Geraldine Ferraro

Ferraro in 2003, photo by Prphotos

Birth Name: Geraldine Anne Ferraro

Date of Birth: August 26, 1935

Place of Birth: Newburgh, New York, U.S.

Date of Death: March 26, 2011

Place of Death: Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

Ethnicity: Italian

Geraldine Ferraro was an American attorney and politician. She was a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York, from January 3, 1979 to January 3, 1985, and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, from 1993 to 1996.

She was the Democratic Party’s nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1984. Geraldine was the first woman nominated for Vice President of the United States by a major party.

Geraldine was the daughter of Antonetta L. (Corrieri) and Dominick Ferraro. Her father was an Italian emigrant, from Marcianise, Campania. Her mother was born in New York, to Italian parents.

She was married to real estate developer John Zaccaro, with whom she had three children.

Geraldine’s paternal grandfather was named Carlo Ferraro.

Geraldine’s paternal grandmother was named Maria Senese.

Geraldine’s maternal grandfather was named Domenico Corrieri.

Geraldine’s maternal grandmother was Maria Giuseppa/Giuseppina “Josephine” Caputo (the daughter of Ferdinando Caputo and Anna Monaco). Anna was born in Salerno, Campania, Italy.

Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to launch a notable campaign for a major party’s presidential nomination, in 1964, for the Republican Party. Hillary Clinton is the first woman to have been nominated for the Presidency by a major party, the Democratic Party, in 2016; Kamala Harris, in 2024, also by the Democratic Party, is the second. Shirley Chisholm won three non-traditional presidential nominating contests in 1972, for the Democratic Party; Hillary Clinton and Nikki Haley have since been the only women to have won a major party’s presidential nominating contest, with Clinton winning 23 in 2008 and 34 in 2016, for the Democratic Party, and Nikki Haley winning 2 in 2024, for the Republican Party. Kamala Harris, who was sworn in as Vice President in 2021, is the first woman to serve as either President or Vice President of the United States.

Three people of significant Italian heritage have won a caucus, primary, and/or nominating ballot for a major American party’s Presidential nomination. The three are:
*Al Smith (who was the Democratic Party’s nominee for President of the United States in 1928, and was also a candidate for the 1920, 1924, and 1932 Democratic nominations for President: in 1928, he won 12 contests; in 1932, he won 4 contests; Smith’s paternal grandfather was Italian)
*Michael DiSalle (1960; Democratic; won 1 state, Ohio)
*Rick Santorum (Republican; ran in 2012 and 2016: in 2012, he won 11 contests; Santorum is of three quarters Italian descent)

Ted Cruz, whose maternal great-grandfather was Italian, won 11 contests in the 2016 Republican Party primaries.

Other people of significant Italian heritage who have mounted plausible or semi-plausible campaigns for a major party’s nomination for President of the United States are:
*John A. Volpe (who sought the 1968 Republican nomination)
*James Traficant (who sought the 1988 Democratic nomination; Traficant’s father was of Italian descent)
*Rudy Giuliani (who sought the 2008 Republican nomination)
*Tom Tancredo (who sought the 2008 Republican nomination)
*George Pataki (who sought the 2016 Republican nomination; Pataki’s maternal grandfather was Italian)
*Chris Christie (who sought the 2016 and 2020 Republican nominations; Christie’s mother was of Italian descent)
*Richard Ojeda (who sought the 2020 Democratic nomination; Ojeda’s mother is of at least three quarters Italian descent)
*Tim Ryan (who sought the 2020 Democratic nomination; Ryan’s mother is of Italian descent)
*Bill de Blasio (who sought the 2020 Democratic nomination; de Blasio’s mother was of Italian descent)
*Ron DeSantis (who sought the 2024 Republican nomination)