while i always treasured my time dedicated to the martha graham dance company, where i lived for 2.5 years in new york, my dance with the wonderful fred astaire is the one i will remember fondly. it proves that plans to not always go smoothly, even if you are a first lady. fred astaire was a guest at a state dinner. like every other american woman who was ever seen a movie, i was dying to dance with them. as a trained dancer, i knew i could keep up. after dinner, the guests were dancing to the music of the marine corps band. i got up my nerve and i marched up to him and i asked him to join me on the dance floor. he was very charming, and explained that he really wasn't much of a ballroom dancer. he only danced to carefully choreographed numbers. i think he was trying to tell me, i won't dance, don't ask me. i did not take the hint. [laughter] i coaxed him out on the dance floor and we started, never missing a step. my ego was busting at the seams. my husband approached. he explained that our guest of honor was leaving. i know my husband has seen all the same movies that i have. appar

she dreamed of becoming a professional dancer and she studied under martha graham. she earned a spot in graham's dance troop, but her mother pressured her to leave the group and new york in 1941. she got a job back home in grand rapids. performed in her own dance troop, married and divorced her first husband, and then met a young lawyer named gerald ford. they married in 1948 just weeks before ford was elected to his first term in congress. ford rose to be republican house minority leader while she stayed in the background and raised their four children. just as they were ready to retire, an accident of history put them in the white house. in 1973, vice president agnu resigned and gerald ford was named to replace him. when president nixon also resigned less than a year later, gerald ford became the 38th president of the united states. the new first lady was not intimidated by the public spotlight. she was vocal about women's issues. she supported the supreme court's ruling on row versus wade which made abortion legal and supported the equal rights amendment. she ope

she spent time in new york city as a student of modern dance pioneer martha graham.eled and then married, twice. the second time to a young lawyer just entering politics. 28 years were spent living in washington as congressman gerald ford's wife, raising their four children. >> so help me god. >> congratulations mr. president. >> just weeks after her husband was sworn in as the 38th president of the united states in the wake of the water gate scandal, the new first lady found out she had breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. >> it came as a terrible shock, of course, to our family, and to me. breast cancer has never entered my mind. >> at a time when cancer was spoken of, betty ford was credited with saving thousands of lives. >> i would always think when i go down those stairs with my husband, they are probably wondering, now which side did she say it was? >> in the 2 1/2 years she spent as first lady, she was candid about her opinions and didn't shrink from controversy. mrs. ford favored the equal rights amendment and admitted she would probably try marijuana i

of course, there was the other side of it: seeing the work of martha graham. and i didn't know much about modern dance, but suddenly these beautiful gods and goddesses who, because of their proximity to each other, could talk about sexual tension. they could talk about things like punishment, retribution. they could talk about honor. they could talk about death. and those things-- i was wondering, how was this happening? and then my own body began to identify. and i would love to just run and jump. i said that i began to dance because i wanted to fly. so i suppose dance was a way of saying to me, "come out; be free; be free." now, there came a time when i realized that dance had an incredible history, and that dance had been used by powerful people. after all, classical ballet was really sort of developed in the courts in france. and i thought, "what is my relationship to that?" so by asking those things to come into my body, those organizations and all, i was participating in something, but i could also break rules. once i understood that-- what turnout meant

up dreaming of becoming a professional dancer and after high school moved east to study under martha grahamhigh priestess of modern dance. she earned a spot in graham's auxiliary dance troupe but her mother pressured her to leave the group, and new york, in 1941. she got a job back home in grand rapids, performed in her own dance troupe, married and divorced her first husband and then met a young lawyer named gerald ford. they married in 1948, just weeks before ford was elected to his first term in congress. ford rose to be republican house minority leader, while she stayed in the background and raised their four children. just as they were ready to retire, an accident of history put them in the white house. in 1973, vice president spiro agnew resigned in disgrace, and gerald ford was named to replace him. when president nixon also resigned less than a year later, gerald ford became the 38th president of the united states. the new first lady was not intimidated by the public spotlight. >> i told my husband, "if we have to go to the white house, ok, i will go, but i'm going as myself, and it

at that time, that was the wife of the vice president of united states and she danced with martha grahamance company and performed in carnegie hall. she was a leader in the fight for women's rights and she had come to georgia with the michigan art train. jimmy was governor and we invited betty to stay at the governor's. i was nervous. she was the most distinguished guest we have ever at but when she arrived, she was so warm and friendly that she immediately put me at ease and we had a good time together. of course, i did not tell her than that my husband was thinking of running for president. [laughter] the next time i met that he was at the white house shortly after the 1976 election. it might have been a very awkward moment. i know from personal experience but it was a difficult time for us. she was just betty. , as grateful as always. as i assumed the responsibility to firstly, i had an excellent role model and a tough act to follow. betty broke new ground in speaking out on women's issues, her public disclosure of her own battle with best cancer lifted the veil of secrecy from this t

dreamed of becoming a professional dancer and after high school she moved east to study under martha graham, the high priestess of modern dance. she earned a spot in the auxiliary dance troupe but her mother pressured her to leave the troupe in 1941. she performed in her own dance troupe, married and divorced and then met a young man named gerald ford, they married in 1948, weeks before ford was elected to his first term in congress. through the 1950s and '60s, they were a traditional and very effective washington couple. ford rose to be republican house minority leader, while she stayed in the background, and raised their four children. just as they were ready to retire, an accident of history put them in the white house. in 1973, vice president spi spiro agnew resigned in disgrace and gerald ford was named to replace him. when president nixon also resigned less than a year later, gerald ford became the 38th president of the united states. the new first lady was not intimidated by the public spotlight. >> i told my husband, if we have to go to the white house, okay, i will go, but i'm goin

her passion for dance brought her to study in vermont where she met martha graham and joined her dance company. >> i always treasured my time dedicated to the graham dance company who i was with for 2 1/2 years in new york. >> after a brief flirt with modeling betty returned to michigan in 1941 and worked at a local department store. after an unsuccessful marriage to william warren she met the war veteran who would change her life, gerald ford. they were married october 15th, 1948. two weeks after walking down the aisle, gerald was elected to his first term in congress. beginning the fords' road to the white house. her outspokenness in trying circumstances endeared her to the nation. one month after her husband took office, betty was diagnosed with breast cancer. >> got hundreds of thousands of women to their doctors and to clinics for breast exams. >> her candidness was not limited to her personal life. she actively supported controversial issues, including the passage of the equal rights amendment and freedom of choice. >> she was on the phones working the state legislatures and ever

had been raised in michigan, spent time in new york city as a student of modern dance pioneer martha grahamd and then married twice the second time to a young lawyer just entering politics. 28 years were spent living in washington as congressman gerald ford's wife raising their foyer children. >> so help me god. >> congratulations, mr. president. >> reporter: just weeks after her husband was sworn in as the 38th president of the united states, in the wake of the watergate scandal, the new first lady found out she had breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. >> it came as a terrible shock, of course, to our family and to me. breast cancer had never entered my mind. >> reporter: at a time when cancer was spoken of in whispers, betty ford's forthright discussion of the subject was credited with saving thousands of lives. >> i would always think, well, when i did down those stairs, my husband is probably wondering, now which side did she say it was? >> reporter: in the 2.5 years she spent as first lady, she was candid about her opinions and didn't shrink from controversy. mrs. ford favored the

at that time, she was the wife of the vice president of united states and she danced with martha grahamny and performed in carnegie hall. she was a leader in the fight for women's rights and she had come to georgia with the michigan art train. jimmy was governor and we invited betty to stay at the governor's mansion. i was nervous. she was the most distinguished guest we had ever had but when she arrived, she was so warm and friendly that she immediately put me at ease and we had a good time together. of course, i did not tell her than that my husband was thinking of running for president. [laughter] the next time i met betty was at the white house shortly after the 1976 election. it might have been a very awkward moment, i know from personal experience, but it was a difficult time for us. she was just betty, as grateful as always. as i assumed the responsibility to first lady, i had an excellent role model and a tough act to follow. betty broke new ground in speaking out on women's issues, her public disclosure of her own battle with breast cancer lifted the veil of secrecy from this t

while i always treasured my time dedicated to the martha graham dance company, where i lived for 2.5 years in new york, my dance with the wonderful fred astaire is the one i will remember fondly. it proves that plans to not always go smoothly, even if you are a first lady. fred astaire was a guest at a state dinner. like every other american woman who was ever seen a movie, i was dying to dance with them. as a trained dancer, i knew i could keep up. after dinner, the guests were dancing to the music of the marine corps band. i got up my nerve and i marched and i asked him to join me on the dance floor. he was very charming, and explained that he really wasn't much of a ballroom dancer. he only danced to carefully choreographed numbers. i think he was trying to tell me, i won't dance, don't ask me. i did not take the hand. -- hint. i coaxed him out on the dance floor and we started, never missing a step. my ego was busting at the seams. .y husband approached grea he explained that our guest of honor was leaving. i know my husband has seen all the same movies that i have. apparently, h

martha: let's bring in arizona senator and minority whip jon kyl who was in on the earlier negotiations. always good to have you with us. good morning, sir. you know, lindsey grahamas very interesting when he was talking to gretta. i'm curious what your thoughts are on this. he we need to put something in this deal. it has to say that contingent upon it is addressing the balanced budget amendment and taking it to the states and seeing if the states would indeed agree to some kind of balanced budget amendment. as part of this deal. what say you, sir? >> my colleague lindsey graham is always interesting and i don't equitable with his desire to get a balanced budget amendment passed and the need for the american people to express their will to members of congress about it. they overwhelmingly support a balanced budget amendment. my problem is my democratic colleagues in the house of representatives say no to a balanced budget amendment and we have a deadline approaching of tuesday. so i'm not sure how realistic it is to demands our democratic colleagues that they change their position on a balanced budget amendment. it may take a while for american public opinion to