Is anyone here old enough ( like me) to remember President Ford when he was in office?

Question

What memory do you have?

Answer 1

I have to disagree with a lot of the people here on this. I was 18 years old when Ford became president. Think about this: how "clumsy" would YOU look if you had a camera on your every move for 18 hours a day? Think about that! How many times a day do you but your knee on a desk drawer or hit your funny bone...or for God's sake, let slip a fart!!! Imagine THAT as the lead story on the evening news!!! Ford was a great athlete...he was an avid skier and remember, too, he was drafted by BOTH the Packers and the Bears but chose to go to law school instead.

He was percieved as a "do-nothing" president because he had an obstructionist Democratic House (led by Tip O'Neill) and Senate. But remember, vetoed more bills in a shorter time than any other president since Congress wouldn't listen at all to him.

At the time I disagreed STRONGLY about the pardon. I thought it was a dirty deal because I like everyone else wanted Nixon's head on a pike. But you know...in retrospect Ford was right because Nixon would have drgged this country through HELL for YEARS as he fought every inch of the way. The what would the country be like?

I don't think Ford losing in 1976 to Carter was entirely all about the pardon. Remember there was also high gas prices, inflation, recession, etc. People were voting with their pocket books. Carter was the ultimate outsider. Unfortunately, he was so outside that he was clueless. And still is.

Ford won't be listed as a giant among presidents, but he deserves some credit as a good and decent man who gave the country some time and space to heal.

Answer 2

Honey, Truman was in office when I was born. See I am older than dirt. Yes, I remember when Ford was put in office, I remember the bull he went thru when he pardoned Nixon, too. Which I think was a good thing. Ford couldn't do as much for this country as he would liked to have, CONGRESS AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES stop him from doing it. He was just a man that held the highest office in this land, but he did not run the country. People want to put the blame on the President all the time, yes, he can veto bills and sign them, BUT he can be vetoed too if Congress, and etc. does not want it happening.
He did not get us in a worthless war. He was not the one that got this country in the red. He did what he could in the short time he was in office.

Go ahead all of you can give me a thumbs down, I don't care. Just the facts, folks, just the facts.

Answer 3

I remember, WIN buttons - remember those? Whip Inflation Now.

And the infamous pardon of Nixon after he told us in his first speech as president "our long national nightmare is over." But he and Nixon were best of friends, so why not?

How can we forget Chevy Chase and his Ford impersonations on Saturday Night Live back when it was good? Made a star out of Chase. And Ford, because he was a man of the people, laughed along with everyone else and even appeared on SNL - think of the security headaches that caused!

Answer 4

My first real memory of politics was Former President Ford’s televised pardon of Former President Nixon. That was the first time I became interested in politics or even cared. I was 12 years old. It is a moment in time that will live in my memories forever just as if it happened yesterday.

Answer 5

Isn't it funny hearinging "history" on the news that you remember very clearly? They keep he healed the country-I remember a lot of anger that he was pardoned. He and Nixon were very good friends and there was talk that they made a deal before Nixon was re-elected. Nixon's Vice president-Agnew left and there was ford, who became president a few months later. (Nixon was re-elected although Watergate was beginning to break-but that was seen as one of those conspiracy theories until after the election.)

And I remember Chevy Chase did the best Ford impression on Saturday Night Live.

Answer 6

Sorry to say, I am old enough-and then some. My memory is that he pardoned Nixon-which I agreed with. They showed an old interview last night in which he explained that he pardoned Nixon because it would have taken so long for the trial and although Ford felt Nixon would have been convicted-it would have disrupted the country for 3-5 years. So he pardoned him.

Answer 7

Though I was still living in Europe at the time I do remember him. I especially remember the tripping over and the pardoning of Nixon. I think that he did the right thing though it cost him. It seems that people just wanted their pound of flesh, kind of like when the Romans use to like seeing the Christians thrown to the lions. That spectacle would have really been to ugly.
BTW, I am old enough to remember Kennedy being shot. That really resonated around the world. I was a very little kid at the time still learning to spell my name and other very basic words, I remember that because while it was on TV, I asked my mom to teach me how to spell Kennedy instead of some other word I was learning at the time.

Answer 8

I do remember Ford in office. I remember him pardoning Nixon and inspiring a lot of rage against the office. This was the reason that he wasn't re-elected. The US public isn't very forgiving. I also remember him stealing my right to privacy, and signing bills that eliminated a lot of my civil liberties.

I do not remember him fondly, but I hear he was a really good golfer.

Answer 9

Yes I remember President Ford - mostly as a rather dull man who had a tendency to fall down at golf courses and down the steps of Air Force One...
I believe the press corp dubbed him "Fall-down Ford". That would be the same press and media that is gushing all over the funeral now.

Answer 10

When I was born Dwight Eisenhower was the President.

President Ford was do nothing president, there is nothing good or bad to say about him. But what can you expect from a President who was not elected.