Other than the Pardon, what Gerald Ford's legacy?

Question

I think the most important thing he did was try to heal the nation after Watergate. He always tried to do what was right, not what was popular. His signing of the Helsinki Accords helped reduce East/West tension. He was clumsy, but was one of the best athletes to ever occupy the White House (according to ESPN).

Answer 1

When the US was in a very divided state after Watergate, he took a bipartisan line. This made him very popular at first, he went up to a 70% approval rating. By giving Nixon the pardon, which does imply guilt, he effectively committed political suicide. But he did it because it was what the country needed at that point but not what it wanted. He was a man of great integrity and put the country before his own ambitions. I believe this is what made him a great man.

Answer 2

Gerald Ford had to prove he was worthy of the presidency because he had been appointed Vice President and was not elected to the position. Also, Ford was the first person to become President of the United States without having been elected to the office of Vice-President or President. Ford also had to show he was trustworthy and pick up the pieces after the resignation of Nixon during the Watergate scandal.

Answer 3

He was NOT clumsy!! That was a myth propagated by Chevy Chase. He WAS a man of high integrity and a voice for peace and reconciliation. He did the right thing by pardoning President Nixon, and for that he paid a high price by losing the next election. His legacy is that he was just s good, all-around human being who always did he best and usually succeeded.

Chow!

Answer 4

President Ford also gave amnesty to all the Draft Dodgers from the Viet Nam era, and that was a blessing for it was an admission for the people of America that Freedom of choice was important, and that there were mistakes made in that conflict as well, as heal many families that suffered from all the losses.
His wife did so much for the health of the public when there was so much stress in those positions of politics, there were many drug and alcohol problems and she opened her Clinic to admit to that as well. They were the most human that I had ever seen to be in that supreme position. They were down to earth and reasonable.Not Deities for the public to worship, and they admitted to err is human.

Answer 5

Ford did not get to DO a lot of things because he was stuck with a very Democratic congress. He TRIED to do a lot of things, but they got stuck in Congress. One of the things they stopped him from doing was living up to our treaty obligations in Viet Nam.

When we left Viet Nam in 1972 we signed a treaty saying we would help the South Vietnamese if the North ever attacked. The North tried an attack in 1972, but they got stopped cold by the South Vietnamese Army and U.S. air support. When they tried again in 1975 Ford tried to get Congress to let us bomb North Vietnamese troops, but they wouldn't let him. He tried to send money and ammunition and weapons to South Vietnam, but again Congress voted it down. Because of that South Vietnam fell to the Communists, and Cambodia fell to the Khemer Rouge, (which is where the Killing Fields come from). About the only thing Ford could do was open up the US to any South Vietnamese who could get here, and there was a semi-successful evacuation of SOME of the South Vietnamese that had helped us from Siagon.

One of the best things Ford did was to veto a lot of really BAD ideas that came out of Congress. He couldn't do a whole lot of good, Congress wouldn't let him and he was only there for a couple of years, but he was able to stop a lot of really stupid things from happening... well for three years. Then Carter got elected and the Democrats got to do all the stupid things Ford vetoed. The result was that the economy TANKED. Double Digit inflation and high unemployement at the same time.

He kept the world from blowing up during the Cold War, and worked on Nuclear Arms Limitation Treaties with the USSR. Under his administration they had the Apollo/Soyuz test project where we and the Russians flew our first joint space mission. He introduced Alan Greenspan to Washington D.C. which may have been the most important thing he did.

Also a lot of people that went on to do great things in Reagan and Bush and Bush II administrations got their start working for Ford in Washington.

Lastly, in 1976 he ran the most sucessful political campaign in American History. He started out thirty points behind Carter and wound up two points behind on election day. If he'd had another week he probably would have won it.

He signed the treaty that gave Panama back the Canal.

Most importantly he was indirectly responsible for the rise of Ronald Reagan. Reagan challenged him for the GOP Presidental nomination, and came within a cats whisker of getting it. Because of this campaign Reagan had a big lead in the race for the GOP nomination in 1980. Because Carter was such a horrible disaster as a President Reagan was able to crush him in the 1980 election, and go on to win the Cold War, and rebuild the economy.

BTW It was CARTER that pardoned the Vietnam Draft Dodgers, not Ford. Ford had to much honor to do that.

Answer 6

It was the Ford Administration that attempted to focus attention on inflation by coming up with the slogan "Whip Inflation Now". They had campaign buttons printed with the acronym, "WIN".
He was good man who did his job to the best of his ability. Go rest high on the mountain, Sir.

Answer 7

Funny the things we remember. What I remember best is that one of our war ships was being held in Asia and Ford didn't back down. And he got our ship and all of its crew back in one piece. And he did it without fanfare.

Answer 8

Becasuse of the pardon, he left many unanswered questions. Although he did not reduce taxes, the fact that he did little else makes him popular with Republicans.