Anne Armstrong, GOP friend of Cheney, dies

Remember that shooting incident in 2006 when Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a fellow hunter? Hit in the face, neck and chest with birdshot, Harry Whittington, a longtime Republican activist, was hospitalized for several days.

Well, the incident took place on the South Texas ranch of a longtime Republican stalwart Anne Armstrong, who in 1976 became the first woman to serve as U.S. ambassador to Great Britain. During her swearing-in, President Ford confessed that his wife, Betty, was "always needling me" to appoint women to top posts. Armstrong replied, "I have the feeling Abigail Adams would have been just as excited as Betty Ford and I" about the selection.

Less well-known is that Ford, after dumping Nelson Rockefeller as vice president in 1976, briefly considered naming Armstrong, which would have made her the first female candidate on a major party ticket for that office. Instead Ford tapped Robert Dole of Kansas. The Ford-Dole ticket lost to Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale that year, and four years later Mondale asked Rep. Geraldine Ferraro of New York to be his runningmate in a race they lost to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Armstrong, who had battled cancer, died today at the age of 80, her office announced. RIP.

-- Johanna Neuman

Comments

[Bryan Vaughan]

Just like to LA Times to have mention and bring up the silly Cheney. You guys would go alot further in your credibility if you would cut the crap and report the news UNBIASED!