An Evening with Heath Lee, Author of The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon
A birthday event to honor First Lady Betty Ford, who would be 108 on April 8.
Betty Ford and Pat Nixon shared more than just the First Lady position; they also shared a long history of friendship and mutual admiration.
Heath Hardage Lee, author of The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon, will discuss Pat Nixon’s life and times as well as the intertwined fates of Mrs. Nixon and Mrs. Ford, and their contrasting styles as First Lady.
Details on Attending
Where
Ford Presidential Museum
303 Pearl St NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504
When
Thursday, April 23, 2026
Private Friends of Ford Reception: 5:30 p.m. (For those with Lieutenant Commander membership level and above.)
Program: 6:30 p.m.
Book signing to follow the event.
Program Supporters
In partnership with the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum and the Secchia Family Foundation, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation is proud to bring Heath Lee to Grand Rapids.
Watch the Livestream
HEATH LEE is an award-winning historian, biographer and curator who specializes in women’s history. Heath’s narrative nonfiction book entitled The League of Wives: The Untold Story of the Women Who Took on the U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home from Vietnam was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2019. Heath’s museum exhibition entitled The League of Wives: Vietnam POW MIA Advocates & Allies about Vietnam POW MIA wives premiered at the Dole Institute of Politics in May of 2017 and travelledto venues all over the United States through 2023.
The League of Wives is currently being developed as a television series. Heath also writes about women’s history and politics for publications such as Time, The Hill, The Atlantic and White House History Quarterly. She currently serves on the Boards of FLARE the First Ladies Association for Research and Education and BIO Biographers International Organization. Heath’s newbook The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: Washington’s Most Private First Lady is the first commercial biography of First Lady Pat Nixon in almost 40 years. The book has been longlisted for the Biographer’s International Plutarch Award and is a finalist for the Library of Virginia People’s Choice Nonfiction award.
