701 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Washington, DC

Geraldine Ferraro (b. August 26, 1935; d. March 26, 2011) was a congressional representative for New York City and the first female Vice Presidential candidate, running alongside presidential hopeful Walter Mondale in 1984. She was also the first Italian-American on a national ticket for public office. Before becoming an icon for the women’s movement, Ferraro worked at a private law practice and then headed the Special Victims Bureau for the Queens County District Attorney’s Office in 1974. She won her first congressional seat in Queens in 1978 and served three terms. Ferraro lost her run for senator of New York in 1992. Some attribute the slowing of her political career to her family’s legal problems, such as her husband’s fraud misdemeanor and her son’s arrest for selling illegal drugs. She left politics and became an advocate for victims of rape in the former Yugoslavia. This work led to her appointment as ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, as well as to her later work on women’s issues at a Washington DC public relations firm. During her time in DC, Ferraro lived in an apartment building with a long roster of former politician residents, located at 701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.