Geraldine Ferraro leaves the legacy of being the first woman vice-presidential candidate on a major US party campaign
Geraldine Ferraro, who became the first woman vice-presidential candidate on a major US party ticket, has died, aged 75.
Ferraro catapulted to national prominence in 1984 when she was chosen by presidential nominee Walter Mondale to run against incumbents Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr in 1984.
In the end, Reagan won 49 of 50 states, the largest landslide since Franklin D Roosevelt's first re-election over Alf Landon in 1936. But Ferraro had forever sealed her place as trailblazer for women in national politics in 1984.
She paved the way for Hillary Clinton's historic presidential bid in 2008 and Republican John McCain's choice of a once obscure Alaska governor, Sarah Palin, as his running mate. Mondale said she was "a remarkable woman and a dear human being". "She was a pioneer in our country for justice for women and a more open society. She broke a lot of moulds and it's a better country for what she did."