Geraldine Ferraro, 1935 � Politician and Attorney

Geraldine was born in 1935 in Newburgh, New York. She was the daughter of Italian immigrants and her father died when she was eight years old. Geraldine attended Marymount College in Manhattan on a scholarship; majored in English, taking a B.A. in 1956. While teaching English in public schools in Queens, she attended Fordham University Law School at night. In 1960 she earned a law degree and was admitted to the New York bar in 1961, and practiced law until 1974. In 1974 Ferraro accepted a position as an assistant district attorney in the Investigations Bureau in Queens County, New York. By 1975 she transferred to the Special Victims Bureau, which she helped to create to handle rape and domestic violence cases. In 1978 she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's Ninth Congressional District, running as a Democrat on a platform supporting law and order, the elderly, and neighborhood preservation; she was reelected in 1980 and 1982. In 1980 Ferraro was elected secretary of the Democratic caucus, and she took a seat in the House Steering and Policy Committee. She was appointed chair of the 1984 Democratic platform committee, the first woman to hold the post. Later in 1984, Democratic Party presidential candidate, Walter Mondale, selected Ferraro to be his running mate, making her the first woman on a major party's national ticket. The presidential bid was unsuccessful because Ronald Reagan beat Mondale for the Presidency.

Article by Alexander S