Kitty Dukakis

Kitty Dukakis
Kitty Dukakis
First Lady of Massachusetts
	In role; January 6, 1983 – January 3, 1991
Preceded by	Josephine King
Succeeded by	Susan Weld
	In role; January 2, 1975 – January 4, 1979
Preceded by	Jessie Sargent
Succeeded by	Josephine King
Personal details
Born	Katharine Dickson; December 26, 1936(age 87); Cambridge, Massachusetts,U.S.
Spouses	; John Chaffetz (m.1956;div.1960) ; Michael Dukakis (m.1963)
Children	4, includingJohn

Katharine"Kitty"Dukakis(néeDickson;born December 26, 1936) is an American author. She is married to formerMassachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.

Life and career[edit]

Dukakis was born Katharine Virginia Dickson inCambridge, Massachusetts,the daughter of Jane (née Goldberg) and Harry Ellis Dickson.^[1]Her paternal grandparents were Russian Jews; her mother was born to anIrish Catholicfather and a Hungarian Jewish mother, and had been adopted by a family of German Jewish descent.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]Her father was a member of the first violin section of theBoston Symphony Orchestrafor 49 years and also served as Associate Conductor of theBoston Pops Orchestra.^[6]

She graduated fromBrookline High Schoolin 1954 and attendedPennsylvania State University.She dropped out of college in 1956 and married John Chaffetz in 1957.^[1]^[7]They had one son,John.After four years and several moves the marriage ended in divorce, and she returned to Cambridge.^[8]Her former husband later remarried and had a son,Jason Chaffetz,who was a Republican Congressman from Utah. Kitty received her B.A. fromLesley Collegein 1963, the same year she marriedMichael Dukakis.^[9]She received a M.A. degree fromBoston University College of Communicationin 1982.

During the1988 presidential election,several false rumors were reported in the media about the Dukakises, including the claim byIdaho RepublicanSenatorSteve Symmsthat Kitty had burned anAmerican flagto protest theVietnam War.^[10]Republican strategistLee Atwaterwas accused of having initiated these rumors.^[11]

In 1989, Dukakis was briefly hospitalized after drinkingrubbing alcohol.^[12]In 1991, Dukakis published her memoir,Now You Know,in which she candidly discussed her ongoing battle withalcoholism.The book also discussed the pressures of being a political wife and her disappointment over her husband's defeat in the1988 election.In the mid-1990s, Dukakis graduated from theBoston University School of Social Workwith a master's degree in Social Work, successfully performing her practicum at Charles River Hospital in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In 2006, her bookShockrevealed that she had undergoneelectroconvulsive therapytreatment beginning in 2001 in order to treatmajor depression.Dukakis is a leading proponent of using ECT to treat depression.^[13]

In 2007, the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital inJamaica Plain,Massachusetts,opened a center for addiction treatment named after Dukakis.^[14]

Dukakis appears in the 2008 documentary on Lee Atwater,Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story.

Published works[edit]

Now You Know.Simon & Schuster. 1991.ISBN 0-671-74179-9.
Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy.Avery. 2006.ISBN 1-58333-265-0.Cowritten withLarry Tye.

Public service[edit]

Dukakis has served on the President's Commission on the Holocaust, on theUnited States Holocaust MemorialCouncil, on the board of the Refugee Policy Center, and on the Task Force on Cambodian Children.

References[edit]

^^a ^bKenney, Charles; Turner, Robert L. (1988).Dukakis: An American Odyssey.Boston:Houghton Mifflin Co.pp. 54–55.ISBN 978-0-395-47089-3.
^ Ann Egerton (October 21, 1990)."Kitty Dukakis' memoir has a sad and ragged quality".Baltimore Sun.Archivedfrom the original on September 25, 2012.RetrievedMay 27,2016.
^"Michael, Kitty Dukakis help new citizens celebrate in Woburn".Archived fromthe originalon January 10, 2014.RetrievedJanuary 13,2017.
^Drogin, Bob (May 25, 1987)."Dukakis Draws Heavy Crowds, Money, Press".Los Angeles Times.
^"Archives - Philly.com".RetrievedJanuary 13,2017.
^Midgette, Anne (April 2, 2003)."Harry Ellis Dickson, 94, Violinist and Conductor in Boston".RetrievedJanuary 13,2017– via NYTimes.com.
^"Chaffetz-Dickson".The Philadelphia Inquirer.March 31, 1957.RetrievedAugust 9,2021– viaNewspapers.com.
^Warner, Margaret Garrard (May 16, 1988)."Take-Charge Kitty".Newsweek.Vol. 111, no. 20. pp. 30–31.
^"Kitty Dukakis stylish half of political team".Milwaukee Sentinel.AP.May 27, 1988.RetrievedAugust 29,2012.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Story on Mrs. Dukakis Is Denied by Campaign".New York Times.August 26, 1988.RetrievedMay 27,2016.Michael Dukakis's Presidential campaign, responding to comments by Senator Steve Symms, an Idaho Republican, issued a statement Wednesday saying any suggestion that Kitty Dukakis had ever burned an American flag wastotally false and beneath contempt.
^ Susan Estrich(September 4, 2004)."Lies move Democrats to dig up dirt".Myrtle Beach Sun.Archived fromthe originalon September 17, 2004.RetrievedMay 27,2016.Or how about the one about Kitty Dukakis burning a flag at an anti-war demonstration, another out-and-out lie, which the Bush campaign denied having anything to do with, except that it turned out to have come from a United States senator via the Republican National Committee? Atwater later apologized to me for that, too, on his deathbed.
^"Kitty Dukakis Recovering".The New York Times.Associated Press.November 11, 1989.RetrievedOctober 11,2007.
^Seelye, Katharine Q. (December 31, 2016)."Kitty Dukakis, a Beneficiary of Electroshock Therapy, Emerges as Its Evangelist".The New York Times.RetrievedDecember 31,2016.
^"Kitty Dukakis Treatment Center to Open".Boston University School of Public Health.September 21, 2007. Archived fromthe originalon October 16, 2007.RetrievedOctober 11,2007.

External links[edit]

"Appointment of Katharine D. Dukakis as a Member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council 1989-12-19",George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, College Station, Texas. A short profile of her education and career
Dukakis, Kitty; Tye, Larry,'I Feel Good, I Feel Alive',Newsweek,September 18, 2006. An article in which she discusses her treatment with electroconvulsive therapy for depression

Honorary titles
Preceded by Jessie Sargent	First Lady of Massachusetts 1975–1979	Succeeded by Josephine King
Preceded by Josephine King	First Lady of Massachusetts 1983–1991	Succeeded by Susan Roosevelt Weld

[Kenney&Turner-1] Kenney, Charles; Turner, Robert L. (1988).Dukakis: An American Odyssey.Boston:Houghton Mifflin Co.pp. 54–55.ISBN 978-0-395-47089-3.

[BaltimoreSun1990-10-21-2] Ann Egerton (October 21, 1990)."Kitty Dukakis' memoir has a sad and ragged quality".Baltimore Sun.Archivedfrom the original on September 25, 2012.RetrievedMay 27,2016.

[3] "Michael, Kitty Dukakis help new citizens celebrate in Woburn".Archived fromthe originalon January 10, 2014.RetrievedJanuary 13,2017.

[4] Drogin, Bob (May 25, 1987)."Dukakis Draws Heavy Crowds, Money, Press".Los Angeles Times.

[5] "Archives - Philly.com".RetrievedJanuary 13,2017.

[6] Midgette, Anne (April 2, 2003)."Harry Ellis Dickson, 94, Violinist and Conductor in Boston".RetrievedJanuary 13,2017– via NYTimes.com.

[7] "Chaffetz-Dickson".The Philadelphia Inquirer.March 31, 1957.RetrievedAugust 9,2021– viaNewspapers.com.

[8] Warner, Margaret Garrard (May 16, 1988)."Take-Charge Kitty".Newsweek.Vol. 111, no. 20. pp. 30–31.

[9] "Kitty Dukakis stylish half of political team".Milwaukee Sentinel.AP.May 27, 1988.RetrievedAugust 29,2012.^{[permanent dead link]}

[Nytimes1988-08-26-10] "Story on Mrs. Dukakis Is Denied by Campaign".New York Times.August 26, 1988.RetrievedMay 27,2016.Michael Dukakis's Presidential campaign, responding to comments by Senator Steve Symms, an Idaho Republican, issued a statement Wednesday saying any suggestion that Kitty Dukakis had ever burned an American flag wastotally false and beneath contempt.

[MyrtleBeach2004-09-04-11] Susan Estrich(September 4, 2004)."Lies move Democrats to dig up dirt".Myrtle Beach Sun.Archived fromthe originalon September 17, 2004.RetrievedMay 27,2016.Or how about the one about Kitty Dukakis burning a flag at an anti-war demonstration, another out-and-out lie, which the Bush campaign denied having anything to do with, except that it turned out to have come from a United States senator via the Republican National Committee? Atwater later apologized to me for that, too, on his deathbed.

[12] "Kitty Dukakis Recovering".The New York Times.Associated Press.November 11, 1989.RetrievedOctober 11,2007.

[13] Seelye, Katharine Q. (December 31, 2016)."Kitty Dukakis, a Beneficiary of Electroshock Therapy, Emerges as Its Evangelist".The New York Times.RetrievedDecember 31,2016.

[14] "Kitty Dukakis Treatment Center to Open".Boston University School of Public Health.September 21, 2007. Archived fromthe originalon October 16, 2007.RetrievedOctober 11,2007.

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