Betty Ford

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Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren Ford (born April 8, 1918) is the wife of Gerald R. Ford, the 38th President of the United States. She acted as the First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977.

Her birthplace is Chicago, Illinois. Her birth name was Betty Bloomer. Her parents were Hortense Neahr and William Stephenson Bloomer. She was the third child of her parents. She had two older brothers named Robert and William, Jr. She spent her childhood in Grand Rapids, Michigan and graduated from school there. In 1935, she graduated in dance from the Calla Travis Dance Studio. She gave dance lessons to earn money during the Great Depression.

Betty Bloomer married William G. (Bill) Warren, a furniture salesman. But the marriage did not last long. They divorced in 1947.

After that she started dating Gerald Ford. Ford was a good football player at his college, and a graduate of the University of Michigan and Yale Law School. They married on 15 October 1948. The Fords have three sons and one daughter:

Michael Gerald Ford (born 1950) - a minister
John Gardner "Jack" Ford (born 1952) - a journalist and public relations consultant
Steven Meigs Ford (born 1956) - an actor and rodeo rider
Susan Elizabeth (Ford) Vance Bales (born 1957) - a photographer

As of 2005, the Fords have seven grandchildren.

In 1974, President Richard Nixon resigned. Nixon had named Gerald Ford as the Vice President of the United States. After Nixon's resignation, Ford became the 38th President of the United States. Betty Ford became the First Lady.

As the First Lady, Betty Ford played an active role. She spoke on many issues. She spoke on political and many other things. She had an open mind, and spoke honestly about benefit of mild psychiatric treatment. She also talked about marijuana use and premarital sex. She always supported women's rights. Her surgery for breast cancer made the public more aware of this disease.

In 1987, Betty Ford found a place into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. In 1978, she published her autobiography The Times of My Life. In 1999, President Gerald Ford and Betty Ford jointly got the Congressional Gold Medal, "in recognition of their dedicated public service and outstanding humanitarian contributions to the people of the United States of America." [1]

In 2003, Betty Ford published Healing and Hope: Six Women from the Betty Ford Center Share Their Powerful Journeys of Addiction and Recovery.

As of 2005, she remains the active Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Betty Ford Center.

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First Ladies of the United States