Betty Ford
Betty Ford ( born Elizabeth Ann Bloomer, born April 8, 1918 in Chicago, Illinois, † July 8, 2011 in Rancho Mirage, California ) was the wife of the 38th U.S. President Gerald Ford and First Lady of the United States of America from 8 August 1974 until 20 January 1977.
Youth and studies
Betty Ford was the third child and only daughter of Hortense Neahr and William Stephenson Bloomer. She had two older brothers, Robert and William Jr.
She grew up since the age of three years in Grand Rapids ( Michigan) and graduated from the local Central High School. She studied dance at the Calla Travis Dance Studio, where he took in 1935 graduated from.
After Black Thursday, Betty witnessed the age of eleven, she began working as a model and to teach other children in dancing. They taught Foxtrot, Waltz and the Big Apple. During the Great Depression had the independent First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt a great influence on Betty Bloomer.
When Betty was sixteen, her father died. In 1936, she finished high school and wanted to continue her dance studies in New York. Her mother refused to allow her this. Instead, Betty visited two summers the Bennington School of Dance in Bennington, Vermont, where she studied with Martha Graham. Martha was a tough, demanding teacher who dominated the lives of young Betty Bloomer.
Professional life
Betty moved to Chelsea to Manhattan and worked as a model for the John Robert Powers company. She led before hats and dresses, to pay for their hours with Martha Graham can. Betty was chosen to work in the helper group and was allowed to practice at Carnegie Hall.
Betty's mother Hortense was against the career choice of her daughter and demanded their return home, but Betty refused. Finally, they were, however, unanimous.
As a result, Betty returned in 1941 to Grand Rapids back; she was a fashion designer for the department store 's Herpolsheimer. She organized her own dance group and taught dance at numerous places in Grand Rapids. Among her pupils were also handicapped children. Betty sat actively on social affairs.
Marriage and Family
Among the men with whom they conspired, there was William G. ( "Bill" ) Warren, a furniture dealer, whom she had known since the age of twelve years. Betty's mother and her stepfather, Arthur Godwin, the togetherness of the two did not agree. Finally, she consented to the marriage of Betty and Bill, which was held with them at home in 1942. They settled in 1947 divorced due to some incompatibilities.
Not long after, she met Gerald Ford, Jr. know who was known in college for his accomplishments in football. He had studied at the University of Michigan and Yale Law School and was a candidate for the party soon. On October 15, 1948, she married him in the Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids. She was 30, he 35
They had four children:
- Michael Gerald Ford ( born 1950 ), counselors
- John Gardner "Jack" Ford ( born 1952 ), journalist and PR consultant
- Steven Meigs Ford ( born 1956 ), actor and rodeo rider
- Susan Elizabeth Ford Vance Bales ( b. 1957 ), photographer
In 2005, the Ford's seven-time grandparents.
1974 joined the the U.S. Vice-President Gerald Ford in 1973 appointed the successor of Richard Nixon as U.S. president, after it had resigned due to the Watergate scandal. During her time as First Lady Betty Ford had to survive a mastectomy on 28 September 1974.
Betty Ford suffered an extended period of alcoholism. She managed to free herself at the Long Beach Naval Hospital by this disease. She then founded in 1982 in California, the Betty Ford Center, a drug and alcohol detox clinic, which is now run by her daughter Susan. Even celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor could be treated in the clinic.
Later life
Betty Ford, published in 1978 under the title The Times of My Life her autobiography. In 1987, she was immortalized on the Michigan Women 's Hall of Fame. Together with her husband, she received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999.
Ford died aged 93 of natural causes.