Nixon pardon

The Nixon pardon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and claimed a "corrupt bargain" had been struck between the men. They claimed Ford's pardon was quid pro quo in exchange for Nixon's resignation that elevated Ford to the Presidency. Despite this, no evidence of any collusion has ever surfaced, and Ford himself has consistently denied having ever discussed the matter with Nixon, either before or after the fact.Gerald R. Ford - James Cannon, Character Above All, PBS. Historians believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost the election in 1976.

Ford's first press secretary and close friend Jerald terHorst resigned his post in protest after the announcement of President Nixon's full pardon.

Administration and Cabinet

Ford selected George H. W. Bush to be both Ambassador to the People's Republic of China in 1974 and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1975.George Herbert Walker Bush - profile, CNN. In 1975, Ford also selected former congressman and ambassador Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. Rumsfeld had previously served as Ford's transition chairman and later Chief of Staff. Additionally, Ford chose a young Wyoming politician, Richard Cheney, to be his new Chief of Staff and later campaign manager for Ford's 1976 presidential campaign.Richard B. Cheney - United States Department of Defense. Ford's dramatic reorganization of his Cabinet in the fall of 1975 has been referred to by political commentators as The "Halloween Massacre."

Mid-term elections

Domestic policy

The economic focus began to change as the country sank into a mild recession, and in March 1975, Ford and Congress signed into law income tax rebates as part of the Tax Reduction Act of 1975 to boost the economy. When New York City faced bankruptcy in 1975, Mayor Abraham Beame was unsuccessful in obtaining Ford's support for a federal bailout. The incident prompted the New York Daily News' notorious headline: "Ford to City: Drop Dead."Rhetorical Bankruptcy - Nick Lemann, The Harvard Crimson, November 8 1975

Similar to the more recent bird flu concerns, Ford was confronted with a potential swine flu pandemic. Sometime in the early 1970s, an influenza strain H1N1 shifted from a form of flu that affected pigs and crossed over to humans. On February 5 1976, an Army recruit at Fort Dix mysteriously died and four fellow soldiers were hospitalized; health officials announced that swine flu was the cause. Soon after, public health officials in the Ford administration urged that every person in the United States be vaccinated.Pandemic Pointers - Living on Earth. Although the vaccination program was plagued by delays and public relations problems, some 24% of the population was vaccinated by the time the program was cancelled. The vaccine was blamed for twenty-five deaths; more people died from the shots than from the swine flu.1976: Fear of a great plague - Paul Mickle, The Trentonian.

Foreign policy

From the prior administration, in addition to longstanding Cold War issues, Ford inherited the on-going détente with both the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China—and the policy of building relationships with the two communist countries, which had been mutually antagonistic toward each other for many years.

Still in place from the Nixon Administration was the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty.Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, Houghton Mifflin. The thawing relationship brought about by Nixon's visit to China was reinforced by Ford's December 1975 visit to the communist country.Trip to China - Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum In 1975, the Administration entered into the Helsinki Accords 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.About Human Rights Watch - Human Rights Watch.

Ford also faced a foreign policy crisis with the Mayaguez Incident. In May 1975, shortly after the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia, Cambodians seized the American merchant ship Mayaguez in international waters. Ford dispatched Marines to rescue the crew, but the Marines landed on the wrong island and met unexpectedly stiff resistance just as, unknown to the U.S., the Mayaguez sailors were being released. In the operation, fifty U.S. servicemen were wounded and forty-one killed while approximately sixty Khmer Rouge soldiers were killed.Capture and Release of SS Mayaguez by Khmer Rouge forces in May 1975 - United States Marine Merchants.

Assassination attempts

Seventeen days later, another woman, Sara Jane Moore, also tried to kill Ford while he was visiting San Francisco, but her attempt was thwarted when bystander Oliver Sipple deflected her shot. No one was injured when Moore fired, and she was later sentenced to life in prison. Spieler, Geri An Unlikely Assassin: Sara Jane Moore and the Plot to Kill the President (accessed June 2, 2006)

Supreme Court appointment

1976 presidential election

Ford reluctantly agreed to run for office in 1976 but first had to counter a challenge for the Republican party nomination. Former California Governor Ronald Reagan and the party's conservative wing faulted Ford for failing to do more in South Vietnam, for signing the Helsinki Accords and for negotiating to cede the Panama Canal. Reagan launched his campaign in the autumn of 1975 and won several primaries before withdrawing from the race at the Republican Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. The conservative insurgency convinced Ford to drop the more liberal Vice President Nelson Rockefeller in favor of Kansas Senator Bob Dole.Another Loss For the Gipper - Time Magazine, March 29, 1976

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."VH1 News Presents: Politics: A Pop Culture History Premiering Wednesday, October 20 at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT) - PRNewswire.

Ford's campaign had an advantage from several activities held during 1976 celebrating the United States Bicentennial. The Washington, D.C. fireworks display was presided over by the President and televised nationally.Election of 1976 (2003) C-SPAN

Democratic nominee and former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter campaigned as an outsider and reformer; he gained support from voters dismayed by the Watergate scandal. Carter led consistently in the polls, and Ford was never able to shake voter dissatisfaction following Watergate and the Nixon pardon.

In the end, Carter narrowly won the election, receiving 50.1% of the popular vote and 297 electoral votes compared with 48.0% and 240 electoral votes for Ford. Despite the loss by only two percent of the vote, Ford had in the three months between the Republican National Convention and the election closed what at one point was a 34-point Carter lead. With the loss, Ford became the only unelected president in the history of the United States.

Had Ford won the election, he would have been disqualified by the 22nd Amendment from running in 1980, since he served more than 2 years of Nixon's term.

Post-presidential years

The pardon controversy eventually subsided, and Ford now is widely regarded as being mainly responsible for restoring the American public's faith and confidence in their political system. Ford's incorruptible character and personal decency helped restore dignity to the executive branch. Ford's successor, Jimmy Carter, opened his 1977 inaugural address by praising the outgoing President.

Ford remained relatively active in the years after his presidency and continued to make appearances at events of historical and ceremonial significance to the nation, such as Presidential inaugurals and memorial services. In 1981, he opened the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan.All-Star Celebration Opening the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum - IMDb. In 1999, Ford was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton.Politicians Who Received the Medal of Freedom - PoliticalGraveyard.com. 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.President Gerald Ford and Congressman John Lewis Honored as Profiles in Courage - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Summer 2001 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.

As Ford approached his ninetieth year he began to experience significant health problems. He suffered two minor strokes at the 2000 Republican National Convention, but made a quick recovery.Gerald Ford recovering after strokes - BBC, August 2 2000 In January 2006, he spent 11 days at the Eisenhower Medical Center near his residence at Rancho Mirage, California, for treatment of pneumonia.Gerald Ford hospitalized with pneumonia - Associated Press, January 17 2006 President George W. Bush visited former President Ford in April 2006 at Ford's home in Rancho Mirage; the former President, walking with a cane, escorted Bush back outside to his car after visiting for about an hour.

On November 22, 2004, New York Republican Governor George Pataki named Ford and the other living former Presidents (Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton) as honorary members of the board rebuilding the World Trade Center.

Ford is a close friend of his successor Jimmy Carter, despite the fact that Carter defeated him in the 1976 presidential election. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, visit Mr. and Mrs. Ford's home frequently.

Gerald Ford is the sole surviving member of the Warren Commission.

Presidential Trivia

If Ford remains living until November 12, 2006, he will become the longest living U.S. President of all time, surpassing Ronald Reagan.

See also

• Gerald R. Ford Freeway
• Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Notable World War II Veterans

Notes