BETTY FORD, WHO DIED LAST YEAR, WOULD HAVE BEEN NINETY-FOUR TODAY

ELIZABETH BOOMER FORD

April 8, 1918-July 8, 2011

MILLIE O'NEILL (l), BETTY FORD (c),

& ROSALYNN CARTER (r)

at the U.S. CAPITOL

INAUGURATION DAY, January 20, 1977

Betty Ford was the outgoing First Lady of the United States, chatting above with the incoming First Lady, Rosalynn Carter, whose husband, Jimmy Carter, had defeated Gerald Ford in the 1976 election, and with Mildred (Millie) O'Neill. Millie O'Neill was the nearest thing to a First Lady of the U.S. House of Representatives; her husband, Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill, was the incoming Speaker of the House. Gerald Ford had been Minority Leader, Tip O'Neill's Republican counterpart, when President Richard M. Nixon picked him to replace Spiro Agnew as Vice-President.

When Betty Ford suddenly had the spotlight as First Lady, she became famous for her candor, and for her battles with cancer and addiction, out of which was founded the Betty Ford Center. Two particularly notable obituaries are to be found here and here.

Two points involving the Fords and the Carters: It is reported that Gerald Ford's voice "failed him the morning after he was defeated by Jimmy Carter," and that it was Betty Ford "who read the official concession statement with smiling grace." And in 1993, "feeling that they would have more impact together than as individuals, Mrs. Ford and her former campaign rival Rosalynn Carter joined forces to urge the White House and Congress to include in any health-care reform legislation being written coverage for mental health and substance abuse."