Race, Don't Walk

The “Betty Ford blip”, as it is known, was among the first women of national prominence to be open about her breast cancer. Just weeks after she became the First Lady she underwent a mastectomy. “There had been so much cover-up during Watergate that we wanted to be sure there would be no cover-up in the Ford administration,” she quipped when asked about her forthrightness.

“When other women have this same operation, it doesn’t make any headlines,” she told Time. “But the fact that I was the wife of the President put it in headlines and brought before the public this particular experience I was going through. It made a lot of women realize that it could happen to them. I’m sure I’ve saved at least one person — maybe more.” Thank you Betty Ford.

Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts detailed her painful struggle at a former Susan G. Komen event and continues to be open about the disease, as did NBC’s Andrea Mitchell.