- Kitty Dukakis
Katharine Dickson Dukakis (born
December 26 ,1936 ), known as Kitty Dukakis, is the wife of formerMassachusetts governor and U.S. presidential candidateMichael Dukakis .Biography
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she received her B.A. from
Lesley College in 1963 and her M.A. fromBoston University School of Communication in 1982. Mrs. Dukakis' father was Harry Ellis Dickson, First Violin in theBoston Symphony Orchestra for 49 years and later Associated Conductor for theBoston Pops [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E4DC1139F931A35757C0A9659C8B63&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Organizations/B/Boston%20Symphony%20Orchestra NY Times Harry Ellis Dickson obituary, April 2, 2003] ] .During the 1988 presidential election, a number of false rumors were reported in the media about the Dukakises, including the claim by
Idaho Republican SenatorSteve Symms that Katharine Dukakis had burned anAmerican flag to protest theVietnam War . Republican strategistLee Atwater was accused of having initiated these rumors. [Editors (August 26, 1988) "Story on Mrs. Dukakis Is Denied by Campaign." "New York Times".]In 1989, Dukakis was briefly hospitalized after drinking
rubbing alcohol . [cite news
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE2DA1E31F932A25752C1A96F948260
title=Kitty Dukakis Recovering
author=Associated Press
date=November 11 1989
publisher=The New York Times
accessdate=2007-10-11] In 1991, Dukakis published her memoir, "Now You Know", in which she candidly discussed her ongoing battle withalcoholism . The book also discussed the pressures of being a political wife, and her disappointment over her husband's defeat in the 1988 election. In 2006, she revealed having undergoneelectroconvulsive therapy treatment beginning in 2001 in order to treatmajor depression , publishing her experiences in the book "Shock".In 2007, the
Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts opened a center for addiction treatment named after Dukakis. [cite web
url=http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2007/kitty-dukakis-treatment.html
title=Kitty Dukakis Treatment Center to Open
date=September 21 2007
publisher=Boston University School of Public Health
accessdate=2007-10-11]In June 2008,
Jason Chaffetz defeated U.S. RepresentativeChris Cannon in the Republican primary forUtah's 3rd congressional district . [cite web
url=http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000002904749&cpage=1
title=Utah GOP Rep. Cannon Defeated in Primary
date=June 25 2008
publisher=CQ Politics
accessdate=2008-06-05] Chaffetz's father was briefly married to Kitty Dukakis and so Jason has an older half brother,John Dukakis . [Jerry Crowe, [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/59892465.html?dids=59892465:59892465&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Sep+16%2C+1988&author=Jerry+Crowe&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=College+Football+At+BYU%2C+Democrat+Led+Early+but+Fell+Behind&pqatl=google "College Football At BYU, Democrat Led Early but Fell Behind"] , "Los Angeles Times", September 16, 1988]Dukakis is Jewish, and had her husband been elected president, she would have become the nation's first Jewish First Lady. [cite web
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEED91539F932A1575AC0A96E948260
title=Campaign Trail; Kitty Dukakis Plans A Quiet Holy Day
date=September 21 1988
publisher=The New York Times
accessdate=2008-07-12]Published works
*
*Public service
Dukakis has served on the
President's Commission on the Holocaust , on theU.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, on the board of theRefugee Policy Center , and on the Task Force on Cambodian Children.References
External links
* [http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/public_papers.php?id=1350&year=1989&month=12] A short profile of her education and career
* [http://www.newsweek.com/id/45609] An article in which she discusses her treatment with electroconvulsive therapy for depression
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