Patricia Lindh
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Patricia Lindh (October 2, 1928 – July 19, 2004) was an American activist and a member of the Republican Party. She was an advisor to presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford in the 1970s and worked as Special Assistant to the Counsellor for Women's Programs in the mid-1970s.[1]
Lindh was born on October 2, 1928 in Toledo, Ohio. Growing up in Cleveland and Chicago, she studied at Trinity College in Hartford and graduated in 1950. She married an executive of an international oil company, moving with him to Singapore, Pakistan and Kuwait from 1955 to 1965.[2]
Involvement with the Republican Party
Lindh served as the Republican National Committeewoman for the State of Louisiana.[3] In 1972, she served as a delegate the Republican Convention and also worked as a member of the Platform committee.[4][3]
Advisor to presidents
Richard Nixon
Lindh worked for the Nixon administration where she began her tenure in the White House advising on women's issues.[5] In June 1974, she replaced Jill Ruckelshaus as special assistant for women's programs.[6]
Lindh was quoted as saying she believed Watergate would not have happened if there had been a woman president saying, "I think women have a higher moral sense of what is right or wrong. I think women have more moral sensitivity than men."[4]
Gerald Ford
In 1974, Lindh worked as the Special Assistant to the Counsellor for Women's Progress for President Gerald Ford.[7] Lindh succeeded Anne Armstrong in December 1974.[8] Lindh believed solidarity amongst women was of the utmost importance and publicly worked towards this goal. In 1975, she said women must work together and in her role as the first special assistant for women working for a U.S. president, she believed, "from NOW to the DAR, from Planned Parenthood to the Council of Catholic Women," women should work together towards a shared goal of equality.[9]
The press picked up on her sense of humor. In 1976, she told a reporter from the Oakland Tribune she was a "newcomer to Disneyland on the Potomac."[10] In 1976, Lindh was named deputy assistant Secretary of State for education and public affairs.[11]
Support for the Equal Rights Amendment
Lindh was a supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) as were many Republican women who worked in the White House in the mid-1970s, including First Lady Betty Ford.[12] Lindh was active in the campaign for the amendment in the state of Louisiana.[13]
Lindh's support for the ERA brought the ire of Phyllis Schlafly who wrote her a letter critiquing the ERA in 1974.[12][14] In the letter, Schlafly shared concerns her daughter would be drafted into war if the ERA were ratified.[14]
