betty ford spoke her mind. pro-choice and a supporter of the equal rights amendment, she and president gerald ford openly discussed her experience with breast cancer. for much of her family s public life, she struggled with drug and alcohol dependency, and confronting it defined her post-white house years. good evening and welcome to c-span s series first ladies influence and image. tonight we ll tell you the story of elizabeth ford, the wife of gerald ford. here for the next 90 minutes to tell her story is richard norton smith, presidential historian. if you ve been watching our series, you know him. he s one of the academic advisers for the project. he s launched a number of presidential libraries, among them the gerald r. ford library in michigan. you developed a relationship with the fords. so, you bring that to the table as well. sure, in interest of full disclosure, i try to be as objective as possible. but i was very fortunate to become friends with both of the f
silence. why should my husband s job or yours prevent us from doing this and being first lady should prevent us from expecting our ideas. she and president gerald ford it discussed her experience with breast cancer, and so much of a public life struggled with jargon alcohol dependency and confronting it defined her first white house years. good evening and working to c-span series, first ladies, influence an image. we ll tell you about elizabeth of our president gerald floored, and here is richard norton smith. presidential historian and we have one of the academic advisers. we have talked about a number of presidential libraries. among them the gerald ford library in michigan. you developed a relationship with the fourth, so you bring that to the table. in folders closure, i try to be objective as possible, but i was very fortunate to become friends with the ford. i want to start the story where we left off, which is that night in august where they learned we will be i
gerald r. ford school of public policy, and it s my distinct honor and pleasure to welcome you here today for this wonderful discussion. i m delighted to see so many michigan alumni and friends in the audience. happy homecoming. [laughter] i m sorry that the weather is looking a little bit iffy now and for tomorrow, but it is still fall in ann arbor, and the home team is favored to win by two touchdowns. we ll see how that goes. but the university of michigan established the forerunner of the school that we re in today in 1914. so more than 100 years ago in the progressive era. and it was the first of its kind in the country and has really been a model ever since. as you know, gerald ford, captain of the michigan football team here in the 1930s, went on to raise a family of four with mrs. betty ford and has spent his life in principled public service in congress and eventually in the white house. when michigan named our public policy school for president ford in 1999 so nea
of the gerald r ford school of public policy and it is my distinct pleasure and honor to welcome you here today for this wonderful discussion. delighted to see the many michigan alumni and friends in the audience. happy homecoming. [laughter] i m sorry that the weather is looking a little iffy now and for tomorrow. but it is no fall in ann arbor in the home team is favored to win. [laughter] by two touchdowns. we will see how that goes but university of michigan established the forerunner of the school that we are in today in 1914. more than 100 years ago. in the progressive era. it was the first of its kind in the country and it has been a model ever since. as you know, gerald ford captained the machine promoting here in the 1930s and went on to raise a family of four with mrs. betty ford and spent his life in principle public service in congress and eventually in the white house. when michigan named our public policy school for president ford in 1999, nearly 20 years ago, t
being ladylike does not require silence. yoursould my husband or prevent us from being ourselves. i do not believe that being first lady should prevent me from expressing my ideas. [applause] betty ford spoke her mind. pro-choice and a supporter of the equal rights amendment, she herpresident ford expressed experience with breast cancer. through much of her family s public life, she struggled with drug and alcohol dependency. confronting it defined her post white house years. we will tell you the story of elizabeth ford, the wife of our 38 president, gerald ford. for the next 90 minutes to tell her story is richard norton smith. he is one of our academic advisors for this whole project and he has helped launch a number of presidential libraries, among them the library for the forts. you bring that to the table. in the interest of full disclosure, i try to be as objective as possible but i was very fortunate to become good friends with both of the fort. we want to start to