Projo Politics Blog

When Geraldine Ferraro, who 24 years ago was the first woman to run on a national presidential ticket, spoke at Bryant University last Thursday, she spoke fondly of her ties to Rhode Island.

Two of her daughters graduated from Brown University, she recalled to the crowd of about 1,000 women at Bryant annual Women’s Summit event for female leaders in business, academia, education, media and the law.

“One of them loved it so much she went to RISD to get a little more education,” Ferraro said. “Then she went out and made, like, $8 an hour.”

Ferraro, who was Democrat Walter Mondale’s running mate in 1984, said she had great affection for former Sen. Claiborne Pell. “He was a giant in the U.S. Senate,” said Ferraro, who also recalled his role in establishing the college student-aid program that bears his name.

“He could have sat back and lived his life as a patrician,” Ferraro said. “But he went out and made a difference.”

She also spoke of her affection for the late U.S. House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill of Massachusetts. “I Loved Tip,” said Ferraro. “He was one of the very few people I would go to for advice.”

Ferraro also cited an ethnic reason for liking Rhode Island. ``I happen to like a place where there are so many Italians.”

Yet in an interview with Political Scene before her speech, Ferraro lamented that there was still so much stereotyping of Italian-Americans in popular culture. “It was harder to run [for vice president] as an Italian-American than as a woman.” she said.

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