Like its commentary on the appointment of Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court, featured on the Almanac entry of July 7, The Nation thought that Fritz Mondale’s nomination of Ferraro as the vice-presidential candidate of the Democratic Party represented a form of affirmative action. But it was supportive of her candidacy, not least because women suffered disproportionately at the hands of Reagan’s free-market philosophy. The magazine’s editorial, “Gerry in the Gap” (August 18, 1984), said:
The nomination of Geraldine Ferraro as the Democrats’ Vice-Presidential candidate has an importance that transcends symbolic politics or cynical gesture, even if it contains those elements as well. Many women, including those on the left, are moved by Ferraro’s selection…. But the feminist content of Ferraro’s candidacy is more than a matter of identification and pride. Because Antonetta Ferraro, a garment worker, struggled as a single parent to support her children, Geraldine Ferraro has fought for legislation to achieve economic equality for women throughout her terms in Congress….
The Democrats’ choice of Ferraro recognizes years of organizing by Democratic women leaders and feminist groups. It also recognizes the potential women’s vote. Women have been badly hurt by the Reagan Administration’s policies, from poor women denied public assistance to office workers in the public sector whose jobs have been eliminated. In order to win, the Democrats will have to capture the “gender gap” vote—the women who oppose the Administration on foreign policy, military spending, arms control and women’s rights. They will also have to appeal to women for whom the gender gap has more to do with economics than ideology. Whether poor women and black women will respond to Ferraro’s presence on the ticket remains to be seen. In the first weeks of the campaign, Ferraro has participated in the Democrats’ celebration of family and flag, and as Mondale’s running mate she stands on the conservative platform she helped shape. But Antonetta Ferraro’s daughter is not an American Margaret Thatcher or a female Tip O’Neill. Her prominent role in a Mondale Administration would secure more attention for the feminist agenda—not just the mightily assaulted freedom of choice but equal pay, funding for day-care centers, paid maternity leaves, restoration of cuts in public assistance and a renewed Justice Department attack on sexual discrimination in employment and other areas. Fritz Mondale may wind up with more than he bargained for.
To mark The Nation’s 150th anniversary, every morning this year The Almanac will highlight something that happened that day in history and how The Nation covered it. Get The Almanac every day (or every week) by signing up to the e-mail newsletter.
