Ferraro Not The First
To The Editor:

First, congratulations on your 25th anniversary! A wonderful milestone.

Now, a small but very important correction:

Your feature article "Then And Now" (June 27, 2007) describes Geraldine Ferraro as "the first woman to run for vice president of the United States".

This is not accurate. Ms. Ferraro was the first woman nominated for vice president by the Democrats or Republicans, a significant milestone to be sure. But there were female candidates on the U.S. ballot for both president and vice president long before her 1984 run, and there have been several after her as well.

The first woman to run for vice president in America was Marietta Lizzie Bell Stow of the Equal Rights party, in 1884--a full century before Ms. Ferraro's celebrated run. There were several female presidential candidates, and almost two dozen female vice presidential campaigns, on U.S. ballots prior to Ms. Ferraro's 1984 race.

Ms. Ferraro was not even the first woman in U.S. history to get an Electoral College vote. That honor went to the first Libertarian Party vice-presidential candidate, Tonie Nathan, who received one Electoral College vote in 1972.

This is no trivial point. Third parties have played a major part in introducing new ideas and new concepts into the American political debate. The idea of women being worthy of voting, and of playing major roles in American politics, are just two of them.

Ignoring the pioneering races of the many female candidates for president and vice-president who preceeded Ms. Ferraro just perpetrates the myth that there are only two parties in America. And we all know that Queens celebrates achievement and diversity! So I hope you'll share this with your readers.

Congratulations again on your anniversary!
Sincerely,
James W. Harris
Rydal, Georgia