Kitty Dukakis, wife of the presidential candidate from 1988, dies at the age of 88

Perhaps the most challenging public moment for Mrs. Dukakis during the campaign was the question about her debate. Moderator of the debate, Bernard Shaw from CNN, asked Mr. Dukakis: “Governor or Kitty Dukakis was raped and murdered, or would you favor the irrevocable death penalty for the killer?”

“No, no, Bernard”, Mr. Dukakis He answered without emotions Before confirming his opposition to the death penalty and discussing his documentation about the crime. The analysts called Tone Głusy, one of the worst in the history of the presidential debate, and said that it helped to sink the chances of Mr. Dukakis against his opponent, vice president George Hw Bush, who won 40 states and presidency.

Kitty Dukakis was embarrassed, later she told journalists. She was also furious and called the question outrageous and inappropriate.

“Thank God I am not a candidate,” she said hotly, “because I don’t know what I would do.”

Katharine Dickson was born on December 26, 1936 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and grew up in nearby Brookline. She loved her father, Harry Ellis Dickson, who was the first violinist in Boston Symphony Orchestra and the conductor Boston Pops.

She had a more prickly relationship with her mother, Jane (Goldberg) Dickson, whom Mrs. Dukakis described as a demanding perfectionist, whose standards were almost impossible to fulfill. In her first book “Now You Know”, published in 1990, Mrs. Dukakis remembered that her mother told her that she was pretty, but her younger sister, Jinny, had a personality. This and many similar comments, said Mrs. Dukakis, fed low self -esteem, which harassed her throughout her life.