First Female Vice-Presidential Nominee Geraldine Ferraro Dies

First Female Vice-Presidential Nominee Geraldine Ferraro Dies - FoxNews.com

 Geraldine Ferraro

Geraldine Ferraro, who was the first female to run for the vice presidency on a major party ticket, died today.  She was 75 years old.  Ferraro died at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she was treated for blood cancer, a disease she had been battling for the last twelve years, according to her family.  Ferraro "was widely known as a leader, a fighter for justice, and a tireless advocate for those without a voice," according to her family  "To us she was a wife, mother, grandmother and aunt, a woman devoted to and deeply loved by her family.  Her courage and generosity of spirit throughout her life waging battles big and small, public and personal, will never be forgotten and will be sorely missed."

Ferraro is survived by her husband of 50 years, her three children and their spouses, and her eight grandchildren.  She was a Fox News Contributor and a fixture on the national stage since Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale chose the Queens Congresswoman to join his ticket in the 1984 presidential race between Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.  Mondale and Ferraro lost in a landslide to Reagan that November.  Delegates in San Francisco erupted in applause when she gave the first line of her speech accepting the vice presidential nomination: "My name is Geraldine Ferraro," she declared.  "I stand before you to proclaim tonight: America is the land where dreams can come true for all of us."  Her acceptance speech launched eight minutes of cheers, foot stamping and tears.  Sometimes she overshadowed Mondale on the campaign trail, often drawing larger crowds and more media attention than the presidential candidate.

There were also controversy in her bid for the vice presidency.  She was a vocal supporter of abortion rights, which resulted in vociferous protests.  Her run was also beset by ethical questions such as her campaign finances and tax returns, as well as the business dealings of her husband, John Zaccaro.  She attributed much of the controversy as bias towards Italian Americans.  Mondale said he selected Ferraro to help counter his poor showing in the polls against Reagan as well as he felt America lagged behind other democracies in elevating women to top leadership posts.

After losing the 1984 presidential races, Ferraro became a fellow of the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University until an unsuccessful bid for the 1992 Senate nomination.  She returned to the law after the 1992 Senate run, acting as an advocate for women raped during the ethnic conflict in the former Yugoslavia.  Her advocacy work and her support of President Bill Clinton won her a position as ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, where she served in 1994 and 1995.  She hosted CNN's "Crossfire" in 1996-97 but left in 1998 to run against Chuck Schumer in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.  She placed a distant second and that finished her political career.  Ferraro revealed in 2001 that she was diagnosed with blood cancer.  She discussed blood cancer before a Senate panel during that time and hoped to live long enough to see the first woman inaugurated as president of the United States.  That never happened.