The White House Hosts Betty Ford Postal Stamp Reveal
Jill Biden pays tribute to the former first lady’s advocacy and resilience in ceremony alongside Susan Ford Bales and other family members.
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East Wing Magazine
March 6, 2024 — Susan Ford Bales was moved to tears Wednesday in a White House ceremony hosted by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, which unveiled a first-class postal stamp featuring a portrait of her mother, former First Lady Betty Ford.
The Forever stamp features a portrait of the former first lady and honors Ford who broke societal barriers when she disclosed to the public while serving in the White House her breast cancer diagnosis. Later, post-White House, she publicly shared her struggle with substance use disorder.
An estimated 18 million Betty Ford U.S. postage stamps will be released following the "first-day-of-issue" dedication ceremony held by the U.S. Postal Service in collaboration with the Betty Ford Center on Friday at Eisenhower Health in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Bales, a Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Trustee joined Biden in speaking at the White House unveiling, along with U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy; and Hazelden Betty Ford President and CEO Joseph Lee, MD.
Ford’s advocacy prompted a culture shift that destigmatized addiction recovery and breast cancer awareness. Ford was also recognized during the White House ceremony for being outspoken in her support for equal rights for women.
“Return with me now to an Autumn afternoon in 1974 to a small room upstairs in the family quarters. That afternoon my exciting life in the White House was shattered,” Bales recounts. “My mother took me aside and whispered four words to me: ‘I have breast cancer.’”
In those days, Bales continues, her mother’s diagnosis was considered grim.
Bales also shared the frank discussion family members had with her mother about the devastating effects that her addiction to prescription pain medicines and alcohol were having on her mother and the family. She bravely entered treatment, Bales says and added that the stigmatizing of people with substance use disorder was incorrectly confused as a moral failing caused solely by personal choice.
“Nevertheless, mom refused to hide,” Bales says.
Biden called Betty Ford’s story “a lesson in the beautiful and sometimes cruel unpredictability of life.” She also said Ford’s journey is a reminder that people are not defined by their worst moments, but by their ability to turn pain and struggle into purpose and salvation.
“Betty gave us hope. Hope that tomorrow is a brighter day. Hope that this too will pass. Hope that even in the depths of despair, the human will is limitless,” Biden says. “As many at the Betty Ford Center would say: ‘If Betty can do it, I can do it.'"
Ford will join other first ladies who have appeared on U.S. stamps, including Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolly Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lady Bird Johnson and Nancy Reagan. President Gerald Ford was honored with a stamp of his own in 2007. The Postal Service has also issued stamps related to the prevention (in 1971 and 2020) and treatment (1981) of addiction, but never recovery.
So, while Mrs. Ford's legacy goes beyond her influential recovery advocacy, many will celebrate her stamp as the nation's first "recovery stamp." The date is also meaningful, as it's in proximity to Mrs. Ford's April 7 sobriety anniversary and April 8 birthday as well as the 75th anniversary of Hazelden Betty Ford's first patient in Minnesota (April 21, 1949), according to Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.
The commemorative stamp was an extraordinary tribute to her mother, Bales says.
“To Mom, the stamp would be a heartwarming reminder of the joys of millions of breast cancer and substance use disorder survivors who have overcome their diseases and individually added to her legacy of candor," she says.
The April 5 dedication ceremony is open to the public (RSVP at usps.com/bettyfordstamp). It will take place at 11 a.m. PT in the Helene Galen Auditorium, located in the Annenberg Health Sciences Building at Eisenhower Health. Eisenhower and the Betty Ford Center, co-founded by Mrs. Ford in 1982, have been neighbors and collaborators for more than four decades.
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First Lady and Educator Jill Biden Makes Appeal Against Gun Violence
March 5, 2024 — First Lady Dr. Jill Biden took a break from giving midterm exams Tuesday afternoon to speak on a more solemn topic: gun violence in the classroom.
This week, the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) welcomed hundreds of PTA leaders and education associates to its 2024 Legislative Conference. Attendees of the three-day summit in Alexandria, Va., worked to tackle key education issues, participated in workshops and heard from speakers such as the first lady.
Nodding to this year’s conference theme, “Share Power for Every Child,” Biden commended PTA leaders for helping elevate the voices of families and educators, “so we can stand together on the common ground we share—our love for our children, the ones we teach and the ones we raise.”
Biden, who also teaches at Northern Virginia Community College, then went on to acknowledge the lives of students’ lost to gun violence. She said even the “unfathomable” numbers can’t convey the real grief and trauma.
“As a teacher, I’ve imagined the same in my own classroom more times than I can count. At the start of each semester,” Biden says. “The first day, I explain to my students what to do if the worst happens. We all feel the ripple effects. We’ve all lost a piece of ourselves, our scrutiny, our hope, our trust in one another.”
In 2024, there already have been 54 school shooting incidents and 54 victims, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. The school shootings tracked include when a gun is brandished, is fired, or a bullet hits school property for any reason, regardless of the number of victims, time, or day of the week, according to the organization’s website.
Biden highlighted some of the work happening within the White House to tackle the issue, such as the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and investments in mental health programs, community violence prevention and school security. She also noted changes that still need to happen, such as universal background checks.
Biden reminded PTA leaders of their own importance within their communities.
“That’s why it’s so important that you are stepping forward,” Biden says. “Because we have the power to demand more for our kids and our educators. And the Biden-Harris administration is proud to work alongside you. You are the voices that can change this conversation. You are the people who will hold our leaders accountable. You are the movement that will end these ripples of gun violence.”
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March 4, 2024 — The U.S. State Department Monday awarded 12 women from around the world with the annual International Women of Courage Award, an annual event hosted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
“You’ve spoken out for yourselves – and for others in the face of fear and risk, and those who have tried to steal your voices away,” Biden says.
The awards are presented to women who have demonstrated “courage, strength and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equity and equality, and the empowerment of women and girls,” according to the State Department.
Since the award was created 18 years ago, more than 190 women from 90 countries have been recognized for their efforts, according to the State Department. This year’s recipients hail from the following countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burma, Cuba, Ecuador, The Gambia, Iran, Japan, Morocco and Uganda.
“There is power in a community of women – in this community. Power when our voices come together,” Biden says. “To hold each other up, even when we want to crumble, to heal one another, to share that inner strength. To create lasting change.”
Additionally, nine women from Nicaragua were awarded with the 2024 Madeleine Albright Honorary Group IWOC Award. The women were among 222 political prisoners released in February 2023, and “represent a wide swath of civil society,” the State Department says.
“Together, we will keep chipping away at the quiet that haunts our world,” Biden says. “And while there may be those who wish for us to fall silent—we will never fall. Because the steepness of the struggle will not stop our ascent.”
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