It was a cool autumn day in 1984 in Arlington, Texas. I was in my final year of engineering school, studying for an exam in my usual niche on the fifth floor of the University of Texas Library. There were few windows overlooking the plaza, so when the time came, I had to stake out a place in the windowed stairwell a few floors down. This afforded me the perfect view. But, would I be able to hear from this vantage point? I decided that if I couldn’t, I would grab my books and run down the stairs and outside, to listen. This was historic, after all. The ultimate glass ceiling had been broken in many other countries around the world, but embarrassingly, not in our own. Margaret Thatcher was the most notable female world leader at the time and was solidly on board with Ronald Reagan’s brand of foreign policy.

But Geraldine Ferraro was of a decidedly different ilk. A Democratic New York girl and daughter of working-class parents of Italian descent, Walter Mondale’s vice presidential running mate in 1984 campaigned on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the absurdity of the fantastical Reagan “Star Wars” initiative. She voiced concern over the misguided Reagan-Bush Doctrine and sending American troops south of the border to chase the socialist Bogeyman– a doctrine which secretly propped up a drug-lord dictator in Panama, and mounted a covert gun-running attempt to overthrow a democratically-elected government in Nicaragua.

Ferraro was an unabashed proponent of equal rights and social justice. And she was a strong supporter of a woman’s right to choose. These are some of the subjects I hoped to hear in her speech that day, and I felt honored that she chose our campus, she being the first-ever woman vice-presidential candidate from a major political party in our nation’s history.

But I heard practically none of these things from Geraldine Ferraro that day, in what had to be for her, the campaign stop from Hell. From my perch in the library stairwell, alternately watching the spectacle and pressing my ear to the glass, I could see the boisterous Reagan-Bush supporters forming a tight lock around the stage, several people deep, waving their signs and shouting. I saw large placards with photographs of mutilated fetuses, comparing Ferraro to Adolf Hitler, for her support of a woman’s right to choose. I saw no respect for the democratic process, hardly a moment without someone from the opposition angrily shouting her down, and heard barely a sentence that was not interrupted by loud and hateful chants of “Baby Killer” and the like.  

This was North-Central Texas, the Buckle of the Bible Belt.  This was Dallas-Fort Worth, ground zero for military weapons manufacturers, in the same plaza where they often displayed their latest war toys, full scale. How dare a woman run for vice-president, let-alone a liberal one from New York. To say that she was not welcome in the Lone Star state would be an understatement. It was a figurative lynching and it was ugly.

As it made the national evening news, I felt ashamed of our school, of our city, and of our state that day. I have never before or since seen anyone treated with such disrespect and totally shut out of free speech in a campaign. To her credit, the classy Ferraro showed grace, charm and wit throughout the ordeal. Amazingly, she kept her humanity and her composure, and carried on the best she could over the raucous screaming crowd. In a state that boasts the country’s worst record in government-sanctioned executions of prisoners, the so-called “right to life” groups showed their true colors that day. And those colors were dark. The irony was no-doubt lost on the angry crusaders.

Geraldine Ferraro helped blaze the trail for American women in politics, and today even Laura Bush is on record supporting a woman’s right to choose. But when it comes to support of women’s reproductive rights from within the political machine, courage is still unfortunately too rare, especially on the Right. Just last week, Congress voted to defund Planned Parenthood, abortion being a Republican high-priority issue along with God, Guns and Gays. In a transparent attempt to appease the extreme right-wing fringes, the majority party’s vote to cripple Planned Parenthood, if passed by the Senate, would mean a drastic reduction in the availability of birth control to students and low-income women, leading to more, not fewer abortions. Fewer low-cost screenings would mean an even higher burden on taxpayers and the healthcare system. Was this irony lost on these educated right-wing crusaders in Congress? Probably not. Pandering is King in Washington, D.C., as always.

Geraldine Ferraro died on Saturday at the age of 75.