1. 1984: Geraldine Ferraro named vice presidential candidate
Photo: mprnews
Photo: alchetron
During the 1984 presidential campaign the leading Democratic candidate, Walter Mondale, announced on this day that he had selected Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. This would be the first time that a female had ran on a major party national ticket. Ferraro was the U.S. Representative for New York that was commonly known for her advocacy of women’s rights to congress. It was believed that adding her would not only increase the potential women’s vote, but because she was the daughter of an Italian immigrant, she would also attract more ethnic voters. However, the Mondale-Ferraro ticket didn’t stand a chance against the incumbent President Ronald Reagan and his Vice President, George Bush. The Reagan-Bush ticket would go on to win by the greatest landslide for the Republican party in U.S. History. They won every state with exception of Mondale’s home state of Minnesota.
