A Woman for Vice President? Gerald Ford’s 1976 Election Campaign

While precluded from direct involvement in political activity by his status as a civil servant, Amb. Quinn recalls how he informally suggested to a member of President Ford’s political staff that the president should consider choosing a woman, Amb. Anne Armstrong, as his running mate. This was an almost unheard of concept at the time. He said would pass on Amb. Quinn’s idea. While Ford chose Senator Bob Dole as his running mate, years later an article by Washington Post columnist George Will revealed that Anne Armstrong had, in fact, come close to being selected for the number two slot.