Gerald Ford

A

3

Economic Difficulties

Ford had the misfortune to inherit the weakest U.S. economy of the post-World War II period. He faced three major problems: rising inflation, unemployment, and energy use. Inflation had risen with government spending for social programs and the Vietnam War (1959-1975), as well as a dramatic rise in world oil prices after 1973. At the same time production decreased and unemployment began to rise, reaching 9 percent, the highest since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

To attack inflation, he attempted to restrict spending on social programs and vetoed more than 50 bills. During his term, the annual inflation rate fell from 11.2 to 5.3 percent. To control unemployment, Ford tried to create jobs by cutting the taxes of upper-income people so that they would buy more goods, but he resisted demands for government-sponsored public works projects to create jobs. At first Congress blocked Ford’s attempt to cut taxes and reduce government spending. However, in 1976 Congress passed what became the Tax Reform Act of 1976, which cut taxes even more than Ford had proposed. Ford signed the act, but argued that tax cuts that large would weaken the economy.

World oil prices had increased after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) refused to export oil to Western nations friendly to Israel following the start of the Arab-Israeli War of 1973 between Israel, Syria, and Egypt. Congress also hindered Ford’s attempt to deregulate the price of domestic oil, so that its cost would rise and perhaps reduce oil consumption and stimulate domestic production at the same time. Consequently, as oil prices increased, Ford was forced to rely on voluntary measures to conserve energy. The administration pleaded with people to cut their energy consumption. Citizens who signed a pledge agreeing to save energy were sent a button with the acronym WIN (Whip Inflation Now) in bright blue letters. WIN buttons were soon the object of jokes in the press, which saw them as the symbol of an administration that was incapable of dealing with the nation’s problems.

B

Foreign Affairs

B

1

Vietnam War

Ford also inherited the Vietnam War, in which Communist guerrillas attempted to overthrow the government of South Vietnam; the guerrillas were supported by the Communist government of North Vietnam. Eventually the struggle involved other Southeast Asian nations and the United States. By the time Ford became president, all U.S. fighting forces had been withdrawn from Vietnam. However, conservatives who were strongly opposed to Communism urged Ford to give more money to South Vietnam to help that country defend itself against a final North Vietnamese invasion that everyone assumed would soon occur. Ford agreed and offered several appropriations bills that would have given South Vietnam greater U.S. support.

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After the 1974 congressional elections, however, few members of Congress favored more aid to South Vietnam. Congress rejected the bills in 1975, despite conservative criticism that to abandon South Vietnam would reduce U.S. influence because other nations would be unable to rely on U.S. support.

In an attempt to appeal to those who wanted to leave the problems of the war behind them, Ford offered amnesty to men who had evaded the military draft, or conscription, but the program was met with skepticism from Democrats and hostility from conservative Republicans. Only about 20,000 of the estimated 100,000 draft evaders applied for amnesty.

In the spring of 1975 the North Vietnamese began what was to be the last offensive in the war. Only a small contingent of American security personnel and U.S. embassy personnel remained in Saigon, the South Vietnamese capital, and in April 1975 Ford ordered their evacuation. On April 23, 1975, at Tulane University, Ford announced that the war in Vietnam was “finished as far as America is concerned.” One week later, North Vietnam captured Saigon and the South Vietnamese government surrendered, ending the war.

B

2

Mayaguez Incident

Perhaps because of the humiliation in Vietnam, the administration reacted quickly and strongly when Cambodian Communists seized an American commercial vessel, the Mayaguez, in the Gulf of Siam (Thailand) only 13 days after Ford’s speech at Tulane. The 30 members of the crew were taken from the ship and held hostage. Despite the fact that U.S. intelligence services were not certain where the crew was being held, Ford ordered the bombing of the Cambodian mainland and an amphibious invasion of nearby Koh Tang Island. This show of force helped free the crew of the Mayaguez, but more Americans were killed in the operation than were rescued. Ford argued later that the rescue mission was a justifiable response to a nation taking U.S. citizens as hostages; others argued that it was overkill, designed to improve Ford’s standing in the public opinion polls.

B

3

Cold War

Ford’s policies toward the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) were also opposed by both Democrats and conservative Republicans. The most controversial issue was the Helsinki Accords, which recognized the existing frontiers between states, including those that separated West and East Germany. In return for this provision, which implicitly acknowledged Soviet domination in Eastern Europe, the USSR agreed to respect basic human rights, to ease travel restrictions both to and from and within the USSR, and to allow freer dissemination of information.

Although newspaper reports charged the USSR with numerous human rights violations, including refusal to allow the emigration of Soviet Jews, Ford signed the accords, which he considered a political necessity. He personally attended the signing in Finland in August 1975. Opponents of Communism attacked the accords, accusing Ford of placing interests of the USSR over those of the United States. Even an accord halting the fighting between the Israelis and the Egyptians, signed in September 1975 and arranged by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, did little to stem Republican criticism of Ford’s foreign policy. Ford also continued negotiations to return control of the Panama Canal to Panama, which further angered U.S. conservatives.

C

1976 Republican Primaries

Ronald Reagan, who opposed the Helsinki Accords, announced his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in the fall of 1975. Hoping to win favor from Reagan supporters, Ford then asked Nelson Rockefeller—who had been chosen in part to help the more conservative Ford win the support of Republican moderates—to withdraw from consideration for the vice presidency in the 1976 campaign, which Rockefeller did. However, the episode angered Republican moderates.

In addition, the move did little to hinder Reagan’s challenge. Reagan, a former motion-picture actor, had an engaging speaking style, but he did not appear to have a focused platform. He criticized the Nixon and Ford administrations and called for a general housecleaning in the federal government. Ford narrowly won the New Hampshire Republican primary in March 1976, but rather than withdrawing from the race, Reagan changed his tactics. He began to hammer at the Ford administration for its decision to pursue a Panama Canal treaty. Ford argued that such a treaty would prevent another Vietnam War in Latin America, which might occur if the United States were required to defend the canal. Reagan responded by arguing: “We built it, we paid for it, it’s ours, and we are going to keep it!”

Reagan's stance was a major factor in defeating Ford in the North Carolina and Texas primaries, but Ford’s support in the Republican Party was sufficient. At the 1976 Republican National Convention, Ford narrowly won the nomination, and, on Reagan’s recommendation, chose U.S. Senator Robert Dole of Kansas as his running mate.

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