yes, yes, of course. what would you do? and just say you're doing the best you can and i think a lot of those people understand it. and there really isn't there isn't much you can do in such a situation like that except that say i'm here. thank you for joining us on american history tv for this special. look at ladybird johnson in her own words next week. you'll hear from betty ford who was seen as a thoroughly thoroughly modern and candid first lady. american history tvs first lady series is also available as a podcast. you can find it wherever you get your

it's perfectly obvious that. i've always isn't. up to par and i shouldn't. be making very many comments and i won't.

but i did. on betty my jack's team susan and gail. to come down with me and to listen while betty wrote read a statement that i have sent to. governor carter i may call on the real spokesman for the family betty the president asked me to tell you. that he telephone president like carter a short time ago and congratulated on his victory. the president also wants to thank all those thousands. of people who work so hard on his behalf.

and the millions who supported him with their votes. it's been the greatest honor. of my husband's life to have served his fellow americans during two of most difficult years in our history. and to join him and giving your united support to press and elect carter as he prepares to assume his new responsibilities. that was betty ford speaking of the straightforward manner to which americans became accustomed in the nearly two and a half years. she lived in the white house. the concession statement she delivered on behalf of a horse president gerald ford ending. the 1976 campaign was not the end of her own political life. she continued to her work to improve the lives of those

facing breast cancer and substance abuse focusing a spotlight once taboo topics. she built a friendship and policy partnership with the woman who followed her into the white house rosalyn carter an advocate for the mentally ill. and she revealed that she'd lobbied her husband to name a woman to the supreme court and to his 1976 re-election ticket. betty ford was fond of saying she was known to have an opinion or two you'll hear directly from her featuring footage from c-span's video library. let's listen to her now in her own words. the equal rights amendment when ratified will not be an instance solution to women's problems. it will not alter the fabric of the constitution. are forced women away from their families? it will help knock down those restrictions that have locked women in. to the old stereotypes of

behavior and opportunity. it will help open up. more options for women but it is only a beginning. the debate over era has become too emotional. because of the fears of some both men and women about the changes already taking place in america. in a few weeks. i will complete my chemotherapy treatments. and that will be another milestone for me. since that first year i have not talked much about the difference in my experience. with cancer but at that time my mastectomy and the discussion about it i was really pleased.

to see it. because it prompted a large number of women. to go and get checkups in their local communities. it made my root cooperation easier. because i knew that i was helping others. i make this progress report. to health cheer up those who have just had an operation for cancer. and to encourage them to keep up their good spirit. part of the battle against cancer is to fight the fear. that accompanies the disease. as many of you probably know 16 years ago. this april i participated in a treatment program for prescription drugs and alcohol dependence.

today, i am a very grateful recovery in alcoholic. and i know firsthand that treatment does work. madam chairman and members of the committee good morning, and i want to thank you for entertaining me this morning and allowing me to testify. my name is betty ford and i am the co-founder and president of the betty ford center board of directors in rancho mirage, california. the betty ford center was open in 1982 as a chemical dependency recovery hospital. it is an 80-bid freestanding facility providing treatment through impatient outpatient and family programs. we also offer a professional and residence program to help educate doctors nurses and other health care providers about the disease of addiction. since its inception the goal of the betty ford center has been

to provide the highest quality care possible at the most reasonable cost possible. the steps that led to my involvement in the development of an operation of the betty ford center, maybe known to some of you. if i had not found recovery from my own addiction to prescription drugs and to alcohol, i would not have lived to see this day. i would not have lived to see three of my children be married. i would not have experienced the joy of being the grandmother of five wonderful granddaughters. i know that treatment works that it saves lives because it saved mine. after my treatment i saw the need for a facility to provide quality care in my home community. i worked toward the creation of the betty ford center because of my belief in the worthiness and importance of treatment.

and because of my desire that a poor appropriate affordable treatment be more widely available. when we open the betty ford center in 1982, it was a very different time through my own interviews and through word of mouth people heard about the center. they knew of our reputation for excellence and value and they turned to us for help. for a long long time the betty ford center operated at a hundred percent capacity with a waiting list which sometimes grew to as many as 100. reimbursement for our services was not a problem most insurers and other payers found our charge for treatment reasonable and far below what they were used to pay. and most importantly at that time there was an awakening of an awareness about the crisis of addiction this nation was facing.

we were beginning to understand that people with an addiction needed help in combating their disease. treatment was seen as an appropriate and necessary response. business and industry. we're on record as favoring treatment of chemically dependent employees. not merely for humanitarian reasons, but because it made good business sense. both public and private treatment sources were expanding in hopes of meeting at least a portion of the enormous and growing demand for services. alcoholism and drug dependency where a chronic disease of tremendous magnitude prevention and treatment were the very best primary response. characterizing our number of public health problems number one public health problem as a war on drugs has allowed a return to the strictive.

punitive approach to dealing with people who are in fact sick. the focus has been shifted to cocaine and crack to the extent of ignoring alcohol the number one drug of addiction of this country. we are a nation which has historically responded to help the sick and the suffering. in the case of alcoholism and drug dependency we need to respond not so much from a sense of compassion and decency as from economic and common sense. i've come here today to see help and guidance and most of all leadership from the united states congress in barely considering this national emergency and implementing implementing appropriate solutions, and i hope the swiftness of your actions can match the magnitude of the crisis. yes, this is a question for us

to start early and support you didn't talk specifically about president police conference, which women have the number of days which means of the things that you're talking about. do you support the president? of hillary would like to see well, there are a lot of healthcare proposals, you know, and what mrs boaz she can speak for herself. but what we are trying to do is to be sure that in whatever bill is passed by congress that mental health and substance abuse benefits included equally with physical health benefits. i agree with rosalind. this is a policy issue not a political issue of what bill we support. it's more. what the bill contains and that's what we're talking about. she said i spoke with hillary

very early in the process about including mental health. i worked with typical and the working group constantly. i think that everybody. would like to have mental health benefits included in health care reform what we will to make sure of is that they're included equally there's no distinction if you're sick, you're sick. and so that's that is that is what we are working toward. yes, i too have met with mrs. carter. i mean, excuse me, mrs. clinton early on and she very much is supporting the coverage. of health and substance abuse welcome to the very active.

advocacy role in healthcare and your successor mrs. clinton has taken a very active role in crafting the policy and crafting the legislation. do you have any advice to mrs. clinton as she takes on that added role in healthcare? i think i would tell her. to just keep working. i applied how efforts and those of typical having a first lady. you realize that there is some influence in that position and i applaud those who take advantage of that. and i would just say ditto. this is for you. um, i think that when my husband was serving as president of the united states, i felt that i could a sounding board. i had the feeling that. as i went about to public functions i could.

hear what the people were feeling and hear what they were saying and carry it back to him as the what what was out there for him to take in and kind of combine and what he was hearing from his cabinet because i think a president is often. so protected by those people around him and his cabinet that he doesn't have a really good feel for the common everyday monday day to day stuff that is going on. outside the walls of the white house and the oval office and that was one thing that i thought i could benefit my husband. i was of course very active in the equal rights amendment and i did try very hard to influence him on women's issues and i did have i i managed to do a pretty

good job, but when it came to naming a woman to the supreme court, he finally left me in the background and went ahead and chose a man which was quite a disappointment. i must say and it was kind of a hard time in our marriage. at the time that pretty cute running and actually when we were running with the carters against the carters and they were running against us i had suggested then that it would be just advisable that we have a woman run for vice president. but i was kind of vetoed again. so now i i think it's time again and we still don't have a woman for vice president. hopefully to someday we're well

the hardest part for me. when we were serving in the white house was having the children not quite as close to us as they were when we were just living as in our own home in virginia and particularly having a young daughter and a young son who were 18 and 19 years old. i felt very responsible for them and that bothered me a great deal because traveling and state dinners took me away from that family and it was kind of hard. that was that was the most that was the biggest drawback other than the biggest drawback for me. was when of course. two women attempted to shoot my husband. so those attempts on his life gave me a very scary feeling every time he left the white house. but it was a wonderful time and

we enjoyed it. we felt very very privileged to serve particularly in the bicentennial year. you're watching american history tv where you're listening to betty ford in her own words. as a former first lady mrs. ford, sometimes reflected in public about the journey that took her to the white house and the life. she lived because of it. and when she took questions from an audience, they inevitably wanted to know about her current policy and political views as well as past controversies. so an understatement to make that betty and i are overwhelmed. she is the one who always says the right words on such occasions. since i clearly have seeniority in the birthday book. i will say the last words for myself. now that's a switch in our family. betty you go ahead and tell them

how wonderful the first 45 years have been. and i'll concentrate on the second 45 my dear wife bennett. very much. thank you very much, dear husband, you know in our 45 years of marriage. i have a learned a few things about togetherness. and there are three things that i have found that are probably the most important. one golfer in the family is more than enough. in a relationship diplomacy is best served by having only one politician. and when it comes to events such as this.

only one of you should make remarks. and i was always told to respect my elders. occasionally, of course. i have been known to have. an opinion or two on my own but all joking aside, i want to tell you. how truly wonderful these 45 years have been. because jerry floyd is given me probably the most eventful and exciting and romantic time than any girl could ever hope to have the poet who said grow along with grow old along with me. the best is yet to be must have had jerry ford in mine. and so it's congratulations, darling.

and i wish you all the very best and i thank you for taking me along on your ride. and as i think back about the years that we're so politically active. i realize that the event that probably had the biggest impact on my life was the day my husband took the oath of office as president of the united states. nothing can compare to that moment. i did write about it in my book. and i wrote about it as the saddest day of my life. president nixon, hen resigned and then nixon first family. we love so dearly. we're leaving the white house. here's the day. i will never forget. but today has provided me an opportunity to reflect on our many years in washington and all the wonderful times we experience which led to the privilege of our serving in the white house. before my husband and i ever started our journey to that

wonderfully historic house. everything's where everything was quite different. jerry's goaling. congress had always been to become speaker of the house of representatives. but a solid and continuing democratic majority seem to be just as distancing him from that goal. in 1973 jerry who had then be in serving for nine years as minority leader. began talking about in just one more turn and then retiring. that sounded like the most wonderful idea to me. but as we began our planning it never dawned on us that outside influences. might rearrange our plans and not just slightly. when president nixon was considering his selection for a new vice president following mr. agnes resignation. i was very aware that my

husband's name was included on the list of 10 men who were rumored to be under consideration. i didn't give it any serious. thought i was sure that jerry's position is the republican leader was much too valuable to president nixon for him to be a contender. so the ford family under my kind of direction and tutelage we went about business as usual. and that is everybody but our daughter susan. once the news was out about her that her father's name had been included on the list. she was totally convinced that he was going to be picked. we humored her by agreeing that oh, yes, your father is certainly the best man for the job all a while being very sure she was wrong. in fact, we had some bets on it. president nixon had announced that he would take make a selection the evening of october

12th in the east room of the white house. both houses of congress were to meet there at 8 o'clock to hear the announcement. we had the usual quiet family dinner planned, you know, so that jerry could get through early and be in place in the white house this is a closed captioning test. this is a closed captioning test. this is a closed captioning test. this is a closed captioning test. and the call came from the white house, but unfortunately the call came in on our private child-proof line, which had no extensions. and by childproof, i mean that it came with a kind of death threat to any child who dared to use it. circumstances naturally sprinted upstairs to the phone and called her father and then things began

to get really confused president. nixon told jerry he wanted to speak to both of us and as my husband to have me please pick up the extension. that is the non-existent childproof extension attempting to remain cool and controlled jerry explained the problem and as he said to dig, you know, well he said to president the president, please can you call back giving him our other phone number? and then he hung up. we came back downstairs and said, you know president nixon is going to call back because he wants to also have you on the phone when he speaks to me. we waited what seemed an eternity? to this day. i wonder what we would have done if the other phone hadn't run a few minutes later. i've often wondered what would have happened or how we would have handled it. well that call not only changed

my life from being typical suburban wife of a member of congress into the vice president wife's designate vice president designate wife, but the call did it while what were was i dressed in slacks cooking steaks in our backyard and i within a half hour was supposed to be ready to be at the white house to fear on national television with my husband. well, guess what? i had nothing to wear. there's an and we went through my closet and i threw on a dress that i thought was probably suitable for television because it was a solid color and i knew that was better. at least i knew that much. but the dress happened to be green not very suitable tv color, but i did make it to the

white house in time to sleep quietly into my chair next to pat. actually, it was half a chair with that because it seems so much forgot that i was coming. assign ed this so everybody had to slide over a little bit. i remember julian and and trisha and their husbands were there and in my excitement, you know, i hardly noticed. i was just so excited to be there. then after weeks of endless investigations and hearings before the senate and house committees. jerry was finally confirmed as vice president. this is ford. i'm sure there'll be some questions from the audience if you'd be happy to answer any i can i'll try we would like to begin. this is for those wondering if you had any regrets about the time that you had in the white house. know that you wanted to do so many things or there's that you

well. i really had i guess i had the regret of when my husband lost the election. that was my biggest breederate. but in some ways as i look back. you know, i'm a fatalist. i believe things happen. as they were meant to be i have a strong faith in my higher power. oh my coaches to call god. and those things probably the interview of 60 minutes. which i did. and it focused on susan and our daughter at that time who was only 18? and marley savor came out of the blue from someplace. i don't know. i guess i he thought i was a patsy or something and and said well, you know, what are you gonna to do? no something about? what would you do if you found out susan was having an affair? and i was just kind of

flabbergasted. he was my precious darling daughter who was only 18 years old just 18 and i said, well she she really couldn't i didn't even focus on the aging he said well, she's 18 years old. she's an adult she could. and i guess i was supposed to say well, i'd throw her out. i i didn't i said i would certainly want a counsel with her and find out who it was what their intentions were. and try and help her. and that kind of hit the headlines because that was not a question that had been addressed as far as a public figure in the white house before. so that was it was hard on susan. that was the thing. that was so difficult because all her friends. kind of immediately took it up and you know made fun of it and to this day. she still resents it, but you know life doesn't have a always

a better roses. mm-hmm. it's important. i have a question. i'm a judge from the orange county superior court and i started a drug court with another judge. we have here judge willy lindley and i'd like to ask your question about drug >> another question. mrs. ford, i have a question. i am a judge from lawrence county superior court. i started that record with another judge, judge lately. i would like to ask you a question about drug court. drug court treats nonviolent drug addicts who have an addiction, who instead of being incarcerated are given an opportunity to complete a program. what are your thoughts on something like that for the public? >> well, my feeling is, that unless we have education and treatment for people, the drug problem is it going to go on and on. i certainly believe that treatment is much better than incarceration when it is appropriate. there are times where repeated offenses, that are causing very damaging

accidents, and endangering peoples lives is not -- it's probably not appropriate. because, they've had that opportunity, and it has worked. does that answer your? question? >> yes, i'm talking about nonviolent drug addict who, for the first time are incarcerated, or -- >> there's a very good opportunity to treat this person, and have them become a good, solid citizen, and eternal lives around. >> as we close our look at betty ford, here on american history tv, let's hear from her on the kind of a first lady she hoped to be from a 1974 press conference, not quite a month after her husband was sworn in at president. and then again, in 1998, her reflections on whether she would've done anything differently. >> how would you like to be remembered?

>> well, i'd like to be remembered in a very kind way. [laughs] also, as a constructive wife of a president. i don't expect to come anywhere near living up to those first ladies who have gone before me, and have all done a great job, and i admire them a great deal. it's only my ambition to come close to it. >> i guess, mrs. ford, we might as well start with you. if you had to do it all over again, is there anything that you would do differently as a first lady? >> well, maybe i would have not been so outspoken and gotten so much trouble. but i don't think you can change that because that's the kind of person i am,

rather frank and upfront. and i think some of the things work out for the benefit of me and for the benefit of either women. for instance, breast cancer, which was never talked about, and we did go ahead and bring that forefront. [applause] so i think i'd do it all the same. >> thank you for joining us on american history tv for this special look at betty ford, in her own words. next week, roslyn carter, a long time advocate for the mentally ill and a forthright political partner to her husband, jimmy carter. american history tv's first ladies series is also available as a podcast. you can find it wherever you get your podcasts.