Kitty Dukakis
Katharine "Kitty" Dukakis (née Dickson; December 26, 1936 – March 21, 2025) was an American author. She was the wife of former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. She was the First Lady of Massachusetts from 1975 until 1979 and again from 1983 until 1991.[1]
Kitty Dukakis | |
|---|---|
_(Kitty_Dukakis_cropped).jpg) | |
| First Lady of Massachusetts | |
| In role January 6, 1983 – January 3, 1991 | |
| Preceded by | Josephine King |
| Succeeded by | Susan Weld |
| In role January 2, 1975 – January 4, 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Jessie Sargent |
| Succeeded by | Josephine King |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Katharine Dickson December 26, 1936 Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | March 21, 2025 (aged 88) Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse(s) | John Chaffetz
(m. 1957; div. 1961) |
| Children | 3; including John |
During the 1988 presidential election, many fake rumors were talked about in the media about the Dukakises, including the claim by Idaho Republican Senator Steve Symms that Kitty had burned a United States flag to protest the Vietnam War.[2]
In 1989, Dukakis was briefly hospitalized after drinking rubbing alcohol.[3] In 1991, she revealed in her autobiography that she had suffered from alcoholism and had depression.[4] She later became an activist supporting electroconvulsive therapy to treat patients with depression.[4]
Dukakis died at her home in Brookline, Massachusetts, on March 21, 2025 from problems caused by dementia at the age of 88.[5][6]
Kitty Dukakis Media
Kitty Dickson, a student at Brookline High School (1954)
Dukakis and her husband, 1987
Michael and Kitty Dukakis in 2012
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References
- ↑ "Kitty Dukakis stylish half of political team". Milwaukee Sentinel. 1988-05-27. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZnxQAAAAIBAJ&dq=kitty%20dukakis%20married%20michael%201963&pg=4789%2C6895032. Retrieved 29 August 2012.[dead link]
- ↑ "Story on Mrs. Dukakis Is Denied by Campaign". New York Times. 1988-08-26. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/26/us/story-on-mrs-dukakis-is-denied-by-campaign.html. Retrieved 2016-05-27. "Michael Dukakis's Presidential campaign, responding to comments by Senator Steve Symms, an Idaho Republican, issued a statement Wednesday saying any suggestion that Kitty Dukakis had ever burned an American flag was totally false and beneath contempt.".
- ↑ Kitty Dukakis Recovering. November 11, 1989. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE2DA1E31F932A25752C1A96F948260. Retrieved 2007-10-11.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Seelye, Katharine Q.. Kitty Dukakis, a Beneficiary of Electroshock Therapy, Emerges as Its Evangelist. The New York Times (December 31, 2016). Retrieved 2016-12-31.
- ↑ Kahn, Joseph P. (March 22, 2025). Kitty Dukakis, tireless advocate who shared her struggles with the public, dies at 88. The Boston Globe. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/22/metro/kitty-dukakis-dies-brookline-governor-michael/. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
- ↑ Kitty Dukakis, humanitarian and activist for mental health, dies at 88. March 22, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/03/22/kitty-dukakis-michael-alcoholism-mental-health-dead/.
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