The original documents are located in Box 23, folder “McCall's " talks about her mother"” of the Betty Ford Papers at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.

Copyright Notice The copyright law of the (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald R. Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. Digitized from Box 23 of the Betty Ford Papers at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library

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BETTY FORD You can win a Silver Pontiac®Grand Prix; TALKS a silvery Emba®Mink, ABOUT HER MOTHER a London Show Tour via British Airways or a Danecraft Sterling Silver Collection in the Miss Clairol® ver n

It's the Miss Clairol25th Anniversary so we're throwing r------~~ a Silver Sweepstakes and inviting you, the women we love! 1138 Winners: See how little you Send in your name this minute. With 1138 chances to win, from a have to do to be a Miss Clairol luxurious Pontiac Grand Prix to exquisite Danecraft Sterling Silver Winning Woman: jewelry, how can you lose? In a warmly personal interview, the First Lady recalls how her mother helped her overcome her own emotional Official Rules: growing pains and expands on her controversial remarks about the sexual freedom of a daughter in today's world 1. To enter, complete the entry form or, on a 3" x 5" piece of paper, write your name, address and zip code. Ma•l each entry separately to; BY LYNN MINTON "Miss Clairol Silver Anniversary Sweepstakes", P.O. Box 44, New York, N.Y.10046. Someone once said that motherhood is the one job in the hospitals where it belongs" and who said recently that "if 2. Each entry must be accompanied by the words "Miss Clairol" cut from the front panel of a world where, af the moment of greatest success-when a woman doesn't want to have a child, it should be taken "Miss Clairol" package or the words "Miss your children are finally independent-you are fired. Not care of under supervision, the sooner the better." We printed on a 3" x 5" piece of paper. must be postmarked by August 24, 1976 every mother is fortunate enough to find a challenging talked in the large, cream-color sitting room in the family and received by August 31, 1976. new job before she is completely phased out of the old quarters of the . Super Grand Prize: a fully equipped 1976 Grand Prix, 3. Winners will be determined in random draw­ one, as Betty Bloomer Ford has in her position as First "I felt a tremendous loss when my mother died," Betty ings under the supervision of Marden-Kane, Inc., the personal sized car from Pontiac. Includes an independent judging organization, whose Lady, or, indeed, to have had the kind of relationship with Ford said. "I still feel a tremendous loss, because I think 1 luxury equipment like air conditioning, radio, steel-belted radial tires, decisions are final. All prizes will be awarded. her children and her mother that Mrs. Ford revealed in a of her often, even though she's been gone ever since I deluxe wheel covers and more. Retail value $6,500. 4. Sweepstakes open to residents of the U.S. recent conversation at the White House. we've been married and we've been married twenty-seven except employees and their families of Clairol, Incorporated, its affiliated companies, its adver­ Like many peopie, I admire our President's wife-for years. I still dream-1 guess everybody does-that my tising agencies and Marden-Kane, Inc. Taxes are the sole responsibility of the winner. Only one her courage in publicly discussing her operation for breast mother is alive and that she is a person and the prize to a family. Void in Missouri and wherever cancer; for speaking out for things she believes in, like the relationship is mother and child, and then, of course, you else prohibited or restricted by law. All Federal, State and Local laws apply. The odds of winning Equal Rights Amendment, and not just echoing her wake up and realize that that's not true ... that now will be determined by the number of entries husband's positions on other controversial issues, such you're the mother." ' received in the total sweepstakes. All airline tickets are non-transferable and non-refundable. as abortion; for the good relationship she seems to have She talked a bit about childhood memories, which Trips must be taken during normal tour periods with her four children; and 'for the loving and comradely brought to mind an incident that had happened more before 10/1 / 77. No purchase necessary. relationship she appears to have with , a man 5. For a list of winners, send a stamped, self­ than 50 years before. "I have a birthmark on my left ' 5 First Prizes: addressed envelope to; "Miss Clalrol" Winners, who has been concentrating on his career since the day hand," she said, ''which I was born with, and when I first ; A one week London Show Tour for 2 via P. 0. Box 68, N.Y., N.Y. 10046. he was late for their wedding because he was out attended school-kindergarten-all the other children British Airways, the airline that takes good NAME ______campaigning for his first term in Congress and who spent made fun of me and kidded me. Children can be very care of you. Stay at the beautiful Chelsea, M mo~st of his time away from home as the children were cruel, and when I came home from school crying London's newest deluxe hotel. Retail ADDRESS ______value $3,250 per winner. growing up. because I had been ridiculed for having this birthmark, CITY ___STATE ___ ZIP __ What kind of home did Betty Ford herself come from to my mother explained to me that I was the only little girl in prepare her for such a man and such a marriage and such the world who had a birthmark like that, and so she could a life? Her father, William Stephenson Bloomer, a rna· never lose me, no matter where I went. She would always chinery salesman who also traveled a lot, died when she be able to find me, and I was a very special child. And it was 16, and I had been told that Mrs. Ford feels that her really . .. I went back to school very proud. I guess I've mother was the major influence on her life. I wondered to never told this before. what extent her mother, Hortense Neahr Bloomer-who "My mother was a marvelous woman, dearly loved by died of a cerebral hemorrhage in December, 1948, less so many people," said Betty Ford. "Even my friends still than two months after her daughter's marriage at 30 to refer to her. We did things together. She was very ~~1\'",_.... 10 Second Prizes: Gerald Ford-had played a part in making Betty Ford the interested in the crippled children's home in Grand =----- An elegant $500 Sterling Silver jewelry kind of woman she is. Rapids-she was the president of it-and I spent a great 2 Grand Prizes: assortment from the famous Danecraft ~"· ~ On the day after President Ford told lV newsman deal of time with her when she visited, and then I became Two pace-setting mink coats Collection, created by Victor Primavera. Ill;\~ Walter Cronkite that the Supreme Court went too far in its active myself, working with children in braces." of ranch-bred natural EMBA mink, 20 Third Prizes: 1973 decision legalizing early abortions, I interviewed the After she died, I asked, did you ever have any feelings of by Gold in-Feldman, America's A $1 00 Danecraft Silver assortment. leading fur wholesaler. Today-like 25 years ago­ woman who rejoiced in 1974 that abortion had finally regret, of, I only wish I had done such-and-such or said ••• Retail value $6,000 per winner. 100 Fourth Prizes: there's no better haircoloring at any price. "been taken out of the backwoods and put into the "No,' Mrs. Ford said, "because /turn to page 76 ®Trademark EMBA Mink A $50 Danecraft Silver Assortment. Breeders Assoc. Racine, Wise. 1000 Fifth Prizes: ® 1976 Clairollncorporated. A $10 Danecraft Silver Bracelet. 74 M c CALL'S , MAY 1978 •

continued their children, right or wrong, in "being ways up and reading, and I went in and we were very close. We shared every­ there" for them. And both had to cope told her what kind of a time I'd had­ thing . . . even in our marriages we alone for long stretches: Betty Ford's there was a sharing." When I asked if shared all our feelings. She had such a salesman father had been on the road she ever felt that her mother wanted marvelous ability to reach people. And for months at a time, and her mother to know too much, she smiled. "Well, the things she did were always for other had had to take care of Betty and I told her what I wanted to." people. She was not the least bit self­ her two older brothers singlehandedly. Does Mrs. Ford wait up for Susan? centered. The greatest desire of my Typically, Mrs. Ford remarked, "If "Heavens, no." But what she does life was to be half as perfect as my you have to do it, you have to do it." do, she confessed, was leave notes for mother was." I wondered if she hadn't (William Bloomer, Jr., seven years her daughter in her bed: "Where have felt intimidated by her mother's per­ older than his sister, Betty, lives in you been? Do you realize you have to fection, and I mentioned that John Wayzata, Minnesota, where he has a be up for class at nine o'clock in the Eisenhower told me last year that he Chevrolet dealership; Robert, who is morning?" felt all his life the difficulty of living five years older, had been in the tool­ Mrs. Ford tried to explain to me up to his father. President Eisenhower and-die business before his death four that there was a difference here be­ had, in addition, been a perfectionist years ago.) tween her and Hortense Bloomer. "My regarding his son. Hearing this, Mrs. mother was very, very ..." She Ford said that her mother had been omeone came in just then with some searched for words. "For example, this way also, but that this had been S old photographs of Mrs. Bloomer when I was downtown shopping with for her an inspiration. "Once, when I and the two boys formally posed at a her, from this age [motioning] up, I had was dancing in the high-school follies, very young age, and we pored over to wear a hat and gloves." I did sort of a sloppy job, and she saw them together. When I asked to see a Really? the performance. When I got home picture of her with her mother, she "Yes, I did." that night she told me straight: 'If you laughed and said these had been taken You didn't ever rebel against it? don't do it well, don't do it at all.' She before she was born, and by the time "No, I was brought up that way." expected perfection . . . Still, she was she came along the family had stopped Did you do that to Susan? always understanding." taking formal mother-child pictures. "No, I remembered," said Betty I then asked how understanding her "It's just like baby books," she said, Ford, with a wry smile. mother would have been if she had smiling. "Mike has a complete baby Since Mrs. Ford hadn't talked much gone to her and said, "I'm having an book, Jack has a halfway baby book, about either her brothers or her sons, affair." Acknowledging, of course, but Steve and Susan . . . " I asked her if there had been a differ­ that her mother lived in a different Hortense Bloomer as a young wom­ ence in the way boys and girls were time, was of a whole other generation, an bore a striking resemblance to her treated in her family. She said, "I think how would she have felt? daughter-a beauty, with the same my mother thought I was rather spe­ "Well," Betty Ford replied, "I'm shape eyes and face, the luxuriant, soft cial because my brothers were older sure she would have been very upset. brown hair, the expression at once and they were boys, and I'm sure she However, I believe she'd sit me down gentle and steady. And her eyes, her felt that having a little girl was special. and discuss it. I mean, she wouldn't go daughter told me, the same deep blue. I think that most women feel that way. all to pieces and start crying or saying Mrs. Bloomer, however, was a bigger I know I felt very fortunate having a 'How could you do this to me?' or any­ woman, with a larger frame. Her girl on the fourth go-round. I'd almost thing like that. She would be very com­ daughter, particularly now, is a slender given up after the third boy. In fact, I posed, and she would feel I was in great size six and carries herself like the expected that probably the fourth one need of help, that this was probably a model and dancer she was: carriage would be a boy because my husband very crucial time in my life. If I ever erect, no unnecessary movements, all came from a family of four boys and I needed her, I needed her then." (At graceful lines. As a youngster, though, thought ... his genes are so strong and this point, Mrs. Ford's press secretary she was, she says, "rather plump." She his mother's genes are so strong •.. interrupted to emphasize that these recalled one summer at the resort that it's just going to be. Then, of were "purely hypothetical" questions. where they often spent vacations, a course, I was lucky and Susan was The scene we had been discussing, as place with a hotel, a picnic area and born." well as the highly publicized Susan Ford many friends' homes, "where there Were there times in Mrs. Ford's life "affair," had not actually taken.place.) were always cookies or candie·s or when she thought, If only my mother I told Mrs. Ford that my own moth­ something, until finally Mother got to were here, I'd ask her this ... ? er had made it clear she was against the point where she hung a sign on my "I have those times even to this day premarital sex but somehow had back, 'Please do not feed this child.' ... a need not for her support so much, created an atmosphere so that I knew "She tended to teach through humor, but for discussion, perhaps for her ad­ that if I ever did get into trouble she rather than pressure," said Mrs. Ford. vice about raising my daughter .•." would be there. "She had a very good understanding of "But that was exactly what I was people, and brought us up with a feel­ e talked about parents who give trying to say in the TV interview with ing of love . . . and yet we knew we Wconflicting advice to their children Morley Safer!" Mrs. Ford exclaimed. were expected to produce. We knew about certain situations and values: for "It didn't come across that way. This what was right and wrong. She taught example, a parent who says, "sex is is something I don't expect of Susan, us that. She expected the right. But it beautiful," but then has a fit when she but I always want her to know there is was not a nagging sort of thing. I don't finds her daughter kissing a particular no generation gap. I don't want her to remember any disagreeable things in boy. And Mrs. Ford said that her own go to her friends or someone else like our house except that she spanked my mother "always gave me the feeling that that. And I've talked to her about it­ brother once and broke the hairbrush." sex was beautiful, but she never gave that she's to come home to her mother Mrs. Ford laughed. "He must have me the feeling that sex was anything and father because we're the ones who done something awful. No, she never but related to marriage," then added, would understand and do everything in spanked me." "I'm talking about sex; I'm not talking our power to work it out. I wondered if she had ever spanked about kissing." "I've given Susan a great deal of free­ her children, and she said, "No." Where would she have drawn the dom, and she's proved herself capable Had the President ever? line? of handling it. I've let her go and do "Oh, no, he wouldn't lay a hand on "You draw the line right there. I things that perhaps some other parents them!" mean, you're talking about sex as an would not approve of, and yet I have Was there ever a time when she was act in itself and kissing as an act. I perfect confidence that she would han­ afraid to tell her mother something? kiss many people, but it has nothing dle herself as an adult, and she has." "No," she said, "we always shared our to do with sex." Obviously, Betty Ford and Hortense secrets. When I came home at night, What would your mother have Bloomer were alike in an important she was always waiting, and if I'd been said if you had gone to her after you'd way: They both believed in supporting out to a party or a dance, she was al- continued

76 MCCALL'S, MAY 1978 ..

had a lot of friends at that age who were smoking. I didn't pick up a cig­ Decorate your living room by phone. arette again until I was twenty-one. "I didn't drink, either, and, frankly, the only way I handled that when I attended parties at college was to ac­ cept a cocktail-to try and appear so­ phisticated-and then either to give it to my date or find a plant and dump the drink in it. I couldn't stand a date who would get drunk." It must have taken a great deal of courage, and perhaps some feeling of rebellion, for 24-year-old Betty Bloom­ er to make that first marriage to Wil­ liam Warren, a man her mother and stepfather hadn't even approved of her dating and felt would never settle down. Warren was exceedingly handsome, a salesman for a Grand Rapids furniture company, who traveled a great deal. And Mrs. Ford has said she married him hoping to change some of the things about him that made her un­ happy. "I was young and stupid," she now says. But it is not unusual for a woman to marry a man who bears some re­ semblance to her father. Both William Warren and William Bloomer were salesmen who were away from home a lot. It is possible that Betty Bloomer was attracted to a quality in the hand­ some Warren that her father shared, hoping to get "from him the kind of Or any other room in the house. Like the Antique Goldt model shown above, Design Line* love and attention she missed from her phones are a beautiful way to express your personality as well as your words. father, who bad, of course, died when And, with all of the styles to choose from, she was 16. there's bound to be one that'sjustyourstyle. "I respected my mother and step­ Design Line phones also make terrific gifts. father highly," Mrs. Ford said, "be­ For complete derails, call your local Bell cause when I did decide to get married, they never said another thing against Telephone business office. (The Design Line him." phone housing is owned by you. The working partsrernainours,soifthere'sever @ hen the daughter was ready to call a problem, we 11 fix it. In most 0 Wit quits after five years, it was areas, Design Line phone prices "very difficult" for her to tell her moth­ start as low as $59.95.) er, whom she expected to say, "I told you so." But her mother (who had ~line phones married Arthur M. Goodwin when Betty was 21) surprised her. "She just from the Bell System said, 'Come home to us ... you're per­ tTr,ademark of Arnencan T~lecommunications Corporation •rrademark of Arn

78 M CCALL •s. MAY 1976 WALNUTS TAKE THE CAKE continued from page 103 For the glace royale. (This is easiest to make in a small bowl with a portable electric mixer.) Start beating the egg ThereS a little Eve white, lemon juice and a cup of con­ fectioners' sugar, beating in more until you have a thick white paste. Beat in woman. a teaspoon of flavoring; then continue in every beating several minutes, until frosting is thick, smooth, and stands in peaks­ you may need to beat in a little more sugar if frosting does not thicken enough, but do not do so until you have worked the mixture several min­ TAURUS Apri/21-May 20 utes and given the egg white and lemon Candice Bergen, Henry Fonda and Glen­ time to do their job of stiffening. da Jackson are your star-mates. Your Note: If you are not using it imme­ symbol is the Bull, epitome of strength, diately, or have leftovers, scoop into a solidity and stubbornness, but you are jar, lay four thicknesses of damp paper ruled by Venus, goddess of love. If love towels on top and cover airtight. and marriage are your goals, consider a Frosting the cake. Spread a thin lay­ er of frosting over the glaze on top .of Pisces, Cancer, Virgo or Capricorn. No the cake. If you wish to make decora­ money problems; no health problems if tions or write mes5ages, mix a little you stick to your diet. melted chocolate into about an equal GEMINI May 21-June 20 amount of frosting; or use drops of If you live alone and hate it, this month, food coloring, and squeeze the colored frosting through a paper decorating with its varied social doings, is made for cone. you-just try and be where the action is. Decorated cake will keep nicely for CANCER June 21-July 21 several days under refrigeration, cov­ Invite or visit elderly relatives (including ered with an upside-down bowl. • parents) that you may have been neglect­ ing. Their joy will be yours, too. BETTY FORD TALKS ABOUT LEO July 22-August 21 HER MOTHER A distinguished job with a so-so salary continued from page 78 may be offered you. How will prestige­ too. Mrs. Bloomer had discussed with conscious Leos react? Ponder it! her daughter "what a wife's duties were" and admonished her "to always VIRGO August 22-September 21 be faithful" to her husband. "She was A business trip could result in a pleasant a woman who was always dedicated to friendship, which could result in some­ her husband, who always put him first, thing much more than that. Interested? as far as feelings were concerned. These things she explained to me and tried LIBRA September 22- October 22 to instill in me, and I hope that I have Money could be a problem this month, followed that course," Betty Ford said. but don't let it interfere with your sum­ Recently, she told an interviewer that mer vacation. Plan it now! "the role of the politician's wife, in my mind, is to be a very understanding SCORPIO October 23-November 21 woman who stands behind her husband No money, health or family problems. and supports him in every way she pos­ W-e-1-1, maybe a bit of in-law tension. sibly can." She seems to have been Pretend it isn't there; maybe it won't be. raised for the role. "You know," she said, "my mother SAGITfARIUS was a very strong woman. I wanted November 22-December 20 to be as strong as she was." Betty No travel. Little romance. Finances and Ford's very high expectations for her· health sound, as usual. So what's new? self, her yearning to be as strong, sup­ Politics! You're made for it. Wait and see! portive, kind and giving, as perfect as her mother, took its toll a few years ago, CAPRICORN December 21-January 19 when, as she put it, she "lost her sense For Goat people, the past is often more of self~worth." She bad been minister­ alive than the present. Do enjoy the Now ing, often singlehandedly, to the chil­ this month. It will be the Past all too soon! dren, supporting her husband's career, but neglecting to nurture herself. Final­ AQUARIUS January 20-February 18 ly, after visits to a psychiatrist, she be­ Employers may welcome your suggestions gan to think more of her own needs as a this month-if you don't include politics! person apart from her function as a PISCES February 19-March 20 wife and mother. Then, of course, she found herself in a challenging new job, A very important friendship may be and many, many people became inter­ threatened this month. Be supportive and ested in her thoughts and feelings. don't lose your Piscean optimism. When I asked that afternoon at the ARIES March 21-April20 White House how she felt she differed Has your hobby real financial dimensions? from her mother, it was heartenin~ to hear her answer, "I don't think I differ If experts say so, and your banker gives a great deal from her, as a matter of the green light, GO! fact." • 105 104 MCCALL'S, MAY 19711

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