Geraldine Ferraro

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Geraldine Anne Ferraro

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 9th district
In office 1979 - 1985
Preceded by	James J. Delaney
Succeeded by	Thomas J. Manton

Born	August 26, 1935 (age 71) Newburgh, New York
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	John Zaccaro
Religion	Roman Catholic

Geraldine Anne Ferraro (born August 26, 1935) is a Democratic politician and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. She is best known as the first, and only, woman to date to represent a major U.S. political party as a candidate for Vice President. Ferraro and running mate Walter Mondale were defeated in a landslide by incumbent President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush in the 1984 election.

1 Biography
2 Political career
3 Trivia
4 Notes

[edit] Biography

Ferraro lived in this home in Newburgh until she was ten.

Ferraro was born in Newburgh, New York. Her father, an Italian immigrant, died when she was eight; her mother was a seamstress. Ferraro received her undergraduate degree from Marymount Manhattan College, and a J.D. degree from Fordham University School of Law, going to classes at night while working as a second-grade teacher in public schools during the day. Ferraro graduated from law school in 1960, one of only two women in her graduating class.

She is married to real estate agent John Zaccaro, a native of Queens County who attended Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, a Catholic School in Forest Hills. She raised three children before joining the Queens County district attorney's office. There she started the Special Victims Bureau.

[edit] Political career

[edit] House of Representatives

Ferraro was elected to the House of Representatives from New York's Ninth Congressional District in Queens in 1978 and served three two-year terms, compiling a generally liberal voting record on social and economic issues. While in Congress she served on the Public Works Committee, the Budget Committee, and the Post Office Committee. She also served a term as the Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus. She was the Chairwoman of the Platform Committee for the 1984 Democratic National Convention.

[edit] Vice Presidential candidate

Main article: United States presidential election, 1984

Mondale selected Geraldine Ferraro to be his Vice Presidential candidate on July 12th of 1984.^[1]. Mondale made his decision after interviewing several candidates, including Colorado Sen. Gary Hart, San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, and San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein.^[2] At the time, the choice of Ferraro was viewed as a gamble, and pundits were uncertain if the choice would gain or lose more votes^[3] for the Mondale campaign. In her acceptance speech upon being chosen Mondale's running mate, Ferraro said, "The daughter of an immigrant from Italy has been chosen to run for vice president in the new land my father came to love." As a Catholic, Ferraro came under fire from the Roman Catholic Church for being pro-choice on abortion, a position in conflict with Catholic moral doctrine.^[4]

Ferraro's selection may have done further harm to the Mondale campaign, which was already far behind the Republican ticket. One issue that hurt her credibility was her disclosure of her husband's tax returns. In July 1984, she said she would release both her and her husband's tax returns. Yet a month later she backtracked and said she would release only her returns. Then she backtracked again, saying her husband would release "a financial -- a tax statement" on August 20. But she must not have consulted her husband, because Zaccaro initially refused.^[5] To her astonishment news surfaced that when she was a baby both parents had been under federal criminal indictment for gambling; the charges were dropped when her father died. After the election the House Ethics Committee officially criticized her mishandling of campaign finances.^[6]

Post-election polls found that the majority of female voters voted against her, turning instead to re-elect Reagan and Bush. However, most women had also voted against her because of her running mate. It is speculated that a stronger presidential candidate may have made Ferraro vice-president, for she was quite well-liked among Republican women.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Post-Vice Presidential candidacy

She published an autobiography, Ferraro: My Story, in 1985, and in 1992 ran unsuccessfully for Democratic nomination for a New York seat in the U.S. Senate. She finished second in the heated primary behind State Attorney General Robert Abrams. She placed ahead of Rev. Al Sharpton and New York City Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman in the primary. She has said that if she had not run for Vice President, she would have sought the Senate seat in 1986.

In 1993, she was appointed by President Bill Clinton to represent the United States at the United Nations. She served with the rank of ambassador and handled social issues during her time at the U.N.

From 1996–1998, she was cohost on Crossfire, a political commentary show on the cable television network CNN. She continues to provide political commentary as a frequent guest on national television news programs.

In 1998, Ferraro ran for the Senate again. She started off as the frontrunner for the nomination but lost ground in the late summer months. She finished second behind Congressman Charles Schumer and placed ahead of New York City Public Advocate Mark J. Green. Schumer went on to defeat D'Amato in the general election.

Ferraro served as president of G&L Strategies, a management consulting firm, and is now a senior managing director of the Global Consulting Group, a corporate public relations firm. In 1998, she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, the second-most common form of blood cancer after leukemia. She has become an avid supporter of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. She is an honorary board member of the National Organization of Italian American Women. She lived for many years in Forest Hills Gardens, Queens and recently moved to Manhattan. She joined Blank Rome Government Relations LLC as a principal on February 1, 2007.

[edit] Endorsement of Hillary Clinton's 2008 Presidential Run

In an issue of Newsweek Magazine (12/25/06 - 1/1/07) she announced her support for speculated presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. In the article, entitled What We Learned the Hard Way, she thanked Fritz Mondale for taking the "Men Only" sign from the White House. She compared his selecting her as a running mate to Roman Catholic Al Smith's running for president in 1928 and opening the door for 1960-President-Elect, Catholic John F. Kennedy.

Ferraro wrote an e-mail on March 29, 2007 to members of Team Hillary to try and gather support for Hillary Clinton's fundraising as the March 30th deadline for donations approached.

[edit] Trivia

Although Ferraro was the first woman to be on a major-party ticket for one of the nation's two highest offices, she was not the first woman to receive an electoral vote. That woman was Theodora Nathan, a Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate who got the support of Roger MacBride, a Virginia elector who in 1972 voted for her instead of the pledged Spiro Agnew.

When asked what she thought of Ferraro, Barbara Bush said she could not say on television, other than that it rhymes with "rich" [2]. Later that evening Mrs. Bush called Ferraro to apologize for allegedly calling her a "witch". Ferraro mentioned this in an article she wrote about Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in a December 25, 2006 - January 1, 2007 issue of Newsweek Magazine, where she terms Bush's words as protecting her husband. Barbara had said this after an open microphone had caught George H.W. Bush after a debate bragging that he had "kicked a little ass".