Gerald Ford was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. After his tenure's end, Ford was active in the public sphere, traveling, writing a memoir, and voicing his opinion about contemporary issues within the United States and abroad.
Early activities The Nixon pardon controversy eventually subsided. Ford's successor, Jimmy Carter, opened his 1977 inaugural address by praising the outgoing President, saying, "For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land." After leaving the White House, the Fords moved to Denver, Colorado. Ford successfully invested in oil with Marvin Davis, which later provided an income for Ford's children. He continued to make appearances at events of historical and ceremonial significance to the nation, such as presidential inaugurals and memorial services.Perrone, Marguerite. "Eisenhower Fellowship: A History 1953–2003". 2003.
In January 1977, he became the president of Eisenhower Fellowships in Philadelphia, then served as the chairman of its board of trustees from 1980 to 1986. Later in 1977, he reluctantly agreed to be interviewed by James M. Naughton, a New York Times journalist who was given the assignment to write the former President's advance obituary, an article that would be updated prior to its eventual publication.
In 1979, Ford published his autobiography, A Time to Heal (Harper/Reader's Digest, 454 pages). A review in Foreign Affairs described it as, "Serene, unruffled, unpretentious, like the author. This is the shortest and most honest of recent presidential memoirs, but there are no surprises, no deep probings of motives or events. No more here than meets the eye."
Like Presidents Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Clinton, Ford was an honorary co-chair of the Council for Excellence in Government, a group dedicated to excellence in government performance, which provides leadership training to top federal employees. He also devoted much time to his love of golf, often playing both privately and in public events with comedian Bob Hope, a longtime friend. In 1977, he shot a hole in one during a Pro-am held in conjunction with the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic at Colonial Country Club in Memphis, Tennessee. He hosted the Jerry Ford Invitational in Vail, Colorado from 1977 to 1996.
In 1977, Ford established the Gerald R. Ford Institute of Public Policy at Albion College in Albion, Michigan, to give undergraduates training in public policy. In April 1981, he opened the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the north campus of his alma mater, the University of Michigan, followed in September by the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids.
In October 1977, Ford traveled to New Jersey to campaign for gubernatorial candidate Raymond Bateman to replace Brendan Byrne as Governor of New Jersey. Ford used his appearances to criticize the policies of both Bryne and President Carter.
In August 1980, Ford traveled to Tokyo to participate in a seminar for the twentieth anniversary of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan and meet with Prime Minister of Japan Zenko Suzuki for international discussions.
Presidential politics 1980 Ford considered a run for the Republican nomination in 1980, foregoing numerous opportunities to serve on corporate boards to keep his options open for a rematch with Carter. The 22nd Amendment allowed Ford to run for another term but he would've been ineligible to run again in 1984 if he had won in 1980. Ford attacked Carter's conduct of the SALT II negotiations and foreign policy in the Middle East and Africa. Many have argued that Ford also wanted to exorcise his image as an "Accidental President" and to win a term in his own right.
Ford believed the more conservative Ronald Reagan would be unable to defeat Carter and would hand the incumbent a second term. Ford was encouraged by his former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger as well as Jim Rhodes of Ohio and Bill Clements of Texas to make the race. On March 15, 1980, Ford announced that he would forgo a run for the Republican nomination, vowing to support the eventual nominee.
After securing the Republican nomination in 1980, Ronald Reagan considered his former rival Ford as a potential vice-presidential running mate, but negotiations between the Reagan and Ford camps at the Republican National Convention were unsuccessful. Ford conditioned his acceptance on Reagan's agreement to an unprecedented "co-presidency", giving Ford the power to control key executive branch appointments (such as Kissinger as Secretary of State and Alan Greenspan as Treasury Secretary). No presidential nominee before or since ever had ever been so presumptuous to bargain away the prerogatives of the office prior to election. After rejecting these terms, Reagan offered the vice-presidential nomination instead to George H. W. Bush.Allen, Richard V. "How the Bush Dynasty Almost Wasn't" , Hoover Institution, reprinted from the New York Times Magazine, July 30, 2000. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
Ford appeared in a campaign commercial for the Reagan-Bush ticket, in which he declared that the country would be "better served by a Reagan presidency rather than a continuation of the weak and politically expedient policies of Jimmy Carter". On October 8, 1980, Ford said President Nixon's involvement in the general election potentially could negatively impact the Reagan campaign: "I think it would have been much more helpful if Mr. Nixon had stayed in the background during this campaign. It would have been much more beneficial to Ronald Reagan." Reflecting on Carter's re-election campaign that year, Ford stated, "I sure didn't want Jimmy Carter to be president again in 1980 because I was very sour on his performance as president."
1988 Ford delivered an address at the 1988 Republican National Convention in defense of Vice President Bush against Democratic Party assertions that Bush had been absent in times of significance.
In a September speech in Burlington, Vermont, Ford criticized Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis as having ideas without plans for their financing and stated the US would go bankrupt over the proposed healthcare plan of the Dukakis campaign.
In October, Ford partnered with Carter to appear in advertisements created by J. Walter Thompson encouraging voter turnout.
1992 At the 1992 Republican National Convention, Ford compared the election cycle to his 1976 loss to Carter and urged attention be paid to electing a Republican Congress: "If it's change you want on Nov. 3, my friends, the place to start is not at the White House but in the United States' Capitol. Congress, as every school child knows, has the power of the purse. For nearly 40 years, Democratic majorities have held to the time-tested New Deal formula, tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect."
In an October 1992 speech to community bankers in Rancho Mirage, Ford stressed the need for the 103rd United States Congress to relieve regulatory burdens on banks and said increased regulations had heightened the cost for institutions.
1996 Ford spoke at the 1996 Republican National Convention, when the party nominated Bob Dole (his 1976 running mate) for president against incumbent Democrat Bill Clinton. In his speech, Ford quipped, "when I suddenly found myself President, I said I was a Ford, not a Lincoln. Today, what we have in the White House is neither a Ford or a Lincoln. What we have is a convertible Dodge. Isn't it time for a trade-in?"
Middle East In January and February 1979, the Fords traveled to the Middle East for two weeks, the couple's first time ever traveling to the region. Ford's office announced the trip on January 14.
Following the 1981 assassination of Anwar Sadat, Ford stated the sale of AWACS planes to Saudi Arabia had become more important to the stabilizing of the Middle East and said the Reagan administration would be required to strengthen relations with other Arab countries. He also predicted that the passage of President Reagan's proposal on the Saudi arms package would have a heightened chance of being approved by Congress due to Sadat's death. In October 1981, during a joint interview with Carter, Ford stated that he believed peace could only be achieved in the Middle East with American recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization, breaking with the views espoused by President Reagan.
After the 1983 resignation of Menachem Begin as Israeli Prime Minister, Ford told reporters ahead of attending a meeting of the presidential bipartisan commission on Central America that he hoped new leadership would bring about more flexible policies within the Middle East.
In April 1984, during a press conference at Fairfield University, Ford charged the personal objectives of Lebanese leaders with hampering with efforts toward achieving peace within the Middle East and stated the Reagan administration was correct in choosing to remove troops from Lebanon.
On January 30, 1991, in an address to students of the University of California, Irvine, Ford stated Iraqi President Saddam Hussein should be purged of his position following allied forces prevailing against Iraqi troops as he believed it was "in the best interests of the Iraqi people". Saddam would remain in his position until the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Views on successors Jimmy Carter On March 23, 1977, during a speech at the Union Club, Ford stated that the Soviet Union was engaging in a buildup that would worsen the chance for an arms accord. Ford's prepared text stated that Paul C. Warnke narrowly being confirmed as President Carter's chief negotiator on arms had been a warning to the Soviet Union on its continued buildup. The following day, Ford returned to Washington and met with President Carter. On June 30, after President Carter announced his decision to cancel the B1 bomber, Ford told newsmen that he disagreed and that Carter was gambling "on a cruise missile system that is still in the research and development stage."
On August 16, Ford stated his support for the Carter administration's Panama Canal agreement, saying that he was convinced the treaty's approval would be "in the national interest of the United States" and urged quick approval by the Senate. On October 19, Ford delivered an address to a group of business economists at the Pierre Hotel, calling on the Carter administration to pursue a $20 billion to $25 billion annual tax cut immediately.
On February 19, 1978, Ford advocated that Carter invoke the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 to assist with quelling the coal crisis, which he stated would benefit Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections should it persist. On April 6, while attending a Republican Party fundraiser dinner in Los Angeles, Ford stated the national defense program had not been fully funded under the administration of his immediate successor and the consequence had been the encouragement of the expansion of communism through both actual and believed weaknesses within the military. On December 13, during a speech at a luncheon meeting of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Ford stated that Congress "is just not prepared for crisis management" of American foreign policy and sympathized with Carter over troubles pertaining to the economy and other branches of the government.
On October 3, 1980, Ford cast blame on Carter for the latter's charges of ineffectiveness on the part of the Federal Reserve Board due to his appointing of most of its members: "President Carter, when the going gets tough, will do anything to save his own political skin. This latest action by the president is cowardly."