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Kitty Dukakis

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Kitty Dukakis
First Lady of Massachusetts
In role
January 6, 1983 – January 3, 1991
Preceded byJosephine King
Succeeded bySusan Weld
In role
January 2, 1975 – January 4, 1979
Preceded byJessie Sargent
Succeeded byJosephine King
Personal details
Born
Katharine Virginia Dickson

(1936-12-26)December 26, 1936
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedMarch 21, 2025(2025-03-21) (aged 88)
Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.
Spouses
John Chaffetz
​
​
(m. 1957; div. 1961)​
​
(m. 1963)​
Children3, including John

Katharine Dukakis (/dʊˈkɑːkɪs/ duu-KAH-kiss; née Dickson; December 26, 1936 – March 21, 2025) was an American author and activist for various social causes. She served as the First Lady of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and 1983 to 1991, as the wife of the Governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis.

Early life and education

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Kitty Dickson, a student at Brookline High School (1954)

Dukakis was born Katharine Virginia Dickson in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the daughter of Jane (née Goldberg) and Harry Ellis Dickson.[1] Her paternal grandparents were Russian Jews. Her mother was born to an Irish Catholic father 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 the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 49 years and also served as Associate Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra.[6]

She graduated from Brookline High School in 1954 and attended Pennsylvania 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 is a former Republican Congressman from Utah.[9]

Kitty received her B.A. from Lesley College in 1963, the same year she married Michael Dukakis in a civil ceremony.[10][11] The couple has two daughters.[12] She received some criticism for being a Jewish woman who married a Christian man; however, in a 1988 interview, Kitty asserted that marrying outside her faith had strengthened her identification with Judaism.[13] She began attending a synagogue following a trip to Israel in 1976,[14] and by 1988, she was attending Temple Israel, a reform synagogue in Boston.[12]

She received an M.A. degree from Boston University College of Communication in 1982.[15] In 1996, Dukakis graduated from the Boston University School of Social Work with a master's degree in social work,[16] successfully performing her practicum at Charles River Hospital in Wellesley, Massachusetts.[citation needed]

Career

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Kitty Dukakis was the First Lady of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979, and from January 1983 until January 1991. She kept an office in the Massachusetts State House, and would frequently visit her husband's office to seek his opinion on projects she was involved in.[17][18]

1988 presidential election

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Dukakis and her husband, 1987

Dukakis joined her husband, Michael Dukakis, on the campaign trail during his 1988 presidential campaign, speaking as a "poised and energetic public speaker" at many of his events.[19] The New York Times noted in May 1988 that "[she] does not slip easily into the fixed and adoring stare perfected by generations of political wives. She is a toucher, a talker, a woman who laughs easily and gives orders with equal gusto".[14] She was a speaker at campaign events aimed towards the Jewish community, where she used her "scanty Yiddish".[14]

After Michael was criticized for being too liberal, Kitty "urged [him] to be more aggressive".[19]

Prior to the 1988 presidential election, several false rumors were reported in the media about the Dukakises, including the claim by Idaho Republican Senator Steve Symms that Kitty had burned an American flag to protest the Vietnam War.[20] Republican strategist Lee Atwater was accused of having initiated these rumors.[21]

Public service

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Dukakis was involved in multiple social causes throughout her political career. She was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council,[22] serving until 1987, when her term expired.[23] She was reappointed to the council in 1989 by President George H. W. Bush.[23][24] She also served on the President's Commission on the Holocaust.

Starting during her husband's second term, Dukakis served as co-chair of the Massachusetts Governor’s Advisory Committee on the Homeless, where she worked on plans to share shelter costs with charities within the state.[17][18] Her work "helped to dramatically increase the number of state-funded homeless shelters" in Massachusetts.[18]

Dukakis was also interested in aiding Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees,[18] and served on the board of the Refugee Policy Center.[citation needed] In the early 1980s, she established the Task Force on Cambodian Children.[17] As an advocate for Cambodian refugees, Dukakis visited refugee camps in Thailand[14] and helped bring refugee children to the U.S.[18]

Addiction treatment activism

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Dukakis struggled with depression for much of her life, which drove an addiction to diet pills, and later a struggle with alcoholism.[19] She overcame her addiction to diet pills in 1982, making that fact public when her husband began his presidential bid. While on the campaign trail, she shared her story of addiction with high schoolers.[14]

After Michael Dukakis lost the 1988 presidential election, Kitty's depression worsened.[18] In February 1989, she entered an alcohol treatment program.[25] In November 1989, she was briefly hospitalized after drinking rubbing alcohol.[26] In 1991, Dukakis published her memoir, Now You Know, in which she candidly discussed her ongoing battle with alcoholism and the pressures of being a political wife.[18]

Beginning in 2001, Dukakis underwent electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to treat her depression.[18] She released a book on the subject, Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy, in 2006, and became a leading proponent of using ECT to treat depression.[27][28] She allowed the TV program 60 Minutes to film one of her ECT sessions as part of a program on the subject.[18]

Michael and Kitty Dukakis in 2012

In 2007, the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, opened a center for addiction treatment named after Dukakis.[29] In her later years, Dukakis ran a support group in Brookline for those struggling with depression.[18]

Later life and death

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Dukakis appeared in the 2008 documentary on Lee Atwater, Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story.[30]

Dukakis died at her home in Brookline, Massachusetts, on March 21, 2025, at the age of 88, of complications from dementia.[31][16]

Published works

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  • Now You Know. Simon & Schuster. 1991. ISBN 0-671-74179-9.[32]
  • Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy. Avery. 2006. ISBN 1-58333-265-0. Cowritten with Larry Tye

References

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  1. ^ a b Kenney, Charles; Turner, Robert L. (1988). Dukakis: An American Odyssey. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. pp. 54–55. ISBN 978-0-395-47089-3.
  2. ^ Egerton, Ann (October 21, 1990). "Kitty Dukakis' memoir has a sad and ragged quality". Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on September 25, 2012. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  3. ^ "Michael, Kitty Dukakis help new citizens celebrate in Woburn". Wicked Local. May 12, 2011. Archived from the original on January 10, 2014. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  4. ^ Drogin, Bob (May 25, 1987). "Dukakis Draws Heavy Crowds, Money, Press". Los Angeles Times.
  5. ^ Gerston, Jill (October 16, 1988). "Kitty Dukakis: On The Record". Archives - Philly.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2012. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  6. ^ Midgette, Anne (April 2, 2003). "Harry Ellis Dickson, 94, Violinist and Conductor in Boston". The New York Times. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  7. ^ "Chaffetz-Dickson". The Philadelphia Inquirer. March 31, 1957. Retrieved August 9, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Warner, Margaret Garrard (May 16, 1988). "Take-Charge Kitty". Newsweek. Vol. 111, no. 20. pp. 30–31.
  9. ^ "New York Times looks at Mormons and race". The Salt Lake Tribune. May 24, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
  10. ^ "Kitty Dukakis stylish half of political team". Milwaukee Sentinel. AP. May 27, 1988. Retrieved August 29, 2012.[permanent dead link‍]
  11. ^ Ostling, Richard N. (October 3, 1988). "Religion: The Intermarriage Quandary". TIME. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
  12. ^ a b Ostling, Richard N. (October 3, 1988). "Religion: The Intermarriage Quandary". TIME. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
  13. ^ "Kitty Dukakis Says Intermarriage Strengthened Her Ties to Judaism". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. July 5, 1988. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
  14. ^ a b c d e Toner, Robin (May 23, 1988). "Kitty Dukakis Lends Emotion To Politics but Keeps Identity". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
  15. ^ Seelye, Katherine Q. (March 22, 2025). "Kitty Dukakis, Activist Wife of 1988 Presidential Nominee, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 23, 2025.
  16. ^ a b "Kitty Dukakis, humanitarian and activist for mental health, dies at 88". The Washington Post. March 22, 2025.
  17. ^ a b c Stengel, Richard (May 2, 1988). "Kitty Provides the Passion". TIME. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Jolicoeur, Lynn; Mullins, Lisa (March 22, 2025). "Kitty Dukakis, former first lady of Mass. and mental health advocate, dies at 88". WBUR. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
  19. ^ a b c "Kitty Dukakis, former first lady of Massachusetts, has died at age 88". WCVB. March 22, 2025. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
  20. ^ "Story on Mrs. Dukakis Is Denied by Campaign". New York Times. August 26, 1988. Retrieved May 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 was totally false and beneath contempt.
  21. ^ Susan Estrich (September 4, 2004). "Lies move Democrats to dig up dirt". Myrtle Beach Sun. Archived from the original on September 17, 2004. Retrieved May 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.
  22. ^ "Kitty Dukakis making good recovery". UPI. June 21, 1988. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
  23. ^ a b Radcliffe, Donnie (December 20, 1989). "KITTY DUKAKIS NOMINATED FOR HOLOCAUST POST". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
  24. ^ "Kitty Dukakis to Join Holocaust Council". Los Angeles Times. December 20, 1989. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
  25. ^ Mehren, Elizabeth (March 23, 1989). "Kitty Dukakis Details Her Long Battle With Alcohol". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
  26. ^ "Kitty Dukakis Recovering". The New York Times. Associated Press. November 11, 1989. Retrieved October 11, 2007.
  27. ^ Seelye, Katharine Q. (December 31, 2016). "Kitty Dukakis, a Beneficiary of Electroshock Therapy, Emerges as Its Evangelist". The New York Times. Retrieved December 31, 2016.
  28. ^ "Kitty Dukakis: Electroshock Therapy Has Given Me A New Lease On Life". NPR. January 17, 2017.
  29. ^ "Kitty Dukakis Treatment Center to Open". Boston University School of Public Health. September 21, 2007. Archived from the original on October 16, 2007. Retrieved October 11, 2007.
  30. ^ "The Lee Atwater Story". PBS. November 13, 1986. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
  31. ^ Kahn, Joseph P. (March 22, 2025). "Kitty Dukakis, tireless advocate who shared her struggles with the public, dies at 88". The Boston Globe. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
  32. ^ Butterfield, Fox (September 16, 1990). "'I'm Kitty Dukakis and I'm ...'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 22, 2025.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kitty Dukakis.
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
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