Presidential Elections - Part 2

Almost immediately after Gerald Ford took office, he gave Richard Nixon a full pardon. My understanding is it was to put the incident to rest so the US could move forward. Many did not like this at all. The media portrayed President Ford as a bumbling oaf even though he’d been a star football player at Michigan who could have played in the NFL. Chevy Chase portrayed him to comedic effect on a new show called Saturday Night Live. I remember also the Swine Flu debacle. Several people ended up with a strain of the flu called the Swine Flu. The government hurriedly rushed out a vaccine (I remember a picture of a smiling President Ford being vaccinated). Multiple people died after receiving it and it was just as quickly pulled back. I remember going to my pediatrician to get one and being told it had been pulled back.

As the year of our bicentennial arrived in 1976, the presidential primaries came along. President Ford withstood a stiff challenge from the former governor of California – Ronald Reagan. Several candidates jockeyed for the Democratic nomination. An unknown guy who’d been a peanut farmer and the governor of Georgia emerged as the candidate – Jimmy Carter. He campaigned as being a Washington outsider and beat out a host of other more well-known Democrats such as Jerry Brown, Henry “Scoop” Jackson and Mo Udall. He took a huge lead in the polls as the start over Ford. The race began to tighten as the months went on. Carter made a major gaffe when he admitted in a Playboy interview that he had “looked on a lot of women with lust” admitting he’d “committed adultery in his heart many times” (Matthew 5:28). By the time the election arrived, the election polls showed a very close race.

I remember my mom taking us to the Republican campaign headquarters to pick up bumper stickers, signs and brochures for President Ford. I also remember this ad he started running. Election day came and I remember staying glued to the TV as the results came in. Jimmy Carter carried just about every southern state (including Kentucky and the last time to date a Democratic would win it - Texas). Ford began to pick up other states including states like Illinois and Michigan. Ford took California to tighten the Electoral Vote count. When I finally went to bed, the race still wasn’t decided. Finally, early that morning, Carter went over the required number of Electoral votes to win. Ford actually won more states, but Carter won the Popular Vote and Electoral Vote. As you’d expect, I was pretty disappointed.

How did Ford lose? One, many people did not approve of the pardon he’d given Richard Nixon. Two, his choice of vice president was Bob Dole (who we’ll hear from again later) who wasn’t the best in my mind. My thought was if he’d chosen a VP candidate from the south, he’d have broken up the “Solid South” that helped propel Carter to victory.

President Carter started his term with an executive order declaring amnesty for Vietnam War draft evaders. As his term went on, more and more problems arose. I’ve talked for a while now, so I’ll talk about that and my previously promised discussion of the 1980 Presidential Election, who I voted for and why in my next post.