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From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues

Ferraro, Geraldine Anne (1935-2011)

Democrat Geraldine Ferraro of New York cracked a political glass ceiling in 1984 when she accepted the nomination for vice president, the first woman nominated for national office by a major party. Ferraro served in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 3, 1979 to January 3, 1985. She held the leadership position of secretary of the House Democratic Caucus in the 97th and 98th Congresses (1981-1983 and 1983-1985).

Born in Newburgh, New York, Ferraro received her bachelor’s degree in English from Marymount College in 1956 and her JD from Fordham University in 1960. For the next 14 years, Ferraro held part-time legal positions and worked in Democratic politics while raising her children. In 1974, she became an assistant district attorney for Queens County, New York, in the Investigations Bureau. The next year she became chief of the county’s Special Victims Bureau, which handled child abuse, domestic violence, and rape cases. She left after four years to run for Congress. As a member of Congress, Ferraro was frustrated by her male colleagues’ indifference to women’s issues, particularly economic ones, including pay rates, health insurance, and pension inequities. Ferraro also supported federal funding for abortions, defended displaced federal workers, worked for increased federal funds for mass transit, supported tuition tax credits, and opposed busing.

At the 1983 National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) convention, Ferraro met with other women leaders to discuss potential women candidates for president and vice president of the United States. Ferraro told the group that she did not see any good possibility that any of the male contenders for the presidency would select a woman for their vice presidential running mate. Walter Mondale, however, told the convention that he would consider a woman. When he became a leading contender for the Democratic Party’s nomination, the NWPC, the National Organization for Women, and other powerful female Democrats pressured him to choose a woman. Mondale selected Ferraro.

When the 1984 Democratic National Convention met, delegates first elected Mondale for their presidential nominee and then Ferraro as their vice presidential candidate. Ferraro acknowledged that the nomination came to her in part because she was a woman but insisted she was qualified for it.

Two weeks after receiving the nomination, the first of a series of stories that questioned Ferraro’s integrity and her husband John Zaccaro’s honesty appeared. Ferraro’s handling of congressional financial disclosure statements was questioned, and Zaccaro’s real estate transactions as well as other financial dealings were investigated. More damaging stories followed. Zaccaro’s initial refusal to release his income tax returns prompted speculation that he was hiding illegal activities. Then, a story about improper loans that family members had made to Ferraro’s 1978 congressional campaign appeared, even though she had reported the transactions at the time and paid a fine. The negative media attention diminished after Zaccaro released his tax information and Ferraro held a news conference reviewing the family’s finances.

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Ferraro’s pro-choice stand on reproductive rights became the next issue in the campaign. A Roman Catholic, Ferraro argued that although abortion might not be an option for her, she believed that it should be a protected right for women. Roman Catholic Archbishop John O’Connor of New York attacked her and others who shared her beliefs, pressuring her to change her position on abortion, but she remained firm.

Mondale and Ferraro lost in the general election. Having surrendered her congressional seat to run for the vice presidency, Ferraro became a political commentator. She unsuccessfully sought her party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1992 and lost a second bid for the Senate in 1998.

It would not be until 2008 that a major party would put another woman on its national ticket. Sarah Palin, then governor of Alaska, was the Republican nominee for vice president that year.

See also: Abortion; Congress, Women in; Democratic Party, Women in the; National Organization for Women; National Women’s Political Caucus; Palin, Sarah; President and Vice President, Women Candidates for

References: Ferraro, Ferraro: My Story (1985); The New York Times, March 26, 2011; Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives, Women in Congress, 1917-1990 (1991).

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
"Ferraro, Geraldine Anne (1935-2011)." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, edited by Suzanne O’Dea, Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0343.
APA 7th
Ferraro, Geraldine Anne (1935-2011). From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, In S. O’Dea (Ed.), Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0343.
CMOS 17th
"Ferraro, Geraldine Anne (1935-2011)." From Suffrage to the Senate America's Political Women: An Encyclopedia of Leaders, Causes & Issues, Edited by Suzanne O’Dea. Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Suffrage3e_0343.