While many new opportunities are open to women” . . . “Freedom for women to be what they want”: “First Lady Betty Ford’s Remarks to the International Women’s Conference,” October 25, 1975. Video provided to author by Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
“They loved her”: Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady, 207.
“The wife of a president could never do that”: Weidenfeld, discussion, December 8, 2016.
“she had trouble remembering her dialogue”: Mary Tyler Moore, Growing Up Again: Life, Loves, and Oh Yeah, Diabetes (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2010), 67.
18: “Betty’s Husband for President!”
“Nineteen-seventy-six is a jumble in my head”: TTOML, 255.
“busy being president”: Kennerly, discussion, March 30, 2017.
“chaperone”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, October 6, 2016.
“Oh, are you two girls getting excited” . . . “Of course, I got in trouble”: ibid.
“scatter blitz”: Weidenfeld, discussion, December 8, 2016; also Joan Secchia, October 28, 2016.
“Keep on talking for President Ford”: ibid.
“No tribute could be more spectacular”: Weidenfeld, discussion, December 8, 2016.
“most glamorous”: TTOML, 225.
“the social event of the century”: ibid., 224.
“You’re never going to be ready”: TTOML, 225.
“Mrs. Ford wanted guests to have a good time”: Matson, interview, 7.
“Jack came flying in, still fiddling with his shirtfront”: TTOML, 226.
“I have one just like it at home”: ibid.
“We had violinists stationed along the paths”: ibid., 225.
The US Marine Band had a set list: David G. Wright (saxophonist, US Marine Band), “When Protocol Was Trampled at the White House,” Washington Post, Letters to the Editor, June 15, 2012.
“If I hadn’t kept mixing up”: TTOML, 225.
“Eat your hearts out, girls!”: Patricia J. Matson interview by Donna Lehman, January 16, 2015, transcript, Oral History Interview, Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
“That gives you a sense of a certain playfulness”: ibid.
“Mrs. Ford used to be visited periodically” . . . “She didn’t seem to be there”: Forster, discussion, August 22, 2017.
“looked exhausted and sounded as though she were having trouble concentrating” . . . “Where do you draw the line”: Weidenfeld, discussion, December 8, 2016; also Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady, 306.
“We figured it was the medication”: Forster, discussion, August 22, 2017.
“I just think there’s something wrong here . . . He didn’t say ‘It’s none of your business’ ”: ibid.
“Is Mrs. Ford all right?” . . . “The pills are for her pinched nerve and arthritis”: Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady, 313.
“Who would make a better president”: Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady, 303.
“when her polls were just skyrocketing”: Maria Downs, interview by Richard Norton Smith, June 18, 2009, Oral History Project, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, 25, https://geraldrfordfoundation.org/centennial-docs/oralhistory/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Maria-Downs.pdf.
Across the country: Greg Willard, in discussion with author, November 17, 2017.
“Coming into the convention”: ibid.
“Nothing was more important” . . . “As usual, she was right”: ATTH, 405.
“Suddenly,” President Ford recalled, “I felt her hand in mine”: ibid.
“It was something we as a family all came to embrace”: Michael Ford, discussion, October 26, 2017.
“We took that motor home from California”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016; also Weidenfeld, First Lady’s Lady, 356.
“Steve’s mother” . . . “go and get your tape recorder”: United Press International, “Betty, Steve Woo Calif. Vote,” Town Talk (Alexandria, LA), October 20, 1976, 41.
“I have something for you”: TTOML, 265.
“troubled, and they have been tough”: Maury DeJonge, “Home Ground Never So Dear for the Fords,” Grand Rapids (MI) Press, November 2, 1976.
“we’re going to make America great again”: ibid., 2B.
“I just want to say how absolutely”: ibid.
19: Last Days in the White House
“Here we go, Prez!”: Willard, discussion, April 2, 2017.
“there wasn’t a darn thing that I could do”: ATTH, 434.
“Do you think we should wake him up?” . . . “Governor, I hope you know”: Willard, discussion, April 2, 2017.
“You know, I had the craziest thing”: ibid.; also Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“Oh, Mother, you won’t believe”: ibid.
“Okay, everyone, it’s going to be a busy day”: Willard, discussion, April 2, 2017.
“Good night”: ibid.
“Oh, Mrs. Ford, I’m so sorry”: ibid.
“Now, you listen to me”: ibid.
“crying like a baby” . . . “She could have been despondent”: ibid.
“was a day when more than a few tears were shed”: Kennerly, discussion, March 30, 2017.
“I can’t talk” . . . “I can’t read the concession speech”: ibid.
“Of course I will”: ibid.
“It’s perfectly obvious” . . . “Now let me call on the real spokesman”: “President Ford Concession Speech,” November 3, 1976 (C-Span online, video, 5:32), www.c-span.org/video/?153625-1/president-ford-concession-speech.
“Don’t show any emotion”: Mary Murphy, “What Do You Do for an Encore,” New West, November 21, 1977.
“The president asked me to tell you” . . . “Signed Jerry Ford”: “Ford Concession Speech,” November 3, 1976.
All I have to do is get us all through: Murphy, “What Do You Do for an Encore.”
“People with low self-esteem crave reassurance”: BAGA, 58.
“We’ll Miss You, Betty Ford”: Judy Clabes, “We’ll Miss You, Betty Ford,” Evansville (IN) Press, January 1, 1977.
“We walked by the Cabinet Room” . . . “I think that’ll about wrap it up for this place”: Kennerly, discussion, March 30, 2017.
“We were all human beings”: TTOML, 277.
“I’m sure her thoughts are as deep”: Carter, First Lady from Plains, xxi.
“The food is so delicious there”: ibid.
“All our married life was being left there”: TTOML, 278.
PART 4: BETTY FORD, AFTER THE WHITE HOUSE
“Something has to be done about Mother”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
20: “Kiss Today Goodbye”
$375,000 house they leased: David S. Smith, “Ford Reveals Final Home Site,” Desert Sun (Palm Springs, CA), January 29, 1977, 1.
“Office of the Thirty-Eighth President of the United States”: Willard, discussion, April 2, 2017.
“Those of us on the staff”: ibid.
“Mrs. Ford, a bunch of us have been talking” . . . “Well, then, let’s get four tickets”: ibid.
“If today were the day you had to stop dancing”: “What I Did for Love,” music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban.
“Kiss today goodbye”: ibid.
“Wasn’t it wonderful, Jerry?” . . . “The choreography was marvelous!”: Willard, discussion, April 2, 2017.
“Follow-up—Venker. Passkey’s ready”: ibid.
Oh my God. That song . . .“What I Did for Love” was their song: ibid.
“Greg, can you come down here to the house”: ibid.
“As you can see” . . . “You should be able to go home by early afternoon”: ibid.
“By late afternoon, she was clearly not well” . . . “keep her here overnight”: ibid.
“Tell us what you’re not looking for” . . . “It just doesn’t make sense”: ibid.
“something was not right”: ibid.
21: A Downward Spiral
“I had a long hallway”: Dr. Joseph Cruse, in discussion with author, July 25, 2017.
“I introduced myself” . . . “It was a genuine smile”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“a bad summer”: Murphy, “What Do You Do for an Encore.” New West, November 21, 1977.
“Betty Ford looked five years older”: ibid.
“Poor darling”: Gramshammer, discussion, November 10, 2016.
“Fine, but we’re not going to support you financially”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“They went from a modest life”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“Betty going on and on and on”: Chris Chase, interview by Richard Norton Smith, January 21, 2011, Oral History Project, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, https://geraldrfordfoundation.org/centennial-docs/oralhistory/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Chris-Chase.pdf.
“She always had iced tea”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“It was an art that she had perfected” . . . “Oh, Caroline, you’re not fooling me”: ibid.
“Sometimes she would surprise you” . . . “they just couldn’t tolerate being around her”: ibid.
“Wherever I went that fall” . . . “kind of a zombie”: BAGA, 42.
“She was painfully lonely”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“knew how to take care of her”: ibid.
“I was not a professional”: BAGA, 41.
22: The Turning Point
“That was her juggling act” . . . “They rarely quarreled”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“Caroline would come home and tell me”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“Susan was really there for me”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“She would say her neck hurt”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
So Jerry would tell everyone: BAGA, 42.
“Dad and I covered for her” . . . “She was not a daytime drinker”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“We wanted to carry on as if everything was fine”: Michael Ford, discussion, October 26, 2017.
“Eating with her was torturous” . . . “Just trying to make it”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“She was not in good shape”: Tom Brokaw, in discussion with author, August 22, 2017.
“We sat in the bedroom”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“The Wonderful World of Disney will not be presented” . . . “enduring popularity”: Betty Ford: Nutcracker at the Bolshoi Ballet, aired December 14, 1977, on NBC. Video provided to author by Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI, AV83-11-44 and AV83-11-45.
“That was pretty bad, wasn’t it?”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“Yeah, it was”: ibid.
“something of a disaster” . . . “sloe eyed and sleepy tongued”: BAGA, 41.
“And they were right”: ibid.
“Christmas vacation in Vail that year was utter hell”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“She was incoherent”: BAGA, 8.
“Caroline, can’t you just get Mom dressed in the morning?” . . . “Mother’s problem”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“We were up in Vail, there was a lot of good snow”: BAGA, 8.
“in second gear” . . . “increasingly difficult to lead a normal life”: ibid., 22.
“She was scared to death”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017; also Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“I understand what’s wrong with you”: ibid.
“The agents warned me not to get involved” . . . “She had lived through all of that as a child”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“That was a rude awakening” . . . “I’ll talk to Susan”: ibid.
“I didn’t know anything about Alcoholics Anonymous”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“You’re talking about your mother, aren’t you?”: ibid.; also Cruse, discussion, July 25, 2017.
“Yes. I just don’t know what to do”: ibid.
The intervention technique had been developed: “Johnson Model Intervention,” Interventionsupport.com, accessed January 16, 2017, www.interventionsupport.com/intervention-techniques/johnson-model.
“I knew she had a problem”: Cruse, discussion, July 25, 2017.
“Joe,” he said, “can’t you go do it by yourself?”: ibid.
“He didn’t want to do it”: ibid.
“I did a little self-prescribing”: BAGA, 166.
23: The Intervention and Treatment
“We have to do something now”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“You are all a bunch of monsters!”: ibid.; also BAGA, 11.
“I was devastated”: ibid.
“It was a big mistake” . . . “Don’t worry, she’s said that before”: Cruse, discussion, July 25, 2017.
“Boy, was I glad she was there”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“Don’t worry,” Clara said, “Mother’s fine”: ibid.
“Captain Pursch was quite a personality”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
A Chicago native: Allan Parachini and the Los Angeles Times, “The Navy Way to Beat the Bottle,” Washington Post, March 13, 1979, www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/03/13/the-navy-way-to-beat-the-bottle/a42f6d85-7d19-430c-9cea-4d19695918c4/?utm_term=.6809d34f4d26.
“When I met Pat Benedict”: BAGA, 14.
“We’ve got to do this for Mother”: ibid.
“You felt very, very guilty”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“The doctors literally gave us a set of instructions”: BAGA, 17.
“We began to understand the nature of chemical dependence”: ibid., 14.
“It was so tense”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“No one had ever seen her cry like that before”: ibid.
“I had given my whole life to my family”: Betty Ford, in A Legacy of Hope, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, YouTube, December 6, 2016, 53.39, www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNBKYQ1LM2c.
“Mrs. Ford, are you willing to go into treatment?”: BAGA, 23.
“Betty, I have had a problem”: ibid.
“I got dressed and put myself together”: ibid., 24.
“sedated to the teeth”: ibid.
President Ford was stunned: ibid., 42.
“I was more concerned with the pills”: ibid.
“There were bottles and bottles and bottles”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“I took out an entire grocery bag”: Cruse, discussion, July 25, 2017.
“It was like the family was a family once again”: BAGA, 25.
“It was horrible what that body went through”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“It was miserable”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“I shook so much”: BAGA, 26.
“President Ford was very strong”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“Why does she keep throwing up?” . . . “celebrated in the kitchen with glasses of Cranapple juice”: BAGA, 27.
“I want her up and dressed and at that party”: ibid., 28.
“I marveled that I was able to eat”: ibid.
“It had been a brutal week”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“I believe you have to treat VIPs”: BAGA, 46.
“I almost turned right around”: ibid.
“She was a wreck” . . . “She had lost all her privacy”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017; also BAGA, 47.
“Former First Lady Betty Ford was hospitalized”: press release from Caroline Coventry Morgan, personal files.
“Policies and Routine for Patients”: information from Caroline Coventry Morgan, personal files related to Eisenhower Medical Center, alcohol rehabilitation treatment.
“Six-Pack”: BAGA, 53.
“addicted to drugs and drink”: ibid.
“I was not a model patient”: ibid, 48.
“They had to clean the toilets”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“I could not say I was alcoholic”: BAGA, 51.
“not a quiver in her voice”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“The hand I held gave me strength and faith”: ibid.
“I wasn’t convinced”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“No, he didn’t! . . . I’m the one that did all the work”: ibid.
“The whole family is so raw” . . . “When is it going to be my turn?”: ibid.
“For the first time”: BAGA, 63–64.
“I was so offended”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“Steve, this is exactly what your mother needs”: ibid.
“Her doctors would prescribe whatever she wanted”: BAGA, 63.
“I made the dumb statement”: ibid.
“Steve, is your mother an alcoholic?”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“I know that the problem exists”: Myra McPherson and Donnie Radcliffe, “Betty Ford Says She Is Addicted to Alcohol,” Washington Post, April 22, 1978, A5; also United Press International, “Son Says Drugs, Drink, Affected Mrs. Ford,” April 15, 1978.
Betty still had not admitted: TTOML, 284.
“She had begun to pull back”: Cruse, discussion, July 25, 2017.
“We are here because something”: ibid.
“If you’re going to call me an alcoholic, I won’t stand for it”: Morgan, discussion, May 20, 2017.
“So far, you have talked”: BAGA, 53.
“I don’t want to embarrass my husband” . . . “he had to shock her”: ibid., 54.
“He knew that if she put it”: Morgan, discussion, May 20, 2017.
“I cried so hard my nose and ears were closed up”: BAGA, 55.
“Here is the statement from Mrs. Ford”: Gerald Faris, “I’m Addicted to Alcohol—Betty Ford,” Los Angeles Times, April 21, 1978.
“she opened the door for women to seek treatment”: Pat Benedict, in A Legacy of Hope, video.
“To the laymen, it was just a statement”: Morgan, discussion, May 20, 2017.
“We’ve never had too much success”: Faris, “I’m Addicted to Alcohol—Betty Ford.”
“Mrs. Ford is a gutsy lady” . . . “medications any of us would get”: ibid.
Barrett emphatically denied: Bob Locke, Associated Press, “Betty Ford Says She’s Hooked on Alcohol as Well as Medicine,” April 21, 1978.
“My drinking hasn’t caused my folks any trouble”: BAGA, 58.
“I’m Betty, and I am an alcoholic”: ibid.
it would take more than two years: ibid., 48.
“We learned that alcoholism kind of comes in two ways”: Morgan, discussion, May 20, 2017.
“I was astonished at the amount of newspaper coverage”: BAGA, 60.
“People don’t understand the mood swings” . . . “I could kill you for doing this to me!”: ibid., 56.
“She was so angry” . . . “I was a mess”: Morgan, discussion, May 20, 2017.
“Part of it was this is a family disease”: Michael Ford, discussion, October 26, 2017.
“No, I won’t do it”: BAGA, 61.
“It was a crisis”: ibid.
“Mrs. Ford how do you feel” . . . “I know that she felt so vulnerable”: Morgan, discussion, May 20, 2017.
“Nobody had consulted me” . . . “It was a cruel intrusion”: BAGA, 69–70.
“What she has done is the most significant advance”: Phyllis Battelle, “Betty Ford May Change Course of Million Lives,” Brownsville (TX) Herald, May 8, 1978.
“alcohol addiction is a physical disease, not a moral sin”: ibid.
“Betty Ford has earned the admiration”: Associated Press, “Betty Ford Called Most Popular,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 25, 1978.
24: Recovery
“Thousands of them”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“I was on a high”: BAGA, 65.
“You’re not here to play former first lady”: ibid.
“Once in a while, during the first year of my sobriety”: ibid., 69.
“She must be drinking again”: ibid., 70.
“I know you were kidding” . . . “This was dangerous stuff”: ibid., 71.
“The evening went beautifully”: ibid., 73.
“The president was very supportive”: Morgan, discussion, May 19, 2017.
“There’s been such a precipitous increase”: Carol Kleiman, “Giving a Lift to the Face-Lift Business,” Chicago Tribune, October 19, 1978.
“Betty is supposed to be opposed to another campaign” . . . “Her manner and voice bore no resemblance”: Myra MacPherson, “Betty Ford Night at the Waldorf,” Washington Post, November 11, 1978.
“It was a very rocky relationship”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“It was a surprise for everybody”: Alberi, discussion, March 21, 2017.
“I hope you’ve thought about this”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“I was throwing things back”: ibid.
“Susan was our youngest child”: BAGA, 75.
“There was no fondness there”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“I liked alcohol” . . . “I went through the two weeks”: BAGA, 74–76.
“The wedding, I think, was very hard on her”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“That first year of recovery”: BAGA, 88.
25: The Betty Ford Center
“Leonard is in terrible shape”: BAGA, 79.
“I loved that”: ibid., 85.
“He knew the minute we walked in”: ibid., 86.
“No, no, no, Leonard,” Betty said. “You’re going to go to treatment”: ibid.
“You’re my best friend, Leonard”: ibid.
“It was really beautiful”: Morgan, discussion, February 27, 2017.
“It was my second go after nine years of sobriety”: BAGA, 87.
“That’s easy. Either give up your nightly martini”: Ann Cullen, in discussion with author, December 9, 2016.
“What did they give you” . . . “You and Betty should put your heads together”: BAGA, 90.
“You know,” he said, “we’ve got this disease”: Michael Ford, discussion, October 26, 2017.
“Mom was a bit reluctant”: ibid.
One of the things: Morgan, discussion, May 20, 2017.
“With my recovery, and Leonard’s recovery”: BAGA, 90.
“She got fired up!”: Michael Ford, discussion, October 26, 2017.
“That was a huge moment”: Morgan, discussion, May 20, 2017.
“We were having a problem at Eisenhower”: BAGA, 91.
Nationwide, the common practice: Cruse, discussion, July 25, 2017.
“gentlemen” . . . “problem”: “The History of Hazelden,” Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation online, accessed January 16, 2017, www.hazeldenbettyford.org/about-us/mission/history/hazelden.
“provide low-cost, comprehensive alcoholism services”: proposal materials for “A Recovery and Training Facility for Chemical Dependency,” Betty Ford: Post– White House Papers, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
“I don’t think I realized until much later”: Morgan, discussion, May 20, 2017.
“If people could just see in hindsight”: ibid.
“Have you ever been to New York City?” . . . “No, I didn’t. I’m just kidding”: Penny Circle, in discussion with author, January 17, 2018.
“My new life was precious to me”: BAGA, 96.
“Betty’s recovery was never talked about”: ibid.
“There I was. Mrs. Ford wasn’t sure”: Cullen, discussion, December 9, 2016.
“I can’t tell you how many Republicans”: BAGA, 97.
“He didn’t tell me not to”: ibid.
“Wake Up GOP”: Associated Press, “ERA Supporters Rally,” Detroit Free Press, July 15, 1980.
“watched the parade go by”: BAGA, 97.
“I really saw a change in him”: Michael Ford, discussion, October 26, 2017.
“They were a pretty dynamic duo”: Cullen, discussion, December 9, 2016.
One time Betty and Jerry: Cruse, discussion, July 25, 2017.
“It got to the point people didn’t want to sit next to me”: ibid.
She’d also seen how much: Cullen, discussion, December 9, 2016.
“We know we can provide quality care”: BAGA, 94.
“Do you think we could use her name on it?”: ibid., 95.
“Absolutely not, I’m too new in recovery”: John Schwarzlose, president, Betty Ford Center, in A Legacy of Hope, video.
I’ll never be able to drink again: BAGA, 95.
“We’re proud of you, Mom”: Steve Ford, discussion, November 23, 2016.
“It was a hectic sobriety”: BAGA, 95.
“She bossed that construction crew around”: Cullen, discussion, December 9, 2016.
“And then, Betty being Betty, set out to help others”: “Bush Ends Visit to State,” Eureka (CA) Times Standard, October 4, 1982.
“It’s not easy to properly and in good taste express the feelings”: Betty Ford Center footage provided to author by Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI, 2003-NLF-010-012.
“tough love”: ibid.
“blame the navy”: BAGA, 114.
“Hello. I’m Betty”: Jerry Moe, in discussion with author, March 28, 2017.
26: Betty Ford, the Legacy
“Mrs. Ford had a way of talking”: Moe, discussion, Betty Ford Center, Rancho Mirage, CA, March 28, 2017.
“It’s an experience unlike any other I’ve known”: John Duka, “Elizabeth Taylor: Journal of a Recovery,” New York Times, February 4, 1985, A16, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1985/02/04/issue.html?action=click&contentCollection=Archives&module=LedeAsset®ion=ArchiveBody&pgtype=article.
“Betty Ford and I discussed what it would be like to go public”: ibid.
“not only helped me, but several other very worthwhile women”: Betty Ford Special Letters, Box B3, Folder J-R, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
“She had her finger on every aspect”: Ali MacGraw, in discussion with author, April 12, 2017.
“You’re nothing unless you’ve been to Betty Ford”: P. J. Corkery, “Addiction à L.A. Mode,” New Republic online, July 7, 1985, https://newrepublic.com/article/91735/betty-ford-center-addiction-elizabeth-taylor.
“a new hold on life”: Johnny Cash to Betty Ford, letter, February 15, 1984, Betty Ford Special Letters, Box B1, Folder A-C, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, MI.
“Talk about being famous” . . . “All the songs, and all the poems, and the shows”: Judy Kurtz, “Stevie Nicks Remembers Betty Ford,” Hill, July 11, 2011, http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/256247-judy-kurtz.
“Now, here we were in a role reversal”: Moore, Growing Up Again, 4.
“No, no, no”: Moe, discussion, March 28, 2017.
celebrities have always made up less than 1 percent: Mark Mishek, CEO, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, in discussion with author, March 27, 2017.
“President Ford was so proud of her”: Moe, discussion, March 28, 2017.
“I don’t give one hundred percent”: Beverly Beyette, “Betty Ford, On Reflection,” Los Angeles Times, January 18, 1989.
“She stepped forward”: Pat Roeske, “AIDS Benefit L.A.-Style,” Washington Post, September 21, 1985.
“Mrs. Ford had quite a few gay friends”: Cullen, discussion, December 9, 2016.
“I watched her at the Betty Ford clinic”: Roeske, “AIDS Benefit L.A.-Style.”
“Tonight is about conquering fear”: ibid.
“I was very pleased that I was selected” . . . “I got the message”: Buendorf, discussion, November 11, 2016.
“I would do anything for the Betty Ford Center”: Jamie Shoop Bray, “After 10 Years, Betty Ford Center Is a Star in Rehab,” North Hills (PA) News Record, November 6, 1992.
“Gramma”: Heather Devers, in discussion with author, February 17, 2017.
“Mom, Dad” . . . “I read mine every day”: Steve Ford, discussion, January 16, 2018.
Dear Steve . . . Enjoy your life: Steve Ford, email message to author, January 18, 2018.
“Every time they’d give her a new therapy”: Brinker, discussion, October 16, 2017.
“I’m delighted to help” . . . “she would have given it a try”: ibid.
“She rounded up the Republicans”: Carter, discussion, June 14, 2017.
“Her courage and candor”: President George H. W. Bush, “Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom Awards,” November 18, 1991, American Presidency Project, University of California, Santa Barbara, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=20239.
“Perhaps no first lady in our history”: President Bill Clinton, “Remarks on Presenting the Congressional Gold Medal to Former President Gerald R. Ford and Former First Lady Betty Ford,” October 27, 1999, American Presidency Project, University of California, Santa Barbara, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=56803&st=&st1.
“Show me your breaststroke”: Devers, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“Grandpa used to spell”: ibid.
“It was an open platform” . . . “There wasn’t a stronger voice”: Tyne Vance Berlanga, in discussion with author, October 10, 2017.
“Grandpa always referred to Gramma as his bride”: Devers, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“I’m inclined to proceed” . . . they were headed back to their home in the desert: Susan Ford Bales and Vaden Bales, in discussion with author, February 17, 2017.
“Come on out and look”: Jan Hart, in discussion with author, March 27, 2017.
“He had been kind of in and out”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“Well, I think you and I have a little bit of work to do” . . . “If I hadn’t been married”: Willard, discussion and email message to author, February 2–4, 2018.
David Kennerly could hardly contain his emotions: Kennerly, discussion, March 30, 2017.
“There were so many people”: Wilson “Bill” Livingood, in discussion with author, December 8, 2016.
“I had never seen that before”: ibid.
“But that was not in her”: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“I can do this”: Willard, discussion, February 2, 2018.
“I’ve been in thousands of motorcades”: ibid.
“I just don’t think I can make it any further”: ibid.; also Susan Ford Bales, telephone discussion with author, February 3, 2018.
“It was like watching a flat tire inflate”: Susan Ford Bales, ibid.
“You can do this”: ibid.
“On behalf of the president”: Willard, email message to author, February 4, 2018.
“After we land”: Willard, discussion, February 2, 2018.
How does she do this?: ibid.
“I think I’d like to lay down for a while” . . . “It’s been an honor”: ibid., November 17, 2017.
“So when he looks down”: Hart, discussion, March 27, 2017.
“She was always very interested”: Devers, discussion, February 17, 2017.
“Why am I still here?”: ibid.
“I just want to go see my boyfriend”: ibid.
Afterword
“indescribable pride and humility”: President Gerald R. Ford to Greg Willard, letter, November 6, 2006.
“Mother’s decision about the flag”: Susan Ford Bales and Greg Willard, discussions with author, February 4, 2018.
“On behalf of Mother”: ibid.
“Where women’s health issues are concerned”: Richard Norton Smith, Betty Ford Funeral, Grand Rapids, MI, July 14, 2011 (C-Span online, video, 1:46:30), www.c-span.org/video/?300520-1/betty-ford-funeral.
“at the Betty Ford Center”: Moe, discussion, March 28, 2017.
“We do one thing” . . . “You can’t be all things to all people”: ibid.
According to the US Department of Health and Human Services . . . 5 percent will transition to heroin: HHS.Gov/opioids.
Susan worked alongside her mother: Susan Ford Bales, discussion, January 16, 2018.
Steve Ford has proudly remained sober: Steve Ford, discussion, January 16, 2018.
Mike Ford continued his work: Michael Ford, discussion, October 26, 2017.