The Ford Administration
Domestic Policy
CIA Secrets released
Initiative to look into allegations headed by the VP
Former agents wrote exposes and reporters
wrote about leaks that they were able to exploit
Had to fix stagflation
Recession deepened and unemployment rose
Only focused in inflation
Combated with WIN
Tried to restore public faith in government
No one seemed to believe in the words
of their political leaders as a result of
Watergate
Selected Nelson Rockefeller as VP
NY Governor
Whip Inflation Now
Failure
Worsened the economy
Reduce government intervention
Create vegetable gardens
Small Government
WIN
Path to the White House
Selected by Nixon after the resignation
of Spiro Agnew
Some doubt in the eyes of the public,
especially due to his pardon of Nixon
As per the 25th amendment Agnew would
have been president
Foreign Policy
Detente with the Soviets
Adopting realpolitik
Kissinger´s policy of containment
Energy policy became a battleground
Ford wanted to raise the price of domestic oil
He thought that the gas would be rationed and
would drive down oil consumption
Defeat of South Vietnam by the North
People fled by boat
One of the largest mass migrations
by sea in history
Called boat people
Many had worked with Americans
and didn't want to live under a
North Vietnamese regime
Khmer Rouge seized an American ship
Ford sent in Marines to free the ship
Called the Mayaguez
SALT II Treaty
USSR and US pledged to limit nuclear arms production
Helsinki Accords
Put the nations of Europe on record
Brezhnev and Ford met to allow all
Europeans to be entitled to basic rights
Wanted to continue foreign policy of
Nixon administration
Fall of Saigon
Operation Babylift
Knew that the fall of the
city was helpless
To help orphans
Ford appeared to be
helpless
Embarrassment for Americans
Political Background
Positive presidential image
Friendlier than Nixon
Some media sources said he was 'faking presidency'
in that he didn't really act like a president
Many saw him as a nice person
Gerald Ford survived two assassination attempts
The second was Lynette Fromme
One was an FBI informant named Sara Jane Moore
Both were in California
Despite his time serving in Congress,
Ford had a rocky relationship with them
Ford ended up vetoing a few pieces
of legislation that Congress passed anyway
Was a House minority leader
Used to be a member of the House of Representatives
