I was flipping through my new copy of Smithsonian Magazine (June 2008, article is pages 14-16), when I saw this picture, so I thought I’d share. It definitely made me smile! White House photographer David Hume Kennerly remembers Betty Ford voicing her idea of dancing on the Cabinet Room table and recalled saying “Well, nobody’s around.” And Betty Ford took off her shoes and jumped up on the table! This picture was taken on the Fords' last day in the White House and so the picture got lost for quite awhile. In 1994, Kennerly rediscovered it and approached the Fords about publishing it. Betty Ford endorsed publishing it by saying it was a “terrific picture.”
As a note, Kennerly talks about the little plates on the table – what do you think they are? Candy dishes? Nope, they are ashtrays, as everyone smoked in those days.
