Geraldine Ferraro

Geraldine Ferraro (1935- ) American politician. Geraldine Anne Ferraro was born on August 26, 1935, in Newburgh, New York. She earned degrees at Marymount Manhattan College and Fordham University Law School. After practicing law intermittently for 14 years, she was (1974-78) an assistant district attorney in Queens, New York. In 1978 she won election to the U.S. House of Representatives from a conservative Queens district. Reelected in 1980 and 1982 by ever-increasing margins, Ferraro quickly gained influence within the Democratic party, and she won wide public attention in 1984 as head of the party's platform committee. Shortly before the Democratic national convention in July she was named by Walter F. Mondale as his choice for the vice-presidency. When Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination, she became the first female vice-presidential nominee of a major U.S. party. In November the Democratic slate was defeated, and Ferraro returned to private life. In 1992 she lost her bid to become U.S. senator from New York.