The resignation of President Richard Nixon created an unprecedented challenge for his successor Gerald Ford. Mark Updegrove, director of the LBJ Presidential Library, explains how Ford was the right person for the job.
When President Ford was in Congress, he helped my parents resolve a disability issue for my Stepdad. President Ford did what he felt would help our country heal. I wish he was alive now.
No. The Executive branch and Legislative branch are on even footing. That's like Congress standing trial before a President. A President is supposed to address Congress...not testify before them
@@starter47990 Actually you will find in the Constitution a requirement that the President give information to congress, it does not state how this is to be done. Article 2 Section 3 Clause 1 Wilson revived Washington's practice of giving an annual message in person. But Presidents before Wilson simply wrote out what was nothing more than a memo. However, I think Ford's example should be one that future Presidents consider. I like the idea that the President is questioned. Change is good. Ford and Lincoln have already set the precedent.
Gerald Ford was one of the most underrated presidents of the US. He was the last president to have a good relationship with the press, not hostile towards them. None of the Vice Presidents after him came even remotely close to his personality, nor presidents for that matter
@@jansdoe6963 I wouldn't say he's the best America has ever had, because in my mind he was hasty in pardoning Nixon when he did, but he was what America needed at the time
@Botched Tittiez For The Win! Before, during and after his presidency, Ford was liked and respected by both parties and in addition, back then there was no hyper partisan media outlets. These days, that's impossible for one simple reason both Republican backed (like Fox News) and Democrat backed (like MSNBC) media outlets adopt the simple approach, "our side good, their side bad, [insert divisive policy here]," The days of reporters like Walter Cronkite telling people what was going in a nonpartisan way, as shown by his famous catchphrase, "...and that's the way it is," When you have a President who is calling the Press the enemy of the people, Nixon in his day or Trump in more recent times, when they are reporting what they are seeing and hearing for their audience, is only adding fuel to the hyperpartisan stance that both sides have, especially in the Republicans as political scientists have noted the fact that their members have been shifting further and further to the right much more quickly than the Democrats have shifted left
I believe that it would have been more beneficial for our country had Ford accepted Reagan's offer to run with him and become his vice president in 1980/81
@@ebarteldes There was a political cartoon at the time that showed Ford talking to Reagan on the phone. He says: "Ronald...remember that vice-presidential offer?...I accept."
He had already served as Vice President and then became the President of the United States.That is why there he didn’t plus him and Reagan were too far apart in their views.President Ford was moderate too the middle even though he was cheap as they said lol but he was a good,honest and decent man unlike DT
It must be nice to be the media. Do everything you can to take down people you don't like, move on without apologizing, and then give them a short 15 minutes decades later
They really are slime. It’s incredible how many Americans still believe that the media is there to inform us unbiasedly and not shape public opinion. Except that evil Fox News of course.
Imagine what he could have done if he was elected. He was put in a tuff position that nobody could have handed. The pardon and the mistrust of government cost him the election. He was in a no win scenario.
If by some miracle Ford had been elected in 1976, he would still have had to deal with the legacy of Watergate and the Nixon Pardon every day of his presidency. The press wanted Nixon's head on a pole; they never forgave Ford for the pardon; and they never would have, even if he were elected on his own. And as long as we're speculating, if Edward Kennedy had managed to unseat Jimmy Carter in 1980 and become president, he would have had to deal with Chappaquiddick in the same way for his entire term.
I just arrived here, from a personality tipe book, written by Florence Littauer, and the comments below are absolutely right. He was a great president, because, he was a peaceful flegmatic personality tipe of person, and when the country needed the most to heal its "wounds" the right person came, at the right time. It's there, beautifully written down in that book, I advice everyone, to look at it.
Ford was a man of true integrity. The fact that he was willing to pardon Nixon knowing full well what it would cost him and his party just shows that he valued this country more than any form of politics. We need more Gerald Fords in our government.
Then he turned round and ran on his own in 1976 as if it didn't make any difference. "Look, folks: I don't have a clue." The media wanted Nixon drawn and quartered. Ford took that away from them, and they never forgave him. In fact, they transferred their hatred of Nixon to Ford, and pounded him for the rest of his presidency. If he had somehow been elected on his own, that process would only have continued--and most likely gotten worse. In retrospect, Ford should have stepped down and endorsed the nominee of an open republican convention. You can argue about whether Reagan would have beaten Carter in 1976--it's possible that no republican would have been electable that year--but that was probably their best chance. Ford himself was the biggest remaining legacy of Watergate, plus he kept most of the Nixon flunkies and sycophants like Haig and Kissinger on board in his cabinet.
He was a good and decent man, put in a very historic circumstance; a president and a vice president the people did not elect. I remember David Brinkley saying as much
Getting recommended this before Biden takes office. I feel that he will be analogous to Ford in some ways - Definitely not an Obama or a Reagan. But he'll be remembered as someone who attempted to heal and mend the nation. I pray for his guidance
healing and mending from the guy who fought alongside segregationists with more vigor than anything he has done since, except that one time he tried to stonewall a black supreme court appointee. I doubt that.
Ford did the right thing in pardoning his predecessor for the crimes he may or may not have committed. Had Ford never pardoned Nixon, his press conferences would've been dominated by questions regarding Nixon's problems and not the country's problems. Nixon himself would've been indicted, charged, even convicted and sent to jail. That'll be two or three more years of Watergate, and I think the American public was sick and tired of the whole thing and wanted it to go away once and for all. Besides, Nixon had suffered enough and wasn't in the best of health when he left office -------- his phlebitis nearly took his life during the early months after his resignation
We know Nixon committed the crimes. I don’t think pardoning Nixon was necessary to heal the wounds. Pardoning Trump on the other hand might be. I’m no fan of his, but Trump has a cult following that Nixon didn’t. If Trump is jailed for legitimate concerns regarding his finances or refusal to concede, it would stir an uprising amid accusations of a deep state. But if Biden does pardon Trump, he’ll risk alienating almost every democrat and some independents. I don’t envy the call Biden may have to make on this
@@pizzajona But I don't think Trump would be tried, let alone convicted and sentenced, of the crimes he may or may not have committed while in office. Trump's guilt, if there's any, won't be as clear-cut as Nixon's (the evidence is on the tapes). The House would've impeached Trump if they had solid, concrete evidence that Trump asked Russia to intervene in the 2016 election, but they didn't.
@@shikat2371 the House already impeached Trump. I’m talking more about criminal liability for skirting tax laws or if he does something insanely outrageous come Inauguration Day
I definitely agree with what was said here. I was in my Mid teens when Nixon resigned and Ford became president. At first I thought it was a terrible thing he pardoned him, but I came to realize he did exactly the right thing. Also, I like the comment made at the end in general that, sometimes we don’t need a great president we just need someone who is right for the time. Gerald Ford indeed was that. I think every president from Gerald Ford through Barack Obama was the right person for the time. Especially with what has gone on the past four years, I think Joe Biden Is the right person at the right time, much like Gerald Ford. But, unlike Gerald Ford, I think that Joe Biden has the potential to have a great presidency as well as a good one.
Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr., nacido con el nombre de Leslie Lynch King, Jr. (Omaha, Nebraska; 14 de julio de 1913-Rancho Mirage, California; 26 de diciembre de 2006), fue el trigésimo octavo presidente de los Estados Unidos, que ejerció el cargo desde el 9 de agosto de 1974 hasta el 20 de enero de 1977, tras la dimisión de Richard Nixon por el escándalo Watergate.
I always ask myself why pres. Ford pardon his predecessor so prematurely at a time when the whole nation wanted him to lead. and while the smoke of the Watergate wasn't settled yet. The election time was ongoing and he was on the verge to win. My speculation is that pres. Ford was tỉred of political scenes, and wanted to return to his law practice. His departure has led to a string of catastrophe.
Pardon or no, there was nothing that could have saved Gerald Ford from being elected to president. While the trouble of Watergate seemed to be in the past, the people hadn't forgotten. They knew once that happened that next election they were going to vote for democrat regardless because they wanted change in party. Its like Hoover, Bush, and now Trump. Most elections tend to go this way, Reagan to Bush was a once in a lifetime event that won't happen for a while cause reagan was so popular.
At the time (1976), I correctly predicted that Ford would lose to Carter, and I blamed the republican leadership for blindly nominating him. Ford himself was the biggest legacy of Watergate, appointed by a criminal whom he later pardoned of unspecified offenses. I thought Reagan would have beaten Carter--as indeed he did in 1980--mostly because he was unconnected to Watergate and the pardon. But more recently I've wondered if any republican could have won in 1976. Was the media and grass-roots reaction to the whole sordid affair restricted to Ford and company, or did it extend to the entire party? I guess we'll never know.
You know, if only people believed that about Calvin Coolidge. You know, the president people hate because he didn't do anything? Even though doing nothing was the best thing he could have done?
