Studying the history of the United States, any attentive reader will pay attention to the fact that the time of the presidency of Gerald Ford is the least studied. But after the end of World War II, this period in the life of a mighty power was perhaps the most tragic.
President Ford’s timeline
In fact, the rise in crime and the economic crisis have increased tensions in society. The number of citizens losing confidence in government and disappointed in American society also increased. The Vietnam War and its end, inglorious for the American state, exacerbated the situation.
Despite this, President Ford was able, thanks to his calm and balanced character, to restore citizens' confidence in the presidency and strengthen hope for a better future. During his presidency, in 1975, a joint Soviet-American flight was carried out under the Soyuz-Apollo program with the docking of spacecraft. Preparations for this event began under Nixon. In addition, at the same time in the United States solemnly celebrated the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the American Declaration of Independence.
Nevertheless, this was not enough to raise the prestige of the Republican Party, undermined by the Watergate scandal, which did not allow Gerald Ford to become president for a second term.
Gerald Ford: biography of childhood and adolescence
Gerald Rudolph Ford, the thirty-eighth president of the United States, who served from 1973 to 1976, was born July 14, 1913. This event occurred in Omaha, Nebraska. The boy's name was Leslie Lynch King. After a short period of time, the family broke up. The mother of the future head of the Oval Office, Dorothy King, remarried. This time, her chosen one was the merchant Gerald Rudolph Ford, a native of her hometown of Grand Springs. Thus, Leslie Lynch King once turned, thanks to his stepfather, in Gerald Rudolph Ford.
As a child, young Gerald was a scout, in the hierarchy of this organization he reached the very top and received the highest rank of eagle scout. In the school football team, a teenager, and then a young man, was a captain. He did not quit playing football even while studying at the University of Michigan.
After completing his studies at this alma mater in 1935, the young man continued his education at Yale Law School. Graduation - 1941.
Gerald Ford biography before his appearance in big politics
After the United States entered World War II, Gerald Ford attended special courses, where he trained military personnel as a military instructor.
In 1943, Ford's instructor career ended, and until 1946 he served on the Monterey aircraft carrier. This ship, while in the Pacific Ocean, participated in a number of military operations against the Japanese imperial fleet.
Having left the reserve, Gerald Ford returned to his city of Palm Srings, where he began to work as a practicing lawyer. Then he decided that he would take up politics.
Participation in the political life of the country in the period before joining the Oval Office
The year 1948 has come. Ford is being nominated by the Republican Party to the US House of Representatives. With a victory in these elections, his career in big politics began. Ford was repeatedly elected to this position over the years, until 1973.
Sitting in the House of Representatives, the politician participated in the investigation of the sensational murder of President Kennedy in 1963. The Warren Commission was engaged in the business, and Ford was an active member of it. True, this work did not bring any special laurels, because the results of the investigation, reported by the commission to the authorities and the public of the United States, are still being sharply criticized.
To complete the characterization of Ford politician, we note that he opposed the escalation of the Vietnam war by the United States, was a supporter and friend of President Nixon.
Reaching the pinnacle of power
In 1973, as a result of a tax scandal, Spiro Agniu, who was then vice president, was forced to resign. Using the appropriate constitutional amendment, President Nixon appointed Gerald Ford as the successor to Agnew.
A year later, the notorious Watergate scandal erupted, Nixon was threatened with impeachment. This led to the voluntary early resignation of the head of the White House. So, without elections and congresses, Vice President Gerald Ford, according to the constitution, became president of the United States, officially taking office in 1974, on August 9. Before continuing with our story, it will be appropriate to illustrate it. So, get acquainted: Gerald Ford (photo below).
Foreign policy
Regarding this area of activity, it can be argued that President Gerald Ford has left a noticeable mark on international history. Continuing the policy of easing international tension, begun by the previous president Nixon, Ford paid a visit to the USSR, continued normalization of relations with communist China, which began in 1971, and ended the Vietnam War.
However, there were also negative points. So, bypassing Congress, as directed by President Ford, a special operation was carried out in Cambodia. The US merchant ship, detained by Cambodian warships and its crew of 39 sailors, returned home unscathed, but the American Marines (41 people) were killed, and the Cambodian city of Sihanoukville was bombed from the air. In 1975, again secretly from Congress, Ford authorized assistance to anti-government forces during the Angola civil war. Gerald Ford's foreign policy, among other things, had two important areas that deserve special attention. This is a relaxation of tension and Vietnam. Next, let's talk about this in more detail.
Discharge of tension
In 1975, President Ford paid a visit to the USSR, where in Vladivostok he met with the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Leonid Brezhnev. At this meeting, they discussed the state of relations between the USSR and the USA, international problems, and ways to reduce the threat of a general nuclear war. As part of the latter problem, the issues of limiting strategic offensive arms were resolved.
Then Ford signed the Helsinki Accords on Security and Cooperation.
However, in this field, Congressional Democrats opposed the efforts of the president. Congress adopted the Jackson-Venik amendment to the 1972 trade agreement between the USSR and the USA, linking the implementation of this treaty to the situation of civil rights in the USSR.
Vietnam
A special page in American history is the participation of the States in the Vietnam War, or, as progressive politicians and journalists called it, the US Vietnamese adventure. Without dwelling on all the vicissitudes and circumstances of this painful campaign for American society, we only say that during the reign of Ford it was already known that the reason for the bombing of North Vietnam, the so-called The Tonkin incident was a fake concocted by US intelligence agencies. Almost the whole world morally or financially supported the struggle of the Vietnamese people for the independence and reunification of the country. In 1975, the DRV troops stormed Saigon, the capital of the Republic of South Vietnam, a triumphant banner was hoisted over the presidential palace.
The Americans evacuated their embassy and those Vietnamese who could not stay in the liberated country.
However, the direct participation of American troops in hostilities ended earlier, in 1973, with the signing of a peace treaty in Paris.
The influence of the war on American society was so strong that the United States canceled the military draft and switched to a contract army. This reform began under President Nixon. The last conscript left the U.S. Army in 1974.
On the whole, both society and the authorities as a result of this war were struck by the so-called Vietnamese syndrome. That is, society and the state carefully avoided the reason to be drawn into the same war. The consequences of this for a long time influenced the foreign policy of the presidents and the US Congress.
At the same time, the actions of the US administrations in previous periods to mislead public opinion, both in the international arena and in America itself, became famous.
Domestic policy
In this area, a series of actions by the president caused an increase in discontent among citizens. So, in 1974, on September 8, Ford issued a decree by which he pardoned his predecessor for everything, both becoming known and remaining undetected, misconduct against the country committed by Richard Nixon as president of the United States.
As a result of such an amnesty, although it was consistent with constitutional norms, President Gerald Ford did not have a relationship with Congress. Moreover, the majority there were for the Democrats.
So, Congress refused to cut social spending. Ford himself over the years of his reign has put more than 50 veto on various bills. In turn, Congress did not agree with the president and approved them again. Ford was defeated in the issue of discounts on income tax. The president was essentially a conservative, while congressmen — for the most part — were liberals. And, contrary to the position of the head of the White House, these discounts were given to low-income people. Thus, the domestic policy of Gerald Ford could not be effective in a constant struggle with Congress.
Economy
At the time Gerald Ford took office and during his reign, the United States was in a deep economic crisis: inflation and unemployment were constantly growing, production was in decline. The authorities were forced to significantly reduce government spending. Financing of any program that is not in one way or another connected with the needs of the Pentagon actually stopped.
Ending a political career and passing away
Despite a number of achievements and efforts, for all the efforts that Gerald Ford made, the domestic and foreign policies briefly described in this article were not widely popular in American society. Measures to reduce inflation were carried out urgently, but this caused an increase in unemployment up to 12%, the largest economic recession began in the United States since the Great Depression of 1929-1933. In 1974, Republican permanent opponents — Democrats — won the midterm elections in both houses of Congress. Next came the turn of their triumph in the race for the presidency. The next - thirty-ninth - the president of the United States was a candidate from the Democratic Party.
Gerald Ford, having lost the presidential election to a candidate from a rival party, Jimmy Carter, left the Oval Office and worked for a long time at the American Enterprise Institute.
During his tenure at the top of the power structure of the United States, Ford had to survive two failed assassination attempts on his life. Having become an ex-president, he actually left big politics.
In December 26, 2006, former US President Gerald Ford, whose domestic and foreign policies were already beginning to be forgotten, passed away, leaving four children behind. And of course, quite a noticeable mark in world history.