I myself have quite some interest in American History (Well I’m a history buff in general so here is), and I know things about basically every american presidents (Honestly never saw a country where basically all their leaders were just as interesting lol). But of all the presidents, Gerald Ford is definitively the one I know the least about. I only know he came after Richard Nixon resigned, that he appeared in a Simpsons chapter, and that he ruled for I think 2 years or so, oh and he had a really weird face. So what are y’all thoughts on him? Was he a good president, did he did anything really relevant or was just one president of the bunch?
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He seemed like a decent guy. He was just a caretaker president, finishing out Nixon’s term. America needed something low key and bland after Nixon, and he fit the bill. A member of the Manson family tried to execute him in Sacramento, CA. He was also very clumsy and SNL was always parodying him in their skits. His wife, Betty, was an excellent person.
All I really know is that he’s our only unelected president and he is famous for falling down.
I think he did genuinely believe pardoning Nixon was for the best of the nation at the time. I also think that, at least 50 years later, it’s one of the biggest mistakes a modern President has made. He was always talked about when I was a kid because “he’s the only President from Michigan!” but it’s so difficult to look beyond the Nixon pardon.
Honestly, all I know about the guy was that he tried to implement the metric system
Presidents don’t “rule.” They are citizens we give some power to.
Ford was decent. He was the only president that wasn’t elected to president or Vice President but he did his job and got the hell out.
He isn’t considered a particularly memorable president by most.
Gerald Ford during a Presidential debate: “There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.”
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Saying that a president “ruled” is so weird and makes me feel iky inside.
He’s kind of an afterthought.
He was preceded by a major national scandal and seceded by another major national scandal. Being a sort of modest guy, Ford mostly just did his best to “duck and cover” while other people’s scandals were exploding all around him.
He did a pretty good job of making sure his fingerprints weren’t on any of the scandals, but at the cost of him being mostly forgotten.
It’s kind of a shame, since he had the qualifications and potential to possibly do great things. History just dealt him a bad hand
Very cool aircraft carrier, know almost nothing about the person.
The newest class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers is named for him. So there’s that. He was a helluva college football player. Ethically, he was everything Nixon wasn’t. He was what the country needed those years. It’s hard to explain to young people how messed up we were after Vietnam and Watergate. Shaken to our core. It’s normal now to assume the government is lying; it wasn’t before the early 70s. Pardoning Nixon can’t be looked at from now. Ford didn’t have that luxury. He had to make a decision, and he did. That’s what presidents do , even though he probably knew it would cost him the election.
He was the first person I voted for in an presidential election. I don’t regret my vote.
I don’t have any. Who?
Eagle Scout, good man, did his best
Our greatest living president, who invented both the car and likely the Oklahoma drill (sources differ).
In all honesty, though, he’s not remembered for much. I do think he had an interesting perspective on the dynamics of power in Washington, if nothing else. In a documentary episode of The West Wing I recall he said something like
> All my years in the House, I used to look up at the president and say, “How can he be so autocratic, so dictatorial?” And then I moved from one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to the other, and I’d look down and say, “How can those people be so irresponsible?”
Underrated – mocked during his time in office but a solid leader during a very difficult time. (I was in high school when Nixon resigned and Ford took office.) The man who beat him in 1976, Jimmy Carter, was the wrong person for the office at that time. Ford would have been better.
I think he is the only president that was not elected to the Vp office. Nixon appointed him after Spiro Agnew resigned, then Nixon resigned a little later.
As president, he is probably best known for pardoning Nixon.
Then there’s the clumsiness. I tend to dismiss that, as he was quite athletic–in his younger years he excelled at (gridiron) football, playing for the University of Michigan. He was also a decent golfer.
Guess what major publicly policy problem he was dealing with at the time?
Surging inflation. If you think it’s bad today, study that era.
Inflation was 12% and interest rates for mortgages averaged 9% versus around 3% now. Unemployment was over 7% versus less than 4% now. He came into office dealing with all those things at the same time. It was not an enviable position.
Also, the U.S. wasn’t completely out of Vietnam yet, the Arab oil embargo had just happened the year before, and *two* people tried to assassinate him. His predecessor had just resigned in disgrace so confidence in government was low in general.
He basically got thrown into the deep end of the pool on day one. Just about every president since then has had an easier situation. You’d probably have to go back to 1932 to find a worse situation for a president coming into office.
He ought to get a medal just for taking on the job.
My thoughts are that he is, right or wrong, defined by his decision to pardon Nixon. I think he thought it was the right thing to do and the best thing for the nation. *And* I think he knew it would cost him the election. He did it anyway.
He was not a very good president and he was soundly defeated by Jimmy Carter.
He played his College (American) football for the University of Michigan so that’s a problem. OTOH, when Georgia Tech demanded the Ford’s roommate not be allowed to play because he was black Ford backed up his teammate. And this was in 1934 so this was a big deal.
There’s definitely been worse presidents, but that doesn’t make him good. Pardoning Nixon (one of the aforementioned worse presidents—one of the most evil in fact) was the 20th century’s corrupt bargain, his conditional military deserter amnesty program was a joke, and he did absolutely nothing effective to address the staggering inflation and unemployment combo during his term. Was aloof and clumsy (Biden’s spiritual predecessor?)
I wrote him a letter when i was in school. He wrote back. He was cool
He invented one hell of a truck, that’s for sure.
Football player and male model. He was on magazine covers in the 40s.
First Lady Betty Ford deserves a moment’s appreciation for using her position of influence to bring attention to the value of (what was seen as) medically appropriate therapeutic treatment for addiction.
This concept was new and radical. Addiction was considered shameful and something people denied noticing. It was impossible to be addicted to beer!
There were a lot of attitudes in the US in the seventies that Betty Ford’s frankness about her own personal frailty, and her husband, the President’s, support of her through the process of recovery, opened up US culture to the idea of rehabilitation and sober living. That has ultimately saved a lot of lives, and arguably via cultural influence in more places than only the United States.
I’ve heard heard the argument that in D.C., the phrase “can’t walk and chew bubblegum” originated with a line LBJ used about Ford when Ford was House Minority Leader after the ‘64 election, but that the earlier line was that Ford “couldn’t shit and chew bubblegum at the same time.” So much more vivid; haven’t tracked the original quote down though (Moyers?).
I like nachos. Do you like nachos?
Idk but I heard his son was in the movie Black Hawk Down
He was really handsome when he was younger
Pardoned Nixon.
Nothing else matters.