Kitty Dukakis

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Katharine Dickson Dukakis (born December 26, 1936), known as Kitty Dukakis, is the wife of former Massachusetts governor and U.S. presidential candidate Michael Dukakis.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she received her B.A. from Lesley College in 1963 and her M.A. from Boston University School of Communication in 1982. Mrs. Dukakis' father was Harry Ellis Dickson, First Violin in the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 49 years and later Associated Conductor for the Boston Pops[1].

During the 1988 presidential election, a number of false rumors were reported in the media about the Dukakises, including the claim by Idaho Republican Senator Steve Symms that Katherine Dukakis had burned an American flag to protest the Vietnam War. Republican strategist Lee Atwater was accused of having initiated these rumors.[2]

In 1989, Dukakis was briefly hospitalized after drinking rubbing alcohol.[3] In 1991, Dukakis published her memoir, Now You Know, in which she candidly discussed her ongoing battle with alcoholism. The book also discussed the pressures of being a political wife, and her disappointment over her husband's defeat in the 1988 election. In 2006, she revealed having undergone electroconvulsive therapy treatment beginning in 2001 in order to treat major depression, publishing her experiences in the book Shock.

In 2007, the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts opened a center for addiction treatment named after Dukakis.[4]

[edit] Published works

[edit] Public service

Dukakis has served on the President's Commission on the Holocaust, on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, on the board of the Refugee Policy Center, and on the Task Force on Cambodian Children.

[edit] References

  1. ^ NY Times Harry Ellis Dickson obituary, April 2, 2003
  2. ^ Editors (August 26, 1988) "Story on Mrs. Dukakis Is Denied by Campaign." New York Times.
  3. ^ Associated Press. "Kitty Dukakis Recovering", The New York Times, November 11, 1989. Retrieved on 2007-10-11. 
  4. ^ Kitty Dukakis Treatment Center to Open. Boston University School of Public Health (September 21, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-11.

[edit] External links

  • [1] A short profile of her education and career
  • [2] An article in which she discusses her treatment with electroconvulsive therapy for depression
Preceded by
Josephine King		 First Lady of Massachusetts
1975-1979		 Succeeded by
Susan Roosevelt Weld


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