The Bridgeport Post from Bridgeport, Connecticut • Page 57

BKIOGKI'ORT A 1'OST, December 19, 1970 D--15 Women Score as Persons in Bicentennial Year By JOY STILLEY 'While a Bicentennial-conscious iiation was taking a year-long nostalgic look at its past, American women were writing new rilstory in 1975. They broke the sex barrier at U.S. military academies, enrolling at West Point, Anna- jlolis and the Air Force Academy, after a law signed by Pros jdent Ford abolished the all rtale tradition at those institutions. Women also entered the Coast Guard Academy, to become the first female cadets there since its founding in 187S. The academy, operated by the Department of Transportation, Lwas not affected by the legisia fion, but integrated its student voluntarily.

Political Clout In a presidential election year, women's political impact was evident and by the lime Rosalynn Carter became First Lady elect her face and her stand on various issues were already familiar all over the United States. Wives of the major candidates Mrs. Carter, Joan Mondale, Betty Ford and Elizabeth Dole struck out on their own across the country on tough campaign tours. In hard hitting speeches they gave their own views, as well as explained their husbands' positions, which they sometimes didn't agree wo WQMEN walk toward oricntation area A woman even campaigned at Air Force Academy in Colorado as for president, on an antiabor- they join other female cadets as first women admit' ted to the service academy. The young women started' their academy careers by lining up under sign, at top of picture, a phrase from a poem written in the 1800s and adopted by an Academy former chief of staff.

since 1973. became the; first woman director of the society in its 124-year history. A Caldwell First Sarah Caldwell, who has her own opera company in Boston, where she stages, and conducts, became the first woman ever to conduct at the New York Metropolitan Opera since it opened in 1883. Sylvia E. Mathis, 26, a 1975 graduate of the University of North Carolina's Law School, became the first black woman to be recruited as an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Roberta 23-year-old graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, became the first in the United States, anii perhaps In the ttorld; to be licensed as a commercial nuclear power plant operator. To-Arts Institute Gwendolyn Brooks, the poet who in 1950 was the first black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize, became the first black woman to be elected to the 250-member National Institute of Arts and Letters. Shirley Schlanger Abrahamson was named as the first woman Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In other lands, women were racking up firsts also. Just a month after Britain's ROSALYNN CARTER against sex dis- went inlo effect i a Ellen 49-year-old Mer- ''riek, L.I., housewife, mother came in fifth -ih the balloting at the Dcmo- "'tratic National Convention.

First 'Chairperson' That gathering saw Rep, Boggs, presiding as" permanent "chairperson," first woman to hold that po- in the party's history, 'while Rep. Barbara Jordan, was keynote speaker. Mary Louise Smith, 62, first "'woman to be Republican National Chairman, was continued iii that post'after the Republi- can convention but in Novem- "b'er announced her resignation. The election of Dixy Lee Ray ffs' governor of Washington 1 gave the nation a second female state government head, I albng with Gov. Ella Grasso of ''Connecticut.

But otherwise "gains were meager. There will be' no woman in the Senate and Ihe number of women holding House seats will decline by one, to'l8, in the next Congress. Leonor K. Sullivan, D- 72-year-old dean of the women members of Congress and the only one to chair a committee, retired. Active in Politics II However, women everywhere were increasingly active in politics.

Anne Armstrong of Texas, 48. a longtime Republican party worker and former White House counselor, was named by President Ford as the first woman to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain. Rosemary L. Ginn, 63, Rep i a national com- mitteewornan from Missouri, succeeded Ruth L.

Farkas A a a 'Cifxembourg, and President nominated Patricia M. Byrne, 51, as ambassador to ''Mali. Shirley Temple Black, former child movie star who was previously ambassador to Ghana, became the first woman to hold the post of U.S. Chief of Proto- M. Holm, 34, retired "frem the Air Force, where she had been the nation's first major general, was ap- pointed by President Ford as his special assistant for wom- affairs.

In that post she Patricia Sullivan cLindh, former Republican na'. tional committeewoman from Louisiana, who was named dep- assistant secretary of state for education and public af- Evelyn Gandy, a 55-year-old became Mississippi's first woman lieutenant gover- elected to the post after Serving two times as state treasurer. Heads Boston's Council "Former Rep. Louise Day Hicks, an outspoken opponent of forced school desegregation 'busing, was elected president of ihe Boston City Council, the Titsl woman in the city's his- fo'ry to hold the top council post. Sally Stanford, as top vote getter in the city council elec- tin, was named mayor of fiausalito, a small community 'across the Golden Gate from her old home town of San Francisco, where she was once that -city's best known bordello oper- Her first official act was -to adjourn the city council and break open case of champagne to celebrate.

Ford nominated i Juanita Ashcraft, 55, as an assistant secretary of the Air Force, the highest civilian Pentagon post for a woman in more than two decades. He also nominated Shana Gordon, .16, as assistant secretary for public affairs of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. In news nj-yjoad Isn- bel Peron, 45, was ousted from office by a bloodless military coup after 21 months as president of Argentina following the death of her husband, Juan Peron. And Chiang Ching, 63, lost her power in China after the death of her husband, Mao Tse-tung. Former First Ladies Former first ladies were in the news during the year: Mamie Eisenhower, who spent 11 weeks in Washington's Walter Reed Army Medical Center with viral infection, celebrated her 80th birthday; Lady Bird Johnson visited Israel; and Pat Nixon was hospitalized after suffering a stroke.

Women seeking a toehold on the career ladder in fields previously dominated by men could take heart from the successes of their sisters during the year. Barbara Walter's Coup Barbara Walters, 44, who had oeen cohost of the NBC "Today" show for the last two years and a writer and personality with the network for 12 years, accepted an offer of SI million a year over the next ive years to coanchor "The Evening News" at ABC with 3arry Reasoner. Jane Pauley, 25-year-old Indiana native joined the "Today" show staff as a cohost with Tom Brokaw. Meanwhile, Lynn Sherr, 34, became the irst woman to anchor a prime- time network television news series when she was named iost of public television's People and Politics." Marlene Sanders, 45, -was named vice president-and di- of documentaries for ABC News, the first woman vice president in the news division at that network. And network television news 'irst woman bureau chie got Us ef when new laws crimination Libby Howie, 24, became the first woman auctioneer in the 232-year history of Sotheby's London fine arts dealers.

Jo Marshall, 48, had broken the British barrier just a week pre viously by conducting an auction for the 149-year-old firm ol Phillips Sons and Neale. LWV Keeps Name The 56-year-old League ol Women Voters, which has accepted men as members for the last two years, considered drop- Rebecca Bell became head of NBC's Paris Bureau. Rear Admiral Fran Capt. Fran McKee, 49, in the service for 26 years, became the first woman line officer of ping "Women" from its name the Navy to be promoted to rear admiral. The two previously named women admirals h.ave been chiefs of the Nurse Corps.

Sue Peterson, 5 foot and 31 years old, became the first female physical education instructor in West Point's 174- year history. Not only was Deborah B. Doanc Maine of Essex, Maritime the Academy's first female student, but she was its top ranking, graduate this year and the first woman in the country to graduate from a four-year maritime school. The 26-year-old gradu- al its biennial convention, then voted- overwhelmingly to keep the old name. Meanwhile, the Scouts' executive board decided to give women greater leadership roles in the organization i i imits.

Formerly allowed to serve only as "den mothers" of Cub Scouts, they may now serve as cubmaster and assist ant cubmaster but are stil barred from scoutmaster or assistant scoutmaster. Women as Bishops A resolution passed by the House of Bishops and House Deputies of the as a third mate. A Poly tech 57 per cent of the vote, 20-year-old Anna Maria Riccio became the first'woman in the Polytechnic Institute of New York's 121-year history to serve as president of its student council. The engineering and science school has 4,600 students, of which fewer than 5 per cent are women. Women total only 2 per cent of the New York Law School's graduates, but Sylvia- D.

Garland was elected by the Alumni Association as its first woman president. The Harvard Law Review elected its first xvornan president: 23-year-old Susan Estrich of Cambridge, a second- year Law student School. at the Harvard Dr. Sarah Myers, who las served as editor of the its American Geographical Society's quarterly Geographical Review is priests and 'bishops. were competing against men in nearly every field, but they were still competing against their own sex in the traditional beauty contests.

Barbara Elaine Peterson, 22, was chosen Miss U.S.A and her sister, Polly, 17, won the Miss. Teen-Age Minnesota title. Riria Messinger, 20, former Israeli soldier and, more recently a gliding instructor, was named Miss Universe: Miss Jamaica, 22-year-old Cindy Breakspeare, was chosen Miss World 1976. Dorothy Kathleen Benham, 20, of Edina, was crowned Miss America 1977 at the annual pageant in Atlantic City. The 5 foot 120-pound WIMBLEDON I Chris Evert won her second Wimbledon women's singles title, along with numerous victories during a year in which she received the first Woman Athlete of the World award.

blonde is a junior at Macalester College in St. Paul, majoring in vocal performance; Twanna D. Kilgore, 21, of Washington, D.C., was chosen Miss Black America. An English major at Federal City College, she hopes to pursue a career in the arts. 'Police Actress Angie Dickinson was named Woman of the Year by the Hollywood Radio and Television Society, for the success of, her TV series, "Police Woman," the fourth woman ever to given the society's top hoh- Tatum O'Neal, 12, was named "Female Star of the Year" by the National Association of Theater Owners.

Dolly Parton, 30, was named top female vocalist for the second straight year by the Country Music Association. Into Hall of Fame Anthropologist and author Margaret Mead, 74, was inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame, located at Seneca Falls, N.Y. For the second consecutive year, Trina Jarish, 34, of Costa Mesa, won the Powder Puff Derby cross-country air race. The race was sponsored by the Ninety-Nines, an organization of women pilots, who announced it was their last race. It wasn't all pood news for women during 1976.

In (he area of crime, they made their share of headlines. Sara Jane Moore, 45. was sentenced to life in the maximum sentence I prescribed by law, for attempt- jing lo kill President Ford on Sept. 22. 1975.

Hearst at Home Patricia Henrst, 22, was back with her family fnr the first i in almost three years, out on bail while appealing her bank robbery conviction for which she was sentenced to seven years in prison. Actress Louise Lasscr, 33, star of the TV soap opera, "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," completed a six-month diversionary program on a charge of possession of cocaine. The program is designed for first-time drug offenders. Caril Ann Fugate, 32, was paroled after spending more than half her life in confinement. She was 14 when she accompanied Charles Starkweather on an 11-murdcr rampage.

Record Divorce Rale The National Center for Health Statistics reported tha. American divorces topped the one million mark in 1975 for the first time and that the nation's divorce rate was rising by nearly 5 per cent annually. The marriage rate was dropping by about 4 per cent, although ai estimated 2.1 million couples were married in 1975. The marriage rate may have been dropping in real life, but in the comic strip world, perennially-young, red-haired reporter Brenda Starr finally married her "mystcrcaman, 1 Basil St. John, whom she had been chasing for three decades Among real-life mergers: Doris Day, 52, filmdom's "girl- next-door," and Barry D.

Com den, 41, a Beverly Hills restau rateur; her fourth marriage his second, Nora Ephron, 34 i a free-lance writer, and Carl Bernstein, 32 of the Washington Post's Watergate reporting team; seconc marriage for each. Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, 5G, and Michael O'Hara, 47 seventh marriage for her; fourth for him. Contributing to the year's di vorce statistics was television's Barbara Walters, who granted an uncontested divorce from Lee Guber. For the second time, Elizabeth Taylor anil Richard Burton were divorced, ihe later married former Navy Secretary John Warner. Princess Margaret, 45, and the Earl of Snowden, 46, separated after 16 years of marriage.

Birth Rate Decline Along with the marriage rate the country's birth rate continued to decline; the National Center for Health Statistics said that the 1975 birth rate had dropped to 14.8 births per 1,000 population, compared with 14.9 in 1974. Abortion continued to be a nig issue, in the election campaign and in rulings on two major issues the Supreme declared: A woman does not need the consent of her hus- and to have an abortion; and a girl under IS does not need consent of a parent to have an abortion. Meanwhile, a U.N. study reported that more than two- hirds of the world's women now have access to abortions in heir countries double the number of five years ago. ERA Is Stalled ERAnierica, an organization whose sole objective is ratifica- ion of the.

Equal Rights Amendment, opened its national headquarters in Washington February with a $50 gift 'rom Betty Ford. Officials said he organisation would combat 'the lies and misrepresentations of the opposition." However, backers of the amendment who had hoped to see it ratified during the btcen- (500 meters), silver (l.liOO meters) and bronze (1.00(1 meters) mcduls In speed skating. Ilamlll's 'Gold' Dorothy Hamill. 19, of Riverside, won the medal in figure skating in the Olympics, the women's world championship and the U.S. notional competition.

Later, she up her a a standing to skate in the Ice Capades, signing a two-year contract. In the Olympics in Montreal, a Comnneri of Roiiizinia became the darliny of the press, the spectators and the television audiences. The 14-year-old, 88-pound gymnast amassed seven perfect 10.0 scores and came away with three of Ihe five i i i a gold medals, including the all- around a i i as the world's best woman gymnast. JoAnne Carner. 37, won the U.S.

Women's Open golf championship, and Rankin, 31, was honored by the Ladies Professional Golf Association ns the first woman to earn in a single year. Tina' Bischoff, 17, of Cnlum- jus, Ohio, broke (he world record for a one-way swim of he English Channel, crossing 'rom Dover to the French coast in 9 hours 3 minutes. A a i a Jnda McGill, 29, became tin- first person to swim around Hong Kong Island, a distance of more than 28 miles. "My main problem was boredom and jelly fish," she sttid ol the 17-hour a in rough seas, adding a she swam topless most of Ihe way because strap was irrilatin, her. Evert at Wimbledon Chris Evert won her sccoii- Wimbledon women's singles title and retained her U.S.

Ope tennis title both i win over Evonne Goolagong. The world's top-ranked woman player, 21, racked up numerous other wins during the year, including the $50,000 first prize in the L'liggs World Series of Women's Tennis. She received a trophy and a check for $10,000 as winner of the firsi award and was voted women- Sports Athlete of the Year by readers of that magazine. The Women's Tennis Assn. led by Miss Evert, announced a unless women got the same prize money as the men the world's top women tennis stars would boycott Wlmbledoi in 1977.

In a compromise agreement, the women's purse was made 80 per cent of the men's. Anna Leider, 16-year-old Alexandria, high school junior, won first prize in the National Football League's Bicentennial scholarship essay contest, discussing the NFL's role in American history. Necrology British actress Margaret Leighton, 53, star of British and American stage, i and television. Lily Pons, the lead- ng coloratura soprano at the York Metropolitan Opera 'or more than 25 years; Dame Agatha Christie, 85, one of tnt world's most prolific mystery writers; Franziska Braun, 90, mother of Eva Braun and mother-in-law of Adolf Hiller. Kathryn a believed be in her early 60s, evange- ist and faith healer; Angela Baddeley, 71, the actress who tlayed Mrs.

Bridges, the cook the popular Downstairs" scries; Florence Ballard. 32, one of the H'iginal members of the Su- ijremes singing trio, who spent he last few years of her life iving on welfare, of cardiac arrest; Doris Miles Disney, 68, eadinp mystery novel writer 'ith 47 books to her credit. Mary Margaret McBridc, 7G, he undisputed first lady of ra- lio for more than 20 years; Abby Rockefeller Mauze, 72, hilan(hropist, only daughter ind eldest of the six children of ohn D. Rockefeller Mitchell. 57, estranged wife former U.S.

Attorney General John N. Mitchell and out- ppken critic of the Nixon ad- linistration during the Water- ate scandal, of cancer of the marrow; Dame Sybil Tiorndikc, 93, grand old lady of ng I ennial year were disappointed. At year's end it was stalled, mvirig passed in 34 of the 38 itates needed for ratification. The first International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women was held in Brussels with women from 28 countries at- ending. Organizers said the 'ive-day meeting produced a forum for planning interim tional feminist strategy.

In sports, too, women were seeking to prove their equality with men. Janet Guthrie, 38- year-old physicist who tried but failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, became the first female driver to participate in a major stock race. She finished 15th in the 5249,155 World 600 at Charlotte, N.C. Sheila Young, 25, of Detroit, became the first American athlete male or female lo win three medals in one year in the winter Olympics. At I AuaU-Ja, she captured the gold A A ice Uuswcll, 68, popular sincing i in UK- '30s and '-10s; ililh.

7G. widow nf hiisehiill's a Babe; Kosina Llie- 96, concert pimiist anil encher; Kosnlhul Russell, (ill, itagc and screen actress. MAN qVKKHOARI) In Annapolis. 18-yeur-nlil Toni l.i'uiso i a say- liiK a her name on "dignity," i i clumped il to i i i i a IHOKK THAN KQUA1. i i i that she has luul tniininj; in judo is a G-foot.

275-pouml i Crumblcy declared a IKT etoi-tinn as" sheriff of Mrl- numt hi Ohiu: "I can deck iiny man the sheriff can uiul a few inure," NAKKOW1NC The i om'O llic almost exclusive- prt 1 1 of men is fast becoming IHW mine symbol of women's L'nu'ijiiiij; i medical researchers reported al i tiu'e in i a i Thirty years a(iii. male uli'Ci patients ou! female piilienls 20 to said Dr. Mur- I. Grossman, i of the UCLA Center for Ulcer Re- scni'ch anil a i The ratio lias dropped 2 lo 1. BRIGHT NOTi: A govern men stressed a i i a a the law already requires: women should A A A WALTERS he fonsitV'ioil equal Id men In i i i Women's earn- in power iiml income a i i uake as jjooil a risk us men when il comes to home, iimmliMK In Ihe frum the a of llous- IVvclnpmcnt.

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