Transcript Ford - RCSD

VP- Nelson Rockefeller
Dates in office: 1974-1977
Gerald R. Ford
Comes from Michigan
PP: Republican
Born: July 14, 1913 – Died December 26, 2006
Political Background
1948-73 U.S. Representative from Michigan
1965-73 U.S. House Minority Leader
1973 Appointed vice president by Richard
Nixon
1974-77 Thirty-eighth U.S. president
following the resignation of Richard Nixon
1976 Loses presidential election to Jimmy
Carter
Ford’s Vice Presidential
Appointment
a. Appointed by Nixon and confirmed by
congress after the resignation of VP
Spiro Agnew under the terms of the
25th Amendment to the Constitution
b. Sworn in as VP on December 6, 1973
(1)Terms of Acquisition to the Presidency
a. August 9, 1974 – Ford took the
presidential oath of office after Nixon
resigned due to the Watergate scandal
( …with not a single vote)
b. “My fellow Americans, our long
national nightmare is over.” He Asked
the American public to pray for Nixon
and his family.
c. Ford selected New York governor Nelson
Rockefeller as his VP and kept Nixon’s
cabinet in place
d.(2)Ford and Rockefeller are the only
president and VP never elected to
their
positions serving
at the
same time
(3) Pardon of Nixon
a. Proclamation 4311, Granting a Pardon to
Richard Nixon
b.“Someone must write an end to an
American tragedy”
c. Once Nixon was pardoned (the
forgiveness of a crime and the penalty
associated with it) Ford’s approval rating
nosedived – 71% to 49% in less than a
week
Speech Pardoning Nixon
d. Critics believed
a Republican
“deal” allowed
him to become
president if he
pardoned Nixon
… what do you
think?
The Ford
Administration Reading
V. Domestic Policy
a. Vietnam Era Reconciliation Program
1. (4) Clemency plan for draft-dodgersto give them leniency/compassion/
forgiveness for avoiding to go to
Vietnam (controversial because Ford
had draft-dodger sons… and what
about the guys who did go fight for
our country!)
b. Economic Troubles
1. Inflation continued to increase –
called by Ford “domestic enemy
number one”
2. (6)“Whip Inflation Now” (WIN) –
program designed to reduce
federal spending and created a
national volunteer organization to
find ways to keep prices down
(8)1975 State of the Union
address
• Ford’s First Address to Congress
and the Nation ... “my motto
toward the Congress is
communication, conciliation,
compromise, and cooperation.
...”
a. Presided over the official
end to the Vietnam War
Cease fire 1973
(7) South Vietnam falls
to communism with
the fall of Saigon,
April 30, 1975 to
North Vietnam
control
VI. Foreign Affairs
b. Approved several million dollars in
aid for war in Angola – area trying to
fight communist guerrillas
c. Approved aid to Israel and Egypt –
helped leaders of the warring nations
to agree to interim peace proposals
d. Negotiated an arms-reduction
agreement with the Soviet Union
e. Authorized a successful military
response to a seizing of an
American merchant ship by
Cambodian Khmer Rouge forces
f. Reorganized the CIA after
reviewing involvement Cuba and
Watergate (other problems as
well)
(5) Helsinki Accords
• the Helsinki Accords were pretty
broad, but the one issue that was
important to the United States, was
the elevation of Human Rights, ...
signed by US, USSR, 33 others -
h. Aid to South Vietnam and
Cambodia
•The most important aid
offered to these two
countries after the
withdrawal of American
involvement was helping
refugees escape
VII. Random Information about Ford
a. Oldest living president…
nevermind. He died
b. Asked the Marine Band to
play the University of
Michigan fight song rather
than Hail to the Chief every
time he made a public
entrance
b. Two assassination attempts
1. Lynette Alice “Squeaky” Frome –
follower of Charles Manson,
approached Ford in a Sacramento
hotel with her hand extended (had a
gun – Ford thought she wanted to
shake hands!)
2. Sara Jane Moore – identified as a
radical, fired at Ford across the street
from his hotel in San Francisco,
California
Squeaky Frome and Ford Escaping an
Assassination Attempt
3. Both are serving
life sentences
(1965 law making
the attempt to
assassinate a
president a
federal crime)
Sara Jane Moore
c. Press began to highlight Ford’s
mishaps after LBJ commented
that Ford had played football too
long without a helmet
1. One network newscast
replayed footage of him (11
times) falling down Air Force
One
Ford Falling Down Air Force One Stairs
VIII. President during the
(9)Bicentennial Celebration
1. “Never in my wildest dreams
had I imagined that I would be
President of the United States
on its 200th birthday” July 4,
1776
2. Celebrated the day in NYC
(10) Aid to South Vietnam: Approved several
million dollars in aid for war in Angola – area
trying to fight communist guerrillas
Aid to Cambodia:
Authorized a military
response trying to defeat Cambodian Khmer
Rouge forces ***The Khmer Rouge is remembered mainly for the
deaths of an estimated 1.5 million people (estimates range from 850,000 to two
million) under its regime, through execution, starvation and forced labor.
Following their leader Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge imposed an extreme form of
social engineering on Cambodian society—a radical form of agrarian communism
where the whole population had to work in collective farms or forced labor
projects (est. 7.5 million people dead , as of 1975),
Ford Falling Down Air Force One Stairs