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    "localId": "40845983",
    "label": "9/6-7/74 - Birmingham, Alabama (3)",
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    "id": "40845983",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "9/6-7/74 - Birmingham, Alabama (3)",
    "description": "This file contains material where the major event on this trip was Betty Ford's attendance at a fundraiser for St. Vincent's Hospital.",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40845983",
    "collections": [
        "Sheila R. Weidenfeld Files (Ford Administration)",
        "Sheila Weidenfeld's Trip Files"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Equal Rights Amendment Project",
        "President (1974-1977 : Ford). Office of the First Lady. 1974-1977",
        "Abortion",
        "Health",
        "Voyages and travels"
    ],
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        "logicalDate": "1974-09-30",
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    "ocrText": "The original documents are located in Box 12, folder \"9/6-7/74 - Birmingham,\nAlabama (3)\" of the Sheila Weidenfeld Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential\nLibrary.\nCopyright Notice\nThe copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of\nphotocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald R. Ford donated to the United\nStates of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.\nWorks prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public\ndomain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to\nremain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid\ncopyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nSome items in this folder were not digitized because it contains copyrighted\nmaterials. Please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library for access to\nthese materials.\nDigitized from Box 12 of the Sheila Weidenfeld Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\n4\nTHE 1ST LADY\nUPI leads: \"BF, stating 'I can only be me,\" traveled\nto Deep South and voiced support for passage of ERA, despite\nlong-standing resistance in area to women's equality issue.\"\nAP leads: \"Speaking out on marijuana, abortion and\nwomen's rights on her 1st trip as 1st Lady, BF said, 'I don't\nmind tough problems. I'm ready to face them.\nUPI leads: \"GF donned sterile hospital gown, scrubbed\nup, and cooed at infants in nursery of St. Vincent's\nHospital, saying she hopes someday to be grandmother.\"\nClip on CBS in #3 story as she said she was all for babies\nfollowed by her saying abortion's been dealt w/ by Supreme\nCt which, is law of land and she 11 abide by it. NBC noted\nthis statement at Cath. hospital followed BF spokesman\nearlier saying she favored abortion only re: danger to\nmother's health and in case of assault.\nAP leads: \"Donning gray surgical gown, BF visited\nhospital patients, got look at newborn babies, and put in\nplug for women's rights during trip to help raise funds for\nB'ham hospital.\"\nCBS noted BF's all for ERA and ready to\ngo on road for it.\n\"Betty: Sure Kids Tried Pot\" is p. 2 NY News w/ photo\nof her w/ Mrs. Wallace\n\"Children Tried Pot, BF Says\" tops\n6-col Star story and photo of BF holding a baby.\n...\n\"BF Attends\nAla. Hospital Fund-Raiser, Boosts Women's Rights\" banners\ninside Sun page.\nOn both nets BF said she's certain her children have tried\npot. Kids try everything, but \"they definitely don't like\nit, and it isn't being used.\" CBS added that BF declined to\ncomment on legalization, but thinks \"it's a possibility\" she\nmight favor softening of the laws.\nA couple of controversial subjects came up, said NBC\nover film of BF deplan ing for visit she promised to make\nbefore GF was Pres and she said she keeps her promises.\nOver clip, NBC's Cochrane noted she spent most of time at\nhospital in maternity ward. Her 1st solo, said Peterson\nof CBS who also noted BF was keeping 6-mo-old commitment.\nClips of BF at formal dinner.\nNBC w/ her dancing --- the\nmost sought after on the floor w/ lots of cutting-in and tho\naides said she'd dance but twice, BF didn't seem to mind a\nbit. NBC clips also of Mmes. Buckley, Javits, Oberon and\nTyson.\nBF was there to be recognized as 1 of US \"legendary\nwomen\" noted CBS.\n5\nBF w/ Cicely Tyson is p. 2 Trib photo\nPhoto inside\nPost of the laughing 1st Lady in hospital.\nBF cut short\nher trip\n:\nbecause of GF concern over Carmen, NBC noted.\n\"At Last, A 1st Lady Who Speaks Her Mind\" tops piece by\nInquirer edit bd. member Goss in praise of Mrs. Ford for her\nERA and abortion views and her opposition to separate bedrooms.\n\"It's reassuring to see a 1st Lady act like a real person\nand not a Dresden doll.\n[And] world won't collapse because\nAmers. now know their Pres. has a sex life. It's refreshing\n=\n\"Fords Put Their Best Foot Forward at WH\" tops NY News\npiece on the dancing and revived social life at WH.\n\"Susan's Trying to Be Herself\" tops LAT interview\nin Inquirer.\nOTHER ADMIN\nNR w/ Dobrynin/HAK is p. 1 NYT photo.\nHAK/NR was p. 2\nPost photo and also inside NY News.\nInquirer editor Creed\nBlack seconds Steve Hess suggestion that NR handle Bicent.\nwhich continues to flounder in DC.\n\"Fantastically modest\" says a critic of the $983/acre\nassessment on NR's 3400 acres in Westchester where some is\ngoing for ,000/acre. In a p. 1 Bulletin feature, the\nlocal assessor acknowledges '62 costs are used for valuations\nand \"it's tough to be fair.\"\n\"GF'll put his own stamp on WH [this week] w/ sweeping\nrestructuring plan, that includes cutting back staff's size and\npower,' leads Wieghart in NY News w/ Ash \"the 1st to go\" and\nOMB to lose much of its power w/ Seidman GF's desired successor\nbut facing obstacles as he'll reportedly not accede to possible\nconfirmation condition to sell his holdings or place them in\nblind trust. Wieghart also says Clawson's been asked to\nleave by 9/15 w/ his operation eliminated. And Domestic\nCouncil's also to be shaken up w/ Cole likely to be replaced\nand NR to handle its overall direction.\n\"A frustrated GF, working under what he considers shackles\nof a rigid staff system designed for another personality, is\ndetermined to reshape WH staff asap,\" leads Beckman in Sun.\nTrib's lead story. \"GF's growing more and more impatient\"\nw/ 2nd and 3rd level RN aides of a whom a top Ford aide says\n\"have got to learn they're no longer programming a Pres and\nlearn to start serving him instead.\" Access by 5-6 top aides\nis foreseen w/ nobody #1 and an admin. asst. in charge of\nrunning the staff machinery.\nnow\nMetro\nEdition\nThe Birmingh\nServing A Progressive\n87th Year-No. 177\n68 P\nor HOUSE PRE\nBirmingham, Ala., Friday, September\nFirst Lady's evaluation\nof self: V ery normal'\nBY ELMA BELL\nBetty Ford to a Washington,\n\"I consider myself very\nNews staff writer\nreporter. And that is exactly\nnormal,\" Mrs. Ford agreed\nDown to earth, but sharp as\nthe way Mrs. Ford seemed in\nwhen the description was\na tack is the way a close\na telephone interview Thurs-\nread to her. \"And I try very\nhard to keep un with offairs\nSEP 08 1974\nChildren Tried Pot, Mrs. Ford Says\nBy Isabelle Shelton\nstaying overnight and re- kind and good,\" said a man\nStar-News Staff Writer\nturning to Washington\nwho had swung her around\nBIRMINGHAM, Ala.\ntoday\nthe dance floor at the first\nBetty Ford, making her\nof the weekend events held\nfirst solo journey outside of\nto raise funds for St. Vin-\nSHE WAS still wearing\nWeshington as First T edv.\ncent's Hospital.\n. .....\nBirm\nchrono\nThe First Lady Steps Out on Her Own\nVi\nNos Angeles Times\nBY MARLENE CIMONS\ntening to a tribute describing her as \"one of Amer-\nAsked about her earlier apparent loss of compo-\nIEW\nTimes Staff Writer\nica's legendary women.\"\nsure, she said only: \"I was very moved.\"\n\"This is, of course, my first experience on my\nShe was tired; the strain showed on her face. She\nWASHINGTON-The dark streets of Birming-\nreturned to her compartment to rest until the\nham\nat\never\nPART-IV\nricar\ner\npolit\n10\nTUESDAY, SEPT. 10, 1974\nstorr\nut\nTh\ncivic\nn\nnt\ncove\ntrich\nn,\nmirr\na\nAn\nment\nst\ntheir\ntion's\ny\nIt\n2\n24 h\ny,\nstood\nver, oval-shaped plaque she had just received, lis-\npresidential jet.\nPlease Turn to Page s, COL 1\nr. Sunday Examiner & Chronicle, September 8, 1974 Section A Page 15\nFIRST LADY BETTY FORD AT HOSPITAL BENEFIT\nShe holds Jason Lucia while father, John, looks on.\n-UPI Photo\nBetty Ford: Every\nwoman for herself\nAssociated Press\nAs for the abortion is-\nsue, she said she would\nBIRMINGHAM, Ala\nDonning a gray surg-\nSo hasn't\nobey the Supreme Court\nas the law of the land\ngame\nEYE\nPat Buckley, Robert Wolders\nBetty Ford and Cicely Tyson\nYconne Braithwaite Burke and Cornelia Wallace\nBetty Ford at the incubator unit in St\nPhotos by Guy De Lort\n9\nFRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1974\nIRMINGHAM, Ala. - It was a tribute to women - and Legendary\nB\nWomen at that - when Birmingham hosted Gala II - a two-day,\nby Aile\nWomen\n\"I'v\nfew ha\nwhat S\nwouldr\nIn f\nidea W\nley ado\n- now\nbe intr\ndear, t\nYv\nthere t\nget out\nMe\nalmos\nid Merle Oberon\nvisit hi\nwhile 1\nThe\nwho m\nI'm su\njuana.\n\"TI\nlooker\nFord\nAmen\nSouth.\nserval\nTh\narriva\nWalla\nSt. Vi\nAsked\nvor it\nwheth\neligibl\nfeels a\neither\nT\n1\n1\npieces\nand cl\nand pl\nTh\ndance\nstarte\nfox tr\nube.\"\nFil\nVincent's Hospital\nlady, with her enburage, was hustled off by the Secret Service for an earlier-\nthan-expected dejarture due to hurricane reports.\n- NANCY COLLINS\n5\nball game\nWOMEN'S WEAR DAILY, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1974\nPat Buckley, Robert Wolders, Marle Obe-\nBetty Ford and Cicely Tyson\nMarion Javits\nGrace.Warnecke\nwash Post 9/8/74 f A 12\nUnited Press International\nMrs. Ford dons a sterile gown and scrubs up on a visit to an Alabama hospital.\nFirst Lady Assumes\nChildren Tried Pot\nBIRMINGHAM, Ala., Sept. 71 juana. When asked whether she\n(UPI)-First Lady Betty Ford would favor softening of the\nsaid today she is certain her pot laws, however, Mrs. Ford\nfour children have experi- said, \"I think that is a possi-\nmented. with marijuana and bility.\""
}