RIP US VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro dead at 75

Posted: 27 March 2011 0318 hrs

	Photos 1 of 1 > " src="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/images/butt_next.gif" height="15" type="image" width="18"> Geraldine Ferraro (AFP PHOTO/Don EMMERT)

WASHINGTON - US political pioneer Geraldine Ferraro, the first female candidate on a major national US political ticket, died Saturday at age 75 after a long battle with cancer, her family said.

Ferraro made history when Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale picked her to be his vice presidential nominee in 1984, in an election that Republican president Ronald Reagan, running for re-election, won in a landslide.

Ferraro, who died at Massachusetts General Hospital, "was widely known as a leader, a fighter for justice, and a tireless advocate for those without a voice," her family said in a statement released to US media.

"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 shocked many in the US political establishment when she was elected to Congress in 1978 representing a traditionally conservative New York state district.

She was then catapulted to national prominence when Mondale -- former president Jimmy Carter's vice president -- picked her to join his ticket in the campaign against Reagan and his vice president George H.W. Bush.

In her acceptance speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, she famously said: "My name is Geraldine Ferraro. I stand before you to proclaim tonight: America is the land where dreams can come true for all of us."

The remarks sparked several minutes of wild applause, and launched a national career which paved the way for greater opportunities for American women.

But it would take another 24 years before a woman appeared on a major presidential ticket, with Sarah Palin as Republican John McCain's running mate in 2008. In the same year, Hillary Clinton, who Ferraro supported, narrowly lost to Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination.

"Standing on her shoulders, I just can't say enough good things about what she accomplished," Palin, a former Alaska governor, told Fox News, where both she and Ferraro served as commentators.

"The open doors that she has provided all women is pretty outstanding, and I'm so proud to have known her," said Palin.

Ferraro encompassed "the pioneering spirit that America is all about," Palin said.

Ferraro engaged George H.W. Bush in televised debates during the 1984 campaign -- a race which Reagan and Bush won in 49 of 50 US states.

"Though we were one-time political opponents, I am happy to say Gerry and I became friends in time -- a friendship marked by respect and affection," Bush -- who went on to be president in 1989, said in a statement.

"I admired Gerry in many ways, not the least of which was the dignified and principled manner she blazed new trails for women in politics," Bush said.

In 1992 and 1998 Ferraro tried and failed to win a seat in the US Senate, but her historic political legacy was already sealed.

Mondale's 1984 campaign manager Bob Beckel recalled traveling the country with Ferraro, and was impressed the scores of young women and girls who lined up for a chance to meet the political trail blazer.

"She would say 'you too can grow up to be vice president or even president,'" Beckel said.

- AFP /ls

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