GERALD FORD•Only non-elected president•Brought a long record of public service to presidency

BACKGROUND

•Star football player at University of Michigan•Enlisted in U.S. Navy and fought in WWII

GOVERNMENT SERVICE

•Served in the U.S. Congress for 25 years•Rose to House Minority Leader in 1965•Democrats and Republicans supported his nomination for V.P.•Reputation for hard work, integrity, and dependability

DELICATE SITUATION

•Ford inherited the aftermath of the Watergate scandal and the struggling economy

VICE PRESIDENT

• Nelson Rockefeller

• Former governor of New York

• Chosen to quickly try to restore confidence in government

FORD PARDONS NIXON

• Full and unconditional pardon

• Was meant to heal Nation’s wounds

• Ford lost support and was accused of making a deal with Nixon in exchange for Vice Presidency

• Strongly denied

WIN (WHIP INFLATION NOW)

• Plan to fix economy• Failure• Instead of

improving, took a turn for worse

• Factories closed, demand dropped, unemployment on the rise

BETTY FORD•“Most disciplined, composed first lady in history“

•Outspoken advocate of women's rights

•A prominent force in the Women's Movement of the 1970s

•Pro-choice

•Premarital sex

•A Woman of the Year in 1975

2001 Thurmond

BETTY FORD• Weeks after Ford became

First Lady, she underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer.

• Very open about her cancer, amplifying the public awareness of breast cancer

• Vice President’s wife, Happy Rockefeller, also had mastectomy soon after Mrs. Ford

• Betty Ford Clinic – treated chemical dependency

ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS

• Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme

• Former Charles Manson follower

ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS

• Sarah Jane Moore

2001 Thurmond

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

• Relations with Soviet Union remained central under Ford

• Ford made it clear his foreign policy would differ little from Nixon’s

DÉTENTE• Continued to pursue détente

– flexible diplomacy to ease tensions between the U.S., Soviet Union, and China

• Helsinki Accords – agreement made among the U.S., Canada, and European nations(Soviet Union) to support human rights

• Continued disarmament talks with Soviets and developed SALT II – the two nations pledged to limit nuclear arms production

SOUTHEAST ASIA• U.S. tried to move on from Vietnam War

• The communist Khmer Rouge government of Cambodia began genocidal slaughter of civilians

• Between 1975 and 1979, 1.5 million people had died

• The U.S. did NOT intervene except…

THE MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT

• An American merchant ship

• Was seized by the Khmer Rouge just outside Cambodian waters

• Responded by sending in U.S. Marines who freed the ship

BOAT PEOPLE• During Ford’s Presidency (1975) –

South Vietnam fell to communist North Vietnam

• Hundreds of thousands tried to flee• Refugees left Vietnam in rickety and

unseaworthy boats• Largest mass migration of humanity by

sea in modern history

BOAT PEOPLE• Over 20 year period, more than one million

men, women, and children sought refuge abroad

• Braved storms, pirates, and starvation

• Many had to be rescued

• Immediate destinations were other nations in Southeast Asia

• Eventually found refuge in U.S. and Canada

BICENTENNIALJuly 4, 1976200th birthday

1976 ELECTION• Jimmy Carter• Washington

Outsider• Won by slim

majority of popular votes (50% to 48% ) over Ford

• Electoral votes 297 to 240

JIMMY CARTER• Peanut farmer• Naval

Academy• Local politics

– One time governor of Georgia

“OUTSIDER”•Casted himself as a fresh face with no ties to Washington D.C.•A born again Christian who taught Sunday school•Won support of many Christian fundamentalists

“CITIZENS PRESIDENT”• Held town meetings• Dressed casually• Carried his own

luggage• Became 1st President

since William Henry Harrison to walk the entire route during his inaugural parade

INEXPERIENCE

• He did not have close ties with the Democrats in Congress

• Submitted numerous bills but few passed

CAMPAIGN PROMISE• Fulfilled campaign promise by granting

amnesty to Draft Dodgers of the Vietnam War

• Hoped this act would help the Nation move beyond the divisions caused by the war

• One Senator called this “the most graceful thing that a President has ever done.”

ECONOMY

• Stagflation• U.S. auto

industry was dwindling

• Energy crisis• Conservation

Economic

Economic

SOCIAL & CULTURAL CHANGES

• Different society from earlier generations

• Migration• Immigration• “Me

Generation”

SUNBELT MIGRATION•Migration from North to the South and West

•Further growth of suburbs (which began post WWII)

•Manufacturers relocated because they could produce goods more cheaply

•Workers and families moved from Rust Belt for better job opportunities

•Growing political power

IMMIGRANTS• Influx of

immigrants from Latin America and Asia

• Hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Puerto Ricans, & Mexicans

• Growing power of the Latino vote

“ME GENERATION”

• Counterculture behavior had become more common

• “Me decade” – Americans appeared, to some, to be obsessed with improving themselves

“ME GENERATION”• Divorce rate

doubled from 1965 to 1979

• Twice as many children born out of wedlock

“ME GENERATION”

• Transcendental Meditation (TM)

• Eastern religious ideas

“ME GENERATION”• Increasing interest

in personal fitness & health

• Jogging, eating natural

• Marathons• Body building

T.V.•Fewer shows based on fantasy (Bewitched, I Dream of Genie)

•Now focused on current issues

•Featured minorities

•Sitcom (Situational Comedy)

All in the Family

Happy Days

Sanford and Son

Laverne & Shirley

RESURGENCE OF VALUES

• Shift in values• Fundamental Christianity• Evangelical churches• 1 in 5 Americans

considered themselves a religious fundamentalist by 1980

• Televangelists• Religious conservatives

formed alliances with other conservatives to form a new political majority

FOREIGN POLICY• Guided by concern

for human rights• End acts of

political repression

• Détente• SALT II

SALT II• Signed June 1979• Bitterly debated in the

Senate• Argued that it put national

security at risk• Soviets invaded

Afghanistan in December 1979

• Carter responded by withdrawing the treaty

• Imposed sanctions on Soviets, including a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics (Moscow)

• Carter thought foreign policy should be changed from developing world to developed world

• Expansion of human rights

• U.S. relations with foreign countries should be determined by how a country treats its citizens

HUMAN RIGHTS

NICARAGUA• Somoza family – ruled since the 1930’s

• U.S. aid

• 1978, leftist group called Sandinistas began a rebellion against the country’s ruler

• Somoza’s response to rebellion caused Carter to withdraw U.S. support

• Ruler had to flee country, Sandinistas came to power

CUBA• Briefly sought to establish

relations with Cuba

• Ruled by communist Fidel Castro since 1959

• Relations went bad in 1980 when Castro said Cubans could leave from the port of Mariel to the U.S. but would also have to take criminals from the island

CUBA• Fewer than 20% were prisoners, and

most were political criminals• However, Americans were offended by

Castro’s lack of concern of the emigrants and that he would send criminals to the U.S.

PANAMA CANAL• Panama gave control of the strip of land in the

middle of the country in 1903.

• Later became Panama Canal

• 1977, Carter negotiated a set of treaties to return the Canal back to Panama by 1999.

• Americans worried this would threaten American shipping and securities

• Control of the Canal was turned over in 1978

HISTORIC PEACE AGREEMENT• Between Israel and Egypt

• In 1973, Egypt and Syria had attacked Israel

• Eager to improve relations, Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem met in Jerusalem to begin negotiations

• Carter helped to continue peace talks and invited the two leaders to Camp David

• 2 weeks

CAMP DAVID ACCORDS

• September 19, 1978

• Framework for a peace treaty

• Egypt formally recognized the nation of Israel

• 1st Arab nation to do this

• Israel withdrew troops from the Sinai Peninsula (controlled since the 1967 war)

• Also, intended for cooperation of other Middle Eastern countries

IRAN• Since 1950s, U.S. had supported

the rule of the Shah (emperor) of Iran

• In 1970s, opposition to the Shah grew

• In 1979, the Shah fled Iran (cancer)

• Carter allowed him to come to U.S. to receive treatments for cancer

• Islamic clerics took power

• Led by Ayatollah Khomeini

IRAN• Enraged Iranian radicals

invaded the U.S. Embassy in Iran

• Took control of the Embassy

• Took 66 Americans hostage

• The Khomeini government then took control of both Embassy and hostages to defy the Unites States

• Held 52 for 444 days

• Carter failed to win over hostages

MIDDLE EAST THREAT• Americans thought our failure to win

hostages was a sign of weakness

• Last year of Carter’s presidency was spent in negotiations

• Now nuclear war was no longer the only threat

• Cold War was no longer the greatest threat

• Threats posed by the Middle East became the greatest foreign policy challenge of the United States