The Ford Administration

Used to be a member of the House of Representatives

Was a House minority leader

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

Gerald Ford survived two assassination attempts

Both were in California

One was an FBI informant named Sara Jane Moore

The second was Lynette Fromme

Positive presidential image

Many saw him as a nice person

Some media sources said he was 'faking presidency'
in that he didn't really act like a president

Friendlier than Nixon

Fall of Saigon

Ford appeared to be
helpless

Embarrassment for Americans

Operation Babylift

To help orphans

Knew that the fall of the
city was helpless

Wanted to continue foreign policy of
Nixon administration

Helsinki Accords

Brezhnev and Ford met to allow all
Europeans to be entitled to basic rights

Put the nations of Europe on record

SALT II Treaty

USSR and US pledged to limit nuclear arms production

Khmer Rouge seized an American ship

Called the Mayaguez

Ford sent in Marines to free the ship

Defeat of South Vietnam by the North

Many had worked with Americans
and didn't want to live under a
North Vietnamese regime

People fled by boat

Called boat people

One of the largest mass migrations
by sea in history

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

Detente with the Soviets

Kissinger´s policy of containment

Adopting realpolitik

Selected by Nixon after the resignation
of Spiro Agnew

As per the 25th amendment Agnew would
have been president

Some doubt in the eyes of the public,
especially due to his pardon of Nixon

Whip Inflation Now

WIN

Small Government

Create vegetable gardens

Reduce government intervention

Failure

Worsened the economy

Tried to restore public faith in government

Selected Nelson Rockefeller as VP

NY Governor

No one seemed to believe in the words
of their political leaders as a result of
Watergate

Had to fix stagflation

Combated with WIN

Only focused in inflation

Recession deepened and unemployment rose

CIA Secrets released

Former agents wrote exposes and reporters
wrote about leaks that they were able to exploit

Initiative to look into allegations headed by the VP