By Leah S. Dunaief
Publisher
Frankly, we are concerned. The tariffs on Mexican and Chinese goods are worrisome. But especially for the print journalism industry, the one on Canadian imports could be deadly.
We get much of our newsprint, on which we send you the local news, from Canada.
We have already endured a significant increase in printing costs because our old printer closed shop and new printers, with whom we have no seniority, are considerably more expensive. So we have not been our happy selves.
That is until Tuesday evening, when I had the good fortune to see a documentary film called “Geraldine Ferraro: Paving the Way” at the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook.
Now Geraldine Ferraro was the first female to be a Vice President nominee on a major national party Presidential ticket. She ran with Walter Mondale in 1984 against Ronald Reagan, as the Democratic candidates for the top offices in the land, and while they lost, she was an inspirational leader.
She inspired women to run for political office. She also inspired men and women to believe their dreams were achievable. She was a true trailblazer.
Her story is told by her older daughter, Donna Zaccaro, a filmmaker in her own right, and Andrew Morreale, talented editor. It was produced in 2011, the year Geraldine Ferraro died. Before reaching that pinnacle, Ferraro’s life began with a hardscrabble childhood after her father died when she was 8. Encouraged by her mother, she went on to become a lawyer, then District Attorney in Queens, followed by election to Congress, to her eventual nomination for Vice President.
She changed the way people thought of the role of women in American politics at a time when Women’s Liberation was beginning to roar.
It is a moving tribute by not only her daughter, but also commentary by leading political figures. They included President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, Vice President Walter Mondale, President Bill Clinton, Secretary Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Senator Barbara Mikulski, Senator Olympia Snowe, Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi, ABC reporter Cokie Roberts, former Wall Street Journal reporter Al Hunt, Republican campaign consultant Ed Rollins, and Eleanor Smeal, President Feminist Majority Foundation. The list reads like a Who’s Who of political operatives of that era.
Geraldine Ferraro was the keynote speaker at the 1985 New York Press Association Convention, and we got to know her a bit then. We marveled at her ability to connect to each person. This was the 40th anniversary of her run for vice president, and her struggle for women’s rights is as pertinent now as it was then.
Geraldine Ferraro: Paving the Way is a feature-length documentary about the life of the trailblazing woman who made history in 1984 as the first female Vice Presidential nominee on a major national party Presidential ticket.
