Betty Ford

Name at birth: Elizabeth Anne Bloomer

Betty Ford is known both as a former First Lady and as the founder of the Betty Ford Clinic for substance abuse recovery. She married Gerald R. Ford on 15 October 1948. Gerald Ford became a congressman and then was appointed U.S. vice president by Richard M. Nixon after the resignation of Nixon's first VP, Spiro Agnew. When Nixon himself resigned in 1974, Betty Ford became the nation's First Lady. Shortly thereafter she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. Suffering from the stress of her public role and the aftereffects of her illness, Ford became so hooked on painkilling drugs and alcohol that in 1978 she entered a California hospital to kick the habits. Inspired by the experience, in 1982 she founded the Betty Ford Center for Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation in Rancho Mirage, California. The center was one of America's first prominent centers devoted solely to such recovery, and it eventually drew high-profile clients like Elizabeth Taylor and Liza Minnelli. Ford became a prominent activist in the field, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1991) and the Congressional Gold Medal (1999). She has published two autobiographies: The Times of My Life in 1978 and Betty: A Glad Awakening in 1985.