Kitty Dukakis, wife of former governor and presidential candidate, dies at 88

BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) — Kitty Dukakis, the wife of former Massachusetts governor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, who spoke openly about her struggles with depression and addiction, has died. She was 88.

Dukakis died on Friday night surrounded by her family, her son, John Dukakis, said on Saturday by telephone. She fought to make the world better, “sharing her vulnerabilities to help others face theirs,” her family said in a statement.

“She was loving, feisty and fun, and had a keen sensitivity to people from all walks of life,” the family said. “She and our dad, Michael Dukakis, shared an enviable partnership for over 60 years and loved each other deeply.”

Dukakis won high marks as a political campaigner during her husband's 1988 presidential efforts, stumping tirelessly for him. She was called a key influence in his decision to seek the presidency.

She even figured in the opening question of a 1988 presidential debate, when her husband was asked: "Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?" Dukakis said he would not, and his unemotional response was widely criticized.

Earlier in the campaign, in 1987, Dukakis revealed she had overcome a 26-year addiction to amphetamines five years earlier after receiving treatment. She said she began taking diet pills at age 19.

Her husband made anti-drug efforts a major issue and she became prominent in the effort to educate youngsters against the perils of drug and alcohol abuse.

But a few months after Michael Dukakis lost the election to Vice President George H.W. Bush, Kitty Dukakis entered a 60-day treatment program for alcoholism. Several months later she suffered a relapse and was hospitalized after drinking rubbing alcohol.

In her 1990 autobiography, "Now You Know," she blamed her mother for much of her alcohol and drug addiction and a long history of low self-esteem. In 2006, she wrote another book, "Shock," which credits the electroconvulsive therapy she began in 2001 for relieving the depression she had suffered for years. The treatment, she wrote, "opened a new reality for me."

Current Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey called Dukakis “a force for good in public life and behind the scenes,” a leader in the effort to ensure that the Holocaust is never forgotten, and an advocate for children, women and refugees.

"She spoke courageously about her struggles with substance use disorder and mental health, which serves as an inspiration to us all to break down stigma and seek help,” Healey said in a statement.

Dukakis used her personal pain to help others, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement on social media on Saturday.

"Her legacy will live on in the policies she helped shape and the people she inspired to speak their own truths,” Campbell said.

Dukakis broke ground by speaking openly about her struggles and championed support for the homeless and political refugees, said Maria Ivanova, director of Northeastern University’s Policy School, which hosts the Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy.

“Kitty Dukakis brought honesty, compassion, and strength to public life,” Ivanova said in a statement. “Her legacy is one of service, resilience, and truth-telling.”

Kitty Dukakis inspired many to engage in activism and was a “deeply devoted spiritual companion” to her husband, center Director Ted Landsmark said in a statement.

“They have been truly effective change-makers on behalf of those in need of care and support,” he said.

Michael Dukakis served as a distinguished professor of political science at the university. He has retired, but returns to campus for events and student consultations, Landsmark said.

Dukakis and her future husband met while attending high school in Brookline, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb. He was dull and frugal; she was dramatic and fancy. He is Greek Orthodox; she was Jewish.

Kitty Dukakis, who was divorced and had a 3-year-old son, married Michael Dukakis in 1963, and they had two children, Andrea and Kara.

Dukakis, whose late father, Harry Ellis Dickson, was associate conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, earned degrees in modern dance and broadcasting.

After the presidential election, in 1989, Bush appointed her to be a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.

She earlier served on the President's Commission on the Holocaust in 1979 and on the board of directors of the Refugee Policy Group. She has also been a member of the Task Force on Cambodian Children.

By the late 1990s, Dukakis and her husband divided their time between Massachusetts and California, where she was a social worker and he was a professor for part of the year at the University of California, Los Angeles.

FILE - Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis and his wife, Kitty, appear onstage prior to reading letters between John Adams and his wife, Abigail, during a Massachusetts Historical Society program at Faneuil Hall in Boston Monday, Nov. 19, 2007. AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

FILE - Kitty Dukakis listens to a question from the audience during a speaking engagement at Villanova University in Villanova, Pa, Wednesday, March 15, 1989. (AP Photo/Sean Kardon, File)

FILE - Gov Michael Dukakis and his wife Kitty wave the American flag as they are cheered by delegates after Dukakis accepted the nomination as the presidential candidate in July 21, 1988 at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi, File)

FILE - Kitty Dukakis, left, and Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis are seen outside their home in Brookline, Massachusetts, March 7, 1989. (AP Photo/David Tenenbaum, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)