FERRARO, GERALDINE ANNE
As the first woman candidate for vice president of the United States in a major party, Geraldine Anne Ferraro expanded opportunities for
women in national politics. Her place on the
Democratic ticket as Walter F. Mondale’s run-
ning mate in 1984 broke a gender barrier that
had lasted for over two hundred years. Although
Mondale and Ferraro lost to RONALD REAGAN
and GEORGE H. W. BUSH,Ferraro proved herself
a capable and dynamic campaigner. Her selec-
tion came on the strength of a highly visible
three terms in the House of Representatives,
from 1978 to 1984, during which she champi-
oned liberal positions, wrote legislation aimed at
establishing economic EQUITY for women, and
oversaw the drafting of the Democratic party’s
1984 presidential platform. Charges that she had
violated congressional rules on financial disclo-
sure hampered her run for the vice presidency,
and controversy over business investments
helped sink a Senate campaign in 1992. She later
headed the U.S. delegation to the UNITED
NATIONS Human Rights Commission.
Ferraro was born August 26, 1935, in New-
burgh, New York, the fourth child of a tight-knit
family enjoying prosperity. The good life did not
last. When she was eight, her father, Dominick
Ferraro, an Italian immigrant and successful
restaurant and dime-store owner, died of a heart
attack. Two of Ferraro’s brothers had preceded
him in death. Bad investments left her mother,
