Former First Lady Betty Ford 1918-2011
Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren Ford, better known as Betty Ford, died of natural causes at her home in California on July 8, 2011. She was 93.
She was the widow of former President Gerald R. Ford, and served as First Lady from 1974 to 1977. Her husband was elevated to the highest office in the land when President Richard Nixon resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal.
Weeks after moving into the White House Betty underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer and then went public with the news to bring awareness to other women.
She was known for her outspoken nature and openly discussed abortion, pre-marital sex and equal rights. Newsweek magazine named her their 1975 “Woman of the Year.”
In 1978 her family staged an intervention and forced Betty to confront her alcoholism and an addiction to opiates that had been prescribed for a pinched nerve in the early 60’s.
Following her recovery, she founded the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California for substance abuse and addiction. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991, as presented by George Herbert Walker Bush.
Ford is preceded in death by her husband of 58 years, Gerald R. Ford, who died in 2007. She is survived by three sons, Michael, John, Steven, and a daughter, Susan.
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