Having just watched Jimmy Carter’s staff fire Bella Abzug on the finale of Mrs. America, I had to pause and go check the historical record. Sure enough, it was a mess.
The President apparently did not tell Mrs. Abzug at the meeting that he was going to dismiss her but, rather, told the committee as a whole that he had been disappointed with the relations between it and the Administration. The group was formed in the wake of the stormy National Women’s Conference in Houston in November 1977 to advise the President on women’s issues.
Mr. Carter was reported to have told the members that he recognized the importance of the group and wanted to work more closely with it, but added that its confrontational politics sapped the strength of the Administration’s efforts on behalf of women.
And, yes: there were mass resignations from committee members in response to her firing.
As of late this afternoon, 23 of the remaining 39 members of the advisory committee had announced that they had resigned to protest the dismissal of Mrs. Abzug, the former Representative from Manhattan.