what happened in 1984?

Infamous 1984; The year George Orwell promised would bring the demise of humanity through an all-controlling “big brother” government, (the year I was born) and the year that a major political party nominated female candidate, Geraldine Ferraro, for Vice President of The United States of America. While most would argue that Orwell’s revolution was not quite fully achieved, (and that my birth was not significant on a national-political level) the nomination of Geraldine Ferraro by the Democratic Party remains a significant sign of major social change. Ferraro’s nomination was the largest instance of a political party exploiting the “gender gap” to win votes, and the first time such an attempt had been made in an American Presidential election.

Ferraro’s experimental campaign in 1984 was a calculated risk. Groups like the National Organization for Women, NOW, were eager to load the campaign with claims that ‘Ferraro’s success would finally prove whether or not this nation was ready for a female President’. These unfair burdens aside, the 1984 Reagan-Bush ticket proved unbeatable. Throughout the entirety of the campaign, the gender gap could never inflate the Mondale-Ferraro ticket’s popularity to equal or surpass that of the famously popular Regan-Bush ticket.

The Democratic ticket was overshadowed in 1894 in part, because Ferraro’s qualifications were overshadowed by her gender. The media scrutinized Ferraro’s every word, not to mention her wardrobe, her husband’s financial dealings, and her role as a mother. While Ferraro was a great politician, and an intimidating opponent, American’s were not able to see past her gender and into her political character, costing Democrats the election. The large gender gap that reported a significantly higher number of men supporting Regan, did not equate to a substantially high number of women supporting Ferraro. In fact, as the election drew closer, the gender gap narrowed, undoubtedly due to the unfair scrutiny Ferraro received because she was a woman.

Unlike the established and wealthy Bush family, the Ferraro’s were lower-middle class Italian immigrants. Geraldine’s rise into politics beautifully fit the epic Americana mold of a rags-to-riches story. Geraldine was a resilient child, influenced by her hard-working and self-supporting mother, Antonetta Ferraro. Geraldine was eight years-old when her father, Carl Ferraro, died suddenly. After Carl’s death, Antonetta moved Geraldine to New York’s Bronx area where Antonetta worked for low wages as a garment worker. Later in life, during her national campaign, the media would scrutinize Ferraro about her relationship with her father. The media was deliberately baiting Ferraro into discussing emotional issues, trying to cull out tears or a temper from her. No such similar scrutiny was paid top the other candidate’s childhood losses in that campaign.

Ferraro was a natural scholar, accelerating two years ahead of her class and graduating from High School at the age of sixteen. Her resilient wit would shine through later in life, though the media often interpreted her humor as an unappealing and sharp-tongued. Ferraro received a full scholarship to Marmount Manhattan College and graduated with a degree in English.

Ferraro began her work as a public servant directly after graduation, and taught English in the New York City Public School System. While teaching, she also attended law classes at Fordham University. In 1960, Ferraro graduated with her law degree, passed the bar exam, and one week later married her long-time sweetheart, John Zaccaro, all by the age of twenty-four. Ferraro chose to keep her own family name rather than adopting John’s, in honor of her hard-working mother.

After fourteen years of practicing law, Ferraro’s career gained notoriety when she was appointed Queen’s County Assistant District Attorney. Ferraro’s congressional career began five years later in 1978, when she ran with the slogan, “Finally, a tough Democrat” . Competing against two male candidates, Ferraro countered the stereotypical notion that female candidates lack understanding about public security, referencing her successful service as DA. While this strategy was highly successful at the congressional level, it did not carry over into the 1984 national campaign, where she was brutally challenged in the debates about her international affairs qualifications.

In Congress, Ferraro held several key roles, serving on the House Budget Committee, the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, and battling successfully for the Economic Equity Act. Much to her disadvantage, Ferraro greatly lacked International travel experiences, thus invalidating her stances on foreign policy. Her direct opponent, George Bush Sr. had extensive international political experiences, most especially with the Mid-East Region. This was considered one of Ferraro’s greatest political weaknesses, one which her opposition was not unwilling to publicly exploit. While Ferraro attempted to compensate for her lack of international travel experience in 1983 by traveling to both Central America and the Mid-East, it proved to be too little, too late.

The Vice Presidential Debates perfectly illustrate Republican Party’s campaign strategies. At one point during the debate, a question was raised about how to best deal with Lebanese terrorists. Ferraro answered the question by comparing the Lebanese terrorist incident to a previous similar terrorist incident in Iran. Bush responded, “Let me help you with the difference, Mrs. Ferraro, between Iran and the Embassy of Lebanon.” It was at this moment that Bush strategically simultaneously attacked Ferraro at both of her political Achilles heel’s; first by patronizing her knowledge of foreign issues, then by patronizing and belittling her with title of “Mrs.” rather than by her earned professional title, “Congresswoman”.

Ferraro had to be defensive throughout the debate, as it was full of such loaded questions as, “Your opponent served in the House of Representatives, he’s been an ambassador to China, director of the CIA, and now he’s been Vice President for four years, How does your three terms in the House of Representatives stack up against experience like that?”. While the nature of the debates encourage the moderators to ask probing questions that challenge the candidates, Ferraro received unfair questions, such as this one, for which Bush received no equal. Instead Bush was challenged to explain and justify decisions he had made, or beliefs he held. At the end of the debate Bush was challenged about his beliefs on the issue of abortion, and how those beliefs may infringe on the separation of church and state. While such a question challenged Bush’s opinions by imbedding the opposing viewpoint within the question, it does not invalidate his worthiness as a candidate, instead it gives him room to reiterate his position on the issue. Ferraro was repeatedly challenged to defend her worthiness as a candidate, and had proactively sought opportunities to share her opinions on the issues.

Such unfair coverage would have killed any candidate’s opportunity for success. Because Ferraro was a woman, and therefore was given the unfair burden of representing all female politicians past and present, only further disadvantaged her from establishing an individual, publicly admired persona. When Ferraro was appointed as Mondale’s running mate in 1984, the gender gap was a strong 18 percent. But as the campaign progressed, this margin rapidly dwindled, and in the election was only reflected at a highly under-speculated 4.5 percent.

Ferraro was a dynamic candidate, and an excellent congresswoman, but the gender gap was not a strong enough political tool to pry public admiration away from the popular Regan-Bush ticket. Additionally, Ferraro’s political weaknesses were her opponents strengths. Ferraro’s strengths were not ever fully exposed to the public however, because of the enormous attention paid to the historical significance of her presence in the campaign. As Ferraro reflects now, years after the election, “Being the first? Terrific! Being the only one? Not so terrific." Sadly, the pressure placed on Ferraro’s success for future generations of female candidates tainted both her candidacy, and all elections since.