(bells chiming) (gentle music) - [Narrator] Betty Ford's outspoken nature became publicly lifesaving when she was unexpectedly faced with a tragic diagnosis shortly into Gerald Ford's presidency.

Just six weeks after becoming the first lady of the United States, Betty Ford learned that she had breast cancer and would need to receive an immediate mastectomy, which is the surgical removal of a woman's breast.

(wistful music) Having such a serious disease affecting such a personal part of a woman's body was not something that women traditionally spoke publicly about in the 1970s.

In fact, the word breast was not even uttered on television.

- She literally brought the word breast and cancer out of the closet and into the news media, and it was finally said on TV.

If you go back, it wasn't.

- And so Betty's decision to go public with her diagnosis when she had this big national platform as first lady was really significant.

People didn't say breast on television.

People didn't really understand what the breast cancer diagnosis and recovery was like.

So being able to look at the first lady and experience this disease firsthand was incredibly significant to the American public.

People were able to follow her process of diagnosis, operation, and recovery firsthand, and they really learned a lot about the disease through her willingness and courage to be open.

- [Narrator] Betty and Gerald Ford's decision to be fully transparent about Betty's fight against breast cancer had a tremendous impact on society.

As Gerald Ford tearfully shared the news of her diagnosis on television, Americans saw a man in power showing emotion publicly, which defied the stereotype that strong men do not show these emotions deeply.

Betty's fierce fight against the disease and public prominence increased awareness and encouraged women everywhere to be examined and take action as soon as possible if something abnormal was found.

- And so Betty's choice to go public with her diagnosis contributed to something known as the Betty Ford blip where 15%, saw a 15% increase in women going to their doctors for early detection and diagnoses.

- All health officials will say there is a before Betty and an after Betty that makes a difference in women's health, and that's the important thing.

- [Narrator] Great stigma existed surrounding breast cancer and mastectomies in general in the 1970s.

Such an operation left many women feeling disfigured and less feminine.

- So Betty always loved fashion, and she recognized that after having her breast removed as part of her cancer recovery she was worried about how she could wear clothes after that.

But she talked about how, you know, it's okay to feel this way.

It's not vanity to be worried about how this massive operation, this physical disfigurement, is going to impact you.

And so she really made a point to be open about this, to talk about this with women.

And so in her autobiography, which was published in 1978, she really talks about the emotional toll that her breast cancer diagnosis, her operation, had on her as a way to reassure American women.

- [Narrator] While Betty was not entirely immune to anxiety about the challenges her surgery would pose, she reminded herself and the rest of society that just as she would not have left her husband if he had lost a leg, he would not leave her for something just as unfortunate and beyond her control.

Betty also did effectively destigmatize concerns about a lack of femininity after surgery as she continued to dazzle society as the fashion icon she always had been.

- Instead of wearing V-neck dresses that were low cut in the front, she chose to do low-cut dresses in the back, which we all know can be very sexy anyway.

So she never lost that spark in her.

- [Narrator] Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie, also had a mastectomy.

After she struggled to find a good breast prosthesis, Ruth formed a company that could manufacture them even better.

Doing so positioned her to personally fit Betty for a pocketed bra and breast prosthesis in 1978.

Together, Betty Ford and Ruth Handler utilized their own experiences to help women feel more comfortable with their surgically altered bodies.

- And in her autobiography, in addition to kind of talking about this emotional toll, she also really grounds her experiences with her characteristic humor and humanity.

So for instance, she talks about this story where she and her family were in Vail playing touch football.

She was coaching, but the photographers were like, "Oh, no, you have to pose like you're playing the game."

So she gamely does that.

And in her autobiography she describes suddenly feeling a kerplop as her breast prosthesis fell out of her bra, and so her daughter, Susan, helped her get behind some cars to readjust it.

And she said, "Well, you know, "this is just one of those things that happens "when you have a prosthetic breast."

And so I think that story really illustrates again how willing she was to be open about her experiences and how humanizing that was.

- My mother had an incredible sense of humor, and people inside the bubble, I guess, would say they knew that, people that worked with her.

A classic example is when my daughter was two, she walked in my mom's bathroom and I guess at that age I'd never really spoken to my kids about a mastectomy or anything, and my mother took her prosthesis and she threw it at her and said, "Catch."

And so it really broke the ice.

- [Narrator] While countless lives were prolonged and saved thanks to Betty's openness, the support Betty received while she recovered from surgery and the chemotherapy that followed helped sustain her, too.

When reflecting on her time in the hospital Betty said, "Even before I was able to get up, "I lay in bed and watched television "and saw on the news shows lines of women queued up "to go in for breast examinations "because of what happened to me."

- [Dr. Luecke] She received over 50,000 pieces of mail after her ordeal, many of them from women who had gone through breast cancer treatments themselves and really talking about what an inspiration she was, how helpful and inspiring it was to see the first lady going through something similar.

- [Narrator] One letter in particular was a heartfelt note penned by President Ford after he experienced what he said was the loneliest night of his life when Betty was first admitted to the hospital.

With the love and support of her family and the incredible hospital staff, who were known for keeping things as light as they could throughout her treatment, Betty's surgery was a success.

She returned from the hospital to a receiving line made up of her family, all 200 White House staff members, and a new golden retriever puppy named Liberty who was adopted to be a source of support throughout her healing process.

They were all prepared to cheer her on and help her continue to heal and fight.

Betty and her family credited their support system and their faith for her full recovery, and in time Betty came to embrace the larger impact of her battle with cancer, stating, "My illness turned out to have a very special purpose, "helping save other lives."

(dramatic music)