Call letters	KTTV
Station logo
Station slogan	''L.A.'s #1 Choice for News'' (newscast)''Just You Watch'' (general)
Station branding	Fox 11 (general)Fox 11 News (newscast)
Digital	11 (VHF)
Other chs	(see article)
Affiliations	Fox
Founded	|
Airdate	January 1, 1949
Location	Los Angeles, California
Callsign meaning	Times TeleVision(for its founding owner, the ''Los Angeles Times'')
Owner	Fox Television Stations
Licensee	Fox Television Stations, Inc.
Sister stations	KCOP-TVFox Sports WestPrime Ticket
Former channel numbers	Analog:11 (VHF, 1949–2009)Digital:65 (UHF, 1998–2009)
Former affiliations	CBS (1949–1951)DuMont (1951–1954)Independent (1954–1986)
Effective radiated power	115 kW
Haat	920 m
Facility id	22208
Coordinates
Homepage	www.myfoxla.com }}

KTTV, channel 11, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Los Angeles, California. Serving the vast Los Angeles metropolitan area, KTTV is a sister station to KCOP (channel 13), Los Angeles' MyNetworkTV station. The two stations share studio facilities within the Fox Television Center in West Los Angeles, and KTTV's transmitter is located on Mount Wilson.

In the few areas of the western United States where viewers cannot receive Fox network programs over-the-air, KTTV is available on satellite via DirecTV.

History

KTTV began operations on January 1, 1949, and was operated initially by KTTV, Incorporated, jointly owned by the Times-Mirror Company, publishers of the ''Los Angeles Times'' (51 percent), and CBS (49 percent). As such, KTTV was the original Los Angeles affiliate of the CBS television network. During their partnership, the ''Times'' turned down at least two offers CBS made to purchase KTTV outright. The joint partnership lasted exactly two years, until January 1, 1951, when CBS sold its stake in channel 11 back to Times-Mirror. CBS then moved its programming to newly-acquired KTSL (channel 2, later KNXT and now KCBS-TV). From that point, KTTV carried many of the programs from the DuMont Television Network for the next three years.

In 1954 DuMont moved its affiliation to KHJ-TV (channel 9, now KCAL-TV), and KTTV became an independent television station. During the late 1950s, the station was briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. In 1958, channel 11 became the television home of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team (which had relocated from Brooklyn, New York to Los Angeles that year), and the relationship between KTTV and the Dodgers would last until 1992.

The Times-Mirror Company sold the station to Metromedia in 1963. For many years, KTTV televised the Tournament of Roses Parade, competing with rival KTLA and others, until 1995.

By the 1970s KTTV offered the traditional independent schedule, consisting of children's programs, off-network reruns, sports programming, and movies, along with a 10:00 p.m. newscast. The station, along with KTLA, KCOP, and KHJ-TV were seen on various cable television outlets in the southwestern United States during the 1970s and into the 1980s, most notably in El Paso, Texas.

Australian newspaper publisher Rupert Murdoch and his company, the News Corporation (the controlling owners of the 20th Century Fox film studio), purchased KTTV and the other Metromedia television stations in 1986, and those stations formed the basis for the new Fox television network.

It also added more first-run syndicated shows such as talk shows, court shows, and reality shows. For a while it continued with afternoon cartoons from the network, known as ''Fox Kids'', as well as top rated off-network sitcoms in the evenings.

In Fall 2001, channel 11 dropped the weekday version of ''Fox Kids'' and moved it to its longtime rival and new sister station, KCOP (channel 13). The ''Fox Kids'' weekday block was ended altogether in January 2002. With the lineup left to air Saturday mornings under the name change to ''Fox Box'', then ''4Kids TV'', KTTV brought Fox children's programming back to the lineup. After the dissolution of 4Kids in January 2009, the station now carries the network's ''Weekend Marketplace'' infomercial block and airs the bare minimum of E/I content required by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations.

KTTV also runs reruns of another sitcom, ''I Love Lucy,'' which had premiered months after the station lost its CBS affiliation. Reruns of the sitcom, which was filmed in Hollywood, are still popular among Southern California viewers and have continued to air in the L.A. area endlessly since the series ceased production in 1957, thus making KTTV only the second station in Los Angeles (KCBS-TV was the other) to continue airing the sitcom after it ended almost 50 years ago. The station no longer airs "I Love Lucy" Monday-Friday (instead airing in a two-hour block on KCOP), but KTTV does air the landmark sitcom on weekend afternoons, usually between 4 and 6 p.m.

In 1996, the station's longtime home on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, known as "Metromedia Square" (and later renamed the "Fox Television Center") was vacated. KTTV relocated to new studios a few miles away on South Bundy Drive in West Los Angeles, near the Fox network headquarters (the network's headquarters are on the lot of 20th Century Fox studios). The historic television studio at Metromedia Square, once home to Norman Lear's Tandem Productions and TAT Communications Company, also produced hit programs such as ''The Jeffersons'', ''Mama's Family'', ''Diff'rent Strokes'', ''One Day at a Time'', ''Hello, Larry'', ''Soul Train'', ''Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'', ''Small Wonder'' and the groundbreaking sketch comedy ''In Living Color''. Many of those programs, either in first-run or off-network syndication, aired on KTTV. It was demolished in 2003 to make way for a new high school being built by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Digital television

KTTV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 11, on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States. The station had been broadcasting its pre-transition digital signal over UHF channel 65, but returned to channel 11 for its post-transition operations. KTTV broadcasts in 720p high definition on channel 11.1, since Fox Network programming is broadcast in that particular HD format.

KTTV-TV also has a Mobile DTV feed, labelled "KTTV FOX11 SG", broadcasting at 1.83 Mbit/s on sister station KCOP-TV's digital signal.

News operation

KTTV broadcasts a total of 39½ hours of local news a week (7½ hours on weekdays and one hour on Saturdays and Sundays). KTTV operates a Eurocopter A-Star 350 B-1, titled "SkyFox HD" to cover breaking news. KTTV previously operated two helicopters; one of them (known as "Sky Fox 2") was lost in 2000 after crashing at Van Nuys Airport. It had previously been operated by KTLA. KTTV's 10 p.m. newscasts have been top-rated in that time period for much of the 2000s. However, in the past year, CBS-owned independent KCAL has been #1 since the end of 2010.

For a time during the mid-1980s, KTTV aired an 8 p.m. newscast, and moved its ''10 O'Clock News'' to 11:00 p.m. in order to compete with KABC-TV, KNBC-TV, and KCBS-TV. The format initially was unchanged, but the ''8 O'Clock News'' was dropped and the 11 p.m. newscast was reverted to its 10 p.m. slot shortly after Fox took over. KTTV dropped the morning cartoons for a new morning news show called ''Good Day L.A.'', which premiered in 1993. Though ''Good Day L.A.'' was created in response to KTLA's ''Morning News'' (which premiered two years earlier), it was inspired by sister station WNYW's ''Good Day New York'', which was launched in 1988.

On April 17, 2006, KTTV launched a new look for its newscasts, including new theme music and graphics, as well as a new station logo. Similar in style to the Fox News Channel, this look has been standardized by other Fox owned-and-operated stations. The station also launched a new website based on Fox Television Stations' new ''MyFox'' interface on May 16, 2006; this format became standardized on all Fox-owned station sites by the end of 2006.

On July 14, 2008, KTTV launched a 10 a.m. newscast (its first midday newscast since the mid-1980s), following Good Day L.A. The 30-minute program is co-anchored by morning anchors Tony McEwing and Jean Martirez, with Lisa Breckenridge as a features reporter. KTTV is currently the only station in Los Angeles to have a 10 a.m. newscast. On December 8, 2008, the station also added a noon newscast, also anchored by McEwing, Martirez, Breckenridge, and Maria Quiban.

KTTV and KCOP began producing news in high definition on October 15, 2008, becoming the last network television stations in the region to do so. On December 1, 2008, KCOP reduced its one-hour 11 p.m. newscast to 30 minutes and retitled its program Fox News at 11, marking the end of a KCOP-named newscast. The newscast on channel 13 then became anchored by KTTV's Carlos Amezcua and Christine Devine, as it was considered an extension of KTTV's 10 p.m. newscast.

In 2009, Lauren Sanchez left to become a reporter for the nationally-syndicated entertainment news program ''Extra'', and Maria Quiban was reassigned to weather anchor for the KTTV morning newscasts. On April 23, 2009, Rick Garcia left the station to join KCAL-TV, Channel 9 newscasts at 8:00 and 10:00 p.m., pairing with Pat Harvey. On April 27, 2009, KTTV introduced ''Good Day L.A. Today'', a recap program featuring the best of that day's Good Day LA program, airing weekdays at 12:30 p.m.; that show has now been replaced with ''TMZ on TV''.

On April 12, 2010, the station added a 4:30 a.m. newscast, anchored by Jean Martirez and Rick Dickert, bringing it to seven and a half total hours of local news every weekday. KTTV is one of only two remaining Fox owned-and-operated stations (the other being WFLD in Chicago) without a weeknight early evening newscast; this will change on September 12, 2011 as KTTV will launch an hour-long 5 p.m. newscast called ''Studio 11LA''.

News investigations

Anonymous news report

On July 26, 2007, KTTV Fox 11 News aired a report on Anonymous, calling them a group of "hackers on steroids", "domestic terrorists", and collectively an "Internet hate machine". The report, which became the source for numerous internet memes, featured an unnamed former "hacker" who had fallen out with Anonymous and explained his view of the Anonymous culture. In addition, the report also mentioned "raids" on Habbo, a "national campaign to spoil the new Harry Potter book ending", and threats to "bomb sports stadiums".

Newscasts

;Weekdays

Fox 11 Morning News Early Edition: 4:30-5 a.m.

:Anchor: Tony McEwing & Jean Martirez :Weather & Traffic: Rick Dickert

Fox 11 Morning News: 5-7 a.m.

:Anchors: Tony McEwing & Jean Martirez :Weather: Rick Dickert at (5-6 a.m.) & Maria Quiban at (6-7 a.m.) :Traffic: Rick Dickert :Entertainment: Lisa Breckenridge

Good Day L.A.: 7-10 a.m.

:Anchor: Steve Edwards :Weather: Jillian Reynolds :Entertainment: Dorothy Lucey :Traffic: Rick Dickert :News Update: Tony McEwing

Fox 11 News at 10 am: 10-10:30 a.m.

:Anchors: Tony McEwing & Jean Martirez :Weather: Maria Quiban :Traffic: Rick Dickert :Entertainment: Lisa Breckenridge

Fox 11 News at Noon: 12-12:30 p.m.

:Anchors: Lisa Breckenridge & Maria Quiban

Fox 11 Ten O'Clock News: 10-11 p.m.

:Anchors: Carlos Amezcua & Christine Devine

;Weekends

Fox 11 Ten O'Clock News: 10-11 p.m.

:Anchors: Jeff Michael & Susan Hirasuna :Sports: Liz Habib

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

''The George Putnam News'' (1951–1964)

''Metro News'' (1970s)

''LA 11 News'' (early 1980s)

''Channel 11 News'' (1980s)

''The 10 O'Clock Report'' (1982–1983)

''The 8 O'Clock News'' (1984–1986)

''The 11 O'Clock News'' (1986)

''The 10 O'Clock News'' (1983–1987)

''Fox News'' (1987–1994)

''Fox 11 News'' (1995–present)

Station slogans

''The Southland's Number One Choice for News'' (1998–2006)

''Fox 11 NOW'' (2001–2002; localized version of Fox ad campaign)

''Just You Watch'' (2002–present; general slogan)

''L.A.'s Number One Choice for News'' (2006–present; news slogan)

''So Fox 11'' (2008–present; localized version of Fox ad campaign)

On-air staff

;Anchors

Carlos Amezcua - weeknights at 10 and 11 p.m. (on KCOP)

Christine Devine - weeknights at 10 and 11 p.m. (on KCOP)

Steve Edwards - weekday mornings "Good Day L.A." (7-10 a.m.)

Susan Hirasuna - weekends at 10 and 11 p.m. (on KCOP)

Dorothy Lucey - weekday mornings "Good Day L.A." (7-10 a.m.); also entertainment anchor

Jean Martirez - weekday mornings (4:30-7, 10 a.m. and noon)

Tony McEwing - weekday mornings (5-7, 10 a.m. and noon); also ''Good Day L.A.'' newsreader

Jeff Michael - weekends at 10 and 11 p.m. (on KCOP)

Jillian (Barberie) Reynolds - weekday mornings "Good Day L.A." (7-10 a.m.); also "Good Day" weather anchor

;FOX 11 Weather Team

Rick Dickert (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings (5-6 a.m.); also ''Good Day L.A.'' traffic reporter

Maria Quiban - weather anchor; weekday mornings (6-7, 10-10:30 a.m.) and noon

;Sports team

Liz Habib - sports anchor; nightly at 10 p.m.; also weekday sports reporter

;Reporters

Chris Blatchford - general assignment and investigative reporter

Lisa Breckenridge - morning entertainment reporter

Michael Brownlee - general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor

Bob DeCastro - general assignment reporter

Hal Eisner - general assignment reporter

Cristy Fajardo - general assignment reporter

Christina Gonzalez - general assignment reporter

Gigi Graciette - general assignment reporter

Ed Laskos - general assignment reporter

Rick Lozano - Inland Empire bureau reporter

Doug Luzader - Fox News Washington D.C. bureau reporter

Suzanne Marques - general assignment reporter

Al Naipo - Orange County bureau reporter

Karen Posada - general assignment reporter

Phil Shuman - general assignment and investigative reporter

Gina Silva - special projects reporter

Tricia Takasugi - general assignment reporter

Tony Valdez - general assignment reporter; also "Midday Sunday" host

Jane Yamamoto - general assignment and entertainment reporter

Notable alumni

John Beard - anchor (now with WGRZ in Buffalo)

Hal Fishman (later with KTLA; deceased)

Lisa Joyner (later with KCBS-TV/KCAL-TV)

Antonio Mora - anchor (now with WFOR-TV in Miami)

George Putnam

Mark Thompson - chief meteorologist/local program host (1992–2011)

Rebroadcasters

KTTV is rebroadcast on the following translator stations:

K14AB Morongo Valley

K23BP Daggett

K06IQ Newberry Springs

K49DC Twentynine Palms

K47AE Inyokern

K11ML Ridgecrest

See also

KTTV/KTWV Tower

References

External links

MyFoxLA

Sheriff John

Channel 11: Power-packed from the start Metropolitan News-Enterprise column on early days of KTTV

1954: KTTV dumps Du Mont, KHJ becomes its affiliate "Reminiscing" column in the MetNews on KTTV severing its ties with a national network

Channel 11 loads its schedule with syndicated shows "Reminiscing" column by Roger M. Grace on syndicated filmed shows on KTTV in the second half of the 1950s

KTTV presents George Putnam, Masked Genius, Three Stooges MetNews column on live shows on KTTV after its parting of ways with Du Mont.

Films with live intros marked KTTV in the daytime Roger M. Grace recalls hosts who introduced films on KTTV in the 1950s

KTTV logos and screenshots from 1950s to the present day

Category:Television stations in Los Angeles, California Category:Fox network affiliates Category:Fox Television Stations Group Category:Metromedia Category:Channel 11 digital TV stations in the United States Category:Channel 11 virtual TV stations in the United States Category:Television channels and stations established in 1949 Category:American Basketball Association flagship television stations Category:Major League Baseball over-the-air television broadcasters Category:ATSC-M/H stations

es:KTTV pt:KTTV

name	Geraldine Ferraro
alt	Woman in her forties, smiling for portrait, in more relaxed setting than usual for officeholders
birth date	August 26, 1935
birth place
death date	March 26, 2011
death place
state1	New York
district1	9th
term start1	January 3, 1979
term end1	January 3, 1985
preceded1	James Delaney
succeeded1	Thomas J. Manton
office2	United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
term start2	1993
term end2	1996
president2	Bill Clinton
preceded2	Armando Valladares
succeeded2	Nancy Rubin
party	Democratic
spouse	John Zaccaro(m. 1960–2011, her death)
children	Donna (b. 1962)John Jr. (b. 1964)Laura (b. 1966)
residence	New York City
alma mater	Marymount Manhattan CollegeFordham University
occupation	Lawyer
religion	Roman Catholic
Signature	Geraldine A. Ferraro Signature.svg }}

Geraldine Anne Ferraro (, 1935 , 2011) was an American attorney, a Democratic Party politician, and a member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party.

Ferraro grew up in New York City and became a teacher and lawyer. She joined the Queens County District Attorney's Office in 1974, where she headed the new Special Victims Bureau that dealt with sex crimes, child abuse, and domestic violence. She was elected to the House in 1978, where she rose rapidly in the party hierarchy while focusing on legislation to bring equity for women in the areas of wages, pensions, and retirement plans. In 1984, former Vice President and presidential candidate Walter Mondale selected Ferraro to be his running mate in the upcoming election. In doing so she became the only Italian American to be a major-party national nominee in addition to being the first woman. The positive polling the Mondale-Ferraro ticket received when she joined faded as questions about her and her husband's finances arose. In the general election, Mondale and Ferraro were defeated in a landslide by incumbent President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush.

Ferraro ran campaigns for a seat in the United States Senate from New York in 1992 and 1998, both times starting as the front-runner for her party's nomination before losing in the primary election. She served as a United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1993 until 1996, in the presidential administration of Bill Clinton. She also continued her career as a journalist, author, and businesswoman, and served in the 2008 presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Ferraro died on , 2011, from multiple myeloma, 12 years after being diagnosed.

Early life and education

Ferraro was born in Newburgh, New York, the daughter of Antonetta L. Ferraro (née Corrieri), a first-generation Italian American seamstress, and Dominick Ferraro, an Italian immigrant and owner of two restaurants. She had three brothers born before her, but one died in infancy and another at age three. Ferraro attended the parochial school Mount Saint Mary's in Newburgh when she was young. Her father died of a heart attack in , when she was eight. Ferraro's mother soon invested and lost the remainder of the family's money, forcing the family to move to a low-income area in the South Bronx while Ferraro's mother worked in the garment industry to support them.

Ferraro stayed on at Mount Saint Mary's as a boarder for a while, then briefly attended a parochial school in the South Bronx. Beginning in 1947, she attended and lived at the parochial Marymount Academy in Tarrytown, New York, using income from a family rental property in Italy and skipping seventh grade. At Marymount Ferraro was a member of the honor society, active in several clubs and sports, voted most likely to succeed, and graduated in 1952. Her mother was adamant that she get a full education, despite an uncle in the family saying, "Why bother? She's pretty. She's a girl. She'll get married." Ferraro attended Marymount Manhattan College with a scholarship while sometimes holding two or three jobs at the same time. During her senior year she began dating John Zaccaro of Forest Hills, Queens, who had graduated from Iona College with a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps. Ferraro received a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1956; she was the first woman in her family to gain a college degree. She also passed the city exam to become a licensed school teacher.

Ferraro began working as an elementary school teacher in public schools in Astoria, Queens, "because that's what women were supposed to do." Unsatisfied, she decided to attend law school; an admissions officer said to her, "I hope you're serious, Gerry. You're taking a man's place, you know." She earned a Juris Doctor degree with honors from Fordham University School of Law in 1960, going to classes at night while continuing to work as a second-grade teacher at schools such as P.S. 57 during the day. Ferraro was one of only two women in her graduating class of 179. She was admitted to the bar of New York State in .

Family, lawyer, prosecutor

Ferraro became engaged to Zaccaro in and married him on , 1960. He became a realtor and businessman. She kept her birth name professionally, as a way to honor her mother for having supported the family after her father's death, but used his name in parts of her private life. The couple had three children, Donna (born 1962), John Jr. (born 1964), and Laura (born 1966). They lived in Forest Hills Gardens, Queens, and in 1971, added a vacation house in Saltaire on Fire Island. They would buy a condominium in Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1983.

While raising the children, Ferraro worked part-time as a civil lawyer in her husband's real estate firm for 13 years. She also occasionally worked for other clients and did some ''pro bono'' work for women in family court. She spent time at local Democratic clubs, which allowed her to maintain contacts within the legal profession and become involved in local politics and campaigns. While organizing community opposition to a proposed building, Ferraro met lawyer and Democratic figure Mario Cuomo, who became a political mentor. In 1970, she was elected president of the Queens County Women's Bar Association.

Ferraro's first full-time political job came in , when she was appointed Assistant District Attorney for Queens County, New York, by her cousin, District Attorney Nicholas Ferraro. At the time, women prosecutors in the city were uncommon. Grumblings that she was the beneficiary of nepotism were countered by her being rated as qualified by a screening committee and by her early job performance in the Investigations Bureau. The following year, Ferraro was assigned to the new Special Victims Bureau, which prosecuted cases involving rape, child abuse, spouse abuse, and domestic violence. She was named head of the unit in 1977, with two other assistant district attorneys assigned to her. In this role, she became a strong advocate for abused children. She was admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court Bar in 1978.

As part of the D.A. office, Ferraro worked long hours, and gained a reputation for being a tough prosecutor but fair in plea negotiations. Although her unit was supposed to turn cases over for court handling, she conducted some trials herself, and juries were persuaded by the summations she gave. Ferraro was upset to discover that her superior was paying her less than equivalent male colleagues because she was a married woman and already had a husband. Moreover, Ferraro found the nature of the cases she dealt with debilitating; the work left her "drained and angry" and she developed an ulcer. She grew frustrated that she was unable to deal with root causes, and talked about running for legislative office; Cuomo, now Secretary of State of New York, suggested the United States Congress.

House of Representatives

Ferraro ran for election to the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 9th Congressional District in Queens in 1978, after longtime Democratic incumbent James Delaney announced his retirement. The location for the television series ''All in the Family'', the district was known for its ethnic composition and conservative views. In a three-candidate primary race for the Democratic nomination, Ferraro faced two better-known rivals, including the party organization candidate, City Councilman Thomas J. Manton. Her main issues were law and order, support for the elderly, and neighborhood preservation. She labeled herself a "'small c' conservative" and emphasized that she was not a bleeding-heart liberal; her campaign slogan was "Finally, A Tough Democrat". Her Italian heritage also appealed to ethnic residents in the district. She won the three-way primary with 53 percent of the vote, and then captured the general election as well, defeating Republican Alfred A. DelliBovi by a 10-percentage-point margin in a contest in which dealing with crime was the major issue and personal attacks by DelliBovi were frequent. She had been aided by $130,000 in campaign loans and donations from her own family, including $110,000 in loans from Zaccaro, of which only $4,000 was legal. The source and nature of these transactions were declared illegal by the Federal Election Commission shortly before the primary, causing Ferraro to pay back the loans in , via several real estate transactions. In 1979, the campaign and Zaccaro paid $750 in fines for civil violations of election law.

Despite being a newcomer to the House, Ferraro made a vivid impression upon arrival and quickly found prominence. She became a protégé of House Speaker Tip O'Neil, established a rapport with other House Democratic leaders, and rose rapidly in the party hierarchy. She was elected to be the Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus for 1981–1983 and again for 1983–1985; this entitled her to a seat on the influential Steering and Policy Committee. In 1983, she was named to the powerful House Budget Committee. She also served on the Public Works and Transportation Committee and the Post Office and Civil Service Committee, both of which allowed Ferraro to push through projects to benefit her district. Male colleagues viewed her with respect as someone who was tough and ambitious.

Ferraro was active in Democratic presidential politics as well. She served as one of the deputy chairs for the 1980 Carter-Mondale campaign. Following the election, she served actively on the Hunt Commission that in 1982, rewrote the Democratic delegate selection rules; Ferraro was credited as having been the prime agent behind the creation of superdelegates. By 1983, she was regarded as one of the up-and-coming stars of the party. She was the Chairwoman of the Platform Committee for the 1984 Democratic National Convention, the first woman to hold that position. There she held multiple hearings around the country and further gained in visibility.

While in Congress, Ferraro focused much of her legislative attention on equity for women in the areas of wages, pensions, and retirement plans. She was a cosponsor of the 1981 Economic Equity Act. On the House Select Committee on Aging, she concentrated on the problems of elderly women. In 1984, she championed a pension equity law revision that would improve the benefits of people who left work for long periods and then returned, a typical case for women with families. The Reagan administration, at first lukewarm to the measure, decided to sign it to gain the benefits of its popular appeal.

Ferraro also worked on some environmental issues. During 1980, she tried to prevent the federal government from gaining the power to override local laws on hazardous materials transportation, an effort she continued in subsequent years. In , she led passage of a Superfund renewal bill and attacked the Reagan administration's handling of environmental site cleanups.

Ferraro took a congressional trip to Nicaragua at the start of 1984, where she spoke to the Contras. She decided that the Reagan Administration's military interventions there and in El Salvador were counterproductive towards reaching U.S. security goals, and that regional negotiations would be better.

In all, Ferraro served three two-year terms, being re-elected in 1980 and 1982. Her vote shares increased to 58 percent and then 73 percent and much of her funding came from political action committees. While Ferraro's pro-choice views conflicted with those of many of her constituents as well as the Catholic Church to which she belonged, her positions on other social and foreign policy issues were in alignment with the district. She broke with her party in favoring an anti-busing amendment to the Constitution. She supported deployment of the Pershing II missile and the Trident submarine, although she opposed funding for the MX missile, the B-1B bomber, and the Strategic Defense Initiative.

While in the House, Ferraro's political self-description evolved to "moderate". In 1982, she said her experiences as assistant district attorney had changed some of her views: "... because no matter how concerned I am about spending, I have seen first hand what poverty can do to people's lives and I just can't, in good conscience, not do something about it." For her six years in Congress, Ferraro had an average 78 percent "Liberal Quotient" from Americans for Democratic Action and an average 8 percent rating from the American Conservative Union. The AFL-CIO's Committee on Political Education gave her an average approval rating of 91 percent.

1984 Vice-Presidential candidacy

As the 1984 U.S. presidential election primary season neared its end and Walter Mondale became the likely Democratic nominee, the idea of picking a woman as his vice-presidential running mate gained considerable momentum. The National Organization for Women and the National Women's Political Caucus pushed the notion, as did several top Democratic figures such as Speaker Tip O'Neill. Women mentioned for the role included Ferraro and Mayor of San Francisco Dianne Feinstein, both of whom were on Mondale's five-person short list.

Mondale selected Ferraro to be his Vice-Presidential candidate on , 1984. She stated, "I am absolutely thrilled." The Mondale campaign hoped that her selection would change a campaign in which he was well behind; in addition to attracting women, they hoped she could attract ethnic Democrats in the Northeast U.S. who had abandoned their party for Reagan in 1980. In turn, Mondale accepted the risk that came with her inexperience.

As Ferraro was the first woman to run on a major party national ticket in the U.S., and the first Italian American, her nomination at the 1984 Democratic National Convention was one of the most emotional moments of that gathering, with female delegates appearing joyous and proud at the historic occasion. In her acceptance speech, Ferraro said, "The daughter of an immigrant from Italy has been chosen to run for vice president in the new land my father came to love." Convention attendees were in tears during the speech, not just for its significance for women but for all those who had immigrated to America.

Ferraro gained immediate, large-scale media attention. At first, journalists focused on her novelty as a woman and her poor family background, and their coverage was overwhelmingly favorable. Nevertheless, Ferraro faced many press questions about her foreign policy inexperience, and responded by discussing her attention to foreign and national security issues in Congress. She faced a threshold of proving competence that other high-level female political figures have had to face, especially those who might become commander-in-chief; the question "Are you tough enough?" was often directed to her. Ted Koppel questioned her closely about nuclear strategy and during ''Meet the Press'' she was asked, "Do you think that in any way the Soviets might be tempted to try to take advantage of you simply because you are a woman?"

The choice of Ferraro was viewed as a gamble, and pundits were uncertain whether it would result in a net gain or loss of votes for the Mondale campaign. While her choice was popular among Democratic activists, polls immediately after the announcement showed that only 22 percent of women were excited about Ferraro's selection, versus 18 percent who agreed that it was a "bad idea". By a three-to-one margin, voters thought that pressure from women's groups had led to Mondale's decision rather than his having chosen the best available candidate. Nonetheless, in the days after the convention Ferraro proved an effective campaigner, with a brash and confident style that forcefully criticized the Reagan administration and sometimes almost overshadowed Mondale. Mondale had been 16 points behind Reagan in polls before the pick, and after the convention he pulled even for a short time.

By the last week of July, however, questions—due initially to reporting by ''The New York Times''—began about Ferraro's finances, the finances of her husband, John Zaccaro, and their separately filed tax returns. (While the Mondale campaign had anticipated some questions, it had only spent 48 hours on vetting Ferraro's family's finances.) This was also the first time the American media had to deal with a national candidate's husband. Ferraro said she would release both their returns within a month, but maintained she was correct not to have included her husband's financial holdings on her past annual Congressional disclosure statements. The media also reported on the FEC's past investigation into Ferraro's 1978 campaign funds. Although Ferraro and Zaccaro's finances were often interwoven on paper, with each half partners in Zaccaro's company, Ferraro had little knowledge of his business, or even how much he was worth. Zaccaro did not understand the greater public exposure that his wife's new position brought to their family, and resisted releasing his financial information. On , Ferraro announced that her husband would not in fact be releasing his tax returns, on the grounds that to do so would disadvantage his real estate business and that such a disclosure was voluntary and not part of election law. She joked, "You people who are married to Italian men, you know what it's like", angering fellow Italian Americans.

The announcement dominated television and newspapers; Ferraro was besieged by questions regarding the finances as well as criticism for ethnic stereotyping. As she later wrote, "I had created a monster." Republicans saw her finances as a "genderless" issue that they could attack Ferraro with without creating a backlash, and some Mondale staffers thought Ferraro might have to leave the ticket. ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' went even further in its investigations, seeking to link Zaccaro to organized crime figures, but most publishers avoided this topic and law enforcement officials did not treat the allegations with much seriousness. A week after her previous statement, Ferraro said Zaccaro had changed his mind and would indeed release his tax records, which was done on . The full statements included notice of payment of some $53,000 in back federal taxes that she owed due to what was described as an accountant's error. Ferraro said the statements proved overall that she had nothing to hide and that there had been no financial wrongdoing. The disclosures indicated that Ferraro and her husband were worth nearly $4 million, had a full-time maid, and owned a boat and the two vacation homes. Much of their wealth was tied up in real estate rather than being disposable income, but the disclosures hurt Ferraro's image as a rags-to-riches story.

Ferraro's strong performance at an press conference covering the final disclosure—where she answered all questions for two hours—effectively ended the issue for the remainder of the campaign, but significant damage had been done. No campaign issue during the entire 1984 presidential campaign received more media attention than Ferraro's finances. The exposure diminished Ferraro's rising stardom, removed whatever momentum the Mondale–Ferraro ticket gained out of the convention, and delayed formation of a coherent message for the fall campaign.

Ferraro was criticized by name by Cardinal John O'Connor, the Catholic Archbishop of New York, and James Timlin, the Bishop of Scranton, for misrepresenting the Catholic Church's position on abortion. Ferraro wrote in a 1982 briefing for Congress that, "the Catholic position on abortion is not monolithic and there can be a range of personal and political responses to the issue." Sharp criticism from Church authorities put Ferraro on the defensive during the entire campaign, with abortion opponents frequently protesting her appearances with a level of fervor not usually encountered by pro-choice Catholic male candidates such as Mario Cuomo and Ted Kennedy. Nevertheless, Ferraro resumed her role as a strong campaigner, taking on the traditional running mate role of attacking the opposition vigorously; she was criticized for saying that Reagan was not a "good Christian" because, Ferraro said, his policies hurt the poor. To defend Ferraro, the pro-choice group Catholics for a Free Choice placed an October 7, 1984, full-page ad in ''The New York Times'' titled "A Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion".

Ferraro drew large crowds on the campaign trail, many of whom wished to see the history making candidate in person, who often chanted, "Ger-ry! Ger-ry!" Mondale and Ferraro rarely touched during their appearances together, to the point that he would not even place his palm on her back when they stood side-by-side; Ferraro later said this was because anything more and "people were afraid that it would look like, 'Oh, my God, they're dating.'".

There was one vice-presidential debate between Congresswoman Ferraro and Vice President George H. W. Bush. Held on , the result was proclaimed mostly even by the press and historians; women voters tended to think Ferraro had won, while men, Bush. At it, Ferraro criticized Reagan's initial refusal to support an extension to the Voting Rights Act. Her experience was questioned at the debate and she was asked how her three terms in Congress stacked up with Bush's experience. To one Bush statement she said, "Let me just say first of all, that I almost resent, Vice President Bush, your patronizing attitude that you have to teach me about foreign policy." She strongly defended her position on abortion, which earned her applause and a respectful reply from her opponent. In the days leading up to the debate, Second Lady of the United States Barbara Bush had publicly referred to Ferraro as "that four-million-dollar—I can't say it, but it rhymes with 'rich'." Barbara Bush soon apologized. Ferraro's womanhood was consistently discussed during the campaign; one study found that a quarter of newspaper articles written about her contained gendered language.

On October 18 the ''New York Post'' accurately reported that her father had been arrested for possession of numbers slips in Newburgh shortly before his death, and inaccurately speculated that something mysterious had been covered up about that death. Ferraro's mother had never told her about his arrest; she had been also arrested as an accomplice but released after her husband's death. The printing of the story led Ferraro to state that ''Post'' publisher Rupert Murdoch "does not have the worth to wipe the dirt under [my mother's] shoes." Ferraro continued to campaign, by the end traveling more than Mondale and more than Reagan and Bush combined.

On November 6, Mondale and Ferraro lost the general election in a landslide. They received only 41 percent of the popular vote compared to Reagan and Bush's 59 percent, and in the Electoral College won only Mondale's home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. Ferraro failed to carry her own congressional district, which always tended to vote Republican in presidential races. Ferraro's presence on the ticket had little measurable effect overall. Reagan captured 55 percent of women voters and about the same share of Catholic voters, the latter being the highest level yet for a Republican presidential candidate. Of the tenth of voters who decided based on the vice-presidential candidates, 54 percent went to Mondale–Ferraro, establishing that Ferraro provided a net gain to the Democrats of 0.8 percent. Reagan's personal appeal and campaign themes of prosperity and "It's morning again in America" were quite strong, and political observers generally agree that no combination of Democrats could have won the election in 1984. Mondale himself would later reflect that "I knew that I was in for it with Reagan" and that he had no regrets about choosing Ferraro.

After the election, the House Ethics Committee found that Ferraro had technically violated the Ethics in Government Act by failing to report, or reporting incorrectly, details of her family's finances, and that she should have reported her husband's holdings on her Congressional disclosure forms. However, the committee concluded that she had acted without "deceptive intent", and since she was leaving Congress anyway, no action against her was taken. Ferraro said, "I consider myself completely vindicated." The scrutiny of her husband and his business dealings presaged a trend that women candidates would face in American electoral politics.

Ferraro is one of only two U.S. women to run on a major party national ticket. The other is Alaska governor Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, whose ticket also lost.

First Senate run and ambassadorship

Ferraro had relinquished her House seat to run for the vice-presidency. Her new-found fame led to an appearance in a Diet Pepsi commercial in 1985. She published ''Ferraro: My Story'', an account of the campaign with some of her life leading up to it, in . It was a best seller and earned her $1 million. She also earned over $300,000 by giving speeches. She founded the Americans Concerned for Tomorrow political action committee, which focused on getting ten women candidates elected in the 1986 Congressional elections (eight of whom would be successful). Despite the one-sided national loss in 1984, Ferraro was still viewed as someone with a bright political future. Many expected her to run in the 1986 United States Senate election in New York against first-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato, and during 1985 she did Upstate New York groundwork towards that end. A senate candidacy had been her original plan for her career, before she was named to Mondale's ticket. But in , she said she would not run, due to an ongoing U.S. Justice Department probe on her and her husband's finances stemming from the 1984 campaign revelations.

Members of Ferraro's family were indeed facing legal issues. Her husband John Zaccaro had pleaded guilty in , to fraudulently obtaining bank financing in a real estate transaction and had been sentenced to 150 hours of community service. Then in , he was indicted on unrelated felony charges regarding an alleged 1981 bribery of Queens Borough President Donald Manes concerning a cable television contract. A full year later, he was acquitted at trial. The case against him was circumstantial, a key prosecution witness proved unreliable, and the defense did not have to present its own testimony. Ferraro said her husband never would have been charged had she not run for vice president. Meanwhile, in , the couple's son John had been arrested for possession and sale of cocaine. He was convicted, and in , sentenced to four months imprisonment; Ferraro broke down in tears in court relating the stress the episode had placed on her family. Ferraro worked on an unpublished book about the conflicting rights between a free press and being able to have fair trials. Asked in , whether she would have accepted the vice-presidential nomination had she known of all the family problems that would follow, she said, "More than once I have sat down and said to myself, oh, God, I wish I had never gone through with it ... I think the candidacy opened a door for women in national politics, and I don't regret that for one minute. I'm proud of that. But I just wish it could have been done in a different way."

Ferraro remained active in raising money for Democratic candidates nationwide, especially women candidates. During the 1988 presidential election, Ferraro served as vice chair of the party's Victory Fund. She also did some commentating for television. Ferraro was a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics from 1988 to 1992, teaching in-demand seminars such as "So You Want to be President?" She also took care of her mother, who suffered from emphysema for several years before her death in early 1990.

By October 1991, Ferraro was ready to enter elective politics again, and ran for the Democratic nomination in the 1992 United States Senate election in New York. Her opponents were State Attorney General Robert Abrams, Reverend Al Sharpton, Congressman Robert J. Mrazek, and New York City Comptroller and former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman. Abrams was considered the early front-runner. The D'Amato campaign feared facing Ferraro the most among these, as her Italian ancestry, effective debating and stump speech skills, and her staunch pro-choice views would eat into several of D'Amato's usual bases of support. Ferraro emphasized her career as a teacher, prosecutor, congresswoman, and mother, and talked about how she was tough on crime. Ferraro drew renewed attacks during the primary campaign from the media and her opponents over Zaccaro's finances and business relationships. She objected that a male candidate would not receive nearly as much attention regarding his wife's activities. Ferraro became the front-runner, capitalizing on her star power from 1984, and using the campaign attacks against her as an explicitly feminist rallying point for women voters. As the primary date neared, her lead began to dwindle under the charges, and she released additional tax returns from the 1980s to try to defray the attacks. Holtzman ran a negative ad accusing Ferraro and Zaccaro of taking more than $300,000 in rent in the 1980s from a pornographer with purported ties to organized crime. The final debates were nasty, and Holtzman in particular constantly attacked Ferraro's integrity and finances. In an unusual election-eve television broadcast, Ferraro talked about "the ethnic slur that I am somehow or other connected to organized crime. There's lots of innuendo but no proof. However, it is made plausible because of the fact that I am an Italian-American. This tactic comes from the poisoned well of fear and stereotype ..." On the , 1992, primary, Abrams edged out Ferraro by less than a percentage point, winning 37 percent of the vote to 36 percent. Ferraro did not concede she had lost for two weeks.

Abrams spent much of the remainder of the campaign trying to get Ferraro's endorsement. Ferraro, enraged and bitter after the nature of the primary, ignored Abrams and accepted Bill Clinton's request to campaign for his presidential bid instead. She was eventually persuaded by state party leaders into giving an unenthusiastic endorsement with just three days to go before the general election, in exchange for an apology by Abrams for the tone of the primary. D'Amato won the election by a very narrow margin. The Ferraro-Holtzman fighting of the campaign was viewed as a disaster by many feminists, but overall the 1992 U.S. Senate elections saw so many victories that it became known as the "Year of the Woman".

Following the primary loss, Ferraro became a managing partner in the New York office of Keck, Mahin & Cate, a Chicago-based law firm. There she organized the office and spoke with clients, but did not actively practice law and left before the firm fell into difficulties. Ferraro's second book, a collection of her speeches, was titled ''Changing History: Women, Power and Politics'' and was published in 1993.

President Clinton appointed Ferraro as a member of the United States delegation to United Nations Commission on Human Rights in . She attended the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna as the alternate U.S. delegate. Then in , Clinton promoted her to be United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, saying that Ferraro had been "a highly effective voice for the human rights of women around the world." The Clinton administration named Ferraro vice-chair of the U.S. delegation to the landmark Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing; in this role she picked a strong team of experts in human rights issues to serve with her. During her stint on the commission, it for the first time condemned anti-Semitism as a human rights violation, and also for the first time prevented China from blocking a motion criticizing its human rights record. Regarding a previous China motion that had failed, Ferraro had told the commission, "Let us do what we were sent here to do—decide important questions of human rights on their merits, not avoid them." Ferraro held the U.N. position into 1996.

Commentator and second Senate run

In February 1996, Ferraro joined the high-visibility CNN political talk show ''Crossfire'', as the co-host representing the "from the left" vantage. She kept her brassy, rapid-fire speech and New York accent intact, and her trial experience from her prosecutor days was a good fit for the program's format. She sparred effectively with "from the right" co-host Pat Buchanan, for whom she developed a personal liking. The show stayed strong in ratings for CNN, and the job was lucrative. She welcomed how the role "keeps me visible [and] keeps me extremely well informed on the issues."

At the start of 1998, Ferraro left ''Crossfire'' and ran for the Democratic nomination again in the 1998 United States Senate election in New York. The other candidates were Congressman Charles Schumer and New York City Public Advocate Mark J. Green. She had done no fundraising, out of fear of conflict of interest with her ''Crossfire'' job, but was nonetheless immediately perceived as the front-runner. Indeed, December and January polls had her 25 percentage points ahead of Green in the race and even further ahead of Schumer. Unlike the previous campaigns, her family finances never became an issue. However, she lost ground during the summer, with Schumer catching up in the polls by early August and then soon passing her. Schumer, a tireless fundraiser, outspent her by a five-to-one margin, and Ferraro failed to establish a political image current with the times. In the , 1998 primary, she was beaten soundly by Schumer by a 51 percent to 26 percent margin. Unlike 1992, the contest was not divisive, and Ferraro and third-place finisher Green endorsed Schumer at a unity breakfast the following day. Schumer would go on to decisively unseat D'Amato in the general election.

The 1998 primary defeat brought an end to Ferraro's political career. ''The New York Times'' wrote at the time: "If Ms. Ferraro's rise was meteoric, her political career's denouement was protracted, often agonizing and, at first glance, baffling." She still retained admirers, though. Anita Perez Ferguson, president of the National Women's Political Caucus, noted that female New York political figures in the past had been reluctant to enter the state's notoriously fierce primary races, and said: "This woman has probably been more of an opinion maker than most people sitting for six terms straight in the House of Representatives or Senate. Her attempts, and even her losses, have accomplished far beyond what others have accomplished by winning."

Business career, illness and medical activism

In 1980, Ferraro co-founded the National Organization of Italian American Women, which sought to support the educational and professional goals of its members and put forward positive role models in order to fight ethnic stereotyping, and was still a distinguished member of its board at the time of her death. Ferraro was connected with many other political and non-profit organizations. She was a board member of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She became president of the newly established International Institute for Women's Political Leadership in 1989. In 1992, she was on the founding board of Project Vote Smart. By 1993, she was serving on the Fordham Law School Board of Visitors, as well as on the boards of the National Breast Cancer Research Fund, the New York Easter Seal Society, and the Pension Rights Center, and was one of hundreds of public figures on the Planned Parenthood Federation of America's Board of Advocates. In 1999, she joined the board of the Bertarelli Foundation, and in 2003, the board of the National Women's Health Resource Center. During the 2000s she was on the board of advisors to the Committee to Free Lori Berenson.

''Framing a Life: A Family Memoir'' was published by Ferraro in . It depicts the life story of her mother and immigrant grandmother; it also portrays the rest of her family, and is a memoir of her early life, but includes relatively little about her political career.

Ferraro had felt unusually tired at the end of her second senate campaign. In , she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of bone cancer where plasma cells secrete abnormal antibodies known as Bence-Jones proteins, which can cause bones to disintegrate and dump toxic amounts of calcium into the bloodstream. She did not publicly disclose the illness until , when she went to Washington to successfully press in Congressional hearings for passage of the Hematological Cancer Research Investment and Education Act. A portion of the Act created the Geraldine Ferraro Cancer Education Program, which directs the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish an education program for patients of blood cancers and the general public. Ferraro became a frequent speaker on the disease, and an avid supporter and honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

Though initially given only three to five years to live, by virtue of several new drug therapies and a bone marrow transplant in 2005, she would beat the disease's Stage 1 survival mean of 62 months by over a factor of two. Her advocacy helped make the new treatments approved and available for others as well. For much of the last decade of her life, Ferraro was not in remission, but the disease was managed by continually adjusting her treatments.

Ferraro joined Fox News Channel as a regular political commentator in . By 2005, she was making sporadic appearances on the channel, which continued into 2007, and beyond. She partnered with Laura Ingraham, starting in , in writing the alternate-weeks column "Campaign Countdown" on the 2000 presidential election for The New York Times Syndicate. During the 2000s, Ferraro was an affiliated faculty member at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute.

In January 2000, Ferraro and Lynn Martin—a former Republican Congresswoman and U.S. Secretary of Labor who had played Ferraro in George H. W. Bush's debate preparations in 1984—co-founded, and served as co-presidents of, G&L; Strategies, a management consulting firm underneath Weber McGinn. Its goal was to advise corporations on how to develop more women leaders and make their workplaces more amenable to female employees. G&L; Strategies subsequently became part of Golin Harris International. In , Ferraro was made executive vice president and managing director of the public affairs practice of the Global Consulting Group, an international investor relations and corporate communications component of Huntsworth. There she worked with corporations, non-profit organizations, state governments and political figures. She continued there as a senior advisor working about two days a month.

After living for many years in Forest Hills Gardens, Queens, she and her husband moved to Manhattan in 2002. She republished ''Ferraro: My Story'' in 2004, with a postscript summarizing her life in the twenty years since the campaign.

Ferraro was a member of the board of directors of Goodrich Petroleum beginning in . She was also a board member for New York Bancorp in the 1990s.

Ferraro became a principal in the government relations practice of the Blank Rome law firm in , working both in New York and Washington about two days a week in their lobbying and communications activities. As she passed the age of 70, she was thankful for still being alive, and said "This is about as retired as I get, which is part time," and that if she fully retired, she would "go nuts".

2008 presidential campaign involvement

In December 2006, Ferraro announced her support for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Later, she vowed to help defend Clinton from being "swiftboated" in a manner akin to 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry. She assisted with fundraising by assuming an honorary post on the finance committee for Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. A heated nomination battle emerged between Clinton and Barack Obama, in which racial dust-ups caused by perceptions of remarks made by campaign surrogates took place. Ferraro became livid when her daughter voted for Obama in a primary, which reflected a generational difference among American women in how they viewed the significance of a woman being elected president.

In March 2008 she gave an interview with the ''Daily Breeze'' in which she said: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." Ferraro justified the statements by referring to her own run for vice president. Echoing a statement she wrote about herself in 1988, Ferraro said that "I was talking about historic candidacies and what I started off by saying (was that) if you go back to 1984 and look at my historic candidacy, which I had just talked about all these things, in 1984, if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would have never been chosen as a vice-presidential candidate. It had nothing to do with my qualification." Her comments resonated with some older white women, but generated an immediate backlash elsewhere. There was strong criticism and charges of racism from many supporters of Obama and Obama called them "patently absurd". Clinton publicly expressed disagreement with Ferraro's remarks, while Ferraro vehemently denied she was a racist. Again speaking to the ''Breeze'', Ferraro responded to the attacks by saying: "I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?" Ferraro resigned from Clinton's finance committee on , 2008, two days after the firestorm began, saying that she didn't want the Obama camp to use her comments to hurt Clinton's campaign.

Ferraro continued to engage the issue and criticize the Obama campaign via her position as a Fox News Channel contributor. By early April, Ferraro said people were deluging her with negative comments and trying to get her removed from one of the boards she was on: "This has been the worst three weeks of my life." Ferraro stated in mid- that Clinton had "raised this whole woman candidate thing to a whole different level than when I ran". She thought Obama had behaved in a sexist manner and that she might not vote for him.

During September 2008, Ferraro gained attention yet again after the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, the first such major party bid for a woman since her own in 1984. Palin mentioned Ferraro as well as Clinton as forerunners in her introductory appearance. In reaction to the nomination, Ferraro said, "It's great to be the first, but I don't want to be the only. And so now it is wonderful to see a woman on a national ticket." Ferraro speculated that the pick might win Republican presidential nominee John McCain the election, but said that she was supporting Obama now due to his running mate selection of Joe Biden having resolved her concerns about Obama's lack of experience in certain areas. Ferraro criticized the media's scrutiny of Palin's background and family as gender-based and saw parallels with how she was treated by the media during her own run; a University of Alabama study also found that media framing of Ferraro and Palin was similar and often revolved around their nominations being political gambles. A ''Newsweek'' cover story detected a change in how women voters responded to a female vice presidential candidate from Ferraro's time to Palin's, but Ferraro correctly predicted that the bounce that McCain received from the Palin pick would dissipate. In a friendly joint retrospective of her 1984 debate with George H. W. Bush, Ferraro said she had had more national issues experience in 1984 than Palin did now, but that it was important that Palin make a good showing in her vice presidential debate so that "little girls [could] see someone there who can stand toe to toe with [Biden]." McCain and Palin ended up losing, but regardless of the 1984 or 2008 election result, Ferraro said that "Every time a woman runs, women win."

Final year, death and tributes

Ferraro continued to battle her cancer, making repeated visits to hospitals during her last year and undergoing difficult procedures. Much of her care took place at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, where she also acted as an informal advocate for other patients. She was able to make a joint appearance with Palin on Fox News Channel's coverage of the November 2010 midterm elections.

In she went to Massachusetts General Hospital to receive treatment for pain caused by a fracture, a common complication of multiple myeloma. Once there, however, doctors discovered she had come down with pneumonia. Unable to return to her New York home, Ferraro died at Massachusetts General on , 2011. In addition to her husband and three children, who all were present, she was survived by eight grandchildren.

President Obama said upon her death that "Geraldine will forever be remembered as a trailblazer who broke down barriers for women, and Americans of all backgrounds and walks of life," and said that his own two daughters would grow up in a more equal country because of what Ferraro had done. Mondale called her "a remarkable woman and a dear human being ... She was a pioneer in our country for justice for women and a more open society. She broke a lot of molds and it's a better country for what she did." George H. W. Bush said, "Though we were one-time political opponents, I am happy to say Gerry and I became friends in time – a friendship marked by respect and affection. I admired Gerry in many ways, not the least of which was the dignified and principled manner she blazed new trails for women in politics." Palin paid tribute to her on Facebook, expressing gratitude for having been able to work with her the year before and saying, "She broke one huge barrier and then went on to break many more. May her example of hard work and dedication to America continue to inspire all women." Bill and Hillary Clinton said in a statement that, "Gerry Ferraro was one of a kind – tough, brilliant, and never afraid to speak her mind or stand up for what she believed in – a New York icon and a true American original."

A funeral Mass was held for her on March 31 at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in New York, the site where Ferraro and Zaccaro had been married and had renewed their vows on their 50th anniversary the year before. Figures from local, state, and national politics were present, and Mondale and both Clintons were among the speakers. She is buried in St. John Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens, within her old congressional district.

Awards and honors

Ferraro was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1994.

Ferraro received a number of honorary degrees during the 1980s and early 1990s, including from Marymount Manhattan College (1982), New York University Law School (1984), Hunter College (1985), Plattsburgh College (1985), College of Boca Raton (1989), Virginia State University (1989), Muhlenberg College (1990), Briarcliffe College for Business (1990), and Potsdam College (1991). She subsequently received an honorary degree from Case Western Reserve University (2003).

During her time in Congress, Ferraro received numerous awards from local organizations in Queens.

In 2007, Ferraro received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sons of Italy Foundation. In 2008, Ferraro was the initial recipient of the annual Trailblazer Award from the National Conference of Women's Bar Associations.

Electoral history

Democratic primary for New York's 9th congressional district, 1978

Geraldine Ferraro – 10,254 (52.98%)

Thomas J. Manton – 5,499 (28.41%)

Patrick C. Deignan – 3,603 (18.61%)

New York's 9th congressional district, 1978

Geraldine Ferraro (D) – 51,350 (54.17%)

Alfred A. DelliBovi (R, Conservative) – 42,108 (44.42%)

Theodore E. Garrison (Liberal) – 1,329 (1.40%)

New York's 9th congressional district, 1980

Geraldine Ferraro (D) (Inc.) – 63,796 (58.34%)

Vito P. Battista (R, Conservative, Right to Life) – 44,473 (40.67%)

Gertrude Geniale (Liberal) – 1,091 (1.00%)

New York's 9th congressional district, 1982

Geraldine Ferraro (D) (Inc.) – 75,286 (73.22%)

John J. Weigandt (R) – 20,352 (19.79%)

Ralph G. Groves (Conservative) – 6,011 (5.85%)

Patricia A. Salargo (Liberal) – 1,171 (1.14%)

1984 Democratic National Convention (Vice-Presidential tally)

Geraldine Ferraro – 3,920

Shirley Chisholm – 3

United States presidential election, 1984

Ronald Reagan/George H. W. Bush (R) (Inc.) – 54,166,829 (58.5%) and 525 electoral votes (49 states carried)

Walter Mondale/Geraldine Ferraro (D) – 37,449,813 (40.4%) and 13 electoral votes (1 state and D.C. carried)

David Bergland/Jim Lewis (L) – 227,204 (0.2%) and 0 electoral votes

Democratic primary for the United States Senate, 1992

Robert Abrams – 426,904 (37%)

Geraldine Ferraro – 415,650 (36%)

Al Sharpton – 166,665 (14%)

Elizabeth Holtzman – 144,026 (12%)

Democratic primary for the United States Senate, 1998

Chuck Schumer – 388,701 (50.83%)

Geraldine Ferraro – 201,625 (26.37%)

Mark Green – 145,819 (19.07%)

Eric Ruano-Melendez – 28,493 (3.73%)

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Text of speech accepting Democratic Party nomination for Vice President of the United States, , 1984

FBI file on Geraldine Ferraro

Category:1935 births Category:2011 deaths Category:Ambassadors of the United States Category:American autobiographers Category:American female lawyers Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American prosecutors Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American women writers Category:Deaths from multiple myeloma Category:Democratic Party (United States) vice presidential nominees Category:Female diplomats Category:Female members of the United States House of Representatives Category:Female United States vice-presidential candidates Category:Fordham University School of Law alumni Category:Georgetown University faculty Category:Harvard University staff Category:Marymount Manhattan College alumni Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York Category:New York Democrats Category:New York lawyers Category:People from Forest Hills, Queens Category:People from Newburgh, New York Category:Representatives of the United States to the United Nations Human Rights Council Category:United States vice-presidential candidates, 1984 Category:Women in New York politics Category:Writers from New York City Category:American feminists

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Name	Karen Bass
State	California
District	33rd
Term start	January 3, 2011
Preceded	Diane Watson
State assembly3	California
District3	47th
Term start3	December 6, 2004
Term end3	December 6, 2010
Preceded3	Herb Wesson
Succeeded3	Holly Mitchell
Order2	67th
Office2	Speaker of the California State Assembly
Term start2	May 13, 2008
Term end2	March 1, 2010
Governor2	Arnold Schwarzenegger
Predecessor2	Fabian Núñez
Successor2	John Pérez
Nationality	American
Birth date	October 03, 1953
Birth place	Los Angeles, California
Spouse	Divorced
Alma mater	California State University, Dominguez Hills
Profession	Politician
Party	Democratic
Website	Official website }}

Karen Ruth Bass (born October 3, 1953) is the U.S. Representative for . She is a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to her election to Congress in 2010, she had served as a member of the California State Assembly representing the 47th district since 2004. From 2008 to 2010, she served as Speaker of the California State Assembly, becoming the second woman and third African American to serve in that post.

Early life, education, and medical career

Bass was raised in the Venice/Fairfax neighborhood and went to Hamilton High School. She attended San Diego State University from 1971 to 1973 majoring in philosophy and graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 1990 with a B.S. in health sciences. Bass worked as a physician assistant and as a clinical instructor at the USC Keck School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program. Bass founded the Community Coalition, an organization in South Los Angeles.

California Assembly

As the Assemblymember for the 47th District, Bass serves the cities and communities of Culver City, West Los Angeles, Westwood, Cheviot Hills, Leimert Park, Baldwin Hills, View Park-Windsor Hills, Ladera Heights, the Crenshaw District, Little Ethiopia and portions of Koreatown and South Los Angeles. Bass is the second consecutive Assemblymember from the 47th District to become Speaker, as her predecessor in the 47th District seat, Herb Wesson, was Núñez's predecessor as Speaker.

Bass considers Foster Care Reform to be one of her top priorities. She has helped secure $82 million in the 2006-2007 state budget for Foster Care Reform. Healthy Families Insurance Coverage, is another bill that Bass sponsored that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed to reduce the number of insured children. She has also secured more than $2.3 million to help revitalize the historic Vision Theater in Los Angeles; and more than $600 million for Los Angeles Unified School District. Bass has sponsored 17 bills that were signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In addition to her leadership of California African Americans for Obama and her post on Barack Obama's national African American Leadership Council, Bass served as a California Co-chair of Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.

Leadership prior to speaker election

Speaker Fabian Núñez selected Bass as the Majority Floor Leader for the California State Assembly during the 2007-2008 legislative session. During the 2005-2006 legislative session, Bass served as the Majority Whip. Bass also serves as the chair of the Select Committee on Foster Care and as vice chair of the Legislative Black Caucus. Bass succeeded Núñez as Speaker on May 13, 2008, as Núñez was scheduled to be termed out of the Assembly on November 30, 2008.

Bass, who is the vice chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, commissioned a report to research the basic demographic profile of Black Californians including the basic social and economic conditions. The State of Black California report included a statewide organizing effort to involve Black Californians in identifying their concerns and making legislative recommendations.

Speakership

With the defeat of Proposition 93, Speaker Fabian Núñez was termed out of the Assembly at the end of the 2007-2008 session. As the next-highest ranking Democrat in the Assembly, Bass was well-positioned to take the post. After consolidating the support of a number of Legislators who had previously also been seeking the Speakership, Bass was elected Speaker on February 28, 2008 and then sworn in as Speaker on May 13.

Bass was criticized for the following statement to Los Angeles Times reporter Patt Morrison: "The Republicans were essentially threatened and terrorized against voting for revenue. Now [some] are facing recalls. They operate under a terrorist threat: 'You vote for revenue and your career is over.' I don't know why we allow that kind of terrorism to exist. I guess it's about free speech, but it's extremely unfair." In response, KFI hosts John and Ken dub Bass as Karen "Buzz Cut" Bass.

Since leaving office, Bass was named Speaker Emeritus.

U.S. House of Representatives

2010 election

Bass was ineligible to run for reelection in 2010 due to term limits and on February 18, 2010, confirmed her candidacy to succeed retiring U.S. Representative Diane Watson in California's 33rd congressional district. Bass won the election on November 2, 2010.

Committee assignments

Committee on the Budget

Committee on Foreign Affairs

*Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights

*Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

Position on issues

112th Congress - 1st Session (2011)

Karen Bass voted to authorize the United States military to participate in the NATO-led bombing of Libya. The measure failed 123-295.

Personal life

Bass suffered the loss of her only child, daughter Emilia Wright and son-in-law Michael Wright, in a car accident in 2006.

References

External links

Congresswoman Karen Bass ''official U.S. House site''

Karen Bass for Congress ''official campaign site''

AllBallots.com: Voting Records

Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:African American members of the United States House of Representatives Category:American physicians Category:California Democrats Category:California State University, Dominguez Hills alumni Category:Female members of the United States House of Representatives Category:Members of the California State Assembly Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from California Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:San Diego State University alumni Category:Speakers of the California State Assembly Category:University of Southern California faculty Category:University of California regents Category:Women state legislators in California Category:Youth rights individuals

it:Karen Bass yo:Karen Bass

name	The Black Dahlia Murder
background	group_or_band
origin	Waterford, Michigan
genre	Melodic death metal,,deathcore,,death metal
years active	2001–present
label	Metal Blade
associated acts	Abigail Williams, All That Remains, Anterior, Arsis, Gwar, Sylosis
current members	Trevor StrnadBrian EschbachRyan KnightRyan WilliamsShannon Lucas
website	}}

The Black Dahlia Murder is an American heavy metal band from Waterford, Michigan, formed in 2001. Their name is derived from the 1947 unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, often referred to as Black Dahlia. The band comprises vocalist Trevor Strnad, guitarists Brian Eschbach and Ryan Knight, bassist Ryan "Bart" Williams and drummer Shannon Lucas. Out of their five studio albums, the latest four of them charted on the US ''Billboard'' 200, with 2009's ''Deflorate'' peaking at #43 and their latest album ''Ritual'' reaching #31.

History

Formation, ''Unhallowed'' and ''Miasma'' (2001–2006)

The Black Dahlia Murder began its inception during late 2000 and gained the final band line-up in January 2001. The group released their demo entitled ''What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse'', and a four-track EP, ''A Cold-Blooded Epitaph'', the latter of which the group released on Lovelost Records. After appearing in concerts such as the Milwaukee Metal Fest, The Black Dahlia Murder signed to Metal Blade Records in 2003.

Current bassist Bart Williams left his former band, Detroit's Today I Wait, to tour with the Black Dahlia Murder. After touring with the band on their co-headlining gig with Throwdown and their European dates with Liar, he joined the group full-time, replacing former bassist David Lock. Frontman Trevor Strnad said that Lock was fired for incompetency. Williams was one of two engineers (the other being Walls of Jericho's Mike Hasty) on the band's first full-length album, ''Unhallowed''.

The band's second album ''Miasma'' was released on July 12, 2005 and peaked at #118 on the Billboard 200. After touring for ''Miasma'', drummer Zach Gibson left the band along with Pierre Langlois. While Gibson went on to join Abigail Williams, Langlois left the band for a more secure lifestyle, and the band finished their search for a replacement drummer when they found former All That Remains drummer, Shannon Lucas. The group played at Ozzfest 2005.

''Nocturnal'' and ''Deflorate'' (2006–2010)

Their third album, entitled ''Nocturnal'', was released on September 18, 2007. The album debuted at #72 on the Billboard 200. The Black Dahlia Murder announced via their MySpace profile that they were going on a U.S. tour with Cannibal Corpse to promote their new album ''Nocturnal'' and celebrate the 25 years that Metal Blade Records had been in business. They were joined by label-mates The Red Chord, Aeon, The Absence, and Goatwhore.

In January/February 2008, the band embarked on a U.S. headlining tour with 3 Inches of Blood, Hate Eternal, and Decrepit Birth, followed by another alongside Brain Drill and Animosity. They were on Hot Topic's "Summer Slaughter Tour" with Kataklysm, Cryptopsy, Vader, Whitechapel, and Despised Icon.

Their long-time guitarist, John K has left the band and was replaced by Ryan Knight during the beginning of 2009. In May 2009, The Black Dahlia Murder released their first DVD, "Majesty". The DVD contains a documentary and live footage from the Summer Slaughter tour and their tour supporting Children of Bodom in late 2008. The DVD also contains all of their music videos and behind the scenes footage.

The Black Dahlia Murder released ''Deflorate'' on September 15, 2009 via Metal Blade Records. The album sold 12,000 copies in the United States in the first week of the release, debuted at position #43 Billboard's Top 200 charts, #5 on Billboard's Independent Albums chart, #4 on Billboard's Top Hard Music Albums chart, and #50 on HITS Top 50 Albums chart.

''Ritual'' (2011–present)

In February 2011, The Black Dahlia Murder completed the songwriting process for the their fifth studio album, entitled ''Ritual''. It was released on June 21, 2011 in North America. The band is confirmed to support Amon Amarth on their May 2011 European tour as well as to headline the 2011 Summer Slaughter tour. The track "Moonlight Equilibrium" was posted to the Metal Blade Records website on April 29, 2011 to critical and fan acclaim.

Tours

The Black Dahlia Murder headlined the 2008 Summer Slaughter Tour with Kataklysm, Vader, Cryptopsy, The Faceless, Despised Icon, Aborted, Born of Osiris, Psycroptic, and Whitechapel. In late 2008, they joined a US tour with Finland's Children of Bodom and Raleigh, NC's Between the Buried and Me. They were initially announced as "...with special guests" at the start of the tour, though it has since been confirmed by Revolver Magazine that they are on tour. They appeared on the Hot Topic Stage in the 2009 Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival. In late 2009, they embarked on a US tour with Finland's Children of Bodom and Skeletonwitch. The band headlined the Bonecrusher Fest tour of Europe in Spring 2010 alongside 3 Inches of Blood, Necrophobic, Obscura, The Faceless, Carnifex and Ingested. In August 2010 they played at the Hevy Music Festival near Folkestone, UK.

Musical style and influences

The Black Dahlia Murder have been stated to play within the genres of metalcore, melodic death metal and deathcore. The band's music makes use of the death metal sound, containing elements such as blast beats and fast death metal style. The influences of the band include groups such as Carcass, At the Gates, Darkane, Dissection, Darkthrone, Morbid Angel, The Haunted, In Flames, Dimension Zero, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica, Pantera and Megadeth. Vocalist Trevor Strnad alternates between deep, throaty "death metal growls," and high pitched shrieking. When asked to describe what kind of music the band plays, vocalist Trevor Strnad commented: "I've always said that we're melodic death metal. We are mostly influenced by Swedish bands and Carcass. The heavy end of our sound is the American style creeping in, with some Floridian influences like Morbid Angel, Malevolent Creation and that kind of stuff. We've been labeled more often because of our look than our sound, which is dumb, and speaks volumes about what kind of geniuses are out there!"

However, in an interview with ''Uranium Magazine'', Strnad also stated, "Some bands that get labeled as metalcore are actually good, like Between the Buried and Me or The Red Chord. Metal is what I grew up with, and then I learned about punk and hardcore. But a lot of our ethics, the way we carry ourselves, is more punk...I like that hardcore has a sense of community without the competition you see in metal."

Members

;Current members

Brian Eschbach – rhythm guitar (since 2001)

Trevor Strnad – vocals (since 2001)

Ryan "Bart" Williams – bass (since 2005)

Shannon Lucas – drums (since 2007)

Ryan Knight – lead guitar (since 2009)

;Former members

John Deering – guitar (2001–2002)

John Kempainen – guitar (2002–2008)

Mike Schepman – bass guitar (2001)

Sean Gauvreau – bass guitar (2001–2002)

David Lock – bass guitar (2002–2005)

Cory Grady – drums (2001–2004)

Zach Gibson – drums (2005)

Pierre Langlois – drums (2006)

Discography

;Studio albums

Year	Title	Peak chart positions
		U.S.
		!align=center width=40	!align=center width=40	!align=center width=40	!align=center width=40
		*Released: June 17, 2003	*Label: Metal Blade	*Format: CD, digital download, vinyl
	align=left	*Released: July 12, 2005	*Label: Metal Blade	*Format: CD, digital download, vinyl
	align=left	*Released: September 18, 2007	*Label: Metal Blade	*Format: CD, digital download
		*Released: September 15, 2009	*Label: Metal Blade	*Format: CD, digital download, vinyl
	align=left	*Released: June 17, 2011	*Label: Metal Blade	*Format: CD, digital download, vinyl

;Demos and EPs

''What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse'' (Demo, 2001)

''A Cold-Blooded Epitaph'' (EP, 2002)

''Demo 2002'' (Demo, 2002)

;DVDs

''Majesty'' (2009)

References

External links

Category:Musical quintets Category:American melodic death metal musical groups Category:Heavy metal musical groups from Michigan Category:American metalcore musical groups Category:American deathcore musical groups Category:Metal Blade Records artists Category:Musical groups established in 2000

bn:দ্য ব্ল্যাক ডাহলিয়া মার্ডার bs:The Black Dahlia Murder cs:The Black Dahlia Murder (skupina) da:The Black Dahlia Murder de:The Black Dahlia Murder es:The Black Dahlia Murder fr:The Black Dahlia Murder ko:블랙 달리아 머더 hr:The Black Dahlia Murder it:The Black Dahlia Murder nl:The Black Dahlia Murder ja:ザ・ブラック・ダリア・マーダー pl:The Black Dahlia Murder pt:The Black Dahlia Murder ru:The Black Dahlia Murder sk:The Black Dahlia Murder fi:The Black Dahlia Murder sv:The Black Dahlia Murder

name	Elizabeth Short
birth date	July 29, 1924
birth place	Hyde Park, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
death date	ca. January 15, 1947
death place	Los Angeles, California, United States
occupation	Waitress
parents	Cleo Short and Phoebe Mae Sawyer
children	}}

"The Black Dahlia" was a nickname given to Elizabeth Short (July 29, 1924 – ca. January 15, 1947), an American woman and the victim of a gruesome and much-publicized murder. She acquired the moniker posthumously by newspapers in the habit of nicknaming crimes they found particularly colorful. Short was found mutilated, her body sliced in half at the waist, on January 15, 1947, in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. Short's unsolved murder has been the source of widespread speculation, leading to many suspects, along with several books and film adaptations of the story.

Early life

Elizabeth Short was born in greater Boston, Massachusetts; she grew up and lived in Medford. She was the third of five daughters of Cleo Short and Phoebe Mae Sawyer. Her father built miniature golf courses until the 1929 stock market crash, in which he lost much of the family's assets. In 1930, he parked his car on a bridge and vanished, leading some to believe he had committed suicide. Short's mother moved the family to a small apartment in Medford, and found work as a bookkeeper. It was not until later that Short would discover her father was alive and was living in California.

Troubled by asthma and bronchitis, Short was sent to live for the winter in Miami, Florida at the age of 16. She spent the next three years living there during the cold months and in Medford the remainder of the year. At age 19, Short travelled to Vallejo, California to live with her father, who was working nearby at Mare Island Naval Shipyard on San Francisco Bay. The two moved to Los Angeles in early 1943, but an altercation resulted in her leaving there and finding work in the post exchange at Camp Cooke (now Vandenberg Air Force Base), near Lompoc, California. Short next moved to Santa Barbara, where she was arrested on September 23, 1943, for underage drinking. Following her arrest, she was sent back to Medford by the juvenile authorities in Santa Barbara. Short then returned to Florida to live, with occasional visits back to Massachusetts.

In Florida, Short met Major Matthew Michael Gordon Jr., a decorated United States Army Air Forces officer who was assigned to the 2nd Air Commando Group and in training for deployment to China Burma India Theater of Operations. Short told friends that Gordon wrote her a letter from India proposing marriage while he was recovering from injuries sustained from an airplane crash. She accepted his proposal, but Gordon died in a second airplane crash on August 10, 1945 before he could return to the United States. She later exaggerated this story, saying that they were married and had a child who died. Although Gordon's friends in the air commandos confirmed that Gordon and Short were engaged, his family denied any connection after Short's murder.

Elizabeth Short returned to Los Angeles in July 1946 to visit Army Air Corps Lieutenant Joseph Gordon Fickling, an old boyfriend she had met in Florida during the war. At the time Short returned to Los Angeles, Fickling was stationed at NARB, Long Beach. For the six months prior to her death, Short remained in southern California, mainly in the Los Angeles area.

Murder and aftermath

The body of Elizabeth Short was found in the Leimert Park district of Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. Her remains had been left on a vacant lot on the west side of South Norton Avenue midway between Coliseum Street and West 39th Street. () The body was discovered by local resident Betty Bersinger, who was walking with her three-year-old daughter. Short's severely mutilated body had been found nude and severed at the waist, completely drained of blood. Her face was slashed from the corners of her mouth toward her ears, called the Glasgow smile. The body had been washed and cleaned and she had been "posed" with her hands over her head and elbows bent at right angles.

The autopsy stated Short was tall, weighed , and had light blue eyes, brown hair, and badly decayed teeth. There were marks on her ankles and wrists made by rope, consistent with being tied either spreadeagled or hung upside down. Although the skull was not fractured, Short had bruising on the front and right side of her scalp with a small amount of bleeding in the subarachnoid space on the right side, consistent with blows to the head. The cause of death was blood loss from the lacerations to the face combined with shock due to a concussion of the brain.

William Randolph Hearst's papers, the ''Los Angeles Herald-Express'' and the ''Los Angeles Examiner'', sensationalized the case; the black tailored suit Short was last seen wearing became "a tight skirt and a sheer blouse" and Elizabeth Short became the "Black Dahlia", an "adventuress" who "prowled Hollywood Boulevard". As time passed, the media coverage became more outrageous with claims her lifestyle "made her victim material", when those who knew her all reported that Short did not smoke, drink or swear.

On January 23, 1947, the killer rang the editor of the ''Los Angeles Examiner'', expressing concern that news of the murder was tailing off in the newspapers and offering to mail items belonging to Short to the editor. The following day a packet arrived at the Los Angeles newspaper containing Short's birth certificate, business cards, photographs, names written on pieces of paper and an address book with the name Mark Hansen embossed on the cover. Hansen, the last person known to have seen Short alive (on January 9), became the prime suspect. The killer would later write more letters to the newspaper, calling himself "the Black Dahlia Avenger", after the name given to Short by the newspapers. On January 25, Short's handbag and one shoe were found in a garbage bin a short distance from Norton Avenue. Due to the notoriety of the case, more than 50 men and women have confessed to the murder and police are swamped with tips every time a newspaper mentions the case or a book or movie about it is released. Sergeant St. John, a detective who worked the case until his retirement, stated: "It is amazing how many people offer up a relative as the killer."

Gerry Ramlow, a ''Los Angeles Daily News'' reporter later stated, "If the murder was never solved it was because of the reporters ... They were all over, trampling evidence, withholding information." It took several days for the police to take full control of the investigation during which time reporters roamed freely throughout the department's offices, sat at officers desks, and answered their phones. Many tips from the public were not passed on to police as the reporters who received them rushed out to get "scoops".

Short was buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California. After her other sisters had grown up and married, Short's mother moved to Oakland to be near her daughter's grave. Phoebe Short finally returned to the East Coast in the 1970s and lived into her 90s.

Rumors and popular misconceptions

According to newspaper reports shortly after the murder, Elizabeth Short received the nickname "Black Dahlia" at a Long Beach, California drugstore in mid-1946, as a word play on the then-current movie ''The Blue Dahlia''. Los Angeles County district attorney investigators' reports state that the nickname was invented by newspaper reporters covering the murder. ''Los Angeles Herald-Express'' reporter Bevo Means, who interviewed Short's acquaintances at the drug store, is credited with first using the "Black Dahlia" name.

A number of people, none of whom knew Short, contacted police and the newspapers claiming to have seen her during her so-called "missing week"—a time period between the time of her January 9 disappearance and the time her body was found on January 15. Police and district attorney investigators ruled out each of these alleged sightings, wherein in some cases, those interviewed were identifying other women they had mistaken for Short.

Many true crime books claim that Short lived in or visited Los Angeles at various times in the mid 1940s; these claims have never been substantiated and are refuted by the findings of law enforcement officers who investigated the case. A document in the Los Angeles County district attorney's files titled "Movements of Elizabeth Short Prior to June 1, 1946" states that Short was in Florida and Massachusetts from September 1943 through the early months of 1946 and gives a detailed account of her living and working arrangements during this period. Although a popular portrayal amongst her acquaintances and many true crime authors was of Short as a call girl, the Los Angeles district attorney's grand jury proved there was no existing evidence that she was ever a prostitute and the district attorney's office attributes the claim to confusion with a prostitute of the same name. Another widely circulated rumor holds that Short was unable to have sexual intercourse because of a congenital defect that left her with "infantile genitalia". Los Angeles County district attorney's files state that the investigators had questioned three men with whom Short had sex, including a Chicago police officer who was a suspect in the case. The FBI files on the case also contain a statement from one of Short's alleged lovers. Found in the Los Angeles district attorney's files and in the Los Angeles Police Department's summary of the case, Short's autopsy describes her reproductive organs as anatomically normal although the report notes evidence of what it called "female trouble". The autopsy also states that Short was not and had never been pregnant, contrary to what had been claimed prior to and following her death.

Suspects

At the time, the Black Dahlia murder investigation was the largest LAPD investigation since the murder of Marion Parker in 1927. Because of the size of the investigation, the case also enlisted the help of hundreds of officers borrowed from other law enforcement agencies. Because of the complexity of the case, the original investigators treated every person who knew Short with suspicion until eliminated as a suspect. Around 200 people were considered suspects and thousands were interviewed by police. Owing to the nature of the crime, sensational and sometimes inaccurate press coverage focused intense public attention on the case. Most of the approximately 50 people who confessed to the murder were men.

Theories and possible related murders

Some crime authors have speculated on a link between the Short murder and the Cleveland Torso Murders, which took place in Cleveland between 1934 and 1938. As with a large number of killings that took place before and after the Short murder, the original LAPD investigators looked into the Cleveland murders in 1947 and later discounted any relationship between the two cases. However new evidence implicating a former Cleveland torso murder suspect, Jack Anderson Wilson, with Short's death was investigated by Detective St. John in 1980. St. John claimed he was close to arresting Wilson for the death of Short when Wilson unexpectedly died in a fire on February 4, 1982.

Crime authors such as Steve Hodel and William Rasmussen have suggested a link between the Short murder and the 1946 murder and dismemberment of six-year-old Suzanne Degnan in Chicago. Captain Donahoe of the Los Angeles police also stated publicly that he believed the Black Dahlia and Lipstick murders were "likely connected". Among the evidence cited is the fact that Elizabeth Short's body was found on Norton Avenue three blocks west of Degnan Boulevard, Degnan being the last name of the girl from Chicago and there were striking similarities between the writing of the Degnan ransom note and that of "the Black Dahlia Avenger". For example, both used a combination of capitals and small letters, the Degnan note read in part "BuRN This FoR heR SAfTY" with both notes containing a similar mis-shapen letter P and have one word matching exactly. Currently, convicted serial killer William Heirens is serving time for Degnan's murder. Initially arrested at age 17 for breaking into a residence close to that of Suzanne Degnan, Heirens claims he was tortured by police, forced to confess, and made a scapegoat in the Degnan murder.

Depictions in film

The radio show ''Somebody Knows!'', a summer replacement for '' Suspense'', ran an episode on the killing in August 1950 on the CBS Radio Network.

James Ellroy's neo-noir novel ''The Black Dahlia'' was published in 1987. It was made into a 2006 movie directed by Brian De Palma. Elizabeth Short was played by actress Mia Kirshner in the film.

Lucie Arnaz played Elizabeth Short in the 1975 TV movie ''Who is The Black Dahlia?''

References

Further reading

}}

External links

Black Dahlia Killer Profile on America's Most Wanted

truTV entry for Black Dahlia.

The FBI's Black Dahlia files from the FBI's Freedom of Information Act site.

"Somebody Knows" episode a 1950 radio program on the case.

Black Dahlia murder with rare photos from the LA Public Library

Category:1947 murders in the United States Category:American murder victims Category:Hollywood history and culture Category:People from Boston, Massachusetts Category:People murdered in California Category:1924 births Category:1947 deaths Category:Unsolved murders in the United States

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