Gerald Ford
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Template:Otheruses4 {{Infobox_President | name=Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. | nationality=american | image=Jerryford.jpg | order=38th President of the United States | term_start=August 9, 1974 | term_end=January 20, 1977 | predecessor=Richard Nixon | successor=Jimmy Carter | birth_date=July 14, 1913 | birth_place=Omaha, Nebraska | spouse=Betty Warren Ford | party=Republican | vicePresident=none (Aug–Dec 1974), Nelson A. Rockefeller (1974–1977) }} Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. (born July 14, 1913) was the 40th (1973–1974) Vice President and the 38th (1974–1977) President of the United States. Born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. in Omaha, Nebraska, his parents divorced when he was very young. His mother moved to Michigan and remarried and Ford was given the name of his step-father, Gerald R. Ford, Sr., who informally adopted him. Ford obtained his bachelors degree from the University of Michigan, where he was a star football player. He went on to obtain a law degree from Yale University before serving in the United States Navy during World War II.
Returning from the war a confirmed "internationalist", Republican Ford defeated the incumbent in the party primary and was elected to the United States House of Representatives representing the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. He was elected House Minority Leader in 1963 and served in the House until 1973. When Spiro Agnew resigned, Ford was appointed Vice President of the United States during the height of the Watergate scandal. Following the resignation of Richard Nixon, Ford ascended to the presidency on August 9, 1974.
The Ford administration saw the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam, the execution of the Helsinki Accords and the continuing specter of inflation and recession. Faced with an overwhelmingly Democratic majority in Congress, the administration was hampered in its ability to pass major legislation and Ford's vetoes were frequently overridden. After Ford was criticized by many for granting a pardon to Nixon, Democrat Jimmy Carter narrowly defeated Ford in the 1976 presidential race. Ford is the nation's only President who was elected to neither the Presidency nor Vice Presidency. Along with his own Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller, he is one of two people appointed Vice President rather than elected.
Contents |
Early life
Image:H27-3b.gif Ford was born to Leslie Lynch King and Dorothy Ayer Gardner in Omaha, Nebraska and was originally named Leslie Lynch King, Jr. His parents divorced five months after he was born (he is the only president whose parents have been divorced), and two years later his mother remarried Gerald Ford, Sr., after whom he was named despite never being formally adopted. Raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ford was not aware of his adoption until shortly before turning fifteen. "My stepfather was a magnificent person", Ford stated, "and my mother equally wonderful. So I couldn't have written a better prescription for a superb family upbringing."<ref name=AP> American Presidents, History: Gerald R. Ford. </ref>
Ford joined the Boy Scouts and attained that program's highest rank: Eagle Scout. He always regarded this as one of his proudest accomplishments even after attaining the White House.<ref>Gerald R. Ford - Boy Scouts of America, Report to the Nation.</ref> In subsequent years, Ford received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and Silver Buffalo from the Boy Scouts of America. He attended school locally and was a star athlete, rising to the become captain of his high school football team and attracting the attention of college recruiters.<ref name=HTN>"Healing the Nation" Philip Kunhardt Jr., et. al. {1999). The American President, pp. 79-85</ref>
Attending the University of Michigan as an undergraduate, Ford became the center for the school's football team and helped the Wolverines to undefeated seasons in 1932 and 1933. His number 48 jersey has since been retired by the school. A member of the Michigamua secret society, Ford turned down contract offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers of the National Football League following his graduation in 1935 in order to attend law school.<ref>Gerald R. Ford Biography - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.</ref> As part of the 1935 Collegiate All-Star football team, Ford played against the Chicago Bears in an exhibition game at Soldier Field.<ref > J.R. Greene {1995) The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford (American Presidency Series) (Paperback), p. 2.</ref>
| "I'm a Ford, not a Lincoln." |
| Gerald R. Ford, December 1973<ref name=lib>Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum</ref> |
While attending Yale Law School he joined a group of students led by R. Douglas Stuart, Jr. and signed a petition to enforce the 1939 Neutrality Act. The petition was circulated nationally and was the inspiration for America First, a group determined to keep America out of World War II.<ref>Doenecke, Justus D., (1990). In Danger Undaunted: The Anti-Interventionist Movement of 1940-1941 As Revealed in the Papers of the America First Committee (Hoover Archival Documentaries), p. 7. Hoover Institution Press </ref> Ford's position on American involvement in the war would soon change.
Ford graduated from law school in 1941 and was admitted to the Michigan bar shortly thereafter. Before he could commence a law practice, though, overseas developments caused a change in plans. Like others, Ford responded to the attack on Pearl Harbor and joined the military.<ref>Lieutenant Commander Gerald Ford, USNR - Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, July 13, 2005</ref>
World War II
Image:Lt Cmdr Gerald Ford uniform 1945.jpg
In April 1942 Ford joined the U.S. Naval Reserve, receiving a commission as an ensign. After an orientation program at Annapolis, he became a physical fitness instructor at a pre-flight school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In the spring of 1943 he began service in the light aircraft carrier USS Monterey as athletic director and gunnery division officer. Eventually promoted to assistant navigator on the Monterey, he and the ship took part in most of the major operations in the South Pacific, including Truk, Saipan, and in the Philippines. Ford's closest call with death came not as a result of enemy fire, however, but during a vicious typhoon in the Philippine Sea in December 1944. Ford spent the remainder of the war ashore and was discharged as a lieutenant commander in February 1946.<ref name=BIOP>Gerald R. Ford Biography - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.</ref> As President, he would go on to pardon Iva Toguri D'Aquino, known as "Tokyo Rose", from her treason conviction for broadcasting propaganda to Allied forces during the war.<ref>Women's History: Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino - About.com.</ref>
Marriage and family
Template:Seealso Image:Betty Ford.gif On October 15, 1948 Ford married Betty Bloomer Warren at Grace Episcopal Church, in Grand Rapids, Michigan where both resided. This was Mrs. Ford's second marriage. The Fords had four children: Michael Ford (b. 1950) a minister, John "Jack" Ford (b. 1952) a journalist/public relations consultant, Steven Ford (b. 1956) an actor and rodeo rider<ref>IMDB listing for Steven Ford, Internet Movie Database.</ref> and Susan (Ford) Vance Bales (b. 1957) a photographer.
In the presidential years and afterwards, Mrs. Ford was noted for her outspokenness on topics, including pre-marital sex and the Equal Rights Amendment. This was a sharp contrast from most First Ladies, particularly her immediate predecessor, the reticent Pat Nixon. Mrs. Ford publicly battled breast cancer during her husband's presidency. After leaving office, her battles with alcoholism and addiction were discussed prominently in the media as well as the family's support in opening the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California.<ref>Betty Ford Biography - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.</ref>
House of Representatives
Image:H51-2b.jpg Following Ford's return from the war, Ford became active in local Republican politics. Grand Rapids supporters urged him to take on Bartel J. Jonkman the incumbent Republican congressman. Ford had changed his worldview as a result of his military service; "I came back a converted internationalist", Ford stated, "and of course our congressman at that time was an avowed, dedicated isolationist. And I thought he ought to be replaced. Nobody thought I could win. I ended up winning two to one."<ref name=AP/>
During his first campaign, Ford visited farmers and promised he would work on their farms and milk the cows if elected—a promise he fulfilled.<ref> Barn razing erases vintage landmark - Melissa Kruse, The Grand Rapids Press, pg. D1, January 3, 2003</ref> In 1961, the U.S. House membership voted Ford a special award as a "Congressman's Congressman" that praised his committee work on military budgets.<ref name=FRTR>Gerald R. Ford (1913-) - From Revolution to Reconstruction - an .HTML project.</ref>
Image:H36-3b.gif Ford was a member of the House of Representatives for twenty-three years, holding the Grand Rapids congressional district from 1949 to 1973. Appointed to the House Appropriations Committee two years after being elected, he was a prominent member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Ford described his philosophy as "a moderate in domestic affairs, an internationalist in foreign affairs, and a conservative in fiscal policy."<ref>Gerald R. Ford Biography - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.</ref> In 1963, party members elected him Minority Leader of the Republican Party in the House. During his tenure, Lyndon Johnson appointed Ford to the Warren Commission, a special task force set up to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in killing the President remains a great source of controversy to this day.
During the eight years (1965–1973) he served as Minority Leader, Ford won many friends in the House due to his fair leadership and inoffensive personality.<ref name=FRTR/> But President Lyndon Johnson disliked Ford for the congressman's frequent attacks on the administration's "Great Society" programs as being unneeded or wasteful and for the President's handling of the Vietnam war. As minority leader in the house, Ford appeared in a popular series of televised press conferences with famed Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen. The two men proposed Republican alternatives to President Johnson's policies. Many in the press jokingly called this "The Ev and Jerry Show".<ref>Address by President Gerald R. Ford, May 23, 2001 - transcript, United States Senate</ref> In 1970, Ford led the effort to impeach William O. Douglas, an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court for the jurist's "moonlighting" for private clients.<ref>Gerald Ford's Remarks on the Impeachment of Supreme Court Justice William Douglas, April 15, 1970 - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.</ref>
Vice Presidency, 1973–74
After Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned during Richard Nixon's presidency, Nixon nominated Ford to take Agnew's position on October 10, 1973. This was the first time that the 25th Amendment was applied. The United States Senate voted 92 to 3 to confirm Ford on November 27, 1973, and on December 6, 1973 the House confirmed him 387 to 35.
Ford's tenure as vice president was little noted by the media. Instead reporters were preoccupied by the continuing revelations about criminal acts during the 1972 Presidential elections and allegations of cover ups within the White House. As Nixon's vice president, Ford said little about the scandal, although he privately expressed his personal disappointment in the president's conduct.<ref>Gerald R. Ford Biography - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.</ref>
| "I have not sought this enormous responsibility, but I will not shirk it. Those who nominated and confirmed me as Vice President were my friends and are my friends. They were of both parties, elected by all the people and acting under the Constitution in their name. It is only fitting then that I should pledge to them and to you that I will be the President of all the people." |
| Gerald R. Ford, August 9, 1974<ref name=lib/> |
The Watergate investigation continued following Ford's appointment until Nixon's chief of staff, Alexander Haig, contacted Ford on August 1, 1974 and told him that "smoking gun" evidence had been found. The evidence left little doubt that President Nixon had been a part of the Watergate cover-up. Ford at the time was continuing to reside in the same home he had as a congressman and was waiting on repairs before moving to the Vice President's official residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory. "Al Haig [asked] to come over and see me," Ford said, "to tell me that there would be a new tape released on a Monday, and he said the evidence in there was devastating and there would probably be either an impeachment or a resignation. And he said, 'I'm just warning you that you've got to be prepared, that things might change dramatically and you could become president.' And I said, 'Betty [Ford, his wife], I don't think we're ever going to live in the vice president's house.'"<ref name=AP/>
Presidency, 1974–77
Accession
| "Our long national nightmare is over." |
| Gerald R. Ford, August 9, 1974.<ref name=ISP>Remarks By President Gerald Ford On Taking the Oath Of Office As President - August 9, 1974</ref> |
Image:Ford sworn-in.jpg When Nixon resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal on August 9, 1974, Ford assumed the Presidency under the 25th Amendment. At his first address to the joint session of Congress, he noted the peculiarity of his position: "I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your President by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your President with your prayers."<ref name=ISP/> On August 20 Ford nominated former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to fill the Vice Presidency he had vacated, once more under the 25th Amendment. Rockefeller was confirmed by the House and Senate.<ref>Rockefeller, Nelson Aldrich, (1908 - 1979) - Biographical Directory of the United States Congress</ref>
Nixon pardon
On September 8, 1974, Ford gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he may have committed while President.<ref>President Gerald R. Ford's Proclamation 4311, Granting a Pardon to Richard Nixon - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.</ref> In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country and that the Nixon family's situation "is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must."<ref>Gerald R. Ford Pardoning Richard Nixon - The History Place.</ref> At the same time as he announced the Nixon pardon, Ford introduced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam war draft dodgers who had fled to countries such as Canada.<ref>The Pardoning President - Paul Bacon, PBS.</ref> Unconditional amnesty, however, would have to wait until the Jimmy Carter presidency.<ref>Carter's Pardon - MacNeil/Lehrer Report, PBS, January 21, 1977</ref>
The Nixon pardon was highly controversial. Critics derided the pardon and claimed a "corrupt bargain" had been struck between the men.<ref name=HTN/> They claimed Ford's pardon was quid pro quo in exchange for Nixon's resignation that elevated Ford to the Presidency. Despite this, no evidence of any collusion has ever surfaced, and Ford himself has consistently denied having ever discussed the matter with Nixon, either before or after the fact.<ref name=F>Gerald R. Ford - James Cannon, Character Above All, PBS.</ref> Historians believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost the election in 1976.<ref name=F/>
Ford's first press secretary and close friend Jerald terHorst resigned his post in protest after the announcement of President Nixon's full pardon.
Administration and presidential cabinet
Image:A5235-5.jpg Upon assuming office, Ford inherited the Cabinet Nixon selected during his tenure in office. Over the course of Ford's relatively brief administration, only Henry Kissinger, the Secretary of State, and William Simon, the Secretary of the Treasury, would remain. Ford also appointed William Coleman as Secretary of Transportation, the second African American to serve in a presidential cabinet (after Robert Clifton Weaver) and the first appointed in a Republican administration.<ref>Secretary of Transportation: William T. Coleman Jr. (1975 - 1977) - AmericanPresident.org.</ref>
Ford selected George H.W. Bush to be both Ambassador to the People's Republic of China in 1974 and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1975.<ref>George Herbert Walker Bush - profile, CNN.</ref> Additionally, Ford chose a young Wyoming politician Richard Cheney to be his White House Chief of Staff and later campaign manager for Ford's 1976 presidential campaign.<ref>Richard B. Cheney - United States Department of Defense.</ref>
| The Ford Cabinet | ||
|---|---|---|
| OFFICE | NAME | TERM |
| President | Gerald Ford | 1974–1977 |
| Vice President | Nelson Rockefeller | 1974–1977 |
| State | Henry A. Kissinger | 1974–1977 |
| Treasury | William E. Simon | 1974–1977 |
| Defense | James R. Schlesinger | 1974–1975 |
| Donald Rumsfeld | 1975–1977 | |
| Justice | William Saxbe | 1974–1975 |
| Edward Levi | 1975–1977 | |
| Interior | Rogers Morton | 1974–1975 |
| Stanley K. Hathaway | 1975 | |
| Thomas Savig Kleppe | 1975–1977 | |
| Agriculture | Earl L. Butz | 1974–1976 |
| John A. Knebel | 1976–1977 | |
| Commerce | Frederick B. Dent | 1974–1975 |
| Rogers C. B. Morton | 1975 | |
| Elliot L. Richardson | 1975–1977 | |
| Labor | Peter J. Brennan | 1974–1975 |
| John T. Dunlop | 1975–1976 | |
| W. J. Usery | 1976–1977 | |
| HEW | Caspar Weinberger | 1974–1975 |
| Forrest D. Mathews | 1975–1977 | |
| HUD | James T. Lynn | 1974–1975 |
| Carla A. Hills | 1975–1977 | |
| Transportation | Claude Brinegar | 1974–1975 |
| William T. Coleman, Jr. | 1975–1977 | |
Mid-term elections
Template:Mainarticle, United States Senate election, 1974 The 1974 Congressional midterm elections took place less than three months after Ford assumed office. Occurring in the wake of the Watergate scandal, the Democratic Party was able to turn voter dissatisfaction into large gains in the House election, taking 49 seats from the Republican Party and increasing their majority to 291 of the 435 seats. Even Ford's reliably Republican seat was taken by Democrat Richard VanderVeen. In the senate election, the Democratic majority became 70 in the 100 seat body.<ref>Nixon’s Fall and the Ford and Carter Interregnum - Russell D. Renka, Southeast Missouri State University, April 10, 2003</ref> In both houses, the numbers were above the two-thirds mark required to sustain a presidential veto and the 94th Congress overrode the highest percentage of vetoes since Franklin Pierce was president in the 1850s.<ref>Presidential Vetoes - Office of the Clerk, United States House of Representatives.</ref>
Economy and domestic policy
The economy was a great concern during the Ford administration. In response to rising inflation, Ford went before the American public in October 1974 and asked them to "whip inflation now." As part of this program, he urged people to wear "WIN" buttons.<ref>Transcript - Whip Inflation Now - October 8, 1974, Miller Center of Public Affairs</ref> In hindsight, this was viewed as simply a public relations gimmick without offering any effective means of solving the underlying problems.<ref>Gerald Ford - USA Presidents Info.</ref> At the time inflation was around 7%,<ref> Consumer Price Index, 1913-, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.</ref> high enough to discourage investment and push capital overseas and into government bonds.<ref>Customer Support Discussion Confirmation.</ref>
The economic focus began to change as the country sank into a mild recession, and in March 1975, Ford and Congress signed into law income tax rebates as part of the Tax Reduction Act of 1975 to boost the economy. When New York City faced bankruptcy in 1975, then-Mayor Abraham Beame was unsuccessful in obtaining Ford's support for a federal bailout. The incident prompted the New York Daily News's notorious headline: "Ford to City: Drop Dead."<ref>Rhetorical Bankruptcy - Nick Lemann, The Harvard Crimson, November 8, 1975</ref>
Similar to the more recent Bird flu concerns, Ford was confronted with a potential Swine flu pandemic. Sometime in the early 1970s, an influenza strain H1N1 shifted from a form of flu that affected pigs and crossed over to humans. On February 5, 1976 an army recruit at Fort Dix mysteriously died and four fellow soldiers were hospitalized. Health officials announced that swine flu was the cause. Soon after, public health officials in the Ford administration urged every person in the United States be vaccinated.<ref>Pandemic Pointers - Living on Earth.</ref> Although the vaccination program was plagued by delays and public relations problems, some 24% of the population was vaccinated by the time the program was cancelled. The vaccine was blamed for twenty-five deaths; more people died from the shots than from the swine flu.<ref>1976: Fear of a great plague - Paul Mickle, The Trentonian.</ref>
Foreign policy
Image:Vietnamescape.jpg Ford's presidency was particularly notable insofar as his administration saw the final withdrawal of American personnel from Vietnam in 'Operation Frequent Wind' and the subsequent fall of Saigon. On April 29 and the morning of April 30, 1975, the American embassy in Saigon was evacuated, amidst a chaotic scene. Some 1,373 U.S. citizens and 5,595 Vietnamese and third country nationals were evacuated by military and Air America helicopters to U.S. Navy ships off-shore. Image:A2092-3A.jpg From the prior administration, Ford inherited the on-going détente with both the Soviet Union and People's Republic of China, and the policy of building relationships with the two communist countries who had been mutually antagonistic toward each other for many years.
Still in place from the Nixon administration was the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty.<ref>Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, Houghton Mifflin.</ref> The thawing relationship brought about by Nixon's visit to China was reinforced by Ford's December 1975 visit to the communist country.<ref>Trip to China - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum</ref> In 1975, the administration entered into the Helsinki Accords with the Soviet Union, creating the framework of the Helsinki Watch, an independent NGO created to monitor compliance that later evolved into Human Rights Watch.<ref>About Human Rights Watch - Human Rights Watch.</ref>
Ford also faced a foreign policy crisis with the Mayaguez Incident. In May 1975, shortly after the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia, Cambodians seized the American merchant ship Mayaguez in international waters. Ford dispatched Marines to rescue the crew, but the Marines landed on the wrong island and met unexpectedly stiff resistance just as, unknown to the U.S., the Mayaguez sailors were being released. In the operation, fifty U.S. servicemen were wounded and forty-one killed while approximately sixty Khmer Rouge soldiers were killed.<ref>Capture and Release of SS Mayaguez by Khmer Rouge forces in May 1975 - United States Marine Merchants.</ref>
Assassination attempts
Image:Frommeassassinationattempt.jpg Ford faced two assassination attempts during the course of his presidency over a three-week period. While in Sacramento, California on September 5, 1975, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, pointed a Colt .45-caliber handgun at Ford and pulled the trigger. However, the gun jammed and Fromme was taken into custody; she was later convicted of attempted assassination of the president and was sentenced to a life term.<ref>'Squeaky' up for parole - Janet McLaren, New York Daily News.</ref>
Seventeen days later, another woman—Sara Jane Moore—also tried to kill Ford while he was visiting San Francisco, but her shooting attempt was thwarted by a bystander deflecting the shot. No one was injured when Moore fired, and she was later sentenced to life in prison.<ref>An Unlikely Assassin: Sara Jane Moore and the Plot to Kill the President - Geri Spieler,.</ref>
Supreme Court appointments
In 1975, Ford appointed John Paul Stevens as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Stevens had been a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, appointed by President Nixon and was nominated as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1975 to replace retiring Justice William O. Douglas.<ref>John Paul Stevens -Oyez, United States Supreme Court multimedia.</ref> As noted above, during his tenure as House Republican leader, Ford had led efforts to have Douglas impeached. His replacement, Justice Stevens, later disappointed conservatives by joining the Court's liberal wing.<ref>The Conservative Persuasion - Christopher Levenick, The Daily Standard, September 29, 2005</ref>
1976 Presidential election
Image:Repub8a.jpg Ford reluctantly agreed to stand for election in 1976 but first had to counter a challenge for the Republican party nomination. Former California Governor Ronald Reagan and the party's conservative wing faulted Ford for failing to do more in South Vietnam, signing the Helsinki Accords and for negotiating to cede the Panama Canal. Reagan launched his campaign in the autumn of 1975 and won several primaries before withdrawing from the race at the Republican Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. The conservative insurgency convinced Ford to drop the more liberal Vice President Nelson Rockefeller in favor of Kansas Senator Bob Dole.<ref>Another Loss For the Gipper - Time Magazine, March 29, 1976</ref>
Image:Carterford.jpg In addition to the pardon dispute and lingering anti-Republican sentiment, Ford had to counter a plethora of negative media imagery. Chevy Chase often did pratfalls on Saturday Night Live, imitating Ford who had been seen stumbling on two occasions during his term. As Chase commented, "He even mentioned in his own autobiography it had an effect over a period of time that affected the election to some degree."<ref>VH1 News Presents: Politics: A Pop Culture History Premiering Wednesday, October 20 at 10:00 PM (ET/PT) - PRNewswire.</ref>
Ford's campaign had an advantage from a number of activities held during 1976 celebrating the United States Bicentennial. The Washington, D.C. fireworks display was presided over by President and televised nationally.<ref>Election of 1976 (2003) C-SPAN </ref>
Democratic nominee and former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter campaigned as an outsider and reformer; he gained support from voters dismayed by the Watergate Scandal. Carter led consistently in the polls, as Ford was never able to shake voter dissatisfaction following Watergate and the Nixon pardon.
| "For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land." |
| Jimmy Carter, January 20, 1977<ref name=JC>Jimmy Carter, Inaugural address - January 20, 1977, transcript from Seattle University</ref> |
Presidential debates were reintroduced for the first time since the 1960 election. While Ford was seen as the winner of the first debate, during the second debate he inexplicably blundered when he stated, "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration." Ford also said that he did not "believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union."<ref>1976 Presidential Debates - CNN</ref>
In the end, Carter narrowly won the election, receiving 50.1% of the popular vote and 297 electoral votes compared with 48.0% and 240 electoral votes for Ford. Had Ford won the election, the provisions of the 22nd amendment would have disqualified him from running in 1980 since he served more than two years of Nixon's term.
Post-presidential years
The pardon controversy eventually subsided, and Ford now is widely regarded as being largely responsible for restoring the American public's faith and confidence in their political system. Ford's incorruptible character and personal decency helped restore dignity to the executive branch.<ref name=F/> Ford's successor, Jimmy Carter, opened his 1977 inaugural address by praising the outgoing President.<ref name=JC/>
Image:FordNixonBushReaganCarter.jpg Ford remained relatively active in the years after his presidency, and continued to make appearances at events of historical and ceremonial significance to the nation, such as Presidential inaugurals and memorial services. In 1981 he opened the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan.<ref>All-Star Celebration Opening the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum - IMDB.</ref> In 1999, Ford was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton.<ref>Politicians Who Received the Medal of Freedom - PoliticalGraveyard.com.</ref> In 2001, he was presented with the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award for his decision to pardon Richard Nixon to stop the agony America was experiencing over Watergate.<ref>President Gerald Ford and Congressman John Lewis Honored as Profiles in Courage - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Summer 2001</ref>
As Ford approached his ninetieth year he began to experience health problems. He suffered two minor strokes at the 2000 Republican National Convention, but made a quick recovery.<ref>Gerald Ford recovering after strokes - BBC, August 2, 2000</ref> In January 2006, he spent 11 days at the Eisenhower Medical Center near his residence at Rancho Mirage, California, for treatment of pneumonia.<ref>Gerald Ford hospitalized with pneumonia - Associated Press, January 17, 2006</ref> Since the death of Ronald Reagan on June 5, 2004, Ford has been the oldest living former President. He is one of two U.S. Presidents to live to the age of 92 years, and the second longest-lived President in U.S. history, behind Reagan's record of 93 years 120 days. If Ford lives through November 11, 2006, he will become the longest-lived President of all time. He also has the second longest retirement among Presidents at 29 years, behind Herbert Hoover's record of 31, which Ford would surpass if he lives until 2008.
Since the end of his presidency, he has been a very close friend of his successor Jimmy Carter, despite the fact that Carter defeated him in the 1976 election.
See also
- Gerald R. Ford Freeway
- Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Notable World War II Veterans
Notes
<references/>
Bibliography
Further reading
Personal memoirs and official biographies
Administration officials' publications
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Outside sources
External links
Template:Wikisource author Template:Wikiquote Published works
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- First State of the Union Address.
- Second State of the Union Address.
- Third State of the Union Address.
Libraries and museums
Biographies
Multimedia
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{{Persondata |NAME=Ford, Gerald |ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Ford, Gerry |SHORT DESCRIPTION=38th US President |DATE OF BIRTH=July 14, 1913 |PLACE OF BIRTH=Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America |DATE OF DEATH= |PLACE OF DEATH= }}ar:جيرالد فورد bg:Джералд Форд cs:Gerald Ford da:Gerald Ford de:Gerald Ford eo:Gerald Ford es:Gerald R. Ford eu:Gerald Ford fa:جرالد فورد fr:Gerald Ford ga:Gerald R. Ford ko:제럴드 포드 id:Gerald Ford it:Gerald Ford he:ג'רלד פורד hu:Gerald Ford nl:Gerald Ford ja:ジェラルド・R・フォード no:Gerald Ford nn:Gerald Ford pl:Gerald Ford pt:Gerald Ford ro:Gerald Ford ru:Форд, Джеральд sq:Gerald Ford simple:Gerald Ford sk:Gerald Ford sr:Џералд Форд fi:Gerald Ford sv:Gerald Ford tr:Gerald Ford zh:杰拉尔德·福特 Template:Featured article
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