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ACCESSION Warren Burger , while Betty Ford looks on]] When Nixon resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal on Ford nominated former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to fill the vice presidency he had vacated. Rockefeller was confirmed by the House and Senate.2 NIXON PARDON On September 8 , 1974 , Ford gave Nixon a full and unconditional Pardon for any crimes he may have committed against the United States while President.34 In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country and that the Nixon family's situation "is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must."5 At the same time as he announced the Nixon pardon, Ford introduced a conditional Amnesty program for Vietnam War Draft Dodger s who had fled to countries such as Canada . 6 Unconditional amnesty, however, did not come about until the Jimmy Carter Presidency. 7 The Nixon pardon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and claimed a " Corrupt Bargain " had been struck between the men. They claimed Ford's pardon was '' Quid Pro Quo '' in exchange for Nixon's resignation that elevated Ford to the Presidency. Nixon's Chief of Staff, Alexander Haig, did in fact offer a deal to Ford. Bob Woodward , in his book ''Shadow'', recounts that Haig entered Ford's office on August 1 , 1974 while Ford was still Vice President and Nixon had yet to resign. Haig told Ford that there were three pardon options: (1) Nixon could pardon himself and resign, (2) Nixon could pardon his aides involved in Watergate and then resign, or (3) Nixon could agree to leave in return for an agreement that the new president would pardon him. After listing these options, Haig handed Ford various papers; one of these papers included a discussion of the president's legal authority to pardon and another sheet was a draft pardon form that only needed Ford's signature and Nixon's name to make it legal. Woodward summarizes the setting between Haig and Ford as follows: "Even if Haig offered no direct words on his views, the message was almost certainly sent. An emotional man, Haig was incapable of concealing his feelings; those who worked closely with him rarely found him ambiguous." Despite the situation, Ford never accepted the offer from Haig and later decided to pardon Nixon on his own terms. Regardless, historians believe the controversy was one of the major reasons Ford lost the Election In 1976 , an observation with which Ford concurred.8 In an editorial at the time, '' The New York Times '' stated that the Nixon pardon was "a profoundly unwise, divisive and unjust act" that in a stroke had destroyed the new president's "credibility as a man of judgment, candor and competence." Ford's first press secretary and close friend Jerald Franklin TerHorst resigned his post in protest after the announcement of President Nixon's full pardon. Ford also voluntarily appeared before Congress on October 17 , 1974 to give sworn testimony—the only time a sitting president has done so—about the pardon. After Ford left the White House in 1977 , intimates said that the former President privately justified his pardon of Nixon by carrying in his wallet a portion of the text of '' Burdick V. United States '', a 1915 U.S. Supreme Court decision which stated that a pardon indicated a presumption of guilt and that acceptance of a pardon was tantamount to a confession of that guilt. In 1991 , the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile In Courage Award to Ford for his pardon of Nixon. 9 ADMINISTRATION AND CABINET Upon assuming office, Ford inherited the ). Retrieved on 2006-12-31 . Ford selected . Retrieved on 2006-12-31 . Ford's transition chairman and first Chief of Staff was former congressman and ambassador . Retrieved on 2006-12-31 . Ford's dramatic reorganization of his Cabinet in the fall of 1975 has been referred to by political commentators as The " Halloween Massacre ." MIDTERM ELECTIONS See Also: United States House elections, 1974 United States Senate elections, 1974 The 1974 Congressional midterm elections took place less than three months after Ford assumed office. Occurring in the wake of the Watergate scandal, the Democratic Party was able to turn voter dissatisfaction into large gains in the , ( April 10 , 2003 ). Retrieved on 2006-12-31 . DOMESTIC POLICY in 1975]] The of Minneapolis . Retrieved on 2006-12-31 The economic focus began to change as the country sank into a mild '', ( November 8 , 1975 ). Retrieved on 2006-12-31 . Ford was confronted with a potential . Despite his reservations about how this program ultimately would be funded in an era of tight public budgeting, Ford still signed the , 1975 ). Retrieved on 2006-12-31 . Ford was an outspoken supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, issuing Presidential Proclamation 4383.
FOREIGN POLICY ese civilians scramble to board a U.S. Helicopter during the American Evacuation Of Saigon ]] All American military forces had withdrawn from Vietnam in 1973. As the North Vietnamese invaded and conquered the South in 1975, Ford ordered the final withdrawal of American civilians from Vietnam in ' Operation Frequent Wind ', and the subsequent Fall Of Saigon . On April 29 and the morning of April 30 , 1975 , the American embassy in Saigon was evacuated amidst a chaotic scene. Some 1,373 U.S. citizens and 5,595 Vietnamese and third country nationals were evacuated by military and Air America helicopters to U.S. Navy ships off-shore. in Vladivostok , November 1974, to sign a joint Communiqué on the SALT treaty]] Ford continued the Détente policy with both the Soviet Union and China, easing the tensions of the Cold War. Left-wing critics contend that in his meeting with Indonesia n president Suharto , Ford gave the green light 1112 through arms and aid to invade the former Portuguese colony East Timor . Notes from the meeting indicate that Kissinger had insisted on the consent of the population first. Still in place from the Nixon Administration was the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty . 13 The thawing relationship brought about by Nixon's Visit To China was reinforced by Ford's December 1975 visit to the communist country. 14 In 1975, the Administration entered into the Helsinki Accords 15 with the Soviet Union, creating the framework of the Helsinki Watch , an independent Non-governmental Organization created to monitor compliance that later evolved into Human Rights Watch . 16 Ford also faced a foreign policy crisis with the Mayaguez Incident . In May 1975, shortly after the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia , Cambodians seized the American merchant ship ''Mayaguez'' in international waters. Ford dispatched Marines to rescue the crew, but the Marines landed on the wrong island and met unexpectedly stiff resistance just as, unknown to the U.S., the ''Mayaguez'' sailors were being released. In the operation, forty-one U.S. servicemen were killed and fifty wounded while approximately sixty Khmer Rouge soldiers were killed. 17 Ford attended the inaugural meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations (initially the G5) in 1975 and secured membership for Canada. Ford supported international solutions to issues. "We live in an interdependent world and, therefore, must work together to resolve common economic problems," he said in a 1974 speech. 18 ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS rushing Ford to safety after an assassination attempt by Lynette Fromme]] Ford faced two and the slide had not been pulled to place a bullet in the firing chamber, making it impossible for the gun to fire. Fromme was taken into custody; she was later convicted of attempted assassination of the President and was sentenced to life in prison. 19 Seventeen days later, another woman, Sara Jane Moore , also tried to kill Ford while he was visiting San Francisco , but her attempt was thwarted when former marine Oliver Sipple deflected her shot. One person was injured when Moore fired, and she was later sentenced to life in prison.2021 SUPREME COURT APPOINTMENT In 1975, Ford appointed John Paul Stevens as Associate Justice Of The Supreme Court Of The United States to replace retiring Justice William O. Douglas . Stevens had been a judge of the United States Court Of Appeals For The Seventh Circuit , appointed by President Nixon. 22 During his tenure as House Republican leader, Ford had led efforts to have Douglas impeached. After being confirmed, Stevens eventually disappointed some conservatives by siding with the Court's Liberal wing regarding the outcome of many key issues. 23 Nevertheless, President Ford paid tribute to Stevens. "He has served his nation well," Ford said of Stevens, "with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns." 24 1976 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION , after his Nomination at the 1976 Republican Convention ]] See Also: United States presidential election, 1976 Ford reluctantly agreed to run for office in 1976, but first he had to counter a challenge for the Republican party nomination. Former '', March 29 1976 . Retrieved on 2006-12-31 . In addition to the pardon dispute and lingering anti-Republican sentiment, Ford had to counter a plethora of negative media imagery. , 2004 . Retrieved on 2006-12-31 . President Ford's 1976 election campaign had the advantage that he was an incumbent President during several anniversary events held during the period leading up to the . On July 7 , 1976 , the President and First Lady served as proud hosts at a White House state dinner for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of Great Britain, which was televised on the Public Broadcasting Service network. The 200th anniversary of the Battles Of Lexington And Concord in Massachusetts gave Ford the opportunity to deliver a speech to 110,000 in Concord acknowledging the need for a strong national defense tempered with a plea for "reconciliation, not recrimination" and "reconstruction, not rancor" between the United States and those who would pose "threats to peace."Shabecoff, Philip. "160,000 Mark Two 1775 Battles; Concord Protesters Jeer Ford -- Reconciliation Plea." New York Times, April 20, 1975, p.1. Speaking in New Hampshire on the previous day, Ford condemned the growing trend toward big government bureaucracy and argued for a return to "basic American virtues."Shabecoff, Philip. "Ford, on Bicentennial Trip, Bids U.S. Heed Old Values." New York Times, April 19, 1975, p.1. ]] Democratic nominee and former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter campaigned as an outsider and reformer; he gained support from voters dismayed by the Watergate scandal. Carter led consistently in the polls, and Ford was never able to shake voter dissatisfaction following Watergate and the Nixon pardon. . In an interview years later, Ford said he had intended to imply that the Soviets would never crush the ''spirits'' of eastern Europeans seeking independence. However, the phrasing was so awkward that questioner Max Frankel was visibly incredulous at the response.25 In the end, Carter won the election, receiving 50.1% of the popular vote and 297 . Though he lost, in the three months between the Republican National Convention and the election Ford managed to close what was once a 34-point Carter lead to a 2-point margin. In fact, the Gallup poll the day before the election showed Ford held a statistically insignificant 1-point advantage over Carter.26 Had Ford won the election, he would have been disqualified by the 22nd Amendment from running in 1980 , since he served more than 2 years of Nixon's term. |
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