Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
's tenure as the
38th president of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
began on August 9, 1974, upon the
resignation
Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...
of
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
from office, and ended on January 20, 1977, a period of days. Ford, a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
from
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, had served as
vice president
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
since December 6, 1973, following
Spiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew (November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th vice president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1973. He is the second vice president to resign the position, the other being John ...
's resignation from that office. Ford was the only person to serve as president without being elected to either the presidency or the vice presidency. His presidency ended following his defeat in the
1976 presidential election by
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
.
Ford took office in the aftermath of the
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
and in the final stages of the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, both of which engendered a new disillusion in American political institutions. Ford's first major act upon taking office was to grant a
presidential pardon to Nixon
Proclamation 4311 was a presidential proclamation issued by president of the United States Gerald Ford on September 8, 1974, granting a full and unconditional pardon to Richard Nixon, his predecessor, for any crimes that he might have committed ...
for his role in the Watergate scandal, prompting a major backlash to Ford's presidency. He also created a conditional clemency program for Vietnam War draft dodgers. Much of Ford's focus in domestic policy was on the economy, which experienced a
recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...
during his tenure. After initially promoting a tax increase designed to combat
inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reductio ...
, Ford championed a tax cut designed to rejuvenate the economy, and he signed two tax reduction acts into law. The foreign policy of the Ford administration was characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, and by the corresponding curb on the powers of the president.
Overcoming significant congressional opposition, Ford continued Nixon's
détente
Détente (, French: "relaxation") is the relaxation of strained relations, especially political ones, through verbal communication. The term, in diplomacy, originates from around 1912, when France and Germany tried unsuccessfully to reduce ...
policies with the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.
In the 1976 presidential election, Ford was challenged by
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, a leader of the conservative wing of the Republican Party. After a contentious series of
primaries
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...
, Ford narrowly won the nomination at the
1976 Republican National Convention. In the general election, Ford lost to Carter by a narrow margin in the popular and electoral vote. In
polls of historians and political scientists, Ford is generally ranked as a below average president, much like both his predecessor and successor.
Accession
![Ford sworn-in](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Ford_sworn-in.jpg)
The Republican ticket of President
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
and Vice President
Spiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew (November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th vice president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1973. He is the second vice president to resign the position, the other being John ...
won a landslide victory in the
1972 presidential election. Nixon's second term was dominated by the
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
, which stemmed from a Nixon campaign group's attempted burglary of the
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...
's headquarters and the subsequent cover-up by the Nixon administration. Due to a scandal unrelated to Watergate, Vice President
Agnew resigned on October 10, 1973. Under the terms of the
Twenty-fifth Amendment, Nixon nominated Ford as Agnew's replacement. Nixon selected Ford, then the
House Minority Leader
Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are el ...
, largely because he was advised that Ford would be the most easily confirmed of the prominent Republican leaders. Ford was confirmed by overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress, and he took office as vice president in December 1973.
In the months after his confirmation as vice president, Ford continued to support Nixon's innocence with regards to Watergate, even as evidence mounted that the Nixon administration had ordered the break-in and subsequently sought to cover it up. In July 1974, after the Supreme Court
ordered Nixon to turn over recordings of certain meetings he had held as president, the
House Judiciary Committee
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, a ...
voted to begin
impeachment proceedings against Nixon. After the tapes became public and clearly showed that Nixon had taken part in the cover-up, Nixon summoned Ford to the Oval Office on August 8, where Nixon informed Ford that he would resign. Nixon formally resigned on August 9, making Ford the first President of the United States who had not been elected as either president or vice president.
Immediately after taking the oath of office in the
East Room of the White House, Ford spoke to the assembled audience in a speech broadcast live to the nation. 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."
He went on to state:
Administration
Cabinet
Upon assuming office, Ford inherited Nixon's
cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
, although Ford quickly replaced Chief of Staff
Alexander Haig
Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (; December 2, 1924February 20, 2010) was United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to and in between these c ...
with
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, government official and businessman who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under president Gerald Ford, and again from 2001 to 2006 under Presi ...
, who had served as a
Counselor to the President
Counselor or counsellor may refer to:
A professional In diplomacy and government
* Counsellor of State, senior member of the British royal family to whom the Monarch can delegate some functions in case of unavailability
* Counselor (dipl ...
under Nixon. Rumsfeld and Deputy Chief of Staff
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U ...
rapidly became among the most influential people in the Ford administration. Ford also appointed
Edward H. Levi
Edward Hirsch Levi (June 26, 1911 – March 7, 2000) was an American law professor, academic leader, and government lawyer. He served as dean of the University of Chicago Law School from 1950 to 1962, president of the University of Chicago from ...
as Attorney General, charging Levi with cleaning up a Justice Department that had been politicized to unprecedented levels during the Nixon administration. Ford brought in
Philip W. Buchen,
Robert T. Hartmann,
L. William Seidman
Lewis William Seidman (April 29, 1921 – May 13, 2009) was an American economist, financial commentator, and former head of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, best known for his role in helping work to correct the Savings and Loan ...
, and
John O. Marsh as senior advisers with cabinet rank. Ford placed a far greater value in his cabinet officials than Nixon had, though cabinet members did not regain the degree of influence they had held prior to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Levi, Secretary of State and
National Security Adviser A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils.
National sec ...
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
, Secretary of the Treasury
William E. Simon
William Edward Simon (November 27, 1927 – June 3, 2000) was an American businessman and philanthropist who served as the 63rd United States Secretary of the Treasury. He became the Secretary of the Treasury on May 9, 1974, during the Nixon admi ...
, and Secretary of Defense
James R. Schlesinger
James Rodney Schlesinger (February 15, 1929 – March 27, 2014) was an American economist and public servant who was best known for serving as Secretary of Defense from 1973 to 1975 under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior ...
all emerged as influential cabinet officials early in Ford's tenure.
Most of the Nixon holdovers in cabinet stayed in place until Ford's dramatic reorganization in the fall of 1975, an action referred to by political commentators as the "
Halloween Massacre
"Halloween Massacre" is the term associated with the major reorganization of United States President of the United States, president Gerald Ford's United States Cabinet, cabinet on November 4, 1975, which was an attempt to address multiple high-lev ...
".
Ford appointed
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
as
Director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
of the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
, while Rumsfeld became Secretary of Defense and Cheney replaced Rumsfeld as Chief of Staff, becoming the youngest individual to hold that position.
The moves were intended to fortify Ford's right flank against a primary challenge from Ronald Reagan.
Though Kissinger remained as Secretary of State,
Brent Scowcroft
Brent Scowcroft (; March 19, 1925August 6, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer who was a two-time United States National Security Advisor, first under U.S. President Gerald Ford and then under George H. W. Bush. He served as Military As ...
replaced Kissinger as National Security Advisor.
Vice presidency
Ford's accession to the presidency left the office of vice president vacant. On August 20, 1974, Ford
nominated
A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example:
* to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs.
* ...
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
, the leader of the party's liberal wing, for the vice presidency. Rockefeller and former Congressman
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
of Texas were the two finalists for vice presidential nomination, and Ford chose Rockefeller in part due to a ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'' report that revealed that Bush had accepted money from a Nixon
slush fund
A slush fund is a fund or account that is not properly accounted, such as money used for corrupt or illegal purposes, especially in the political sphere. Such funds may be kept hidden and maintained separately from money that is used for legitim ...
during his 1970 Senate campaign. Rockefeller underwent extended hearings before Congress, which caused embarrassment when it was revealed he made large gifts to senior aides, including 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. He was sworn in as the nation's 41st vice president on December 19, 1974. Prior to Rockefeller's confirmation,
Speaker of the House
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...
Carl Albert
Carl Bert Albert (May 10, 1908 – February 4, 2000) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 46th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977 and represented Oklahoma's 3rd congressional district as a ...
was next in
line to the presidency. Ford promised to give Rockefeller a major role in shaping the domestic policy of the administration, but Rockefeller was quickly sidelined by Rumsfeld and other administration officials.
Executive Privilege
In the wake of Nixon's heavy use of
executive privilege
Executive privilege is the right of the president of the United States and other members of the executive branch to maintain confidential communications under certain circumstances within the executive branch and to resist some subpoenas and othe ...
to block investigations of his actions, Ford was scrupulous in minimizing its usage. However, that complicated his efforts to keep congressional investigations under control. Political scientist
Mark J. Rozell
Mark J. Rozell is a political scientist. He is the dean and Ruth D. and John T. Hazel chair in public policy at the Schar School of Policy and Government of George Mason University. His research concerns various topics in United States politic ...
concludes that Ford's:
: failure to enunciate a formal executive privilege policy made it more difficult to explain his position to Congress. He concludes that Ford's actions were prudent; they likely salvaged executive privilege from the graveyard of eroded presidential entitlements because of his recognition that the Congress was likely to challenge any presidential use of that unpopular perquisite.
Judicial appointments
Ford made one appointment to the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
while in office, appointing
John Paul Stevens
John Paul Stevens (April 20, 1920 – July 16, 2019) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975 to 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-oldes ...
to succeed
Associate Justice
Associate justice or associate judge (or simply associate) is a judicial panel member who is not the chief justice in some jurisdictions. The title "Associate Justice" is used for members of the Supreme Court of the United States and some state ...
William O. Douglas
William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898January 19, 1980) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who was known for his strong progressive and civil libertarian views, and is often ci ...
. Upon learning of Douglas's impending retirement, Ford asked Attorney General Levi to submit a short list of potential Supreme Court nominees, and Levi suggested Stevens, Solicitor General
Robert Bork
Robert Heron Bork (March 1, 1927 – December 19, 2012) was an American jurist who served as the solicitor general of the United States from 1973 to 1977. A professor at Yale Law School by occupation, he later served as a judge on the U.S. Court ...
, and federal judge
Arlin Adams
Arlin Marvin Adams (April 16, 1921 – December 22, 2015) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. As late as 2013 he served as counsel to Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP, anwas listedas a ...
. Ford chose Stevens, an uncontroversial federal appellate judge, largely because he was likely to face the least opposition in the Senate. Early in his tenure on the Court, Stevens had a relatively moderate voting record, but in the 1990s he emerged as a leader of the Court's liberal bloc. In 2005 Ford wrote, "I am prepared to allow history's judgment of my term in office to rest (if necessary, exclusively) on my nomination 30 years ago of Justice John Paul Stevens to the U.S. Supreme Court". Ford also appointed 11 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 50 judges to the
United States district court
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...
s.
Domestic affairs
Nixon pardon
![Gerald Ford hearing2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Gerald_Ford_hearing2.jpg)
Along with the experience of the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
and other issues, Watergate contributed to a decline in the faith that Americans placed in political institutions. Low public confidence added to Ford's already formidable challenge of establishing his own administration without a
presidential transition period or the popular mandate of a presidential election. Though Ford became widely popular during his first month in office, he faced a difficult situation regarding the fate of former President Nixon, whose status threatened to undermine the Ford administration. In the final days of Nixon's presidency, Haig had floated the possibility of Ford
pardoning
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
Nixon, but no deal had been struck between Nixon and Ford before Nixon's resignation. Nonetheless, when Ford took office, most of the Nixon holdovers in the executive branch, including Haig and Kissinger, pressed for a pardon. Through his first month in office, Ford publicly kept his options open regarding a pardon, but he came to believe that ongoing legal proceedings against Nixon would prevent his administration from addressing any other issue. Ford attempted to extract a public statement of contrition from Nixon before issuing the pardon, but Nixon refused.
On September 8, 1974, Ford issued
Proclamation 4311, which gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president.
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."
The Nixon pardon was highly controversial, and
Gallup polling showed that Ford's approval rating fell from 71 percent before the pardon to 50 percent immediately after the pardon. Critics derided the move and said a "
corrupt bargain" had been struck between the men.
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".
Ford's close friend and press secretary,
Jerald terHorst
Jerald Franklin terHorst (July 11, 1922 – March 31, 2010) was an American journalist who served as the 14th White House Press Secretary during the first month of Gerald Ford's presidency. His resignation in protest of Ford's unconditional ...
, resigned his post in protest.
The pardon would hang over Ford for the remainder of his presidency, and damaged his relationship with members of Congress from both parties. Against the advice of most of his advisers, Ford agreed to appear before a House Subcommittee that requested further information on the pardon. On October 17, 1974, Ford testified before Congress, becoming the first sitting president since
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
to do so.
After Ford left the White House, 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 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.
Clemency for draft dodgers
![Gerald Ford (portrait)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Gerald_Ford_%28portrait%29.jpg)
During the Vietnam War, about one percent of American men of eligible age for the draft failed to register, and approximately one percent of those who were drafted refused to serve. Those who refused conscription were labeled as "
draft dodger
Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft ev ...
s"; many such individuals had left the country for
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, but others remained in the United States. Ford had opposed any form of amnesty for the draft dodgers while in Congress, but his presidential advisers convinced him that a clemency program would help resolve a contentious issue and boost Ford's public standing. On September 16, 1974, shortly after he announced the Nixon pardon, Ford introduced a presidential clemency program for Vietnam War draft dodgers. The conditions of the clemency required a reaffirmation of allegiance to the United States and two years of work in a public service position.
The program for the Return of Vietnam Era Draft Evaders and Military Deserters established a Clemency Board to review the records and make recommendations for receiving a presidential pardon and a change in
military discharge
A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...
status. Ford's clemency program was accepted by most conservatives, but attacked by those on the left who wanted a full amnesty program. Full pardon for draft dodgers would later come in the
Carter Administration.
1974 midterm elections
The 1974 congressional midterm elections took place less than three months after Ford assumed office. The Democratic Party turned voter dissatisfaction into large gains in the
House of Representatives elections, taking 49 seats from the Republican Party, increasing their majority to 291 of the 435 seats. Even Ford's former House seat was won by a Democrat. In the
Senate elections, the Democrats increased their majority to 61 seats in the 100-seat body. The subsequent
94th Congress would override the highest percentage of vetoes since
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
served as president in the 1860s. Ford's successful vetoes, however, resulted in the lowest yearly spending increases since the Eisenhower administration. Buoyed by the new class of "
Watergate Babies
The Watergate Babies were Democrats first elected to the United States Congress in the 1974 elections, after President Richard Nixon's resignation over the Watergate scandal, on August 9, 1974.
Democrats picked up 49 seats in the House and 5 ...
," liberal Democrats implemented reforms designed to ease the passage of legislation. The House began to select
committee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
chairs by secret ballot rather than through seniority, resulting in the removal of some conservative Southern committee chairs. The Senate, meanwhile, lowered the number of votes necessary to end a
filibuster
A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...
from 67 to 60.
Economy
By the time Ford took office, the U.S.
economy
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
had entered into a period of
stagflation
In economics, stagflation or recession-inflation is a situation in which the inflation rate is high or increasing, the economic growth rate slows, and unemployment remains steadily high. It presents a dilemma for economic policy, since action ...
, which economists attributed to various causes, including the
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
and increasing competition from countries such as Japan.
Stagflation confounded the traditional economic theories of the 1970s, as economists generally believed that an economy would not simultaneously experience inflation and low rates of economic growth. Traditional economic remedies for a dismal economic growth rate, such as tax cuts and increased spending, risked exacerbating inflation. The conventional response to inflation, tax increases and a cut in government spending, risked damaging the economy. The economic troubles, which signaled the end of the
post-war boom
In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...
, created an opening for a challenge to the dominant
Keynesian economics
Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output an ...
, and
laissez-faire
''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. ...
advocates such as
Alan Greenspan
Alan Greenspan (born March 6, 1926) is an American economist who served as the 13th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006. He works as a private adviser and provides consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC. ...
acquired influence within the Ford administration. Ford seized the initiative, abandoned 40 years of orthodoxy, and introduced a new conservative economic agenda as he sought to adapt traditional Republican economics to deal with the novel economic challenges.
At the time that he took office, Ford believed that inflation, rather than a potential recession, represented the greatest threat to the economy. He believed that inflation could be reduced, not by reducing the amount of new currency entering circulation, but by encouraging people to reduce their spending.
In October 1974, Ford went before the American public and asked them to "Whip Inflation Now". As part of this program, he urged people to wear "
WIN" buttons. To try to mesh service and sacrifice, "WIN" called for Americans to reduce their spending and consumption, especially with regards to
gasoline
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...
. Ford hoped that the public would respond to this call for self-restraint much as it had to President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
's calls for sacrifice during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, but the public received WIN with skepticism. At roughly the same time he rolled out WIN, Ford also proposed a ten-point economic plan. The central plank of the plan was a tax increase on corporations and high earners, which Ford hoped would both quell inflation and cut into government's budget deficit.
[Brinkley, pp. 77–78]
Ford's economic focus changed as the country sank into the
worst recession since the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. In November 1974, Ford withdrew his proposed tax increase. Two months later, Ford proposed a 1-year tax reduction of $16 billion to stimulate economic growth, along with spending cuts to avoid inflation.
[Crain, Andrew Downer. ''The Ford Presidency''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2009] Having switched from advocating for a tax increase to advocating a tax reduction in just two months, Ford was greatly criticized for his "flip-flop". Congress responded by passing a plan that implemented deeper tax cuts and an increase in government spending. Ford seriously considered vetoing the bill, but ultimately chose to sign the
Tax Reduction Act of 1975
The United States Tax Reduction Act of 1975 provided a 10-percent rebate on 1974 tax liability ($200 cap). It created a temporary $30 general tax credit for each taxpayer and dependent.
The investment tax credit was temporarily increased to 10 ...
into law. In October 1975, Ford introduced a bill designed to combat inflation through a mix of tax and spending cuts. That December, Ford signed the Revenue Adjustment Act of 1975, which implemented tax and spending cuts, albeit not at the levels proposed by Ford. The economy recovered in 1976, as both inflation and unemployment declined. Nonetheless, by late 1976 Ford faced considerable discontent over his handling of the economy, and the government had a $74 billion deficit.
Rockefeller Commission
![President Ford meets with Rumsfeld and Cheney - NARA - 7140637](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/President_Ford_meets_with_Rumsfeld_and_Cheney_-_NARA_-_7140637.jpg)
Prior to Ford's presidency, the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA) had illegally assembled files on domestic anti-war activists. In the aftermath of Watergate, CIA Director
William Colby
William Egan Colby (January 4, 1920 – May 6, 1996) was an American intelligence officer who served as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from September 1973 to January 1976.
During World War II Colby served with the Office of Strateg ...
put together a report of all of the CIA's domestic activities, and much of the report became public, beginning with the publication of a December 1974 article by investigative journalist
Seymour Hersh
Seymour Myron "Sy" Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American Investigative journalism, investigative journalist and political writer.
Hersh first gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam Wa ...
. The revelations sparked outrage among the public and members of Congress. In response to growing pressure to investigate and reform the CIA, Ford created the
Rockefeller Commission #REDIRECT United States President's Commission on CIA Activities within the United States
{{R from move ...
.
The Rockefeller Commission marked the first time that a presidential commission was established to investigate the national security apparatus.
The Rockefeller Commission's report, submitted in June 1975, generally defended the CIA, although it did note that "the CIA has engaged in some activities that should be criticized and not permitted to happen again." The press strongly criticized the commission for failing to include a section on the CIA's assassination plots. The Senate created its own committee, led by Senator
Frank Church
Frank Forrester Church III (July 25, 1924 – April 7, 1984) was an Americans, American politician and lawyer. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Idah ...
, to investigate CIA abuses. Ford feared that the
Church Committee
The Church Committee (formally the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities) was a US Senate select committee in 1975 that investigated abuses by the Central Intelligence ...
would be used for partisan purposes and resisted turning over classified materials, but Colby cooperated with the committee. In response to the Church Committee's report, both houses of Congress established
select committees
Select or SELECT may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Select'' (album), an album by Kim Wilde
* ''Select'' (magazine), a British music magazine
* ''MTV Select'', a television program
* ''Select Live'', New Zealand's C4 music program ...
to provide oversight to the intelligence community.
Environment
Due to the frustration of environmentalists left over from the Nixon days, including
Environmental Protection Agency
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
head
Russell E. Train, environmentalism was a peripheral issue during the Ford years. Secretary of the Interior
Thomas S. Kleppe
Thomas Savig Kleppe (July 1, 1919 – March 2, 2007) was an American politician who served as the Representative from North Dakota. He was also the Administrator of the Small Business Administration and the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
Early ...
was a leader of the "
Sagebrush Rebellion
The Sagebrush Rebellion was a movement in the Western United States in the 1970s and the 1980s that sought major changes to federal land control, use, and disposal policy in 13 western states in which federal land holdings include between 20% a ...
", a movement of western ranchers and other groups that sought the repeal of environmental protections on federal land. They lost repeatedly in the federal courts, most notably in the 1976 Supreme Court decision of ''
Kleppe v. New Mexico
''Kleppe v. New Mexico'', 426 U.S. 529 (1976), was a United States Supreme Court decision that unanimously held the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, passed in 1971 by the United States Congress to protect these animals from "ca ...
''. Ford's successes included the addition of two national monuments, six historical sites, three historic parks and two national preserves. None were controversial. In the international field, treaties and agreements with Canada, Mexico, China, Japan, the Soviet Union and several European countries included provisions to protect endangered species.
Social issues
Ford and his wife were outspoken supporters of the
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...
(ERA), a proposed constitutional amendment that had been submitted to the states for ratification in 1972. The ERA was designed to ensure equal rights for all citizens regardless of gender. Despite Ford's support, the ERA would fail to win ratification by the necessary number of state legislatures.
As president, Ford's position on
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
was that he supported "a federal constitutional amendment that would permit each one of the 50 States to make the choice". This had also been his position as House Minority Leader in response to the 1973 Supreme Court case of ''
Roe v. Wade
''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...
'', which he opposed. 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". During his later life, Ford would identify as
pro-choice
Abortion-rights movements, also referred to as pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their pre ...
.
Campaign finance
After the 1972 elections,
good government
Good government is a normative description of how government is supposed to be constituted. It has been frequently employed by various political thinkers, ideologues and politicians.
Thomas Jefferson and good government
Thomas Jefferson often r ...
groups like
Common Cause
Common Cause is a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., with chapters in 35 states. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican, who was the former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the administration of President L ...
pressured Congress to amend
campaign finance law to restrict the role of money in political campaigns. In 1974, Congress approved amendments to the
Federal Election Campaign Act
The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA, , ''et seq.'') is the primary United States federal law regulating political campaign fundraising and spending. The law originally focused on creating limits for campaign spending on communicatio ...
, establishing the
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Cam ...
to oversee campaign finance laws. The amendments also established a system of public financing for presidential elections, limited the size of campaign contributions, limited the amount of money that candidates could spend on their own campaigns, and required the disclosure of nearly all campaign contributions. Ford reluctantly signed the bill into law in October 1974. In the 1976 case of ''
Buckley v. Valeo
''Buckley v. Valeo'', 424 U.S. 1 (1976), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court on campaign finance. A majority of justices held that, as provided by section 608 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, limits on election expenditu ...
'', the Supreme Court overturned the cap on self-funding by political candidates, holding that such a restriction violated
freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
rights. The campaign finance reforms of the 1970s were largely unsuccessful in lessening the influence of money in politics, as more contributions shifted to
political action committees and state and local party committees.
Court ordered busing to desegregate public schools
In 1971, the United States Supreme Court ruled in ''
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education'' that "Busing was a permissible tool for desegregation purposes." However, in the closing days of the Nixon administration, the Supreme Court largely eliminated District Court ability to order busing across city and suburban systems in the case of ''
Milliken v. Bradley.'' It meant that disgruntled white families could move to the suburbs and not be reached by court orders regarding segregation of the central city schools. Ford, representing a Michigan district, had always taken the position in favor of the goal of school desegregation but opposition to court-ordered forced busing as a means of achieving it. In the first major bill he signed as president, Ford's compromise solution was to win over the general population with mild anti-busing legislation. He condemned anti-busing violence, promoted the theoretical goal of school desegregation, and promised to uphold the Constitution. The problem did not go away – it only escalated and remained on the front burner for years.
Tension exploded in Boston, where working-class Irish neighborhoods inside the city limits violently resisted court-ordered busing of black children into their schools.
Other domestic issues
When New York City faced bankruptcy in 1975,
Mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
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. The following month, November 1975, Ford changed his stance and asked Congress to approve federal loans to New York City, upon the condition that the city agree to more austere budgets imposed by Washington, D.C. In December 1975, Ford signed a bill providing New York City with access to $2.3 billion in loans.
Despite his reservations about how the program ultimately would be funded in an era of tight
public budgeting Public budgeting is a field of public administration and a discipline in the academic study thereof. Budgeting is characterized by its approaches, functions, formation, and type.
Authors Robert W. Smith and Thomas D. Lynch describe public budgetin ...
, Ford signed the
Education for All Handicapped Children Act
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (sometimes referred to using the acronyms EAHCA or EHA, or Public Law (PL) 94-142 was enacted by the United States Congress in 1975. This act required all public schools accepting federal funds to p ...
of 1975, which established
special education
Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...
throughout the United States. Ford expressed "strong support for full educational opportunities for our handicapped children" upon signing the bill.
Ford was confronted with a potential
swine flu
Swine influenza is an infection caused by any of several types of swine influenza viruses. Swine influenza virus (SIV) or swine-origin influenza virus (S-OIV) refers to any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs. As ...
pandemic
A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...
. In the early 1970s, an
influenza
Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...
strain
H1N1
In virology, influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (A/H1N1) is a subtype of influenza A virus. Major outbreaks of H1N1 strains in humans include the Spanish flu, the 1977 Russian flu pandemic and the 2009 swine flu pandemic. It is an orthomyxovirus ...
shifted from a form of flu that affected primarily pigs and crossed over to humans. On February 5, 1976, an
army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
recruit at
Fort Dix mysteriously died and four fellow soldiers were hospitalized;
health officials
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...
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
A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified.[< ...]
. 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 1976. The vaccine was blamed for twenty-five deaths; more people died from the shots than from the swine flu.
Foreign affairs
Cold War
Ford continued Nixon's
détente
Détente (, French: "relaxation") is the relaxation of strained relations, especially political ones, through verbal communication. The term, in diplomacy, originates from around 1912, when France and Germany tried unsuccessfully to reduce ...
policy with both the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and China, easing the tensions of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
. In doing so, he overcame opposition from members of Congress, an institution which became increasingly assertive in foreign affairs in the early 1970s. This opposition was led by Senator
Henry M. Jackson
Henry Martin "Scoop" Jackson (May 31, 1912 – September 1, 1983) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. representative (1941–1953) and U.S. senator (1953–1983) from the state of Washington. A Cold War liberal and a ...
, who scuttled a U.S.–Soviet trade agreement by winning passage of the
Jackson–Vanik amendment
The Jackson–Vanik amendment to the Trade Act of 1974 is a 1974 provision in United States federal law intended to affect U.S. trade relations with countries with non-market economies (originally, countries of the Communist bloc) that restrict fr ...
. The thawing relationship with China brought about by
Nixon's 1972 visit to China was reinforced with another presidential visit in December 1975.
Despite the collapse of the trade agreement with the Soviet Union, Ford and Soviet Leader
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gener ...
continued the
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) were two rounds of bilateral conferences and corresponding international treaties involving the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold War superpowers dealt with arms control in two rounds of ta ...
, which had begun under Nixon. In 1972, the U.S. and the Soviet Union had reached the
SALT I treaty, which placed upper limits on each power's nuclear arsenal. Ford met Brezhnev at the November 1974
Vladivostok Summit, at which point the two leaders agreed to a framework for another SALT treaty. Opponents of détente, led by Jackson, delayed Senate consideration of the treaty until after Ford left office.
Helsinki Accords
When Ford took office in August 1974, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) negotiations had been underway in
Helsinki, Finland
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city' ...
, for nearly two years. Throughout much of the negotiations, U.S. leaders were disengaged and uninterested with the process; Kissinger told Ford in 1974 that "we never wanted it but we went along with the Europeans ...
is meaningless—it is just a grandstand play to the left. We are going along with it." In the months leading up to the conclusion of negotiations and signing of the Helsinki Final Act in August 1975, Americans of Eastern European descent voiced their concerns that the agreement would mean the acceptance of Soviet domination over Eastern Europe and the permanent incorporation of the
Baltic states
The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...
into the USSR. Shortly before President Ford departed for Helsinki, he held a meeting with a delegation of Americans of Eastern European background, and stated definitively that U.S. policy on the Baltic States would not change, but would be strengthened since the agreement denies the annexation of territory in violation of international law and allows for the peaceful change of borders.
The American public remained unconvinced that American policy on the incorporation of the Baltic States would not be changed by the Helsinki Final Act. Despite protests from all around, Ford decided to move forward and sign the Helsinki Agreement. As domestic criticism mounted, Ford hedged on his support for the Helsinki Accords, which had the impact of overall weakening his foreign-policy stature. Though Ford was criticized for his apparent recognition of the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, the new emphasis on human rights would eventually contribute to the weakening of the
Eastern bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
in the 1980s and speed up its collapse in 1989.
Vietnam
![President Gerald Ford and Daughter Susan Watch as Secretary of State Henry Kissinger Shakes Hands with Mao Tse-Tung](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/President_Gerald_Ford_and_Daughter_Susan_Watch_as_Secretary_of_State_Henry_Kissinger_Shakes_Hands_with_Mao_Tse-Tung.jpg)
One of Ford's greatest challenges was dealing with the ongoing Vietnam War. American offensive operations against North Vietnam had ended with the
Paris Peace Accords
The Paris Peace Accords, () officially titled the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Viet Nam (''Hiệp định về chấm dứt chiến tranh, lập lại hòa bình ở Việt Nam''), was a peace treaty signed on January 27, 1 ...
, signed on January 27, 1973. The accords declared a cease fire across both
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
and
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
, and required the release of American
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
. The agreement guaranteed the territorial integrity of Vietnam and, like the
Geneva Conference of 1954, called for national elections in the North and South. South Vietnamese President
Nguyen Van Thieu
Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元)is a different word and surname.
By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this su ...
was not involved in the final negotiations, and publicly criticized the proposed agreement, but was pressured by Nixon and Kissinger into signing the agreement. In multiple letters to the South Vietnamese president, Nixon had promised that the United States would defend Thieu's government, should the North Vietnamese violate the accords.
[Brinkley, 89–98]
Fighting in Vietnam continued after the withdrawal of most U.S forces in early 1973. As North Vietnamese forces advanced in early 1975, Ford requested Congress approve a $722 million aid package for South Vietnam, funds that had been promised by the Nixon administration. Congress voted against the proposal by a wide margin.
Senator
Jacob K. Javits offered "...large sums for evacuation, but not one nickel for military aid".
Thieu resigned on April 21, 1975, publicly blaming the lack of support from the United States for the fall of his country.
Two days later, on April 23, Ford gave a speech at
Tulane University
Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...
, announcing that the Vietnam War was over "...as far as America is concerned".
![Vietnamese refugees on US carrier, Operation Frequent Wind](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Vietnamese_refugees_on_US_carrier%2C_Operation_Frequent_Wind.jpg)
With the North Vietnamese forces advancing on the South Vietnamese capital of
Saigon
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
, blank1_ ...
, Ford ordered the evacuation of U.S. personnel, while also allowing U.S. forces to aid others who wished to escape from the Communist advance. Forty-thousand U.S. citizens and South Vietnamese were evacuated by plane until enemy attacks made further such evacuations impossible. In
Operation Frequent Wind
Operation Frequent Wind was the final phase in the evacuation of American civilians and "at-risk" Vietnamese from Saigon, South Vietnam, before the takeover of the city by the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) in the Fall of Saig ...
, the final phase of the evacuation preceding the
fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Saigon, the capital of ...
on April 30, military and
Air America helicopters took evacuees to off-shore
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
vessels. 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.
The Vietnam War, which had raged since the 1950s, finally came to an end with the Fall of Saigon, and Vietnam was reunified into one country. 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. In all, 130,000 Vietnamese refugees came to the United States in 1975. Thousands more escaped in the years that followed. Following the end of the war, Ford expanded the embargo of North Vietnam to cover all of Vietnam, blocked Vietnam's accession to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
, and refused to establish full diplomatic relations.
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 in the region. The administration proved it was willing to respond forcefully to challenges to its interests in the region when
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. ...
forces seized an American ship in
international waters
The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regiona ...
.
In May 1975, shortly after the fall of Saigon and the Khmer Rouge conquest of
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
, Cambodians seized the American merchant ship ''Mayaguez'' in international waters, sparking the
Mayaguez incident
The ''Mayaguez'' incident took place between Democratic Kampuchea, Kampuchea (now Cambodia) and the United States from 12 to 15 May 1975, less than a month after the Khmer Rouge took Fall of Phnom Penh, control of the capital Phnom Penh ousting ...
. Ford dispatched
Marines
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
to rescue the crew from an island where the crew was believed to be held, but the Marines met unexpectedly stiff resistance just as, unknown to the U.S., the crew were being released. In the operation, three military transport helicopters were shot down and 41 U.S. servicemen were killed and 50 wounded while approximately 60 Khmer Rouge soldiers were killed.
Despite American losses, the rescue operation proved to be a boon to Ford's poll numbers; Senator
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...
declared that the operation "shows we've still got balls in this country." 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. But work by Andrew Gawthorpe, published in 2009, 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.
Middle East
In the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean, two ongoing international disputes developed into crises during Ford's presidency. The
Cyprus dispute
The Cyprus problem, also known as the Cyprus dispute, Cyprus issue, Cyprus question or Cyprus conflict, is an ongoing dispute between Greek Cypriots in the south and Turkish Cypriots in the north. Initially, with the Modern history of Cyprus#In ...
turned into a crisis with the 1974
Turkish invasion of Cyprus
The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of Cypriot intercommunal violence, intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots, Greek and Turkish ...
, which took place following the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
-backed
1974 Cypriot coup d'état
The 1974 Cypriot coup d'état was a military coup d'état sponsored by the Greek Army in Cyprus, the Cypriot National Guard and the Greek junta, Greek military junta. On 15 July 1974 the coup plotters removed the sitting President of Cyprus, Arch ...
. The dispute put the United States in a difficult position as both Greece and Turkey were members of
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
. In mid-August, the
Greek government
Greece is a parliamentary representative democratic republic, where the President of Greece is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Greece is the head of government within a multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in both the g ...
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 vetoed the bill due to concerns regarding its effect on Turkish-American relations and the deterioration of security on NATO's eastern front. A second bill was then passed by Congress, which Ford also vetoed, although a compromise was accepted to continue aid until the end of the year.
As Ford expected, Turkish relations were
considerably disrupted until 1978.
![Gerald Ford with Anwar Sadat in Salzburg 1975](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Gerald_Ford_with_Anwar_Sadat_in_Salzburg_1975.jpg)
In 1973,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
and
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
had launched a joint surprise attack against
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, seeking to re-take land lost in the
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...
of 1967. However, early Arab success gave way to an Israel military victory in what became known as the
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egy ...
. Although an initial
cease fire
A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...
had been implemented to end active conflict in the Yom Kippur War, Kissinger's continuing
shuttle diplomacy
In diplomacy and international relations, shuttle diplomacy is the action of an outside party in serving as an intermediary between (or among) principals in a dispute, without direct principal-to-principal contact. Originally and usually, the proce ...
was showing little progress. Ford disliked what he saw as Israeli "stalling" on a peace agreement, and wrote, "
sraelitactics frustrated the Egyptians and made me mad as hell." 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
Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin (; he, יִצְחָק רַבִּין, ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77, and from 1992 until h ...
, which included:
On March 24, Ford informed congressional leaders of both parties of the reassessment of the administration policies in the Middle East. "Reassessment", in practical terms, meant canceling or suspending 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". The announced reassessments upset many American supporters of Israel. On May 21, Ford "experienced a real shock" when seventy-six U.S. 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. The following summer months were described by Ford as an American-Israeli "war of nerves" or "test of wills". After much bargaining, the
Sinai Interim Agreement
The Sinai Interim Agreement, also known as the Sinai II Agreement, was a diplomatic agreement signed by Egypt and Israel on September 4, 1975, with the intention of peacefully resolving territorial disputes. The signing ceremony took place in Gene ...
(Sinai II) between Egypt and Israel was formally signed, and aid resumed.
Angola
A civil war broke out in
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
after the fledgling African nation gained independence from
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
in 1975. The Soviet Union and Cuba both became heavily involved in the conflict, backing the left-wing
MPLA
The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social d ...
, one of the major factions in the civil war. In response, the CIA
directed aid to two other factions in the war,
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( pt, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the Popular Movement for ...
and the
FNLA
The National Front for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola; abbreviated FNLA) is a political party and former militant organisation that fought for Angolan independence from Portugal in the war of independen ...
. After members of Congress learned of the CIA operation, Congress voted to cut off aid to the Angolan groups. The Angolan Civil War would continue in subsequent years, but the Soviet role in the war hindered détente. Congress's role in ending the CIA presence marked the growing power of the legislative branch in foreign affairs.
Indonesia
U.S. policy since the 1940s has been to support
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, which hosted American investments in petroleum and raw materials and controlled a highly strategic location near vital shipping lanes. In 1975, the left-wing
Fretilin
The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor ( pt, Frente Revolucionária de Timor-Leste Independente, abbreviated as Fretilin) is a centre-left political party in East Timor. They presently hold 23 of 65 seats in the National Parliam ...
party seized power after a civil war in
East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...
(now Timor-Leste), a former colony of
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
that shared the island of
Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is East Timor–Indonesia border, divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western p ...
with the Indonesian region of
West Timor
West Timor ( id, Timor Barat) is an area covering the western part of the island of Timor, except for the district of Oecussi-Ambeno (an East Timorese exclave). Administratively, West Timor is part of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. The ca ...
. Indonesian leaders feared that East Timor would serve as a hostile left-wing base that would promote secessionist movements inside Indonesia. Anti-Fretilin activists from the other main parties fled to West Timor and called upon Indonesia to annex East Timor and end the communist threat. On December 7, 1975, Ford and Kissinger met Indonesian President
Suharto
Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...
in Jakarta and indicated the United States would not take a position on East Timor.
Indonesia invaded the next day, and took control of the country. The United Nations, with U.S. support, called for the withdrawal of Indonesian forces. A bloody civil war broke out, and over one hundred thousand died in the fighting or from executions or starvation. Upwards of half of the population of East Timor became refugees fleeing Fretilin-controlled areas. East Timor took two decades to settle down, and finally, after international intervention in the
1999 East Timorese crisis
The 1999 East Timorese crisis began with attacks by pro-Indonesia militia groups on civilians, and expanded to general violence throughout the country, centred in the capital Dili. The violence intensified after a majority of eligible East Timo ...
, East Timor became an independent nation in 2002.
List of international trips
Ford made seven international trips during his presidency.
Assassination attempts
Ford faced two assassination attempts during his presidency. In
Sacramento, California
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...
, on September 5, 1975,
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme
Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme (born October 22, 1948) is an American criminal who was a member of the Manson family, a cult led by Charles Manson. Though not involved in the Tate–LaBianca murders for which the Manson family is best known, ...
, a follower of
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...
, pointed a
Colt .45-caliber handgun at Ford. As Fromme pulled the trigger,
Larry Buendorf, a Secret Service agent, grabbed the gun, and 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.
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
The Westin St. Francis, formerly known as St. Francis Hotel, is a hotel located on Powell and Geary Streets on Union Square, San Francisco, California. The two 12-story south wings of the hotel were built in 1904, and the double-width north wing ...
in downtown San Francisco,
Sara Jane Moore
Sara Jane Moore (née Kahn; born February 15, 1930) is an American criminal who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford in 1975. She was given a life sentence for the attempted assassination and was released from prison on December ...
, standing in a crowd of onlookers across the street, pointed her
.38-caliber revolver at him.
Moore fired a single round but missed because the sights were off. Just before she fired a second round, retired Marine
Oliver Sipple
Oliver Wellington "Billy" Sipple (November 20, 1941 – late January 1989) was an American man known for intervening to prevent an assassination attempt against U.S. President Gerald Ford on September 22, 1975. A decorated U.S. Marine and disa ...
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, after serving 32 years.
1976 presidential election
![Galup Poll-Approval Rating-Gerald Ford](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Galup_Poll-Approval_Rating-Gerald_Ford.png)
Ford made the first major decision of his re-election campaign in mid-1975, when he selected Bo Callaway to run his campaign. The pardon of Nixon and the disastrous 1974 mid-term elections weakened Ford's standing within the party, creating an opening for a competitive Republican primary. The intra-party challenge to Ford came from the conservative wing of the party; many conservative leaders had viewed Ford as insufficiently conservative throughout his political career. Conservative Republicans were further disappointed with the selection of Rockefeller as vice president, and faulted Ford for the fall of Saigon, the amnesty for draft dodgers, and the continuation of détente policies. Ronald Reagan, a leader among the conservatives, launched his campaign in autumn of 1975. Hoping to appease his party's right wing and sap Reagan's momentum, Ford requested that Rockefeller not seek re-election, and the vice president agreed to this request. Ford defeated Reagan in the first several United States presidential primary, primaries, but Reagan gained momentum after winning North Carolina's March 1976 primary. Entering the
1976 Republican National Convention, neither Ford nor Reagan had won a majority of delegates through the primaries, but Ford was able to win the support of enough unpledged delegates to win the presidential nomination. Senator Bob Dole of Kansas won the vice presidential nomination.
In the aftermath of the Vietnam War and Watergate, Ford campaigned at a time of cynicism and disillusionment with government.
Ford adopted a "Rose Garden strategy", with Ford mostly staying in Washington in an attempt to appear presidential.
[ The campaign benefited from several anniversary events held during the period leading up to the United States Bicentennial. The Washington fireworks display on the Fourth of July was presided over by the president and televised nationally. 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". 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".
]
Eleven major contenders competed in the Democratic Party presidential primaries, 1976, 1976 Democratic primaries. At the start of the primaries, former Governor Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
of Georgia was little-known nationally, but he rocketed to prominence with a victory in the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary. A born again Christian, Carter emphasized his personal morality and his status as a Washington outsider. Carter won the presidential nomination on the first ballot of the 1976 Democratic National Convention, and selected liberal Senator Walter Mondale of Minnesota as his running mate. Carter began the race with a huge lead in the polls, but committed a major gaffe by giving an interview to ''Playboy'' in which he stated that "I've committed adultery in my heart several times." Ford made his own gaffe during a televised debate, stating that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe." 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. As a result of this blunder, 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 United States Electoral College, electoral votes compared with 48.0% of the popular vote and 240 electoral votes for Ford. Ford dominated in the West and performed well in New England, but Carter carried much of the South and won Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Though Ford lost, in the three months between the Republican National Convention and the election he had managed to close what polls had shown as a 33-point Carter lead to a 2-point margin.
Historical reputation
Polls of historians and political scientists have generally Historical rankings of presidents of the United States, ranked Ford as a below-average to average president. A 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association's Presidents and Executive Politics section ranked Ford as the 25th best president. A 2017 C-SPAN poll of historians also ranked Ford as the 25th best president. Historian John Robert Greene writes that "Ford had difficulty navigating a demanding political environment." He also notes, however, that "Americans, by and large, believed that Gerald Ford was an innately decent and good man and that he would (and did) bring honor to the White House. Although this sentiment proved too little to bring Ford to victory in 1976, it is an assessment that most Americans and scholars still find valid in the years after his presidency."
References
Works cited
* short biography
*
*
*
Further reading
* Cannon, James. ''Gerald R. Ford: An Honorable Life'' (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2013) 482 pp. major biograph
online review
* 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.
* Congressional Quarterly. ''President Ford : the man and his record'' (1974
online
* Firestone, Bernard J. and Alexej Ugrinsky, eds. ''Gerald R. Ford and the Politics of Post-Watergate America'' (Greenwood, 1992). ISBN 0-313-28009-6.
* Francis, Sandra. ''Gerald R. Ford : our thirty-eighth president'' (2009
online
for middle schools
*
* Greene, John Robert. ''Betty Ford: Candor and Courage in the White House'' (2004)
online
* Hahn, Dan F. "Corrupt rhetoric: President Ford and the Mayaguez affair." ''Communication Quarterly'' 28.2 (1980): 38-43.
* Hersey, John. ''Aspects of the Presidency: Truman and Ford in Office'' (1980).
* Hoxie, R. Gordon. "Staffing the Ford and Carter Presidencies." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 10.3 (1980): 378-401
online
*Hult, Karen M. and Walcott, Charles E. ''Empowering the White House: Governance under Nixon, Ford, and Carter''. University 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. 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.
online
* Kaufman, Scott, ed. ''A Companion to Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter'' (2015), a major overview with 30 historiographical essays by scholars
excerpt
* latest full-scale biography
* 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.
* Mieczkowski, Yanek. ''Gerald Ford and the Challenges of the 1970s'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2005).
* Moran, Andrew D. "More than a caretaker: The economic policy of Gerald R. Ford." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 41#1 (2011): 39–63
Online
* Olmsted, Kathryn. "Reclaiming Executive Power: The Ford Administration's Response to the Intelligence Investigations." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 26.3 (1996): 725-737
online
* Parmet, Herbert S. "Gerald R. Ford" in Henry F Graff ed., ''The Presidents: A Reference History'' (3rd ed. 2002)
* Reeves, Richard. '' A Ford, Not a Lincoln'' (1975), says Ford was out of his depth.
* Rozell, Mark J. ''The press and the Ford presidency'' (University of Michigan Press, 1992).
* Schoenebaum, Eleanora. ''Political Profiles: The Nixon/Ford years'' (1979
online
short biographies of over 500 political and national leaders.
* Sloan, John W. "Economic policymaking in the Johnson and Ford administrations." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 20.1 (1990): 111-12
online
* Swanson, Roger Frank. "The Ford interlude and the US-Canadian relationship." ''American Review of Canadian Studies'' 8.1 (1978): 3-17.
* Tobin, Leesa E. "Betty Ford as first lady: A woman for women." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 20.4 (1990): 761-767
online
* Ward, P. S. "Ford and Carter: Contrasting Approaches to Environment." ''Journal (Water Pollution Control Federation)'' (1976): 2238-2243
online
* Weidenbaum, Murray. "Regulatory process reform: from Ford to Clinton." ''Regulation'' 20 (1997): 20
online
* Witcover, Jules. ''Marathon: The Pursuit of the Presidency, 1972–1976'' (1977)
online
Primary sources
* ''Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Gerald R. Ford: containing the public messages, speeches, and statements of the president'' (1973-1977
online
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* , by speechwriter
* , by chief of staff
*
* by Secretary of State
*
{{Authority control
Presidency of Gerald Ford,
Presidencies of the United States, Ford, Gerald
1970s in the United States
Gerald Ford
1974 establishments in the United States
1977 disestablishments in the United States