No shortage of coverage, thank goodness, of the life and death of Betty Ford, former First Lady to Gerald Ford’s president, 1974-1977. Spiro Agnew’s resignation and Richard Nixon’s resignation were seminal political events in my life, very much as Gerald Ford, the pardon of Nixon and Chevy Chases’ Ford-inspired pratfalls were too.
I’m devouring everything that’s being published about Mrs. Ford and I hope I can find this 1987 telepic in which one of my favorite actresses, Gena Rowlands, plays Mrs. Ford and won an Emmy for it. The Detroit Free Press has a detailed outline of the funeral plans. Here’s a few less conventional items you may not have read yet regarding Betty Ford and her contributions to this country and our lives but please consider the comment section as a place to add more suggested reading about her:
A Slideshow of Betty Ford’s life
CBS Sunday Morning tribute to her, in video, from this morning
Biography from the National First Ladies Library in Canton, Ohio
Betty Ford Biography from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation
Amazon.com links to her autobiography, The Times of My Life and A Glad Awakening
Connie Schultz’s column from Sunday, July 10, 2011, “Betty Ford set the standard for women who followed”
Joanne Bamberger (author of Mothers of Intention): Betty Ford: Stealth Feminist and Role Model
RH Reality Check: “How Betty Ford’s Death Illustrates What Has Been Lost in Our Political Culture”
(Notes on) Politics, Theory & Photography: “What We Can Learn From Republicans”