The Untold Story of Ronald Reagan’s ‘Slimy’ Team That Worked to Smear Geraldine Ferraro

With so many Democratic women running for office in a year where Republicans are readying a scorched-earth campaign to retain power, it’s instructive to look back at what Democrat Geraldine Ferraro faced when she ran for vice president in 1984 as the first woman named to a major political party’s ticket. Ronald Reagan’s team, while outwardly expressing confidence about his reelection, feared that Ferraro, a congresswoman from Queens and the daughter of Italian immigrants, could give Walter Mondale the boost he needed to overtake the aging president. Spurred on by first lady Nancy Reagan, the campaign went to extraordinary lengths to discredit Ferraro, some of which are only now coming to light.