US Presidents For Dummies

by Marcus Stadelmann

Figure 22-1: Gerald Ford, 38th president of the United States.

  Courtesy of the Library of Congress

  A model guy

  Gerald Ford was born in Nebraska in 1913 as Leslie Lynch King, Jr. His mother left her abusive husband — Ford’s father — the same year and remarried in 1916. Her new husband, Gerald R. Ford, legally adopted her son and gave him his name.

  Ford grew up in Michigan. He was an exceptional athlete and a model — in 1939, he modeled winter sports clothing for Look magazine.

  He attended the University of Michigan on a football scholarship. He was named the most valuable player and received offers from two professional football teams. He turned down the offers and accepted a coaching job at Yale University, which allowed him to study law at Yale. He graduated in 1941.

  Ford had just started practicing law when World War II broke out. He joined the navy and served in the South Pacific. He saw heavy combat and won ten battle stars for his bravery.

  Returning home, he married Elizabeth “Betty” Bloomer Warren, a model and professional dancer. Betty Ford was one of the most controversial and beloved first ladies in U.S. history. She favored abortion rights and supported the Equal Rights Amendment, which the Republican Party opposed. Her fight with breast cancer increased public awareness of the disease. After leaving the White House, she revealed her addiction to painkillers and alcohol and proceeded to establish the Betty Ford clinic in California, which has become a favorite treatment center for movie stars and politicians with dependency problems.

  Ford’s early political career

  Ford joined the Republican Party in 1940. He shared his stepfather’s opposition to big government, and support for U.S. isolationism in foreign policy. However, Ford changed his views on foreign policy after serving in the military. He now believed that the United States needed to be involved in international affairs.

  In 1948, the local Republican Party in Grand Rapids, Michigan, approached Ford and asked him to challenge incumbent Republican Congressman Bartel Jonkman, an isolationist, in the primary. Ford, running on the strength of his war record, beat Jonkman easily. He then cruised to victory in the general election and began a long, distinguished Congressional career.

  Serving in Congress

  Ford served in the House of Representatives for the next 25 years. As a congressman, Ford was very conservative on defense issues — he voted to increase the defense budget and became a staunch anti-communist. At the same time, he consistently supported civil rights legislation.

  Ford rose quickly through the Republican ranks. In 1963, he became the chairman of the House Republican conference. In 1965, he took over as the House minority leader. Now he had his eyes set on the speakership. For Ford to get the position, however, the Republicans had to win a majority in the House, because the majority party selects the Speaker. Ford expected Nixon’s landslide reelection in 1972 to help the Republicans get the majority in the House, but that didn’t happen. So Ford decided to make it his last term in office.

  Being approved for the vice presidency

  In 1973, President Nixon’s vice president, Spiro Agnew, resigned because he had been involved in a bribery scandal (see Chapter 21). Nixon needed a replacement quickly. He considered Ronald Reagan, the governor of California, but opted for Ford. Ford had good ties to Congress, was well liked and respected by his peers, and could easily win confirmation.

  The Senate ratified Ford by a vote of 92 to 3. The House followed suit and approved Ford by a vote of 387 to 35. Gerald Ford became the vice president of the United States on December 6, 1973.

  Under the provisions of the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the president has to submit the name of a new vice president to Congress if the former vice president dies or resigns. Congress then has to approve the president’s choice.

  Stepping into the presidency

  As the new vice president, Ford soon became involved in the Watergate scandal (President Nixon and the Watergate scandal are covered in Chapter 21). Ford had to publicly defend the president, even though he privately believed that Nixon was guilty.

  As the Watergate affair continued, it became increasingly clear to Ford that he might become president. Early in the summer of 1974, Ford’s personal advisor Phil Buchen began to set up a transition team, without Ford’s direct knowledge, just in case.

  On August 8, 1974, President Nixon announced his resignation to the U.S. public. One day later, Gerald Ford became the new president. He had an unenviable task ahead of him. He needed to reassure the nation and restore faith in the presidency.

  President Ford is the only person in U.S. history to serve as both vice president and president without being elected to either office. He was appointed to both positions.

  President Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. (1974–1977)

  On August 9, 1974, Ford addressed the nation to reassure the U.S. public. He announced that the long nightmare was over and that it was time to go on with politics as usual.

  A month later, Ford destroyed his presidency for the good of the country when he announced that he had issued a full pardon to former President Nixon. The media and many U.S. citizens were incensed. Calls poured in, condemning Ford’s actions. His approval rating fell from 71 percent to 50 percent. Ford lost all the goodwill that he had accumulated in Congress. His presidency seemed doomed.

  Why did he do it? A public trial of the president of the United States would have undermined the U.S. position abroad and split the U.S. public. Ford knew this and was willing to sacrifice his own career to save the country international embarrassment.

  Taking on domestic problems

  The 1974 Congressional election gave the Democratic Party an overwhelming majority in Congress. Now Ford faced a hostile Congress. Over the next two years, Congress overrode more than 20 percent of Ford’s vetoes, the highest percentage in over a century.

  To make matters worse, the economy took a nosedive. Inflation skyrocketed, driven by increased government spending and an increase in the price of oil. Ford cut government spending to help combat the rise in inflation. By the time he left office, inflation had fallen from 11.2 percent to 5.3 percent.

  The unemployment rate also rose. Ford cut taxes to stimulate the economy and create jobs. Congress, however, blocked his tax cuts until 1976; by then it was too late for them to have an impact on the 1976 elections.

  To placate critics on the left, Ford proclaimed a full amnesty for draft dodgers. Draft dodgers were young men who either avoided the draft or deserted the military during the Vietnam War. Under Ford’s amnesty plan, these men would be welcomed back into the country if they completed two years of public or military service. Over 20,000 people applied for amnesty.

  Ford didn’t face opposition only from the Congressional Democrats. The conservative right of the Republican Party also opposed him. They rallied around Ronald Reagan, the former governor of California. Reagan publicly opposed Ford beginning in 1975 and announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination the same year.

  Dealing with foreign policy problems

  When Gerald Ford assumed the presidency, the United States had withdrawn completely from South Vietnam. But the war between North Vietnam and South Vietnam continued.

  In 1975, North Vietnam violated the peace treaty of 1973 (see the “Conflict in Vietnam” sidebar in Chapter 20) and invaded South Vietnam. Ford wanted to help South Vietnam, but Congress refused to go along. Within months, the South Vietnamese government fell, and all of Vietnam was now communist. More than 50,000 U.S. soldiers had died for nothing.

  The Ford administration handled many other foreign policy events, including

  The Helsinki Accords: In 1975, 35 countries met in Helsinki, Finland and ratified accords that recognized all post–World War II borders in Europe as legitimate. The Soviet Union, as part of the agreement, pledged to respect human rights and ease travel restrictions for Soviet citizens and foreigners traveling to the Soviet Union.

  Th
e Vladivostock Agreements: Ford and Soviet Premier Brezhnev signed these agreements in 1974. The agreements amended the SALT I arms treaty (see Chapter 21) and allowed for only one antiballistic missile site per country.

  In the fall of 1975, President Ford survived two assassination attempts. In one case, the gun didn’t fire. In the other case, a bystander intervened and the bullet missed.

  Winning the Republican nomination and losing the presidency

  In the fall of 1975, Ronald Reagan entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Reagan ran to the right of Ford, opposing the Helsinki accords and advocating a tough line against the Soviet Union. Reagan won several southern primaries. But in the end, Ford narrowly prevailed at the Republican convention. Ford picked Senator Robert Dole of Kansas for his vice-presidential running mate.

  In the campaign against Democrat Jimmy Carter, Ford started out as the underdog. The economy was not doing well, and many people never forgave Ford for pardoning Nixon. His vice-presidential nominee, Robert Dole, came across as a bitter, mean-spirited man, labeling the Democratic Party the “party of warfare.”

  Ford committed a major gaffe during the presidential debates. He said that Poland wasn’t under Soviet domination, when it clearly was. This error undermined his campaign.

  At one point, Ford trailed Carter by over 50 points in the polls. He managed to close the gap considerably, losing by only 2 percentage points.

  President Ford earned a reputation for being clumsy. Ford once fell out of presidential airplane Air Force One, and he often fell while skiing. He also had a tendency to hit people with his golf balls. Comedian Chevy Chase, who portrayed the president as accident-prone on the television show Saturday Night Live, cemented this image of President Ford.

  Retiring publicly

  After leaving office in 1977, President Ford undertook many public activities. He taught at the University of Michigan, founded the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank that studies public policy, and wrote his memoirs while staying active in politics.

  Ford has campaigned for Republicans throughout the country. In 1980, he almost became Reagan’s vice-presidential candidate. He has actively supported every Republican presidential candidate since then.

  In 1999, President Clinton awarded Ford the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his many years of service to the country. Ford suffered a minor stroke at the Republican convention in 2000, but he has recuperated fully.

  Sharing Faith and Principles: Jimmy Carter

  Jimmy Carter, shown in Figure 22-2, was the Democrat least likely to win the presidency in 1976. He was the governor of a small southern state, Georgia, and had no national political experience. In earlier times, the lack of experience would have sunk any other candidacy. But, after the Watergate scandal in Richard Nixon’s term (see Chapter 21), the U.S. public was sick and tired of politics as usual. They wanted someone new — an outsider — with no ties to Washington.

  Carter ran on an outsider platform. He promised to return morality to the White House and to fight corruption in the capital. Carter’s platform was good enough to win the presidency. However, as president, Carter paid a bitter price for being an outsider. He didn’t have the connections in Congress to get his agenda passed, even though his party controlled both Houses of Congress. A declining economy and a foreign policy crisis undermined Carter. He lost his reelection bid in 1980.

  Figure 22-2: Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States.

  Courtesy of the Library of Congress

  Growing up in the South

  Jimmy Carter was born in Georgia in 1924. He grew up in the small rural town of Plains, where his father grew and brokered peanuts, and owned a local store. His father was a conservative southern Democrat who served in the Georgia legislature and favored racial segregation. His mother was a liberal nurse who favored civil rights.

  Carter attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology. He started his military career in 1943, when he entered the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He graduated in 1946, married Rosalynn Smith, his high school sweetheart, and entered the navy. He didn’t participate in any fighting while serving in the military, but he did spend many months serving on submarines.

  In 1953, Carter’s father was diagnosed with cancer. Carter returned home to take over the family business. He proved to be an excellent businessman, as he turned the small concern into a large peanut warehouse business. By the time Jimmy Carter became president, he was a millionaire.

  Carter’s early political career

  Carter’s political career started in 1960, when he won a seat on a local school board in Plains, Georgia. Two years later, he was elected to the Georgia state senate. Carter appeared to have lost the race at first, but he challenged the results, claiming vote fraud. He won the case and the seat.

  By 1966, Carter thought that he was ready for the governorship. He entered the race and finished a disappointing third. Carter didn’t take the loss lightly; he went into a major depression and thought that his political career was over. His sister encouraged him to find religion, and Carter became born again, turning himself into an Evangelical Christian. Encouraged, he ran for governor again in 1970.

  Governing Georgia

  Jimmy Carter learned from his 1966 gubernatorial run that a moderate Democrat couldn’t win in Georgia. So he turned his campaign around and ran as a conservative Democrat. He also played the race card. His campaign showed his major opponent, Carl Sanders, joking with a black athlete. The strategy won him the segregationist vote and the governorship.

  As governor, Carter changed his tune right away. He pushed for education reform, protection of the environment, and especially civil rights. In his inaugural address, he declared, “The time for racial discrimination is over.” He hung a picture of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the governor’s mansion. Carter wasn’t just talk: He actually appointed many blacks to high-level state offices.

  Running for the presidency

  As early as 1972, Carter wanted to be president. He established a campaign committee and had a detailed strategy drawn up. In 1974, the Democratic Party appointed Carter to head the Democratic National Campaign Committee, a committee in charge of raising money for Democratic candidates throughout the country. From there, he decided to make a run for the presidency.

  In early 1975, Carter announced his candidacy. He was a virtual unknown, and nobody gave him much of a chance. But Carter prevailed. He campaigned hard and kept discussion of his position vague on various issues while calling for a return to morality and an end to corruption in the federal government. Carter’s platform resonated with a public that had recently dealt with Vietnam and Watergate. Carter won 17 of the 30 primaries.

  At the Democratic convention, Carter received the nomination on the first ballot. To placate northern liberals and unions, Carter nominated liberal Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale as his vice president.

  During the campaign, Carter blew a huge lead in the polls. But he managed to hang on to win the presidency. Much of his support came from African Americans and the southern states. Carter won the presidency with 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 240. (One elector cast a vote for Ronald Reagan, who was not a candidate).

  One of the most embarrassing moments in the 1976 campaign involved Carter giving an interview to Playboy magazine, in which he said, “I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do — and I have done — and God forgives me.”

  President James Earl Carter, Jr. (1977–1981)

  Carter’s results as president were mixed. He had some successes, but at the same time, he experienced massive failures. One of his greatest mistakes was to make good on his campaign promise to rely on outsiders who didn’t have strong ties to Congress. Even though his party controlled both Houses of Congress, he had less success in dealing with Congress than did presidents who didn’t have that advant
age — George Bush, for example.

  Things started out well for Carter. On his first day in office, he pardoned all Vietnam draft evaders. He was able to get important environmental legislation passed, and he established the Department of Education to improve instructional standards throughout the United States.

  Dealing with foreign policy issues

  Carter attempted to base his foreign policy on human rights considerations. He cut off aid to friendly dictatorships if they violated human rights, which led to disastrous results. By 1978, the pro-American governments in Nicaragua and Iran had collapsed. The fall of the Shah of Iran in 1978 came back to haunt Carter. Major foreign policy events during the Carter administration include

  The Panama Canal Treaty: Despite objections by many U.S. citizens, Carter signed a treaty to return the canal to Panama by December 31, 1999. The United States reserved the right to defend the canal.

  The Camp David Accords: In September 1978, the crowning moment of the Carter administration’s foreign policy took place. Carter met with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Camp David, Maryland. After long negotiations, the Camp David Accords, which ended the state of war between Israel and Egypt, were finalized. Sadat and Begin won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the accord.