Presidency of Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford served 29 months as President from 1974 to 1977.

Accession

When President Richard Nixon resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal on August 9, 1974, Ford assumed the presidency. Immediately after taking the oath of office in the East Room of the White House, he spoke to the assembled audience in a speech broadcast live to the nation. Ford noted the peculiarity of his position: "I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your president with your prayers."cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1974 | url = http://watergate.info/ford/ford-swearing-in.shtml| title = Remarks By President Gerald Ford On Taking the Oath Of Office As President | format = | work = | publisher = Watergate.info | accessdate = 2006-12-28] On August 20 Ford nominated former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller to fill the vice presidency he had vacated. Rockefeller was confirmed by the House and Senate.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | url = http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000363| title = ROCKEFELLER, Nelson Aldrich (1908–1979) | format = | work = Biographical Directory of the United States Congress | publisher = US Congress | accessdate = 2006-12-28] , being sworn in December 19, 1974.

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.cite web | last = Ford | first = Gerald | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1974-09-08 | url = http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/speeches/740061.htm| title =President Gerald R. Ford's Proclamation 4311, Granting a Pardon to Richard Nixon | format = | work = Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum| publisher = University of Texas | accessdate = 2006-12-30] cite web | last = Ford | first = Gerald | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1974-09-08 | url = http://narademo.umiacs.umd.edu/cgi-bin/isadg/viewitem.pl?item=100775| title = Presidential Proclamation 4311 by President Gerald R. Ford granting a pardon to Richard M. Nixon | format = | work = Pardon images| publisher = University of Maryland | accessdate = 2006-12-30] 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."cite web | last = Ford | first = Gerald | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1974-09-08 | url = http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/ford.htm| title =Gerald R. Ford Pardoning Richard Nixon | format = | work = Great Speeches Collection| publisher = The History Place | accessdate = 2006-12-30] At the same time as he announced the Nixon pardon, Ford introduced a conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War draft dodgers who had fled to countries such as Canada. cite web | last = Bacon | first = Paul | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | url = http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/speeches/740061.htm| title =The Pardoning President | format = | work = | publisher = Public Broadcasting System | accessdate = 2006-12-30] Unconditional amnesty, however, did not come about until the Jimmy Carter Presidency. cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1977-01-21| url = http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/vietnam/vietnam_1-21-77.html| title =Carter's Pardon | format = | work = McNeil/Lehrer Report| publisher = Public Broadcasting System | accessdate =2006-12-30]

The Nixon pardon was highly controversial. Critics derided the move and claimed a "corrupt bargain" had been struck between the men. cite book |last = Kunhardt, Jr. |first = Phillip |origyear = 1999 |url = http://www.americanpresident.org/history/geraldford/biography/resources/ArticlesCopy1/KunhardtFordBio.article.shtml |title = Gerald R. Ford "Healing the Nation" |pages=pp. 79–85 |publisher = Riverhead Books |location = New York |accessdate = 2006-12-28] 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.cite news |first= Scott |last= Shane |authorlink= |author= |coauthors= |title= For Ford, Pardon Decision Was Always Clear-Cut|url= |format= |work= |publisher= The New York Times|id= |page= A1 |date= |accessdate= 2006-12-29 |quote= ] 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." cite web |year =2006-12-28 |url = http://www.pbs.org/newshour/character/essays/ford.html |title = Gerald R. Ford |work = Editorial |publisher = The New York Times |accessdate = 2006-12-29]

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. cite web |url =http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/grf/timeline.asp |title = Timeline of President Ford's Life and Career |work = Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum|publisher = Gerald R. Ford Library |accessdate = 2006-12-28]

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. cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 2001-05-01| url = http://www.jfklibrary.org/Education+and+Public+Programs/Profile+in+Courage+Award/Award+Recipients/Gerald+Ford/Award+Announcement.htm| title =Award Announcement | format = | work = | publisher = JFK Library Foundation | accessdate =2007-03-31]

Administration and Cabinet

Upon assuming office, Ford inherited the cabinet Nixon selected during his tenure in office. Over the course of Ford's relatively brief administration, only Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon remained. Ford appointed William Coleman as Secretary of Transportation, the second African American to serve in a presidential cabinet (after Robert Clifton Weaver) and the first appointed in a Republican administration. [ [http://www.americanpresident.org/history/geraldford/cabinet/transportation/transportationCopy1/h_index.shtml Secretary of Transportation: William T. Coleman Jr. (1975 - 1977)] - AmericanPresident.org (2005-01-15). Retrieved on 2006-12-31.]

Ford selected George H. W. Bush to be his liaison to the People's Republic of China in 1974 and then Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in late 1975. [ [http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/bush/ George Herbert Walker Bush] - profile. CNN. Retrieved on 2006-12-31.]

Ford's transition chairman and first Chief of Staff was former congressman and ambassador Donald Rumsfeld. In 1975, Rumsfeld was named by Ford as the youngest-ever Secretary of Defense. Ford chose a young Wyoming politician, Richard Cheney, to replace Rumsfeld as his new Chief of Staff and later campaign manager for Ford's 1976 presidential campaign. [ [http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/secdef_histories/bios/cheney.htm Richard B. Cheney.] United States Department of Defense. 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

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 House elections, taking 49 seats from the Republican Party, and increasing their majority to 291 of the 435 seats, which was one more than the number needed (290) for a 2/3rds majority, necessary in order to over-ride a Presidential veto (or to submit a Constitutional Amendment). Perhaps due in part to this fact, the 94th Congress overrode the highest percentage of vetoes since Andrew Johnson was President of the United States (1865–1869). [ [http://clerk.house.gov/histHigh/Congressional_History/vetoes.html Presidential Vetoes.] Office of the Clerk, United States House of Representatives (July 19, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-12-31.] Even Ford's old, reliably Republican seat was taken by Democrat Richard VanderVeen. In the Senate elections, the Democratic majority became 60 in the 100-seat body. [Renka, Russell D. [http://ustudies.semo.edu/ui320-75/course/presidents/nixon/nixon'sfall.asp Nixon’s Fall and the Ford and Carter Interregnum.] Southeast Missouri State University, (April 10, 2003). Retrieved on 2006-12-31.]

Domestic policy

The economy was a great concern during the Ford administration. In response to rising inflation, Ford went before the American public in October 1974 and asked them to "Whip Inflation Now." As part of this program, he urged people to wear "WIN" buttons. [ [http://millercenter.virginia.edu/scripps/diglibrary/prezspeeches/ford/grf_1974_1008.html Gerald Ford Speeches: "Whip Inflation Now"] (October 8 1974), Miller Center of Public Affairs. Retrieved on 2006-12-31] In hindsight, this was viewed as simply a public relations gimmick without offering any effective means of solving the underlying problems.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 2006 | url = http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2006/12/win_buttons_and.html | title = WIN buttons and Arthur Burns | format = | work = | publisher = Econbrowser | accessdate = 2007-01-24] At the time, inflation was approximately seven percent. [ [http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/research/data/us/calc/hist1913.cfm Consumer Price Index, 1913-] . Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved on 2006-12-31]

The economic focus began to change as the country sank into a mild recession, and in March 1975, Congress passed and Ford signed into law income tax rebates as part of the Tax Reduction Act of 1975 to boost the economy. When New York City faced bankruptcy in 1975, Mayor Abraham Beame was unsuccessful in obtaining Ford's support for a federal bailout. The incident prompted the "New York Daily News"' notorious headline: "Ford to City: Drop Dead." [Lemann, Nick. [http://www.thecrimson.com/printerfriendly.aspx?ref=158751 Rhetorical Bankruptcy.] "The Harvard Crimson", (November 8, 1975). Retrieved on 2006-12-31.]

Ford was confronted with a potential swine flu pandemic. Sometime in the early 1970s, an influenza strain H1N1 shifted from a form of flu that affected primarily pigs and crossed over to humans. On February 5, 1976, an Army recruit at Fort Dix mysteriously died and four fellow soldiers were hospitalized; health officials announced that "swine flu" was the cause. Soon after, public health officials in the Ford administration urged that every person in the United States be vaccinated. [ [http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=06-P13-00009&segmentID=1 Pandemic Pointers.] Living on Earth (March 3, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-12-31.] Although the vaccination program was plagued by delays and public relations problems, some 25% of the population was vaccinated by the time the program was canceled. The vaccine was blamed for twenty-five deaths; more people died from the shots than from the swine flu. [Mickle, Paul. [http://www.capitalcentury.com/1976.html 1976: Fear of a great plague.] "The Trentonian". Retrieved on 2006-12-31.]

Despite his reservations about how this program ultimately would be funded in an era of tight public budgeting, Ford still signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, which established special education throughout the United States. Ford expressed "strong support for full educational opportunities for our handicapped children" according to the official White House press release for the bill signing. [ [http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/speeches/750707.htm President Gerald R. Ford's Statement on Signing the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975.] Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library (December 2, 1975). Retrieved on 2006-12-31.]

Ford was an outspoken supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, issuing Presidential Proclamation 4383.

In this Land of the Free, it is right, and by nature it ought to be, that all men and all women are equal before the law.

Now, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the United States of America, to remind all Americans that it is fitting and just to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment adopted by the Congress of the United States of America, in order to secure legal equality for all women and men, do hereby designate and proclaim August 26, 1975, as Women's Equality Day. [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=23839]

Foreign policy

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.

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 Indonesian president Suharto, Ford gave the green light cite news | first = Christopher | last = Hitchens | title = The Accidental President Gerald Ford: 1913-2006 | work = The Mirror | page = 17 | date = December 28, 2006 | accessdate = 2007-01-01] cite news|url = http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB62/#doc4 |title = East Timor Revisited| work = National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 62 | date =December 6, 2006| accessdate = 2007-01-03] 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. cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | url = http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_082800_strategicarm.htm | title =Strategic Arms Limitation Talks | format = | work = | publisher = Houghton Mifflin College | accessdate = 2006-12-31] Verify source|date=July 2007 The thawing relationship brought about by Nixon's visit to China was reinforced by Ford's December 1975 visit to the communist country. cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | url = http://www.ford.utexas.edu/avproj/china.htm | title =Trip To China | format = | work = Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library| publisher = University of Texas | accessdate = 2006-12-31] In 1975, the Administration entered into the Helsinki Accords cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | url = http://www.usa-presidents.info/speeches/helsinki.html | title =President Gerald R. Ford's Address in Helsinki Before the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe | format = | work = | publisher = | accessdate = 2007-04-04] 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. cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | url = http://www.hrw.org/about/whoweare.html | title =About Human Rights Watch | format = | work = | publisher = Human Rights Watch | accessdate = 2006-12-31]

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. cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 2000 | url = http://www.usmm.org/mayaguez.html | title =Capture and Release of SS Mayaguez by Khmer Rouge forces in May 1975 | format = | work = | publisher = United States Merchant Marine | accessdate = 2006-12-31]

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. cite news | url = http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/12/27/ford-canada.html | title =President Ford got Canada into G7 | date = December 27, 2006 | publisher = Canadian Broadcasting Company| accessdate = 2006-12-31]

Assassination attempts

Ford faced two assassination attempts during his presidency, occurring within three weeks of each other: while in Sacramento, California on September 5, 1975, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, pointed a Colt 45-caliber handgun at Ford. As Fromme pulled the trigger, Larry Buendorf [ [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1026_041026_tv_secret_service2_2.html Election Is Crunch Time for U.S. Secret Service ] ] , a Secret Service agent, grabbed the gun and managed to insert the webbing of his thumb under the hammer, preventing the gun from firing. It was later found that, although the gun was loaded with four bullets, it was a semi-automatic pistol 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. cite web | last =McLaren | first = Janet| authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 2005-06-26 | url = http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/322697p-275745c.html | title ='Squeaky' up for parole | format = | work = | publisher = New York Daily News | accessdate = 2006-12-31]

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.cite web |url=http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=4900159 |title=Interview: Woman Who Tried To Assassinate Ford |accessdate=2007-01-03 |last=Lee |first=Vic |date=2007-01-02 |format=HTML |work=ABC-7 News |publisher=KGO-TV ] cite web |url=http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/ustreas/usss/t1pubrpt.html |title=Public Report of the White House Security Review |author =United States Secret Service |accessdate=2007-01-03 |date= |format=HTML |publisher=United States Department of the Treasury ]

upreme 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. cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | url = http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/101/biography | title =John Paul Stevens | publisher = OYEZ| accessdate = 2006-12-31] 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. cite news | last = Levenick | first = Christopher | date = 2005-09-25| url = http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/135jlkrj.asp | title =The Conservative Persuasion | publisher = The Daily Standard | accessdate = 2006-12-31] 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." cite news | last = Mauro | first = Tony | date = 2005-10-09| url = http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-10-09-bush-miers-edit_x.htm | title =Bush's words saddle Miers: 'She's not going to change' | publisher = USA Today| accessdate = 2006-12-31]

1976 presidential election

Ford reluctantly agreed to run for office in 1976, but first he had to counter a challenge for the Republican party nomination. Former Governor of California Ronald Reagan and the party's conservative wing faulted Ford for failing to do more in South Vietnam, for signing the Helsinki Accords and for negotiating to cede the Panama Canal (negotiations for the canal continued under President Carter, who eventually signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaties). Reagan launched his campaign in the autumn of 1975 and won several primaries before withdrawing from the race at the Republican Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. The conservative insurgency convinced Ford to drop the more liberal Vice President Nelson Rockefeller in favor of Kansas Senator Bob Dole. [ [http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/analysis/back.time/9603/29/index.shtml Another Loss For the Gipper.] "Time", 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. Chevy Chase often did pratfalls on "Saturday Night Live", imitating Ford, who had been seen stumbling on two occasions during his term. As Chase commented, "He even mentioned in his own autobiography it had an effect over a period of time that affected the election to some degree." [ [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-19-2004/0002287784&EDATE= VH1 News Presents: Politics: A Pop Culture History Premiering Wednesday, October 20 at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT).] "PRNewswire" October 19, 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 United States Bicentennial. The Washington, D.C. fireworks display on the Fourth of July was presided over by the President and televised nationally. [ [http://www.c-span.org/classroom/govt/1976.asp Election of 1976: A Political Outsider Prevails.] C-SPAN. Retrieved on 2006-12-31.] 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.

Presidential debates were reintroduced for the first time since the 1960 election. While Ford was seen as the winner of the first debate, during the second debate he inexplicably blundered when he stated, "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford Administration." Ford also said that he did not "believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union." [ [http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/debates/history.story/1976.html Election 2000: 1976 Presidential Debates.] "CNN" (2001). Retrieved on 2006-12-31.] 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.cite web | last = Lehrer| first = Jim| authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 2000 | url = http://www.pbs.org/newshour/debatingourdestiny/dod/1976-broadcast.html | title = 1976:No Audio and No Soviet Domination | format = | work = Debating Our Destiny| publisher = PBS| accessdate = 2007-03-31]

In the end, Carter won the election, receiving 50.1% of the popular vote and 297 electoral votes compared with 48.0% and 240 electoral votes for Ford. The election was close enough that had fewer than 25,000 votes shifted in Ohio and Wisconsin – both of which neighbored his home state – Ford would have won the electoral vote. [ [http://www.multied.com/elections/1976state.html Presidential Election 1976 States Carried.] miltied.com. Retrieved on 2006-12-31.] 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.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = | url = http://www.heartheissues.com/americanson-geraldford-200612-g.html | title =Americans On - Gerald Ford| format = | work = Hear The Issues | publisher = Gallup Poll | accessdate = 2007-01-24]

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.

References