>Kennerly was 29 years old, bearded, funny, loyal, profane and talented. He had already won a Pulitzer Prize for work he’d done in Vietnam in 1971 for United Press International and was working for Time magazine when, on the night of Ford’s hurried inauguration after President Richard M. Nixon resigned in August 1974, the new president asked him to be the White House photographer. Over the next 895 days of the Ford administration, Kennerly grew close to the president, who died in 2006, and he remains friendly with Betty Ford. When she voiced her idea about dancing on the Cabinet Room table to him, he recalls, "I said, ‘Well, nobody’s around.’" There was a Secret Service agent discreetly outside the door.
>
>[…]
>
>Kennerly says he does not know why Betty Ford danced on the table, but he has a guess. "Very few women have had a seat at that table," he says. "I bet you could count them on one hand at that point, and knowing her support for the Equal Rights Amendment"—she endorsed it—"she was tap-dancing in the middle of this male bastion. She was storming the walls of the gray suits and gray-haired eminences."
>
>[…]
>
>So, in 1994, Kennerly showed the photograph to the former president. "And it’s like one of those cartoon moments where his eyes come bulging out, and he goes, ‘Oh, Betty isn’t going to like this.’ Remember, he knows her better than anybody. I’m sunk. But he doesn’t say anything when she comes in, and she looks at the picture and she starts laughing. She says, ‘Oh, I forgot all about this. That is so great.’ And I ask her, you won’t mind? And Mrs. Ford says, ‘No! It’s a terrific picture.’
>
>"Then President Ford says, ‘Well, Betty, you never told me you did that.’ And she smiles at him and says, ‘There’s a lot of things I haven’t told you, Jerry.’ "
It should be noted that, before marrying Gerald Ford, Betty Ford, née Bloomer, studied dancing for two years with Martha Graham and was even set to join her auxiliary troupe until her mother opposed her, asking she stays at her hometown for six months beforehand.
tommygun1688
Must’ve been before she got sober and started that rehab clinic.
beerme72
My Mom and Dad loved the Fords as POTUS/First Lady because they were actual Human Beings, foibles and all. And as my Mom lost her Mom to Breast Cancer, Betty’s fight really helped galvanize and start a truly incredible thing on Earth.
God, how I wish we could have a level headed and honest POTUS right now…..Gerald Ford, you are truly missed.
Category3Water
Considering her personal life and involvement in the Betty Ford Clinic, this picture seems almost too on the nose to be real. I’m almost surprised this picture wasn’t made into a scene in Vice or some other movie that hits this time period.
ken6217
It looks like from there she went to the Betty Ford clinic
SmStarStudios
Okay but seriously, you give a girl the opportunity to dance on one of the fanciest tables in the world and expect her not to do it?
Rom_2
Looks like the Jack Rabbit Slims Twist Contest in Pulp Fiction
![Betty Ford dancing on the table of the Cabinet of the White House. Washington DC, United States. January 19, 1977. [1000x1464]](https://i1.wp.com/prologue.blogs.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/betty-ford-cabinet-table-small.jpg)
Johannes_P
More about thid event in the Smithsonian Magazine article Betty Ford’s Tabled Resolution:
>Kennerly was 29 years old, bearded, funny, loyal, profane and talented. He had already won a Pulitzer Prize for work he’d done in Vietnam in 1971 for United Press International and was working for Time magazine when, on the night of Ford’s hurried inauguration after President Richard M. Nixon resigned in August 1974, the new president asked him to be the White House photographer. Over the next 895 days of the Ford administration, Kennerly grew close to the president, who died in 2006, and he remains friendly with Betty Ford. When she voiced her idea about dancing on the Cabinet Room table to him, he recalls, "I said, ‘Well, nobody’s around.’" There was a Secret Service agent discreetly outside the door.
>
>[…]
>
>Kennerly says he does not know why Betty Ford danced on the table, but he has a guess. "Very few women have had a seat at that table," he says. "I bet you could count them on one hand at that point, and knowing her support for the Equal Rights Amendment"—she endorsed it—"she was tap-dancing in the middle of this male bastion. She was storming the walls of the gray suits and gray-haired eminences."
>
>[…]
>
>So, in 1994, Kennerly showed the photograph to the former president. "And it’s like one of those cartoon moments where his eyes come bulging out, and he goes, ‘Oh, Betty isn’t going to like this.’ Remember, he knows her better than anybody. I’m sunk. But he doesn’t say anything when she comes in, and she looks at the picture and she starts laughing. She says, ‘Oh, I forgot all about this. That is so great.’ And I ask her, you won’t mind? And Mrs. Ford says, ‘No! It’s a terrific picture.’
>
>"Then President Ford says, ‘Well, Betty, you never told me you did that.’ And she smiles at him and says, ‘There’s a lot of things I haven’t told you, Jerry.’ "
It should be noted that, before marrying Gerald Ford, Betty Ford, née Bloomer, studied dancing for two years with Martha Graham and was even set to join her auxiliary troupe until her mother opposed her, asking she stays at her hometown for six months beforehand.
tommygun1688
Must’ve been before she got sober and started that rehab clinic.
beerme72
My Mom and Dad loved the Fords as POTUS/First Lady because they were actual Human Beings, foibles and all. And as my Mom lost her Mom to Breast Cancer, Betty’s fight really helped galvanize and start a truly incredible thing on Earth.
God, how I wish we could have a level headed and honest POTUS right now…..Gerald Ford, you are truly missed.
Category3Water
Considering her personal life and involvement in the Betty Ford Clinic, this picture seems almost too on the nose to be real. I’m almost surprised this picture wasn’t made into a scene in Vice or some other movie that hits this time period.
ken6217
It looks like from there she went to the Betty Ford clinic
SmStarStudios
Okay but seriously, you give a girl the opportunity to dance on one of the fanciest tables in the world and expect her not to do it?
Rom_2
Looks like the Jack Rabbit Slims Twist Contest in Pulp Fiction
handlessuck
So… this was before the rehab, then?
Wenge03
Are they ash trays?