Across the land, everyone is focused on the events leading up to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; however, fifty years ago---for the Bicentennial--- events were quite different. The highly charged political primary for the GOP nomination for the presidency was underway and the incumbent president Gerald Ford was facing a challenge by former California governor Ronald Reagan.
The contest between these two men was a titanic struggle for the future of the GOP and was tied like a wet shoelace. First, Ford won New Hampshire and other early states, then Reagan won North Carolina, Indiana, Georgia and Texas. Then Ford unexpectedly won the Kentucky and Tennessee primaries, then Reagan won primaries in the West, but Ford won Michigan and a handful of other states.
Reagan was originally thought to be the easy victor over an embattled and accident-prone Ford, this did not turn out to be the case.
Ford was the constant victim of his own pratfalls: Falling down stairs, hitting his head on doorways, it became so bad that reporters hung the label “His Accidency” on Ford.
Ford of course came to the presidency from the House of Representatives by way of the new 25th amendment due to the resignations of vice president Spiro Agnew and then president Richard Nixon.
Agnew resigned because he was on the take, first as governor of Maryland then as Vice President, from the same contractors---and because he had a mistress on his staff: White House Chief of Staff Al Haig was blackmailing Agnew over the affair. Haig wanted Agnew gone because his numerous controversies threatened to bring down the Nixon White House.
Of course, Nixon was battling his own controversies in the form of Watergate. The attempted bugging of the Democratic National Committee was especially stupid because not only was it illegal, but Nixon was going to trounce uber-leftist George McGovern in the fall election anyway.
Ford had been an innocuous GOP minority leader from Michigan, who was chosen by Nixon because, frankly, there were no reasons to oppose him.
Ford served as vice president for a mere nine months before he became president on August 9th, 1974. Not long after, he was challenged for the GOP nomination by Reagan.
Though they no longer exist, in 1976 there were about 150 uncommitted delegates to the convention in Kansas City. The contest was so close that they both got the heavy woo, but Ford had all the trappings of incumbency to seduce the uncommitted delegates; rides on Air Force One, invitations to state dinners featuring Queen Elizabeth, a private meeting in the White House, presidential trinkets, anything and everything they could use.
On July 4th, Ford invited a group of uncommitted delegates to sit with him on the aircraft USS Forrestal in New York Harbor to watch the Bicentennial fireworks.
Ford also met with one delegate who asked the President of the United States to look into a sewer contract for his vote!
Nineteen-Seventy-Six revealed a clash of the very best of American history, as well as the crassness of American politics. And, how everything in politics was and is about power; even the history of some uncommitted delegates. And as Thomas Jefferson said, “I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.” Everything involving representative government was messy in 1976—just as it always has been.
Historian and Reagan biographer Craig Shirley is the author of Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All; Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America; December 1941: 31 Days That Changed America and Saved the World; Last Act: The Final Years and Emerging Legacy of Ronald Reagan; Reagan Rising: The Decisive Years, 1976-1980; Citizen Newt: The Making of a Reagan Conservative; Mary Ball Washington: The Untold Story of George Washington's Mother; April 1945: The Hinge of History, as well as many articles and essays on politics and the conservative movement.
The contest between these two men was a titanic struggle for the future of the GOP and was tied like a wet shoelace. First, Ford won New Hampshire and other early states, then Reagan won North Carolina, Indiana, Georgia and Texas. Then Ford unexpectedly won the Kentucky and Tennessee primaries, then Reagan won primaries in the West, but Ford won Michigan and a handful of other states.
Reagan was originally thought to be the easy victor over an embattled and accident-prone Ford, this did not turn out to be the case.
Ford was the constant victim of his own pratfalls: Falling down stairs, hitting his head on doorways, it became so bad that reporters hung the label “His Accidency” on Ford.
Ford of course came to the presidency from the House of Representatives by way of the new 25th amendment due to the resignations of vice president Spiro Agnew and then president Richard Nixon.
Agnew resigned because he was on the take, first as governor of Maryland then as Vice President, from the same contractors---and because he had a mistress on his staff: White House Chief of Staff Al Haig was blackmailing Agnew over the affair. Haig wanted Agnew gone because his numerous controversies threatened to bring down the Nixon White House.
Of course, Nixon was battling his own controversies in the form of Watergate. The attempted bugging of the Democratic National Committee was especially stupid because not only was it illegal, but Nixon was going to trounce uber-leftist George McGovern in the fall election anyway.
Ford had been an innocuous GOP minority leader from Michigan, who was chosen by Nixon because, frankly, there were no reasons to oppose him.
Ford served as vice president for a mere nine months before he became president on August 9th, 1974. Not long after, he was challenged for the GOP nomination by Reagan.
Though they no longer exist, in 1976 there were about 150 uncommitted delegates to the convention in Kansas City. The contest was so close that they both got the heavy woo, but Ford had all the trappings of incumbency to seduce the uncommitted delegates; rides on Air Force One, invitations to state dinners featuring Queen Elizabeth, a private meeting in the White House, presidential trinkets, anything and everything they could use.
On July 4th, Ford invited a group of uncommitted delegates to sit with him on the aircraft USS Forrestal in New York Harbor to watch the Bicentennial fireworks.
Ford also met with one delegate who asked the President of the United States to look into a sewer contract for his vote!
Nineteen-Seventy-Six revealed a clash of the very best of American history, as well as the crassness of American politics. And, how everything in politics was and is about power; even the history of some uncommitted delegates. And as Thomas Jefferson said, “I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.” Everything involving representative government was messy in 1976—just as it always has been.
Historian and Reagan biographer Craig Shirley is the author of Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All; Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America; December 1941: 31 Days That Changed America and Saved the World; Last Act: The Final Years and Emerging Legacy of Ronald Reagan; Reagan Rising: The Decisive Years, 1976-1980; Citizen Newt: The Making of a Reagan Conservative; Mary Ball Washington: The Untold Story of George Washington's Mother; April 1945: The Hinge of History, as well as many articles and essays on politics and the conservative movement.
