Putting aside your political affiliations or feelings about the Congresswoman, she still deserves her place in American history as the first woman to be nominated for Vice President of the US. Geraldine was also the first Italian to be nominated for the second-highest executive position in the American government.
I remember when she got the nod during the 1984 campaign. The SCLM and Pundits wrote her off as Mondale’s Hail Mary pass against the unbeatable Reagan. The election played out to the narrative they wanted you to believe but Geraldine did come out fighting, especially when Barbara Bush demonstrated her WASP incivility. However, Mondale did bring up a major point, the US was behind the curve when it came to women holding major offices. Reagan agreed somewhat because he appointed O’Connor to the Supreme Court.
The aftermath of the 1984 election went on to be an albatross for further political ambitions (she lost the Senate nomination in 1992 and 1998). She even regretted accepting the spot due to the attention it brought upon her family, some proved to be warranted yet their crimes were small potatoes compared to the GOP dynasties. Geraldine’s post-veep career wasn’t all dreary or full defeat: co-host of CNN’s Crossfire, UN envoy under Clinton regarding human rights and advocate for victims in Yugoslavia’s civil war. Between gigs, she did return to her law practice since she had a degree from Fordham to fall back on unlike a certain willfully ignorant, opportunistic nouveau riche cretin who doesn’t know her 15 minutes ended.