Was Gerald Ford's Presidency A Success Or A Failure

President Richard Nixon’s Watergate incident and resignation in August of 1974 left the nation feeling skeptic toward the national government. Gerald Ford, who was not elected by the public, took the oath of office and became the 38th president of the United States. President Ford, coined with a repugnant image in both the eyes of the public and the media, was defeated by 56 electoral votes in the election of 1976. Jimmy Carter managed to receive similar distasteful images by the end of his single term as well. Although there were similarities between Ford and Carter, the two presidents were different in terms of previous experience, domestic policies, and foreign affairs.

The election of 1980 marked a ‘new political era’ that was ushered in by President Reagan and that followed on through the presidencies of George H. W. Bush and William Jefferson Clinton. These presidents were inaugurated at different times and succeeded the successes and the failures of their predecessors. Having came from different political backgrounds and having unique political and social beliefs, Bush, Reagan, and Clinton can only be analyzed through their foreign policies, domestic policies, achievements as well as shortcomings, and legacies.

For the case of discussing Gerald Ford, one of the most important events of his time as president is how he became one. After going into Republican politics at law school, he served in the House of Representatives for decades being re-elected twelve times. Even though he has never achieved his main goal of becoming speaker of the House, he was still supported by many, even including President Richard Nixon. In 1973, Spiro Agnew resigned the office of Vice President of the United States. When there was no Vice President left,“after pleading no contest to a change of income tax evasion, President Richard Nixon was empowered by the 25th Amendment to appoint a new Vice President” (Library 2). To explain,

Imagine the U.S with an economy that was the worst since the Great Depression, a major political scandal that had caused the president to resign and now you are the president without ever being elected. Everyone is looking to you to fix their country. These are just some of the opticals he was faced with. Gerald Ford was born on July 14, 1913 in Nebraska. He later changed his name from Leslie Lynch to Gerald Ford. Ford was also an outstanding Football player who got many scholarships from colleges but he chose to go down a different path he went to Yale to teach boxing and later to become a lawyer. A couple of years later Ford worked his way to becoming Vice President. Then when Nixon had resigned Ford took office in 1976. Book

Gerald R. Ford was the 38th President of the United States, after gaining the position through extraordinary circumstances. His good will and friendly demeanor helped him climb the political ladder higher than even he had anticipated. His career in politics began with his law firm, yet ended up in the oval office. While his presidency was short lived, it is remembered due to numerous crucial decisions he had to make.

The author demonstrates President Nixon’s paranoia vividly. Another lesson learned is that presidents Clinton and Nixon are considered to be more politically cunning and knowledgeable than the other presidents reviewed, however, the two did not master their personal weaknesses. For instance President Nixon eventually had to resign due to his role in the Watergate scandal. President Ford who was the first unelected president in US’ history and he is praised for the role he played of restoring the public’s faith in government. Nixon is also described as a great historian with a great foresight. It is Nixon who is credited with shaping America’s foreign policy that ensured the US became a world leader and helped create peace with other world powers,

Throughout the centuries, the United States has had many influential presidents. Each greatly affected the nation during their time in office, and, often, this affect continued for years to come. However, despite the numerous Presidents that have served America, few have been as dynamic and single-minded as Theodore Roosevelt. Throughout his two terms in office, he began to change both how the world views the United States and how America views itself. His actions during his administration caused ripple effects the greatly impact us today. Among his major accomplishments, he imposed regulations upon powerful corporate monopolies, established federal protection of land, encouraged the growth and efficiency of the Navy, and brokered peace

When considering time between 1865 and 1945, United States history evolved and differed from period to period. It began with times of slavery and reconstruction, and proceeded with transformation in the Gilded Age. This then led to the Progressive Era, World War I, the Great Depression and its aftermath, as well as World War II. As one can see, history seems to fluctuate from times of peace and order to times of chaos and turmoil. A process of trial and error explains both how and why the U.S. changed the way it did. In other words, these periods and events reveal that history in itself is a recurring process of learning from past mistakes.

To solve the problem of the economy Ford went to congress with a program called

The late 1970’s represented a discouraging time in United States History with high unemployment rates and radical countercultural movements (History). The honeymoon stage of the 1960’s and 1970’s dreams were long over; in its place came inflation, turmoil regarding foreign policy,and crime rates that raised to an all time high (History). America was going through both foreign and domestic unrest spurring an economic crisis that eroded the public's faith in both their fellow citizens and their government. America embraced Ronald Reagan’s proposed policies in the election of 1980 because it gave them hope. Ronald Reagan qualifies as the best president because economically he revitalized the United States’ economy, utilized aggressive means to achieve his foreign policy, and created a multitude of domestic policies to strengthen the United States.

Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) was the 40th president of the United States of America from January 20, 1981 to January 20, 1989. He was a Republican and served two terms in office. He is considered by many people as one of the greatest presidents in American history. Section 1 of this paper begins by explaining why Reagan is considered a great president by many people, and also gives some background information on the state of the economy he had inherited. Section 2 reflects on Reagan’s domestic record, in particular three negative economic consequences that resulted from his policies and occurred during his presidency. Section 3 considers two aspects of Reagan’s foreign policy: the US invasion of Grenada, and the Iran-Contra

Mere minutes after President Jimmy Carter was out of office, the Iran Hostage Crisis, for which his presidency is most remembered, was over. Behind him was a disjointed foreign and confused domestic policy. When he left office, Carter’s approval rating was 34 percent, and his disapproval rating nearly twice that (Roper Center). Today, it seems that he is a better ex-President than he was a president, as evidenced in his founding of the Carter Center, his cultivation of his presidential library, his contributions to Habitat for Humanity, and his numerous other humanitarian efforts. During his term, he had a poor relationship with Congress, a low approval rating with the American people, and a lack of cohesive international or domestic policy. I believe his two greatest failures are also the two which marked his entire presidency and caused the drop in his approval ratings: the confused and faltering domestic and international policies which lasted throughout his presidency and the Iran Hostage Crisis.

ever enjoyed and a time of great stability, the nineteen-seventies would have a far sinister outcome, with energy turmoil, stagflation, and federal policy failures that saw the decade as “the only decade other than the 1930s wherein Americans ended up poorer than they began.” [9] The economy of the nineteen-seventies experienced difficulty for a number of reasons. One of the prime reasons was the 1973 Oil Embargo, which had a very serious effect on the American economy. Another major shift to occur was a move away from government and the public sector towards the private sector. The 1970s saw a major decline in the trust of the federal government, as many Americans turned away from the public sector and began having "an unusual faith in the market.” [10] The ‘Great Inflation’ of the 1970s would lead to widespread use of credit, as Schulman points out, “The experience of the Carter years turned many Americans, previously conservative in their financial dealings, into speculators and investors. To let savings sit in a bank in the age of inflation was to lose everything.” [11] The stagflation and energy problems to plague Carter’s administration left many increasingly more frustrated with their government, which would help give rise to the New Right. As Schulman points out, “Desperate taxpayers readily accepted the New Right critique of big government and the conservative promise of low taxes and

It seems that there are three main points in this section, including Gerald Ford becoming president and trying to turn things around, how Jimmy Carter went right behind him and tried to do the same thing, and the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979-1980.Gerald Ford only became the president after Nixon resigned. During his time of presidency, he made inflation sky high, the price of gas and oil higher than ever and interest rates climbed. Until reading this passage I didn’t know that Ford had pardoned the former president so that he was able to not be charged with any crime associated with the Watergate scandal. He wasn’t a good fit for president so in the election of 1976 a Democrat from Georgia named Jimmy Carter was elected. He did nothing but

The economic crisis that showed all the contradictions of capitalism led to an increase of a deep political crisis in the USA in late 1920?s. October 29, 1929 is known in the American history as the Black Tuesday. It was the date, when the American stock market collapsed. In such economically difficult situation, in November 1932, a regular presidential election took place. The Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, who spoke with the program the New Deal, came to presidency. It was a series of social liberal programs applied in the United States in 1933-1938 in response to the Great Depression. The New Deal was focused on three main principles: relief, recovery, and reform.[footnoteRef:1] They promised to bring the country to prosperity and economically stable future. However, the Conservatives criticized the New Deal during the whole period of the reforms. It was expressed by Herbert Hoover in Anti-New Deal Campaign Speech in 1936 and Minnie Hardin in 1937 in a Letter to Eleanor Roosevelt. [1: (notes)]