Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.; July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006) was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974. As the first person appointed to the vice-presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment (after the resignation of Spiro Agnew), when he became President upon Richard Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974, he became the only President of the United States who was never elected President or Vice-President. Before ascending to the vice-presidency, Ford served nearly 25 years as Representative from Michigan's 5th congressional district, eight of them as the Republican Minority Leader.
As President, Ford signed the Helsinki Accords, marking a move toward détente in the Cold War. With the conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam nine months into his presidency, U.S. involvement in Vietnam essentially ended. Domestically, Ford presided over what was then the worst economy since the Great Depression, with growing inflation and a recession during his tenure.[2] One of his more controversial acts was to grant a presidential pardon to President Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal. During Ford’s incumbency, foreign policy was characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, and by the corresponding curb on the powers of the President.[3] In 1976, Ford narrowly defeated Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination, but ultimately lost the presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.
Following his years as president, Ford remained active in the Republican Party. After experiencing health problems and being admitted to the hospital four times in 2006, Ford died in his home on December 26, 2006. He lived longer than any other U.S. president, dying at the age of 93 years and 165 days.
Early life
Childhood
Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr., on July 14, 1913, at 3202 Woolworth Avenue in Omaha, Nebraska, where his parents lived with his paternal grandparents. His mother was Dorothy Ayer Gardner, and his father was Leslie Lynch King, Sr., a wool trader and son of prominent banker Charles Henry King and Martha King. Dorothy separated from King just sixteen days after her son's birth. She took her son with her to the Oak Park, Illinois home of her sister Tannisse and brother-in-law, Clarence Haskins James. From there, she moved to the home of her parents, Levi Addison Gardner and Adele Augusta Ayer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dorothy and King divorced in December 1913; she gained full custody of her son. Ford's paternal grandfather Charles Henry King paid child support until shortly before his death in 1930.[4]
Ford later said his biological father had a history of hitting his mother.[5] James M. Cannon, a member of the Ford administration, wrote in a Ford biography that the Kings' separation and divorce were sparked when, a few days after Ford's birth, Leslie King threatened Dorothy with a butcher knife and threatened to kill her, Ford, and Ford's nursemaid. Ford later told confidantes that his father had first hit his mother on their honeymoon for smiling at another man.[6]
After two and a half years with her parents, on February 1, 1916 Dorothy married Gerald Rudolff Ford, a salesman in a family owned paint and varnish company. They then called her son Gerald Rudolff Ford, Jr. The future president was never formally adopted, however, and he did not legally change his name until December 3, 1935; he also used a more conventional spelling of his middle name.[7] He was raised in Grand Rapids with his three half-brothers by his mother's second marriage: Thomas Gardner Ford (1918–1995), Richard Addison Ford (born 1924), and James Francis Ford (1927–2001).
Ford also had three half-siblings from his father's second marriage: Marjorie King (1921–1993), Leslie Henry King (1923–1976), and Patricia Jane King (born 1925). They never saw each other as children and he did not know them at all. Ford was not aware of his biological father until he was 17, when his parents told him about the circumstances of his birth. That year his father Leslie King, whom Ford described as a "carefree, well-to-do man who didn't really give a damn about the hopes and dreams of his firstborn son", approached Ford while he was waiting tables in a Grand Rapids restaurant. The two "maintained a sporadic contact" until Leslie King, Sr.'s death.[5][8]
Ford maintained his distance emotionally, saying, "My stepfather was a magnificent person and my mother equally wonderful. So I couldn't have written a better prescription for a superb family upbringing."[9]
Scouting and athletics
Ford was involved in The Boy Scouts of America, and earned that program's highest rank, Eagle Scout.[10] In subsequent years, Ford received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in May 1970 and Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America. He is the only U.S. president who was an Eagle Scout.[10] Scouting was so important to Ford that his family asked that Scouts participate in his funeral. About 400 Eagle Scouts were part of the funeral procession, where they formed an honor guard as the casket went by in front of the museum. A few selected scouts served as ushers inside the National Cathedral.[11]
Ford attended Grand Rapids South High School and was a star athlete and captain of his football team.[12] In 1930, he was selected to the All-City team of the Grand Rapids City League. He also attracted the attention of college recruiters.[9]
Attending the University of Michigan as an undergraduate, Ford played center and linebacker for the school’s football team[13] and helped the Wolverines to undefeated seasons and national titles in 1932 and 1933. The team suffered a steep decline in his 1934 senior year, however, winning only one game. Ford was the team’s star nonetheless, and after a game during which Michigan held heavily favored Minnesota (the eventual national champion) to a scoreless tie in the first half, assistant coach Bennie Oosterbaan later said, “When I walked into the dressing room at half time, I had tears in my eyes I was so proud of them. Ford and [Cedric] Sweet played their hearts out. They were everywhere on defense.” Ford later recalled, “During 25 years in the rough-and-tumble world of politics, I often thought of the experiences before, during, and after that game in 1934. Remembering them has helped me many times to face a tough situation, take action, and make every effort possible despite adverse odds.” His teammates later voted Ford their most valuable player, with one assistant coach noting, “They felt Jerry was one guy who would stay and fight in a losing cause.”[14]
During the same season, in a game against the University of Chicago, Ford “became the only future U.S. president to tackle a future Heisman Trophy winner when he brought down running back Jay Berwanger, who would win the first Heisman the following year.”[15] In 1934 Gerald Ford was selected for the Eastern Team on the Shriner’s East West Crippled Children game at San Francisco (a benefit for crippled children), played on January 1, 1935. As part of the 1935 Collegiate All-Star football team, Ford played against the Chicago Bears in an exhibition game at Soldier Field.[16] By virtue of Ford's future career as President of the United States, the University of Michigan retired Ford's #48 jersey in 1994.
Ford retained his interest in football and his alma mater throughout life, occasionally attending games. Ford also visited with players and coaches during practices, at one point asking to join the players in the huddle.[17] Ford often had the Naval band play the University of Michigan fight song, The Victors, prior to state events instead of Hail to the Chief.[18] He also selected the song to be played during his funeral procession at the U.S. Capitol.[19] On his death in December 2006, the University of Michigan Marching Band played the fight song for him one final time, for his last ride from the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan.[20]
Ford was also an avid golfer. In 1977, he shot a hole in one during a Pro-am held in conjunction with the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic at Colonial Country Club in Memphis, Tennessee. He received the 1985 Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, GCSAA's highest honor.[21]
Education
At Michigan, Ford became a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Omicron chapter) and washed dishes at his fraternity house to earn money for college expenses. Following his graduation in 1935 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, he turned down contract offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers of the National Football League to take a coaching position at Yale and apply to its law school.[22] Ford continued to contribute to football and boxing, accepting an assistant coaching job for both at Yale in September 1935.[23]
Ford hoped to attend Yale's law school beginning in 1935 while serving as boxing coach, assistant varsity football coach, and teacher of JV cheerleading, at which he was very good because he knew how to do several tucks and back handsprings. Yale officials initially denied his admission to the law school, because of his full-time coaching responsibilities. He spent the summer of 1937 as a student at the University of Michigan Law School[24] and was eventually admitted in the spring of 1938 to Yale Law School.[25] Ford earned his LL.B. degree in 1941 (later amended to Juris Doctor), graduating in the top 25 percent of his class. His introduction to politics came in the summer of 1940 when he worked in Wendell Willkie's presidential campaign. 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 the America First Committee, a group determined to keep the U.S. out of World War II.[26]
Ford graduated from law school in 1941, and was admitted to the Michigan bar shortly thereafter. In May 1941, he opened a Grand Rapids law practice with a friend, Philip Buchen,[23] who would later serve as Ford's White House counsel. But overseas developments caused a change in plans, and Ford responded to the attack on Pearl Harbor by enlisting in the Navy.[27]
Naval service in World War II
Ford received a commission as ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve on April 13, 1942. On April 20, he reported for active duty to the V-5 instructor school at Annapolis, Maryland. After one month of training, he went to Navy Preflight School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he was one of 83 instructors and taught elementary seamanship, ordnance, gunnery, first aid and military drill. In addition, he coached in all nine sports that were offered, but mostly in swimming, boxing and football. During the one year he was at the Preflight School, he was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade on June 2, 1942, and to Lieutenant in March 1943.
Applying for sea duty, Ford was sent in May 1943 to the pre-commissioning detachment for the new aircraft carrier USS Monterey, at New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey. From the ship's commissioning on June 17, 1943 until the end of December 1944, Ford served as the assistant navigator, Athletic Officer, and antiaircraft battery officer on board the Monterey. While he was on board, the carrier participated in many actions in the Pacific Theater with the Third and Fifth Fleets in late 1943 and 1944. In 1943, the carrier helped secure Makin Island in the Gilberts, and participated in carrier strikes against Kavieng, New Ireland in 1943. During the spring of 1944, the Monterey supported landings at Kwajalein and Eniwetok and participated in carrier strikes in the Marianas, Western Carolines, and northern New Guinea, as well as in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.[28] After overhaul, from September to November 1944, aircraft from the Monterey launched strikes against Wake Island, participated in strikes in the Philippines and Ryukyus, and supported the landings at Leyte and Mindoro.[28]
Although the ship was not damaged by Japanese forces, the Monterey was one of several ships damaged by the typhoon that hit Admiral William Halsey's Third Fleet on December 18–19, 1944. The Third Fleet lost three destroyers and over 800 men during the typhoon. The Monterey was damaged by a fire, which was started by several of the ship's aircraft tearing loose from their cables and colliding on the hangar deck. During the storm, Ford narrowly avoided becoming a casualty himself. As he was going to his battle station on the bridge of the ship in the early morning of December 18, the ship rolled twenty-five degrees, which caused Ford to lose his footing and slide toward the edge of the deck. The two-inch steel ridge around the edge of the carrier slowed him enough so he could roll, and he twisted into the catwalk below the deck. As he later stated, "I was lucky; I could have easily gone overboard."
Because of the extent of the fires, Admiral Halsey ordered Captain Ingersoll to abandon ship. Instead Captain Ingersoll ordered Ford to lead a fire brigade below. After five hours he and his team had put out the fire.
After the fire the Monterey was declared unfit for service, and the crippled carrier reached Ulithi on December 21 before continuing across the Pacific to Bremerton, Washington where it underwent repairs. On December 24, 1944 at Ulithi, Ford was detached from the ship and sent to the Navy Pre-Flight School at Saint Mary's College of California, where he was assigned to the Athletic Department until April 1945. One of his duties was to coach football. From the end of April 1945 to January 1946, he was on the staff of the Naval Reserve Training Command, Naval Air Station, Glenview, Illinois as the Staff Physical and Military Training Officer. On October 3, 1945 he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. In January 1946, he was sent to the Separation Center, Great Lakes to be processed out. He was released from active duty under honorable conditions on February 23, 1946. On June 28, 1946, the Secretary of the Navy accepted Ford's resignation from the Naval Reserve.
For his naval service, Gerald Ford earned the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with nine engagement stars for operations in the Gilbert Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, Marshall Islands, Asiatic and Pacific carrier raids, Hollandia, Marianas, Western Carolines, Western New Guinea, and the Leyte Operation. He also received the Philippine Liberation Medal with two bronze stars for Leyte and Mindoro, as well as the American Campaign and World War II Victory Medals.[27]
Ford was a member of several civic organizations, including the American Legion, AMVETS, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Sons of the Revolution,[29] and Veterans of Foreign Wars. Gerald R. Ford was initiated into Freemasonry on September 30, 1949.[30] He later said in 1975, "When I took my obligation as a master mason—incidentally, with my three younger brothers—I recalled the value my own father attached to that order. But I had no idea that I would ever be added to the company of the Father of our Country and 12 other members of the order who also served as Presidents of the United States."[31]
Marriage and children
On October 15, 1948, at Grace Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, Ford married Elizabeth Bloomer Warren, a department store fashion consultant. Warren had been a John Robert Powers fashion model and a dancer in the auxiliary troupe of the Martha Graham Dance Company. She had previously been married to and divorced from William G. Warren.
At the time of his engagement, Ford was campaigning for what would be his first of thirteen terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. The wedding was delayed until shortly before the elections because, as The New York Times reported in a 1974 profile of Betty Ford, "Jerry was running for Congress and wasn't sure how voters might feel about his marrying a divorced ex-dancer."[32]
The Fords had four children:
- Michael Gerald, born in 1950
- John Gardner, known as Jack, born in 1952
- Steven Meigs, born in 1956
- Susan Elizabeth, born in 1957
House of Representatives
After returning to Grand Rapids, Ford became active in local Republican politics, and supporters urged him to take on Bartel J. Jonkman, the incumbent Republican congressman. Military service had changed his view of the world; "I came back a converted internationalist", Ford wrote, "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."[9] During his first campaign in 1948, Ford visited voters at their doorsteps and as they left the factories where they worked.[33] Ford also visited local farms where, in one instance, a wager resulted in Ford spending two weeks milking cows following his election victory.[34] Ford was known to his colleagues in the House as a "Congressman's Congressman".[35]
Ford was a member of the House of Representatives for twenty-five years, holding the Grand Rapids congressional district seat from 1949 to 1973. It was a tenure largely notable for its modesty. As an editorial in The New York Times described him, Ford "saw himself as a negotiator and a reconciler, and the record shows it: he did not write a single piece of major legislation in his entire career."[36] 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."[37]
In the early 1950s, Ford declined offers to run for both the Senate and the Michigan governorship. Rather, his ambition was to become Speaker of the House.[38]
Warren Commission
In November 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Ford to the Warren Commission, a special task force set up to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Ford was assigned to prepare a biography of Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin.[39] The Commission's work continues to be debated in the public arena.
In the foreword to his book, A Presidential Legacy and The Warren Commission, Ford said the CIA destroyed or kept from investigators critical secrets connected to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He said the commission's probe put "certain classified and potentially damaging operations in danger of being exposed." The CIA's reaction, he added, "was to hide or destroy some information, which can easily be misinterpreted as collusion in JFK's assassination."[40]
According to a 1963 FBI memo released in 2008, Ford secretly provided the FBI with information regarding two of his fellow commission members, both of whom were dubious about the FBI's conclusions regarding the assassination.[41] The FBI position was that President Kennedy was shot by a single gunman firing from the Texas Book Depository. Another 1963 memo released in 1978 stated that Representative Ford volunteered to advise the FBI regarding the content of the commission's deliberations, provided that his involvement with the bureau was kept confidential, a condition which the bureau approved.[42] Ford was an outspoken proponent of the single assassin theory.[43] According to the same reports, Ford generally had strong ties to the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover.[43]
House Minority Leader
In 1964, Democratic President Lyndon Johnson led a landslide victory for his party, securing another term as president and taking 36 seats from Republicans in the House of Representatives. Following the election, members of the Republican caucus looked to select a new Minority Leader. Three members approached Ford to see if he would be willing to serve; after consulting with his family, he agreed. After a closely contested election, Ford was chosen to replace Charles Halleck of Indiana as Minority Leader.[44]
The Republicans had 140 seats in the House compared to the 295 seats held by the Democrats. As a result, the Johnson Administration was able to propose and pass a series of programs termed by President Johnson as the "Great Society". During the first session of the Eighty-ninth Congress alone, the Johnson Administration submitted eighty-seven bills to Congress, and Johnson signed eighty-four, or 96%, arguably the most successful legislative agenda in U.S. Congressional history.[45]
Criticism over the Johnson Administration's handling of the Vietnam War began to grow in 1966, with Ford and Congressional Republicans expressing concern that the United States was not doing what was necessary to win the war. Public sentiment also began to move against Johnson, and the 1966 midterm elections saw a 47-seat swing in favor of the Republicans. This was not enough to give Republicans a majority in the House, but the victory did give Ford the opportunity to prevent the passage of further Great Society programs.[44]
Ford's private criticism of the Vietnam War became public following a speech from the floor of the House, in which he questioned whether the White House had a clear plan to bring the war to a successful conclusion.[44] The speech angered President Johnson, who accused Ford of playing "too much football without a helmet."[44][46]
As Minority Leader in the House, Ford appeared in a popular series of televised press conferences with famed Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen, in which they proposed Republican alternatives to Johnson's policies. Many in the press jokingly called this "The Ev and Jerry Show".[47] Johnson said at the time, "Jerry Ford is so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time."[48] The press, used to sanitizing LBJ's salty language, reported this as "Gerald Ford can't walk and chew gum at the same time."[49]
Ford's role shifted under President Nixon to being an advocate for the White House agenda. Congress passed several of Nixon's proposals, including the National Environmental Policy Act and the Tax Reform Act of 1969. Another high-profile victory for the Republican minority was the State and Local Fiscal Assistance act. Passed in 1972, the act established a Revenue Sharing program for state and local governments.[50] Ford's leadership was instrumental in shepherding revenue sharing through congress, and culminated in a bipartisan coalition that supported the bill with 223 votes in favor (compared to 185 against).[44][51]
During the eight years (1965–1973) he served as Minority Leader, Ford won many friends in the House because of his fair leadership and inoffensive personality.[44] An office building in the U.S. Capitol Complex, House Annex 2, was renamed for Gerald Ford as the Ford House Office Building.
Vice Presidency, 1973–74
On October 10, 1973, Vice President Agnew resigned and then pleaded no contest to criminal charges of tax evasion and money laundering, part of a negotiated resolution to a scheme wherein he accepted $29,500 in bribes while governor of Maryland. According to The New York Times, "Nixon sought advice from senior Congressional leaders about a replacement. The advice was unanimous. 'We gave Nixon no choice but Ford,' House Speaker Carl Albert recalled later".[36]
Ford was nominated to take Agnew's position on October 12, the first time the vice-presidential vacancy provision of the 25th Amendment had been implemented. The United States Senate voted 92 to 3 to confirm Ford on November 27. Only three Senators, all Democrats, voted against Ford's confirmation: Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, Thomas Eagleton of Missouri and William Hathaway of Maine. On December 6, the House confirmed Ford by a vote of 387 to 35. One hour after the confirmation vote in the House, Ford took the oath of office as Vice President of the United States. Ford's brief tenure as Vice-President was little noted by the media as reporters were preoccupied by the continuing revelations about criminal acts during the 1972 presidential election and allegations of cover-ups within the White House.
Following Ford's appointment, the Watergate investigation continued until 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. At the time, Ford and his wife, Betty, were living in suburban Virginia, waiting for their expected move into the newly designated vice president's residence in Washington, D.C. However, "Al Haig [asked] to come over and see me," Ford later related, "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, I don't think we're ever going to live in the vice president's house.'"[9]
Presidency, 1974–77
Accession
When Nixon resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal on August 9, 1974, Ford assumed the presidency, making him the only person to assume the vice-presidency and the presidency without having been voted into either office.[52] Immediately after taking the oath of office in the East Room of the White House, he spoke to the assembled audience in a speech broadcast live to the nation.[53] Ford 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."[54] He went on to state:
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.[55]
He also stated:
My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here, the people rule. But there is a higher power, by whatever name we honor Him. Who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice, but mercy.... Let us restore the golden rule to our political process and let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and hate.[56]
A portion of the speech would later be memorialized with a plaque at the entrance to his presidential museum.
On August 20, Ford nominated former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to fill the vice presidency he had vacated.[57] Rockefeller's top competitor had been George H. W. Bush. Rockefeller underwent extended hearings before Congress, which caused embarrassment when it was revealed he made large gifts to senior aides, such as Henry Kissinger. Although conservative Republicans were not pleased that Rockefeller was picked, most of them voted for his confirmation, and his nomination passed both the House and Senate. Some, including Barry Goldwater, voted against him.[58]
Pardon of Nixon
On September 8, 1974, Ford issued Proclamation 4311, which gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he may have committed against the United States while President.[59][60][61] 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 a 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."[62] 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.[63] Unconditional amnesty, however, did not come about until the Jimmy Carter Presidency.[64]
The Nixon pardon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and claimed, a "corrupt bargain" had been struck between the men.[9] They claimed Ford's pardon was quid pro quo, in exchange for Nixon's resignation that elevated Ford to the Presidency. According to Bob Woodward, Nixon Chief of Staff Alexander Haig proposed a pardon deal to Ford. He later decided to pardon Nixon for other reasons, primarily the friendship he and Nixon shared.[65] Regardless, historians believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost the election in 1976, an observation with which Ford concurred.[65] In an editorial at the time, The New York Times stated that the Nixon pardon was "a profoundly unwise, divisive and unjust act" that in a stroke had destroyed the new president's "credibility as a man of judgment, candor and competence."[36]
Ford's first press secretary and close friend Jerald Franklin terHorst resigned his post in protest after the announcement of President Nixon's full pardon. Ford also voluntarily appeared before Congress on October 17, 1974 to give sworn testimony—the only time a sitting president has done so—about the pardon.[23]
After Ford left the White House in 1977, intimates said that the former President privately justified his pardon of Nixon by carrying in his wallet a portion of the text of Burdick v. United States, a 1915 U.S. Supreme Court decision which stated that a pardon indicated a presumption of guilt, and that acceptance of a pardon was tantamount to a confession of that guilt.[65] In 2001, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award to Ford for his pardon of Nixon.[66] In presenting the award to Ford, Senator Ted Kennedy said that he had initially been opposed to the pardon of Nixon, but later stated that history had proved Ford to have made the correct decision.[67]
Administration and cabinet
Upon assuming office, Ford inherited Nixon's cabinet. Over the course of Ford's relatively brief administration, only Secretary of State Kissinger and Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon remained. Ford 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.[68]
| The Ford Cabinet | ||
|---|---|---|
| OFFICE | NAME | TERM |
|
| ||
| President | Gerald Ford | 1974–1977 |
| Vice President | Nelson Rockefeller | 1974–1977 |
|
| ||
| State | Henry Kissinger | 1974–1977 |
| Treasury | William E. Simon | 1974–1977 |
| Defense | James R. Schlesinger | 1974–1975 |
| Donald Rumsfeld | 1975–1977 | |
| Justice | William B. Saxbe | 1974–1975 |
| Edward Levi | 1975–1977 | |
| Interior | Rogers Morton | 1974–1975 |
| Stanley K. Hathaway | 1975 | |
| Thomas S. Kleppe | 1975–1977 | |
| Agriculture | Earl Butz | 1974–1976 |
| John Albert Knebel | 1976–1977 | |
| Commerce | Frederick B. Dent | 1974–1975 |
| Rogers Morton | 1975 | |
| Elliot Richardson | 1975–1977 | |
| Labor | Peter J. Brennan | 1974–1975 |
| John Thomas Dunlop | 1975–1976 | |
| William Usery, Jr. | 1976–1977 | |
| HEW | Caspar Weinberger | 1974–1975 |
| F. David Mathews | 1975–1977 | |
| HUD | James Thomas Lynn | 1974–1975 |
| Carla Anderson Hills | 1975–1977 | |
| Transportation | Claude Brinegar | 1974–1975 |
| William Thaddeus Coleman, Jr. | 1975–1977 | |
Other cabinet-level posts:
- White House Chief of Staff
- Alexander Haig (1974)
- Donald Rumsfeld (1974–1975)
- Dick Cheney (1975–1977)
- Director of the Office of Management and Budget
- Roy Ash (1974–1975)
- James T. Lynn (1975–1977)
- United States Trade Representative
- William D. Eberle (1974–1975)
- Frederick B. Dent (1975–1977)
- Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
- Russell E. Train (1974–1977)
- United States Ambassador to the United Nations
- John A. Scali (1974–1975)
- Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1975–1976)
- William Scranton (1976–1977)
Other important posts:
- United States National Security Advisor
- Henry Kissinger (1974–1975)
- Brent Scowcroft (1975–1977)
- Director of Central Intelligence
- William E. Colby (1974–1976)
- George H. W. Bush (1976–1977)
Ford selected George H.W. Bush as Chief of the US Liaison Office to the People's Republic of China in 1974 and then Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in late 1975.[69]
Ford's transition chairman and first Chief of Staff was former congressman and ambassador Donald Rumsfeld. In 1975, Rumsfeld was named by Ford as the youngest-ever Secretary of Defense. Ford chose a young Wyoming politician, Richard Cheney, to replace Rumsfeld as his new Chief of Staff and later campaign manager for Ford's 1976 presidential campaign.[70] Ford's dramatic reorganization of his Cabinet in the fall of 1975 has been referred to by political commentators as the "Halloween Massacre."
Midterm elections
The 1974 Congressional midterm elections took place less than three months after Ford assumed office and in the wake of the Watergate scandal. The Democratic Party was able to turn voter dissatisfaction into large gains in the House elections, taking 49 seats from the Republican Party, and increasing their majority to 291 of the 435 seats. This was one more than the number needed (290) for a two-thirds majority, necessary to override a Presidential veto (or to submit a Constitutional Amendment). Perhaps due in part to this fact, the 94th Congress overrode the highest percentage of vetoes since Andrew Johnson was President of the United States (1865–1869).[71] Even Ford's old, reliably Republican seat was taken by Democrat Richard Vander Veen, defeating Republican Robert VanderLaan. In the Senate elections, the Democratic majority became 61 in the 100-seat body.[72]
Domestic policy
The economy was a great concern during the Ford administration.One of the first acts the new president took to deal with the economy was to create the Economic Policy Board by Executive Order on September 30, 1974.[73] 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.[74] At the time, inflation was believed to be the primary threat to the economy, more so than growing unemployment. They felt as though controlling inflation would work to fix unemployment.[73] In order to reign in inflation it was necessary to take steps to control the public's spending. “WIN” called for Americans to reduce their spending and consumption in an attempt to mesh service and sacrifice.[75] On October 4, 1974, Ford gave a speech in front of a joint session of Congress and as a part of this speech kicked off the “WIN” campaign. Over the next nine days 101,240 Americans mailed in “WIN” pledges.[73] In hindsight, this was viewed as simply a public relations gimmick without offering any effective means of solving the underlying problems.[76] The main point of that speech was to introduce to Congress a one year 5 percent income tax increase on corporations and wealthy individuals. This plan would also take $4.4 billion out of the budget bringing federal spending below $300 billion.[77] At the time, inflation was approximately seven percent.[78]
Ford was confronted with a potential swine flu pandemic. In the early 1970s, an influenza strain H1N1 shifted from a form of flu that affected primarily 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 that every person in the United States be vaccinated.[79] Although the vaccination program was plagued by delays and public relations problems, some 25% of the population was vaccinated by the time the program was canceled in December of that year. The vaccine was blamed for twenty-five deaths; more people died from the shots than from the swine flu.[80]
Ford was an outspoken supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, issuing Presidential Proclamation 4383.
In this Land of the Free, it is right, and by nature it ought to be, that all men and all women are equal before the law.
Now, therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, to remind all Americans that it is fitting and just to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment adopted by the Congress of the United States of America, in order to secure legal equality for all women and men, do hereby designate and proclaim August 26, 1975, as Women's Equality Day.[81]
As president, Ford's position on abortion was that he supported "a federal constitutional amendment that would permit each one of the 50 States to make the choice."[82] This had also been his position as House Minority Leader in response to the 1973 Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade, which he opposed.[83] Ford came under criticism for a 60 Minutes interview his wife Betty gave in 1975, in which she stated that Roe v. Wade was a "great, great decision."[84] During his later life, Ford would identify as pro-choice.[85]
Budget
The federal budget ran a deficit every year Ford was President.[86] Despite his reservations about how the program ultimately would be funded in an era of tight public budgeting, Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, which established special education throughout the United States. Ford expressed "strong support for full educational opportunities for our handicapped children" according to the official White House press release for the bill signing.[87]
The economic focus began to change as the country sank into a mild recession. The focus of the Ford administration became fixing the increase in unemployment, which hit 7.2 percent in December 1974. In January 1975, Ford proposed a 1 year tax reduction of $16 billion to stimulate economic growth, along with spending cuts to avoid inflation.[77] Ford was criticized greatly for quickly switching from advocating a tax increase to a tax reduction. In Congress, the proposed amount of the tax reduction increased to $22.8 billion in tax cuts and lacked spending cuts.[73] In March 1975, Congress passed, and Ford signed into law, these income tax rebates as part of the Tax Reduction Act of 1975. This resulted in a federal deficit of around $53 billion for the 1975 fiscal year and $73.7 billion for 1976.[88]
When New York City faced bankruptcy in 1975, Mayor Abraham Beame was unsuccessful in obtaining Ford's support for a federal bailout. The incident prompted the New York Daily News' famous headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead", referring to a speech in which "Ford declared flatly ... that he would veto any bill calling for 'a federal bail-out of New York City'".[89][90] The following month, November 1975, Ford changed his stance and asked Congress to approve federal loans to New York City.[91]
Foreign policy
Ford continued the détente policy with both the Soviet Union and China, easing the tensions of the Cold War. Still in place from the Nixon Administration was the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT).[92] The thawing relationship brought about by Nixon's visit to China was reinforced by Ford's December 1975 visit to the communist country.[93] In 1975, the Administration entered into the Helsinki Accords[94] with the Soviet Union, creating the framework of the Helsinki Watch, an independent non-governmental organization created to monitor compliance that later evolved into Human Rights Watch.[95]
Ford attended the inaugural meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations (initially the G5) in 1975 and secured membership for Canada. Ford supported international solutions to issues. "We live in an interdependent world and, therefore, must work together to resolve common economic problems," he said in a 1974 speech.[96]
Middle East
In the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean, two ongoing international disputes developed into crises. The Cyprus dispute turned into a crisis with the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, causing extreme strain within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance. In mid-August, the government withdrew Greece from the NATO military structure; in mid-September 1974 the Senate and House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to halt military aid to Turkey. Ford, concerned with both the effect of this on Turkish-American relations and the deterioration of security on NATO’s eastern front, vetoed the bill. A second bill was passed by the house, and vetoed, although a compromise was accepted to continue aid until the end of the year.[3] As Ford expected, Turkish relations were considerably disrupted until 1978.
In the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict, although the initial cease fire had been implemented to end active conflict in the Yom Kippur War, Kissinger’s continuing shuttle diplomacy was showing little progress. Ford considered it “stalling” and wrote, “Their [Israeli] tactics frustrated the Egyptians and made me mad as hell.’[97] During Kissinger’s shuttle to Israel in early March 1975, a last minute reversal to consider further withdrawal, prompted a cable from Ford to Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin, which included:
I wish to express my profound disappointment over Israel’s attitude in the course of the negotiations... Failure of the negotiation will have a far reaching impact on the region and on our relations. I have given instructions for a reassessment of United States policy in the region, including our relations with Israel, with the aim of ensuring that overall American interests... are protected. You will be notified of our decision[98]
On March 24, Ford received congressional leaders of both parties and informed them of the reassessment of the administration policies in the Middle East. "Reassessment", in practical terms, meant to cancel or suspend further aid to Israel. For six months between March and September 1975 the United States refused to conclude any new arms agreements with Israel. Rabin notes it was ”an innocent-sounding term that heralded one of the worst periods in American-Israeli relations.”[99] As could be expected, the announced reassessments upset the American Jewish community and Israel’s well-wishers in Congress. On May 21, Ford “experienced a real shock,” seventy-six senators wrote him a letter urging him to be “responsive” to Israel’s request for $2.59 billion in military and economic aid. Ford felt truly annoyed and thought the chance for peace was jeopardized. It was, since the September 1974 ban on arms to Turkey, the second major congressional intrusion upon the President’s [foreign policy] prerogatives.[100] The following summer months were described by Ford as an American-Israeli “war of nerves” or ”test of wills,”[101] and after much bargaining, the Sinai Interim Agreement (Sinai II), was formally signed on September 1 and aid resumed.
Vietnam
One of Ford's greatest challenges was dealing with the continued Vietnam War. American offensive operations against North Vietnam had ended with the Paris Peace Accords, signed on January 27, 1973. The accords declared a cease fire across both North and South Vietnam, and required the release of American prisoners of war. The agreement guaranteed the territorial integrity of Vietnam and, like the Geneva Conference of 1954, called for national elections in the North and South. The Paris Peace Accords stipulated a sixty-day period for the total withdrawal of U.S. forces.[102]
The accords had been negotiated by United States National Security Advisor Kissinger and North Vietnamese politburo member Le Duc Tho. South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu was not involved in the final negotiations, and publicly criticized the proposed agreement. However, anti-war pressures within the United States forced Nixon and Kissinger to pressure Thieu to sign the agreement and enable the withdrawal of American forces. In multiple letters to the South Vietnamese president, Nixon had promised that the United States would defend his government, should the North Vietnamese violate the accords.[103]
In December 1974, months after Ford took office, North Vietnamese forces invaded the province of Phuoc Long. General Trần Văn Trà sought to gauge any South Vietnamese or American response to the invasion, as well as to solve logistical issues before proceeding with the invasion.[104]
As North Vietnamese forces advanced, Ford requested aid for South Vietnam in a $522 million aid package. The funds had been promised by the Nixon administration, but Congress voted against the proposal by a wide margin.[92] Senator Jacob Javits offered "...large sums for evacuation, but not one nickel for military aid."[92] President Thieu resigned on April 21, 1975, publicly blaming the lack of support from the United States for the fall of his country.[105] Two days later, on April 23, Ford gave a speech at Tulane University. In that speech, he announced that the Vietnam War was over "...as far as America is concerned."[103] The announcement was met with thunderous applause.[103]
1,373 U.S. citizens and 5,595 Vietnamese and third country nationals were evacuated from the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon during Operation Frequent Wind. Military and Air America helicopters took evacuees to U.S. Navy ships off-shore during an approximately 24-hour period on April 29 to 30, 1975, immediately preceding the fall of Saigon. During the operation, so many South Vietnamese helicopters landed on the vessels taking the evacuees that some were pushed overboard to make room for more people. Other helicopters, having nowhere to land, were deliberately crash landed into the sea, close to the ships, their pilots bailing out at the last moment to be picked up by rescue boats.[106]
Many of the Vietnamese evacuees were allowed to enter the United States under the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. The 1975 Act appropriated $455 million toward the costs of assisting the settlement of Indochinese refugees.[107] In all, 130,000 Vietnamese refugees came to the United States in 1975. Thousands more escaped in the years that followed.[108]
Mayaguez and Panmunjom
North Vietnam's victory over the South led to a considerable shift in the political winds in Asia, and Ford administration officials worried about a consequent loss of U.S. influence there. The administration proved it was willing to respond forcefully to challenges to its interests in the region on two occasions, once when Khmer Rouge forces seized an American ship in international waters and then again during the Axe murder incident in Korea.[109]
The first crisis was the Mayaguez Incident. In May 1975, shortly after the fall of Saigon and the Khmer Rouge conquest of Cambodia, Cambodians seized the American merchant ship Mayaguez in international waters.[110] 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, two military transport helicopters carrying the Marines for the assault operation were shot down, and 41 U.S. servicemen were killed and 50 wounded while approximately 60 Khmer Rouge soldiers were killed.[111] Despite the American losses, the operation was seen as a success in the United States and Ford enjoyed an 11-point boost in his approval ratings in the aftermath.[112] The Americans killed during the operation became the last to have their names inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C.
Some historians have argued that the Ford administration felt the need to respond forcefully to the incident because it was construed as a Soviet plot.[113] But recent work by Andrew Gawthorpe, based on an analysis of the administration's internal discussions, shows that Ford's national security team understood that the seizure of the vessel was a local, and perhaps even accidental, provocation by an immature Khmer government. Nevertheless, they felt the need to respond forcefully to discourage further provocations by other Communist countries in Asia.[114]
The second incident which the Ford administration believed required a forceful response occurred at Panmunjom, a village which stands in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas. At the time, this was the only part of the DMZ where forces from the North and the South came into contact with each other. Encouraged by U.S. difficulties in Vietnam, North Korea had been waging a campaign of diplomatic pressure and minor military harassment to try and convince the U.S. to withdraw from South Korea.[115] Then, in August 1976, North Korean forces killed two U.S. officers and injured South Korean guards who were engaged in trimming a tree in Panmunjom's Joint Security Area. The attack coincided with a meeting of the Non-Aligned Conference in Colombo, at which the North presented the incident as an example of American aggression, helping a motion calling for a U.S. withdrawal from the South to be passed.[116]
After mulling various options and deciding that a forceful response was necessary despite the risk of escalation into a wider battle, the Ford administration decided it needed to respond forcefully and show the North Koreans that it would defend its interests. At administration meetings, Kissinger voiced the concern that the North would see the U.S. as "the paper tigers of Saigon" if they did not respond. Ford agreed. The administration sent in a large number of ground forces to cut down the tree, while simultaneously making a show of force that included B-52 bomber flights over Panmunjom. The North backed down and allowed the tree-cutting to go ahead, and later issued an unprecedented diplomatic apology.[117]
Assassination attempts
Ford faced two assassination attempts during his presidency, occurring within three weeks of each other: while in Sacramento, California, on September 5, 1975, Lynette Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, pointed a Colt .45-caliber handgun at Ford.[118] As Fromme pulled the trigger, Larry Buendorf,[119] a Secret Service agent, grabbed the gun and managed to insert the webbing of his thumb under the hammer, preventing the gun from firing. It was later found that, although the semi-automatic pistol had four cartridges in the magazine, the weapon had not been chambered, making it impossible for the gun to fire. Fromme was taken into custody; she was later convicted of attempted assassination of the President and was sentenced to life in prison; she was paroled on August 14, 2009.[120]
In reaction to this attempt, the Secret Service began keeping Ford at a more secure distance from anonymous crowds, a strategy that may have saved his life seventeen days later: as he left the St. Francis Hotel in downtown San Francisco, Sara Jane Moore, standing in a crowd of onlookers across the street, pointed her .38-caliber revolver at him.[121] Just before she fired, former Marine Oliver Sipple grabbed at the gun and deflected her shot; the bullet struck a wall about six inches above and to the right of Ford's head, then ricocheted and hit a taxi driver, who was slightly wounded. Moore was later sentenced to life in prison. She was paroled on December 31, 2007, having served 32 years.[122]
Judicial appointments
In 1975, Ford appointed John Paul Stevens as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to replace retiring Justice William O. Douglas. Stevens had been a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, appointed by President Nixon.[123] During his tenure as House Republican leader, Ford had led efforts to have Douglas impeached.[124] After being confirmed, Stevens eventually disappointed some conservatives by siding with the Court's liberal wing regarding the outcome of many key issues.[125] Nevertheless, President Ford paid tribute to Stevens. "He has served his nation well," Ford said of Stevens, "with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns."[126]
In addition to the Stevens appointment, Ford appointed 11 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 50 judges to the United States district courts.[127]
1976 presidential election
Ford reluctantly agreed to run for office in 1976, but first he had to counter a challenge for the Republican party nomination. Then-former Governor of California Ronald Reagan and the party's conservative wing faulted Ford for failing to do more in South Vietnam, for signing the Helsinki Accords and for negotiating to cede the Panama Canal (negotiations for the canal continued under President Carter, who eventually signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaties). Reagan launched his campaign in 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.[128]
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."[129]
President Ford's 1976 election campaign had the advantage that he was an incumbent president during several anniversary events held during the period leading up to the United States Bicentennial. The Washington, D.C. fireworks display on the Fourth of July was presided over by the President and televised nationally.[130] On July 7, 1976, the President and First Lady served as hosts at a White House state dinner for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom, which was televised on the Public Broadcasting Service network. The 200th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts gave Ford the opportunity to deliver a speech to 110,000 in Concord acknowledging the need for a strong national defense tempered with a plea for "reconciliation, not recrimination" and "reconstruction, not rancor" between the United States and those who would pose "threats to peace".[131] Speaking in New Hampshire on the previous day, Ford condemned the growing trend toward big government bureaucracy and argued for a return to "basic American virtues".[132]
Democratic nominee and former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter campaigned as an outsider and reformer, gaining support from voters dismayed by the Watergate scandal and Nixon pardon. After the Democratic National Convention, he held a huge 33-point lead over Ford in the polls. However, as the campaign continued, the race tightened, and, by election day, the polls showed the race as too close to call. There were three main events in the fall campaign. Most importantly, Carter repeated a promise of a "blanket pardon" for Christian and other religious refugees, and also all Vietnam War draft dodgers (Ford had only issued a conditional amnesty) in response to a question on the subject posed by a reporter during the presidential debates, an act which froze Ford's poll numbers in Ohio, Wisconsin, Hawaii, and Mississippi. (Ford had needed only to shift 11,000 votes in two of those four states in order to win.) Americans viewed the pardon as an essential moral act and as the true end to a bitterly hated war. It was the first act signed by Carter, on January 20, 1977. Earlier, Playboy magazine had published a controversial interview with Carter; in the interview Carter admitted to having "lusted in my heart" for women other than his wife, which cut into his support among women and evangelical Christians. Also, on September 24, Ford performed well in what was the first televised presidential debate since 1960. Polls taken after the debate showed that most viewers felt that Ford was the winner. Carter was also hurt by Ford's charges that he lacked the necessary experience to be an effective national leader, and that Carter was vague on many issues.
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 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".[133] In an interview years later, Ford said he had intended to imply that the Soviets would never crush the spirits of eastern Europeans seeking independence. However, the phrasing was so awkward that questioner Max Frankel was visibly incredulous at the response.[134] As a result of this blunder, and Carter's promise of a full presidential pardon for political refugees from the Vietnam era during the presidential debates, Ford's surge stalled and Carter was able to maintain a slight lead in the polls.
In the end, Carter won the election, receiving 50.1% of the popular vote and 297 electoral votes compared with 48.0% and 240 electoral votes for Ford. The election was close enough that had fewer than 25,000 votes shifted in Ohio and Wisconsin – both of which neighbored his home state – Ford would have won the electoral vote with 276 votes to 261 for Carter.[135] Though he lost, in the three months between the Republican National Convention and the election Ford managed to close what was once a 34-point Carter lead to a 2-point margin. In fact, the Gallup poll the day before the election showed Ford held a statistically insignificant 1-point advantage over Carter.[136]
Had Ford won the election, the provisions of the 22nd amendment would have disqualified him from running in 1980, because he had served more than two years of Nixon's remaining term.
Post-presidential years, 1977–2006
Activity
The Nixon pardon controversy eventually subsided. Ford's successor, Jimmy Carter, opened his 1977 inaugural address by praising the outgoing President, saying, "For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land."[137]
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 1977, he reluctantly agreed to be interviewed by James M. Naughton, a New York Times journalist who was given the assignment to write the former President's advance obituary, an article that would be updated prior to its eventual publication.[138] In 1979, Ford published his autobiography, A Time to Heal (Harper/Reader's Digest, 454 pages). A review in Foreign Affairs described it as, "Serene, unruffled, unpretentious, like the author. This is the shortest and most honest of recent presidential memoirs, but there are no surprises, no deep probings of motives or events. No more here than meets the eye."[139]
During the term of office of his successor, Jimmy Carter, Ford received monthly briefs by President Carter’s senior staff on international and domestic issues, and was always invited to lunch at the White House whenever he was in Washington, D.C. Their close friendship developed after Carter had left office, with the catalyst being their trip together to the funeral of Anwar el-Sadat in 1981.[140] Until Ford's death, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, visited the Fords' home frequently.[141] In 2001, Ford and Carter served as honorary co-chairs of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform.
Like Presidents Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton, Ford was an honorary co-chair of the Council for Excellence in Government, a group dedicated to excellence in government performance, which provides leadership training to top federal employees.
Ford considered a run for the Republican nomination in 1980, foregoing numerous opportunities to serve on corporate boards to keep his options open for a grudge match with Carter. Ford attacked Carter's conduct of the SALT II negotiations and foreign policy in the Middle East and Africa. Many have argued that Ford also wanted to exorcise his image as an "Accidental President" and to win a term in his own right. Ford also believed the more conservative Ronald Reagan would be unable to defeat Carter and would hand the incumbent a second term. Ford was encouraged by his former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger as well as Jim Rhodes of Ohio and Bill Clements of Texas to make the race. On March 15, 1980, Ford announced that he would forgo a run for the Republican nomination, vowing to support the eventual nominee.
After securing the Republican nomination in 1980, Ronald Reagan considered his former rival Ford as a potential vice-presidential running mate, but negotiations between the Reagan and Ford camps at the Republican National Convention were unsuccessful. Ford conditioned his acceptance on Reagan's agreement to an unprecedented "co-presidency",[142] giving Ford the power to control key executive branch appointments (such as Kissinger as Secretary of State and Alan Greenspan as Treasury Secretary). After rejecting these terms, Reagan offered the vice-presidential nomination instead to George H.W. Bush.[143] Ford did appear in a campaign commercial for the Reagan-Bush ticket, in which he declared that the country would be "better served by a Reagan presidency rather than a continuation of the weak and politically expedient policies of Jimmy Carter."[144]
After his presidency, Ford joined the American Enterprise Institute as a distinguished fellow. He founded the annual AEI World Forum in 1982. Ford was awarded an honorary doctorate at Central Connecticut State University[145] on March 23, 1988.
In 1977, he established the Gerald R. Ford Institute of Public Policy at Albion College in Albion, Michigan, to give undergraduates training in public policy. In April 1981, he opened the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the north campus of his alma mater, the University of Michigan,[146] followed in September by the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids.[147][148] In 1999, Ford was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton.[149] 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.[150] In retirement Ford also devoted much time to his love of golf, often playing both privately and in public events with comedian Bob Hope, a longtime friend.
In October 2001, Ford broke with conservative members of the Republican party by stating that gay and lesbian couples "ought to be treated equally. Period." He became the highest ranking Republican to embrace full equality for gays and lesbians, stating his belief that there should be a federal amendment outlawing anti-gay job discrimination and expressing his hope that the Republican Party would reach out to gay and lesbian voters.[151] He also was a member of the Republican Unity Coalition, which The New York Times described as "a group of prominent Republicans, including former President Gerald R. Ford, dedicated to making sexual orientation a non-issue in the Republican Party."[152]
On November 22, 2004, New York Republican Governor George Pataki named Ford and the other living former Presidents (Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton) as honorary members of the board rebuilding the World Trade Center.
In a pre-recorded embargoed interview with Bob Woodward of The Washington Post in July 2004, Ford stated that he disagreed "very strongly" with the Bush administration's choice of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction as justification for its decision to invade Iraq, calling it a "big mistake" unrelated to the national security of the United States and indicating that he would not have gone to war had he been President. The details of the interview were not released until after Ford's death, as he requested.[153][154]
Health problems
As Ford approached his 90th year, he began to experience health problems associated with old age. He suffered two minor strokes at the 2000 Republican National Convention, but made a quick recovery after being admitted to Hahnemann University Hospital.[155][156] In January 2006, he spent 11 days at the Eisenhower Medical Center near his residence at Rancho Mirage, California, for treatment of pneumonia.[157] On April 23, President George W. Bush visited Ford at his home in Rancho Mirage for a little over an hour. This was Ford's last public appearance and produced the last known public photos, video footage and voice recording. While vacationing in Vail, Colorado, he was hospitalized for two days in July 2006 for shortness of breath.[158] On August 15 Ford was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for testing and evaluation. On August 21, it was reported that he had been fitted with a pacemaker. On August 25, he underwent an angioplasty procedure at the Mayo Clinic, according to a statement from an assistant to Ford. On August 28, Ford was released from the hospital and returned with his wife Betty to their California home. On October 13, he was scheduled to attend the dedication of a building of his namesake, the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, but due to poor health and on the advice of his doctors he did not attend. The previous day, Ford entered the Eisenhower Medical Center for undisclosed tests; he was released on October 16.[159] By November 2006 he was confined to a bed in his study.[160] In reality, President Ford had end-stage coronary artery disease and severe aortic stenosis and insufficiency, caused by calcific alteration of one of his heart valves.[161]
Death
Ford died on December 26, 2006, at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, of arteriosclerotic cerebrovascular disease and diffuse arteriosclerosis. His age at the time of his death was 93 years and 165 days, making Ford the longest-lived U.S. President.[162] On December 30, 2006, Ford became the 11th U.S. President to lie in state. The burial was preceded by a state funeral and memorial services held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on January 2, 2007. After the service, Ford was interred at his Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.[163]
Ford died on the 34th anniversary of President Harry Truman's death, thus becoming the second U.S. President to die on Boxing Day. He was the last surviving member of the Warren Commission.[164]
Longevity
Ford was the longest-lived U.S. President, his lifespan being 45 days longer than Ronald Reagan's. He was the third-longest-lived Vice President, falling short only of John Nance Garner, 98, and Levi P. Morton, 96. Ford had the third-longest post-presidency (29 years and 11 months) after Herbert Hoover (31 years and 7 months) and Jimmy Carter (30 years 2 months and counting)
On November 12, 2006, upon surpassing Ronald Reagan's lifespan, Ford released his last public statement:
The length of one’s days matters less than the love of one’s family and friends. I thank God for the gift of every sunrise and, even more, for all the years He has blessed me with Betty and the children; with our extended family and the friends of a lifetime. That includes countless Americans who, in recent months, have remembered me in their prayers. Your kindness touches me deeply. May God bless you all and may God bless America.[165]
Public image
Ford was the only president never elected to be either president or vice-president. The choice of Ford to fulfill Agnew's vacated role as vice president was based on his reputation for openness and honesty.[166] "In all the years I sat in the House, I never knew Mr Ford to make a dishonest statement nor a statement part-true and part-false. He never attempted to shade a statement, and I never heard him utter an unkind word," said Martha Griffiths.[167]
The trust the American people had in him was severely and rapidly tarnished by his pardon of Nixon.[167] Nonetheless, many grant in hindsight that he had respectably discharged with considerable dignity a great responsibility that he had not sought.[167] His subsequent loss to Carter in 1976 has come to be seen as an honorable sacrifice he made for the nation.[166]
In spite of his athletic record and remarkable career accomplishments, Ford acquired a reputation as a clumsy, likable and simple-minded Everyman. An incident in 1975 when he tripped while exiting the presidential jet in Austria, was famously and repetitively parodied by Chevy Chase, cementing Ford's image as a klutz.[167][168][169] Pieces of Ford's common Everyman image have also been attributed to Ford's inevitable comparison to Nixon, as well as his perceived Midwestern stodginess and self-deprecation.[166] Ridicule often extended to supposed intellectual limitations, with Lyndon Johnson once joking, "He's a nice fellow but he spent too much time playing football without a helmet."[167]
Named after Gerald Ford
- Gerald R. Ford Freeway (Nebraska)
- Gerald R. Ford Freeway (Michigan)
- Gerald Ford Memorial Highway, I-70 in Eagle County, Colorado
- 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
- Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan
- Gerald R. Ford Institute of Public Policy, Albion College
- USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78)
- Gerald R. Ford Elementary School, Indian Wells, California
- Gerald Ford Boys and Girls Club, La Quinta, California
- Gerald Ford Drive, Coachella Valley, California (Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert)
- Gerald R. Ford Council, Boy Scouts of America The council where he was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout. (Includes the following Michigan Counties: Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kent, Lake, Mason, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana and Ottawa). Council Headquarters is located in Walker, Michigan.[170]
See also
References
- ^ "Gerald Ford, 38th President, Dies at 93". The New York Times. December 27, 2006. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|authors=ignored (help) - ^ Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s. New York, New York: Basic Books. p. 14. ISBN 0-465-04195-7.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b George Lenczowski (1990). American Presidents, and the Middle East. Duke University Press. pp. 142–143. ISBN 0-8223-0972-6.
- ^ Young, Jeff C. (1997). The Fathers of American Presidents. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. ISBN 0-7864-0182-6.
- ^ a b Funk, Josh (December 27, 2006). "Nebraska-born Ford Left State as Infant". Fox News. Associated Press. Retrieved September 2, 2009.
- ^ Cannon, James. "Gerald R. Ford". Character Above All. Public Broadcasting System. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
- ^ "Gerald R. Ford Genealogical Information". Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum. University of Texas. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
- ^ "A Common Man on an Uncommon Climb" (PDF). The New York Times. August 19, 1976. p. 28. Retrieved April 26, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e Kunhardt, Jr., Phillip (1999). Gerald R. Ford "Healing the Nation". New York: Riverhead Books. pp. 79–85. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
- ^ a b Townley, Alvin (2007) [December 26, 2006]. Legacy of Honor: The Values and Influence of America's Eagle Scouts. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 12–13 and 87. ISBN 0-312-36653-1. Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ^ Ray, Mark (2007). "Eagle Scout Welcome Gerald Ford Home". Scouting Magazine. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved March 5, 2007.
- ^ "Investigatory Records on Gerald Ford, Applicant for a Commission" (PDF), Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, December 30, 1941, retrieved November 18, 2010
- ^ Wertheimer, Linda (December 27, 2006). "Special Report: Former President Gerald Ford Dies; Sought to Heal Nation Disillusioned by Watergate Scandal". National Public Radio. Retrieved April 26, 2009.
- ^ Perry, Will (1974). "No Cheers From the Alumni". The Wolverines: A Story of Michigan Football (PDF). Huntsville, Alabama: The Strode Publishers. pp. 150–152. ISBN 0-87397-055-1. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
- ^ "Ford one of most athletic Presidents". Associated Press via MSNBC. December 27, 2006. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ Greene, J.R. (1995). The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford (American Presidency Series). University Press of Kansas. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-7006-0638-2.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Clumsy image aside, Ford was Accomplished Athlete". Los Angeles Times. December 28, 2006. Retrieved September 2, 2009.
- ^ Rozell, Mark J. (October 15, 1992). The Press and the Ford Presidency. University of Michigan Press. p. 38. ISBN 0-472-10350-4.
- ^ Anne E. Kornblut, "Ford Arranged His Funeral to Reflect Himself and Drew in a Former Adversary," The New York Times, December 29, 2006.
- ^ "Funeral: Marching Band Plays in His Honor". Eugene Register-Guard. January 3, 2007. Retrieved September 2, 2009.
- ^ "Old Tom Morris Award Recipients". Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. Retrieved September 2, 2009.[dead link]
- ^ Wendy Wolff (1997). Vice Presidents of the United States 1789-1993. United States Government Printing Office.
- ^ a b c "Timeline of President Ford's Life and Career". Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum. Gerald R. Ford Library. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
- ^ "The U-M Remembers Gerald R. Ford". The University of Michigan. Retrieved January 2, 2007.
- ^ "Gerald R. Ford Biography". Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum. Gerald R. Ford Library. Retrieved January 2, 2007.
- ^ 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)". Hoover Institution Press. Retrieved December 28, 2006. p. 7
- ^ a b Hove, Duane (2003). American Warriors: Five Presidents in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Burd Street Press. ISBN 1-57249-307-0.
- ^ "Gerald R. Ford 1913-2006". SRCalifornia.com. Van Nuys, Calif.: Sons of the Revolution in the State of California. 2006. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
- ^ The Supreme Council, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, USA.
- ^ "Gerald Ford". The American Presidency Project. University of California - Santa Barbara. Retrieved January 17, 2007.
- ^ Howard, Jane (December 8, 1974). "The 38th First Lady: Not a Robot At All". The New York Times.
- ^ Winget, Mary Mueller (2007). Gerald R. Ford. Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 978-0-8225-1509-8. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
- ^ Kruse, Melissa (January 3, 2003). "The Patterson Barn, Grand Rapids, Michigan—Barn razing erases vintage landmark". The Grand Rapids Press. p. D1. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
- ^ Celebrating the life of President Gerald R. Ford on what would have been his 96th birthday, H.R. 409, 111st Congress, 1st Session (2009).
- ^ a b c "Gerald R. Ford". Editorial. The New York Times. December 28, 2006. Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ^ "Gerald R. Ford". The Whitehouse. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
- ^ "Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum". Ford.utexas.edu. Retrieved August 9, 2009.
- ^ In 1997 the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) released a document that revealed that Ford had altered the first draft of the report to read: "A bullet had entered the base of the back of [Kennedy's] neck slightly to the right of the spine." Some believed that Ford had elevated the location of the wound from its true location in the back to the neck to support the single bullet theory. ("Gerald Ford". Spartacus Schoolnet. Retrieved December 29, 2006.) The original first draft of the Warren Commission Report stated that a bullet had entered Kennedy's "back at a point slightly above the shoulder and to the right of the spine." Ford replied in an introduction to a new edition of the Warren Commission Report in 2004:
I have been accused of changing some wording on the Warren Commission Report to favor the lone-assassin conclusion. That is absurd. Here is what the draft said: "A bullet had entered his back at a point slightly above the shoulder and to the right of the spine.” To any reasonable person, “above the shoulder and to the right” sounds very high and way off the side—and that’s what it sounded like to me. That would have given the totally wrong impression. Technically, from a medical perspective, the bullet entered just to the right at the base of the neck, so my recommendation to the other members was to change it to say, “A bullet had entered the back of his neck, slightly to the right of the spine.” After further investigation, we then unanimously agreed that it should read, “A bullet had entered the base of his neck slightly to the right of the spine.” As with any report, there were many clarifications and language changes suggested by several of us.
Ford's description matched a drawing prepared for the Commission under the direction of Dr. James J. Humes, supervisor of Kennedy's autopsy, who in his testimony to the Commission said three times that the entrance wound was in the "low neck." The Commission was not shown the autopsy photographs.
- ^ Ford, Gerald R. (2007). A Presidential Legacy and The Warren Commission. The FlatSigned Press. ISBN 978-1-934304-02-0.
- ^ Newton, Jim (2007). Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made. Penguin Group. ISBN 1594482705, 9781594482700.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - ^ Stephens, Joe (August 8, 2008). "Ford Told FBI of Skeptics on Warren Commission". Washington Post. Retrieved September 8, 2009.
- ^ a b "Ford told FBI about panel's doubts on JFK murder". USA Today. August 9, 2008. Retrieved September 2, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f Roger H. Davidson, Susan Webb Hammond, Raymond Smock (1988). Masters of the House: Congressional leadership over two centuries. Westview Press. pp. 267–275.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Unger, Irwin, 1996: 'The Best of Intentions: the triumphs and failures of the Great Society under Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon': Doubleday, p. 104.
- ^ Gray, Paul (December 27, 2006). "Gerald Ford: Steady Hand for a Nation in Crisis". Time Magazine. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
- ^ Ford, Gerald (May 23, 2001). "Address by President Gerald R. Ford, May 23, 2001". United States Senate. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
- ^ Jackson, Harold (December 27, 2006). "Guardian newspaper obituary". London: The Guardian. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
- ^ Reeves, Richard (1975). A Ford, not a Lincoln.
- ^ James Midgley, Michelle Livermore (2008). The Handbook of Social Policy. SAGE. p. 162. ISBN 1-4129-5076-7.
- ^ Hoff, Joan (1995). Nixon Reconsidered. Basic Books. p. 69. ISBN 0-465-05105-7.
- ^ 1974 Year in Review: Ford Becomes President-http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1974/Ford-Becomes-President/12305808208934-2/
- ^ Gerald R. Ford's Remarks Upon Taking the Oath of Office as President, The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, August 9, 1974, retrieved November 18, 2010
- ^ "Remarks By President Gerald Ford On Taking the Oath Of Office As President". Watergate.info. 1974. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
- ^ "Danny Miller: Coming of Age with Gerald Ford". Huffingtonpost.com. December 27, 2006. Retrieved September 8, 2009.
- ^ Ford, Gerald Rudolph"Our Constitution Works. [book links]". myeducationresearch.org, The Pierian Press, 17 Jul 2001. Online. Internet. May 18, 1743. Retrieved [Nov 3, 2010].
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "The Daily Diary of President Gerald R. Ford" (PDF). Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. August 20, 1976. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
- ^ Monday, May. 12, 1975 (May 12, 1975). "THE VICE PRESIDENCY: Rocky's Turn to the Right". TIME. Retrieved September 8, 2009.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Ford, Gerald (September 8, 1974). "President Gerald R. Ford's Proclamation 4311, Granting a Pardon to Richard Nixon". Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum. University of Texas. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
- ^ Ford, Gerald (September 8, 1974). "Presidential Proclamation 4311 by President Gerald R. Ford granting a pardon to Richard M. Nixon". Pardon images. University of Maryland. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
- ^ 1974 Year in Review: Ford Pardons Nixon-http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1974/Ford-Pardons-Nixon/12305808208934-3/
- ^ Ford, Gerald (September 8, 1974). "Gerald R. Ford Pardoning Richard Nixon". Great Speeches Collection. The History Place. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
- ^ Bacon, Paul. "The Pardoning President". Public Broadcasting System. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
- ^ "Carter's Pardon". McNeil/Lehrer Report. Public Broadcasting System. January 21, 1977. Retrieved December 30, 2006.
- ^ a b c Shane, Scott (December 29, 2006). "For Ford, Pardon Decision Was Always Clear-Cut". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved September 8, 2009.
- ^ "Award Announcement". JFK Library Foundation. May 1, 2001. Retrieved March 31, 2007.
- ^ "Sen. Ted Kennedy crossed political paths with Grand Rapids' most prominent Republican, President Gerald R. Ford", The Grand Rapids Press, August 26, 2009. Retrieved Jan 5, 2010.
- ^ Secretary of Transportation: William T. Coleman Jr. (1975–1977) - AmericanPresident.org (January 15, 2005). Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
- ^ "George Herbert Walker Bush Profile". CNN. Archived from the original on October 28, 2006. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ Richard B. Cheney. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
- ^ Bush vetoes less than most presidents, CNN, May 1, 2007. Retrieved on October 19, 2007.
- ^ Renka, Russell D. Nixon's Fall and the Ford and Carter Interregnum. Southeast Missouri State University, (April 10, 2003). Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
- ^ a b c d Greene, John Robert. ‘’The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford’’. University Press of Kansas, 1995
- ^ Gerald Ford Speeches: Whip Inflation Now (October 8, 1974), Miller Center of Public Affairs. Retrieved on December 31, 2006
- ^ Brinkley, Douglas. ‘’Gerald R. Ford’’. New York: Times Books, 2007
- ^ "WIN buttons and Arthur Burns". Econbrowser. 2006. Retrieved January 24, 2007.
- ^ a b Crain, Andrew Downer. ‘’The Ford Presidency’’. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2009
- ^ Consumer Price Index, 1913-. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved on December 31, 2006
- ^ Pandemic Pointers. Living on Earth, March 3, 2006. Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
- ^ Mickle, Paul. 1976: Fear of a great plague. The Trentonian. Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
- ^ "Proclamation 4383 - Women's Equality Day, 1975". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved April 8, 2008.
- ^ "Presidential Campaign Debate Between Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter, October 22, 1976". Fordlibrarymuseum.gov. Retrieved September 8, 2009.
- ^ Ford, Gerald (September 10, 1976). "Letter to the Archbishop of Cincinnati". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved June 12, 2007.
- ^ Greene, John Edward. (1995). The presidency of Gerald R. Ford. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. p. 33. ISBN 0-7006-0639-4.
- ^ "The Best of Interviews With Gerald Ford". Larry King Live Weekend. CNN. February 3, 2001. Retrieved June 12, 2007.
- ^ CRS Report RL33305, The Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax of the 1980s: Implications for Current Energy Policy, by Salvatore Lazzari, p. 5.
- ^ "President Gerald R. Ford's Statement on Signing the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975", Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, December 2, 1975, Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
- ^ "Office of Management and Budget. "Historical Table 1.1"". Whitehouse.gov. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
- ^ Roberts, Sam (December 28, 2006). "Infamous 'Drop Dead' Was Never Said by Ford". The New York Times. Retrieved February 16, 2011.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|separator=ignored (help) - ^ Van Riper, Frank (October 30, 1975). "Ford to New York: Drop Dead". Daily News. New York. Retrieved February 16, 2011.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|separator=ignored (help) - ^ http://www.buyandhold.com/bh/en/education/history/2006/ford_3.html. Retrieved 12/10/2010.
- ^ a b c Mieczkowski, Yanek (2005). Gerald Ford And The Challenges Of The 1970s. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. p. 284. ISBN 0-8131-2349-6.
- ^ "Trip To China". Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. University of Texas. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ "President Gerald R. Ford's Address in Helsinki Before the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe". USA-presidents.info. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
- ^ "About Human Rights Watch". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ "President Ford got Canada into G7". Canadian Broadcasting Company. December 27, 2006. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ Gerald Ford, A Time to Heal, 1979, p.240
- ^ Yitzak Rabin, The Rabin Memoirs, ISBN 0-520-20766-1 , p256
- ^ Yitzak Rabin, The Rabin Memoirs, ISBN 0-520-20766-1 , p261
- ^ George Lenczowsk, American Presidents, and the Middle East, 1990, p.150
- ^ Gerald Ford, A Time to Heal, 1979, p.298
- ^ Peter Church, ed. (2006). A Short History of South-East Asia. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 193–194.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|country=ignored (help) - ^ a b c Brinkley, Douglas (2007). Gerald R. Ford. New York, NY: Times Books. pp. 89–98. ISBN 0-8050-6909-7.
- ^ Karnow, Stanley (1991). Vietnam: A History. Viking.
- ^ "Vietnam's President Thieu resigns". BBC News. April 21, 1975. Retrieved September 24, 2009.
- ^ Bowman, John S. (1985). The Vietnam War: An Almanac. Pharos Books. p. 434. ISBN 0-911818-85-5.
- ^ Plummer Alston Jones (2004). "Still struggling for equality: American public library services with minorities". Libraries Unlimited. p.84. ISBN 1-59158-243-1
- ^ Robinson, William Courtland (1998). Terms of refuge: the Indochinese exodus & the international response. Zed Books. p. 127. ISBN 1-85649-610-4.
{{cite book}}: External link in|title= - ^ Gawthorpe, A. J. 'The Ford Administration and Security Policy in the Asia-Pacific after the Fall of Saigon,' The Historical Journal, vol. 52, no. 3 (2009) pp. 697-716.
- ^ Debrief of the Mayaguez Captain and Crew", Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, May 19, 1975, retrieved November 18, 2010
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ "Capture and Release of SS Mayaguez by Khmer Rouge forces in May 1975". United States Merchant Marine. 2000. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ Gerald R. Ford, A Time to Heal, p. 284
- ^ Cécile Menétray-Monchau, 'The Mayaguez Incident as an Epilogue to the Vietnam War and its Reflection on the Post-Vietnam Political Equilibrium in Southeast Asia', Cold War History (August 2005), p. 346.
- ^ Gawthorpe, 'The Ford Administration and Security Policy', pp. 707 - 709.
- ^ Don Oberdorfer, The two Koreas: a contemporary history (New York, NY, 2001), pp. 47–83.
- ^ Gawthorpe, 'The Ford Administration and Security Policy', p. 711.
- ^ Gawthorpe, 'The Ford Administration and Security Policy', pp. 710 - 714.
- ^ 1975 Year in Review: Ford Assasinations Attempts-http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1975/Ford-Assasinations-Attempts/12305821478075-12/
- ^ Election Is Crunch Time for U.S. Secret Service. National Geographic News. Retrieved on March 2, 2008.
- ^ McLaren, Janet (June 26, 2005). "'Squeaky' up for parole". New York Daily News. Retrieved December 31, 2006.[dead link]
- ^ United States Secret Service. "Public Report of the White House Security Review". United States Department of the Treasury. Retrieved January 3, 2007.
- ^ Lee, Vic (January 2, 2007). "Interview: Woman Who Tried To Assassinate Ford". ABC-7 News. KGO-TV. Retrieved January 3, 2007.
- ^ "John Paul Stevens". OYEZ. Archived from the original on August 22, 2006. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ News Release, Congressman Gerald R. Ford (PDF), The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, April 15, 1970, retrieved November 18, 2010
- ^ Levenick, Christopher (September 25, 2005). "The Conservative Persuasion". The Daily Standard. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ Letter from Gerald Ford to Michael Treanor (PDF). Fordham University, September 21, 2005 Retrieved on March 2, 2008.
- ^ Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public-domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
- ^ Another Loss For the Gipper. Time, March 29, 1976. Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
- ^ VH1 News Presents: Politics: A Pop Culture History Premiering Wednesday, October 20 at 10:00 pm (ET/PT). PRNewswire October 19, 2004. Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
- ^ Election of 1976: A Political Outsider Prevails.[dead link] C-SPAN. Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
- ^ Shabecoff, Philip. "160,000 Mark Two 1775 Battles; Concord Protesters Jeer Ford -- Reconciliation Plea." New York Times, April 20, 1975, p. 1.
- ^ Shabecoff, Philip. "Ford, on Bicentennial Trip, Bids U.S. Heed Old Values." New York Times, April 19, 1975, p. 1.
- ^ Election 2000: 1976 Presidential Debates. CNN (2001). Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
- ^ Lehrer, Jim (2000). "1976:No Audio and No Soviet Domination". Debating Our Destiny. PBS. Retrieved March 31, 2007.
- ^ Presidential Election 1976 States Carried. multied.com. Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
- ^ "Americans On - Gerald Ford". Hear The Issues. Gallup Poll. Archived from the original on February 25, 2007. Retrieved January 24, 2007.
- ^ "Jimmy Carter". U.S. Inaugural Addresses. Bartleby.com. January 20, 1977. Retrieved August 14, 2009.
- ^ Naughton, James M (December 27, 2006). "The Real Jerry Ford". PoynterOnline. Retrieved March 31, 2007.
- ^ Smith, Gaddis (1979). "A Time to Heal". Foreign Affairs. Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved April 26, 2009.
- ^ Kornblut, Anne (December 29, 2006). "Ford Arranged His Funeral to Reflect Himself and Drew in a Former Adversary". The New York Times. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
- ^ Updegrove, Mark K. "Flying Coach to Cairo". AmericanHeritage.com (August/September 2006). Retrieved on December 31, 2006. "Certainly few observers in January 1977 would have predicted that Jimmy and I would become the closest of friends," Ford said in 2000.
- ^ Thomas, Evan (2007). "The 38th President: More Than Met the Eye". Newsweek National News. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
- ^ Allen, Richard V. How the Bush Dynasty Almost Wasn't. Hoover Institution, reprinted from the New York Times Magazine, July 30, 2000. Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
- ^ "Reagan campaign ad". Livingroomcandidate.org. November 4, 1979. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
- ^ Whipple, Scott (October 18, 2005). "A $3m gift". The New Britain Herald. Retrieved September 9, 2009.
- ^ Lessenberry, Jack (April 20, 1981). "Ford to Formally Unveil His Presidential Library". Toledo Blade. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
- ^ Ford, Gerald R. (September 18, 1981). "Remarks at the Dedication of the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan". Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
- ^ Tucker, Brian (September 18, 1981). "Reagan Praises Ford at Opening of Museum". Boston Globe. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
- ^ "Politicians Who Received the Medal of Freedom". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ "Gerald Ford". John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. 2001. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ Price, Deb. Gerald Ford: Treat gay couples equally. The Detroit News, October 29, 2001. Retrieved on December 28, 2006
- ^ Stolberg, Sheryl Gay. "Vocal Gay Republicans Upsetting Conservatives," The New York Times, June 1, 2003, p. N26.
- ^ Woodward, Bob. "Ford Disagreed With Bush About Invading Iraq". The Washington Post, December 28, 2006. Retrieved on December 28, 2006
- ^ Embargoed Interview Reveals Ford Opposed Iraq War. Democracy Now Headlines for December 28, 2006. Retrieved on December 28, 2006
- ^ Gerald Ford recovering after strokes. BBC, August 2, 2000. Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
- ^ Hospitalized After Suffering a Stroke, Former President Ford Is Expected to Fully Recover NYTimes, August 3, 2000. Retrieved on July 5, 2008.
- ^ Former President Ford, 92, hospitalized with pneumonia. Associated Press, January 17, 2006. Retrieved on October 19, 2007.
- ^ Gerald Ford released from hospital. Associated Press, July 26, 2006. Retrieved on December 31, 2006.
- ^ "Former President Gerald Ford Released from Hospital". Fox News. October 16, 2006. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
- ^ Gerald Ford Dies At Age 93. CNN Transcript December 26, 2006. Retrieved on March 2, 2008.
- ^ DeFrank T: Write It When I'm Gone, G. Putnam & Sons, New York, NY, 2007.
- ^ "US ex-President Gerald Ford dies". BBC News. December 27, 2006. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
- ^ Davey, Monica (January 4, 2007). "Ford Is Buried After Thousands in Hometown Pay Respects". New York Times. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
- ^ Stout, David (January 2, 2007). "Bush and ex-presidents eulogize Gerald R. Ford". New York Times. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
- ^ "Ford eclipses Reagan as oldest ex-president". USA Today. November 12, 2006. Retrieved March 2, 2008.
- ^ a b c "Gerald Ford, Betty's Husband". The Phoenix Media/Communications Group. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e "Gerald R Ford". London: independent.co.uk. January 21, 2009. Retrieved December 2, 2009.
- ^ Jake, Coyle (September 12, 2008). "'SNL' returns with spotlight on prez impersonators". 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved September 16, 2008.
- ^ "Chevy Chase recalls Ford as 'a terrific guy': 'SNL' comedian became famous in the '70s portraying president as klutz". MSNBC. December 27, 2006. Retrieved September 16, 2008.
- ^ "Gerald R. Ford Council, Boy Scouts of America". Bsagrfc.org. Retrieved September 11, 2010.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Ford, Gerald R. (1994). Presidential Perspectives from the National Archives. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration. ISBN 1-880875-04-7.
- Ford, Gerald R. (1987). Humor and the Presidency. New York: Arbor House. ISBN 0-87795-918-8.
- Ford, Gerald R. (1979). A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford. New York, NY: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-011297-2.
- Ford, Gerald R. (1973). Selected Speeches. Arlington, Va.: R. W. Beatty. ISBN 0-87948-029-7.
- Ford, Gerald R. (1965). Portrait of the assassin (Lee Harvey Oswald). ASIN B0006BMZM4.
- Ford, Betty (1978). The Times of My Life. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-011298-0.
- Casserly, John J. (1977). The Ford White House: Diary of a Speechwriter. Boulder: Colorado Associated University Press. ISBN 0-87081-106-1.
- Coyne, John R. (1979). Fall in and Cheer. Garden City/N.Y.: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-11119-3.
- DeFrank, Thomas. (2007). Write It When I'm Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R. Ford. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0-399-15450-7.
- Gergen, David. (2000). Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-82663-1., by speechwriter
- Hartmann, Robert T. (1980). Palace Politics: An Insider's Account of the Ford Years. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-026951-3., by chief of staff
- Hersey, John (1980). Aspects of the Presidency: Truman and Ford in Office (The President: A Minute-by-Minute Account of a Week in the Life of Gerald Ford). New Haven: Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 0-89919-012-X.
- Kissinger, Henry A. (1999). Years of Renewal. New York: Touchstone. ISBN 0-684-85572-0. by Secretary of State
- Thompson, Kenneth (ed.) (1980). The Ford Presidency: Twenty-Two Intimate Perspectives of Gerald Ford. Lanham: University Press of America. ISBN 0-8191-6960-9.
{{cite book}}:|author=has generic name (help)
Secondary sources
- Brinkley, Douglas (2007). Gerald R. Ford. New York, NY: Times Books. ISBN 0-8050-6909-7. full-scale biography
- Cannon, James (1993). Time and Chance: Gerald R. Ford's Appointment with History. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08482-8. full-scale biography
- Conley, Richard S. "Presidential Influence and Minority Party Liaison on Veto Overrides: New Evidence from the Ford Presidency." American Politics Research 2002 30(1): 34–65. Issn: 1532-673x Fulltext: in Swetswise
- Firestone, Bernard J. and Alexej Ugrinsky (eds) (1992). Gerald R. Ford and the Politics of Post-Watergate America. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-28009-6.
{{cite book}}:|author=has generic name (help) - Greene, John Robert (1992). The Limits of Power: The Nixon and Ford Administrations. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press. ISBN 0-253-32637-0.
- Greene, John Robert (1995). The Presidency of Gerald R. Ford. Lawrence: Univ. Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006-0639-4., the major scholarly study
- Hersey, John Richard. The President: A Minute-By-Minute Account of a Week in the Life of Gerald Ford. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1975.
- Hult, Karen M. and Walcott, Charles E. Empowering the White House: Governance under Nixon, Ford, and Carter. U. Press of Kansas, 2004.
- Jespersen, T. Christopher. "Kissinger, Ford, and Congress: the Very Bitter End in Vietnam." Pacific Historical Review 2002 71(3): 439–473. Issn: 0030-8684 Fulltext: in University of California; Swetswise; Jstor and Ebsco
- Jespersen, T. Christopher. "The Bitter End and the Lost Chance in Vietnam: Congress, the Ford Administration, and the Battle over Vietnam, 1975–76." Diplomatic History 2000 24(2): 265–293. Issn: 0145-2096 Fulltext: in Swetswise, Ingenta, Ebsco
- Maynard, Christopher A. "Manufacturing Voter Confidence: a Video Analysis of the American 1976 Presidential and Vice-presidential Debates." Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 1997 17(4): 523–562. Issn: 0143-9685 Fulltext: in Ingenta
External links
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Resources from Wikiversity
Published works
- Works by Gerald Ford at Project Gutenberg.
- First State of the Union Address.
- Second State of the Union Address.
- Third State of the Union Address.
Libraries and museums
- Gerald R. Ford Foundation.
- Ford Library and Museum.
- National Archives materials.
- Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies in President Ford's hometown.
- Gerald Ford: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress.
Biographies
- Extensive essay on Gerald Ford and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs
- White House biography
- United States Congress. "Gerald Ford (id: F000260)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Multimedia and other
- Audio recordings of Ford's speeches
- April 23, 2006, Gerald Ford's visit with George W. Bush, the last known public photos, video footage and voice recording taken of Ford alive
- Portrait of Gerald Ford by Margaret Holland Sargent
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