Michael, kitty dukakis, 1988 presidential campaign, election loss - aarp bull...

Michael Dukakis took the stage in Boston's World Trade Center 23 years ago today to concede the presidential race to Vice President George H.W. Bush, who had won by a landslide. SEE

ALSO: THE CAMPAIGN, ELECTION OF JOHN F. KENNEDY 50 YEARS AGO. As the campaign anthem, Neil Diamond's "Coming to America," thumped through the hall, Dukakis and his wife,

Kitty, a smile frozen on her face, hugged their children and looked out over the crowd. Photo by Steve Liss/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis and his

wife, Kitty, on the campaign trail in 1988. Dukakis urged them to support the new president, a disappointing end to 18 months of grueling campaigning. But even tougher personal challenges

lay ahead for the couple. In a telephone interview with the AARP Bulletin from his office at Northeastern University in Boston, Michael, now 78, recalled, "I remember Fritz Mondale

saying to me for months after he lost in '84 he'd wake up at 2 in the morning, no matter what. Physically, as well as emotionally, it takes time to get over it." RELATED *

Put a leader in the White House. READ * The secrets to a stronger marriage. WATCH * Hope for depression. READ For Kitty, now 74, the campaign's aftermath was an especially painful and

lonely time. "The next morning, Michael went back to work at the State House," she wrote in _Now You Know_, her searing 1990 memoir. "I was going someplace, too:

downhill." Although Kitty revealed during the campaign that she had sought treatment for addiction to diet pills years earlier, she had yet to confront her problems with drinking and

depression, both made worse by the "brick wall of defeat," as she put it. She began drinking in the morning until she passed out. When she woke up, she would repeat the process. By

February 1989, she had checked into a treatment facility. Several relapses followed, including a much publicized hospitalization after she drank rubbing alcohol on the one-year anniversary

of Michael's defeat. She relapsed repeatedly that year, overdosing on Tylenol with codeine and later downing mouthwash, after-shave, nail polish remover and hair spray. ELECTRIC SHOCK

THERAPY Back at the State House, Michael was contending with problems of his own. "I came back to a situation where the '89 to '91 recession was beginning to hit. I had to

deal with that. It was not a fun time for either one of us during the last two years of my governorship," he said. In 1989 he decided not to run for a fourth term. After suffering about

17 years of depression and alcoholism, Kitty, in desperation, tried what she called "the only thing left" — electroconvulsive therapy. Her first treatment was in 2001 on the

couple's 38th anniversary. In the car on the way home after her treatment, Kitty, who had been depressed for months, stunned her husband when she suggested they go out to dinner to

celebrate. She continues receiving maintenance ECT therapy once a month and has been free of depression ever since. Kitty took her decision to undergo shock treatments public in her 2007

book, _Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy_, and is now deeply involved in forming a national support group for ECT patients. "I'm very grateful," she said

of the therapy, and feels "much better, very much so." When his term as governor was up, Michael, who'd taught at Harvard between his first and second terms, returned to

teaching — at Northeastern University in the summer and at UCLA in the winter. "I loved teaching and I really enjoyed it, so I pretty much decided I wanted to go back to teaching. And

that's in essence what I've been doing for the past 20 years, and it's been great," he said. Kitty also returned to academics, earning a master's degree in social

work from Boston University in the mid-1990s. "I worked for several years professionally with refugees and immigrants at the International Institute of Boston," she told the AARP

Bulletin. "I retired from that job several years ago, but I am still active in immigrant and refugee work as a volunteer." NEXT: WHY THEIR MARRIAGE HAS LASTED ALMOST 50 YEARS. 

>> SECRET TO A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE The conventional wisdom about the success of the couple's 48-year marriage is that opposites attract. The story goes that Michael is serious,

Kitty is funny and outspoken. Michael's frugal, Kitty loves to shop. Michael is "the most positive thinker I have ever known," Kitty has said, while she's battled

depression for much of her life. But Michael says the idea is overblown. "I think the notion that we're polar opposites is kind of a bit silly," he said. "We have a lot

of common interests. It is true that I am more frugal than Kitty. She could revive the U.S. economy single-handedly if she wanted to do it," he jokes. For her part, Kitty said, "I

think the major reason our marriage has lasted close to 50 years is the mutual respect we have for each other and the passion we both share. We also have a lot of fun and have been blessed

with three fine children and eight grandchildren who keep us going all the time." Their three children are John, 53, Andrea, 45, and Kara, 43. John, Kitty's son from her first

marriage to John Chaffetz, is a former actor who appeared in _Jaws 2_. He goes by the last name Dukakis. He now works for Hill Holliday, a Boston advertising agency. John's stepbrother,

Jason Chaffetz, represents Utah's third district as a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives. Andrea is a reporter and producer for Colorado Public Radio. Kara is the

associate director of the Youth Data Archive at Stanford University's John W. Gardner Center near San Francisco. Michael and Kitty still enjoy good health. Michael walks to work every

day from the couple's home in Brookline, a four-mile round trip, and Kitty stays fit with Pilates. "I'm married to the best-looking Social Security recipient in America,"

Michael said. Politics is still never far from the couple's minds. Michael has knocked on doors for his son-in-law, Kara's husband, David Onek, who is running for district

attorney of San Francisco. The Dukakises supported President Obama in 2008 and continue to be strong supporters. "Look, I think he's done a hell of a job under very difficult

circumstances," Michael said. "He's got a Congress now which is apparently more interested in defeating him than in reviving the nation. I have a lot of respect for him. He

inherited a mess. I'll do whatever I can for him." ALSO OF INTEREST: WHAT WASHINGTON'S FISCAL WARS MEAN TO YOU. >> _Kitty Bennett is a news researcher and writer based

in St. Petersburg, Fla._ RELATED * Put a leader in the White House. READ * The secrets to a stronger marriage. WATCH * Hope for depression. READ