Gerald Ford Interview: His Greatest Achievement and Disappointment in Office

President Gerald Ford recalls his “superb” family upbringing, his time in the Navy, and how being an athlete gave him perspective on winning and losing. He discusses Vietnam, the pardon of Richard Nixon, attempts on his life, and his greatest achievement and greatest disappointment as president.
Gerald R. Ford, 38th President of the United States, was born in Omaha, Nebraska, July 14, 1913. He attended public schools in Grand Rapids, Michigan; received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1935; and an LL.B. from Yale University Law School in 1941. He received all-city and all-state football honors in Grand Rapids during high school, and he was a member of the University of Michigan's national championship football teams in 1932 and 1933. In 1934 he was named the University of Michigan's most valuable player. He served as assistant varsity football coach at Yale while a law student there. In 1942 he entered the U.S. Navy, serving almost four years during World War II and participated in 3rd and 5th carrier operations aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Monterey for two years. He was discharged in 1946 as a Lt.Commander and resumed the practice of law. He married Elizabeth Bloomer on October 15, 1948. They were the parents of four children. President Ford was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1948 and re-elected every two years through 1972, serving 25 years in the House. He was elected Chairman of the Republican Conference in 1963, and chosen Minority Leader in 1965, a position he held in the 89th, 90th and 1st Session of the 93rd Congresses. He also was permanent chairman of the 1968 and 1972 Republican National Conventions. In November 1963, he was made a member of the Presidential Commission investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and authored (with John R. Stiles) the book, Portrait of the Assassin (1965). President Ford was nominated Vice President on October 12, 1973, to succeed Spiro T. Agnew, who resigned, and was confirmed December 6. He succeeded to the Presidency August 9, 1974, following the resignation of Richard Nixon. The Presidency of Gerald Ford is defined by his personal integrity and unbending adherence to the truth. President Ford won the Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1976, but lost the election to his democratic opponent, Jimmy Carter. On Inauguration Day, President Carter began his speech: “For myself and our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land. President Ford passed away December 26, 2006.
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Gerald Ford, 38th U.S. President
Interviewed By: Hugh Sidey
Interview Date: October 22, 1996
Chapter Markers:
Political Ambition (0:35)
Committee on Public Works & Truman (2:16)
Dwight D. Eisenhower (4:43)
John F. Kennedy (5:40)
The Warren Commission (6:52)
Lyndon B. Johnson (8:33)
House of Representatives (10:06)
Richard Nixon & Watergate (11:24)
Becoming Vice President (15:44)
Difficult Times in the Nixon White House (18:29)
The Smoking Gun (20:24)
Becoming President (21:12)
Escorting Nixon from the White House (25:10)
Pardoning Nixon (28:31)
Dealing with Criticism (33:55)
Vietnam & Amnesty (35:32)
Election Against Jimmy Carter (42:07)
Early Life (45:15)
Joining the Navy (48:40)
Greatest Achievements & Disappointments (50:46)
© Kunhardt Film Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
#GeraldFord #kunhardtfilmfoundation

[@travisdean8794]

He didn’t even want to be Vice President or President, but he took on the responsibilities. He did the best he could with the hand he was dealt. Someone on here left a damn novel for a comment that just beats Ford down. My question to that individual is this…..with the same circumstances, could you have done better? If so, get your name on the ticket and show us all how great you are.

[@pissedoffdude1]

The right guy at the right time. Healing a divided nation at war and a broken nation at peace to just an all-around good, decent guy without any baggage. He's not the narcissistic psycopaths we have running the country now and unfortunately, that was his biggest weakness

[@corinnehernandez4549]

This is interesting. I like listening to the perspective of former president's. I'm surprised more people aren't seeing these videos.

[@Thorscauldron]

He was a decent American thrown into a dirty wash. God bless him and America.

[@RobertGSwan]

President Ford was / is one of my favorite presidents - character, decency and integrity. President Ford would have detested everything about Trump and the MAGA Republicans.

[@JohnRoland]

Ford was one of my all time favorite POTUS. A true man of integrity, humility and stability.

[@danielpennington6053]

My dad wrote President Ford a letter after he lost the 1976 election and Mr Ford responded to him. My dad still has the letter Ford wrote him hanging in his office.

[@laurencebrooks7699]

President Ford was a great man who was well liked in Congress and could work bipartisan issues; this is the main reason President Nixon chose him to be the VP after Agnew resigned. History tells us the rest and how Ford became president.

[@Terminxman]

Nixon didn't choose Ford, he was chosen for him by Carl Albert. Ford was the intelligence agency's guy and they installed him

[@emmajohnson7364]

This is really interesting. I never really knew anything about Ford besides the fact that he took over after Nixon resigned and was the only president to never win an election. I’ve always looked him over but he’s certainly worth knowing. All of those stories, he was right in the middle of American history.

[@joanpeach8927]

Nice kids too. His son was in a Murder, She Wrote.

[@anthonydiana7646]

He placed in office during a difficult time he did a great job , He was giving a job during a scandal and a war and a bad economy .

[@yellyman5483]

Thank you for posting this. Gerald Ford was a great man, and a good president.

[@LoydKline-uw4no]

My hero great president

[@user-nc7zs6dx9t]

God Bless President Ford yes I respect and yes I need to do the right thing and yes it will be done by us and thank you for wisdom and knowledge and yes I need both,thank God Bless President Ford and thank.

[@TomSanderson100]

So Lloyd Bentsen did know jack Kennedy! I like the way Hugh sidey does these interviews he let’s them talk

[@charlesboone9547]

My brother Gerald Ford and president of the United States when I was born in 1976

[@JamesWilson-sb9iq]

Ford seems like a decent person

[@jimmycricket5366]

Of course they all 'seem' decent.

[@CheekaPeeka]

@@jimmycricket5366 Trump does not.

[@jimmycricket5366]

@@CheekaPeeka Hello, wrong century.

[@jeffearle8172]

A fine man who was president at just the right moment in our history.

[@ipattison]

I'm a Ford, not Lincoln.

[@trannongoble7722]

Ford was a good man. He was thrown into chaos.

[@thomaspick4123]

They are all puppets of the New Yorkers. You could dress a monkey and put a scepter in its hand, that could be our president. A president just has to smile, shake hands, read speeches someone else writes, and vote the way the string pullers tell him to. My goodness, look at him lie in this interview concerning the Warren Commission, the Oliver Stone movie, how he still can straight faced lie and say Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin of JFK. What a liar! Oswald never fired a shot that day. No wonder Betty became an alcoholic. She had to listen to lies for years and years, which made her sick to her stomach. It is good Ford is gone now, a worthless liar!

[@robfmas]

Oh my God thats an understatement

[@noelyohannes300]

Ford was a true believer in public service. A true statesman.

[@juliusrandle2733]

Only God truly knows how "good" he was

[@GDuncan8002]

@@juliusrandle2733 By their deeds you will know them.

[@BishopWalters12]

Ford is my favorite President of the last 60 years.

[@LoydKline-uw4no]

❤️ Gerald Ford

[@Terminxman]

Why?...

[@BishopWalters12]

@@Terminxman Why not?

[@williamwingo4740]

Gerald Ford's image has been cleaned up considerably in the last few years; but some of us older folks remember a different story from the 1970's. The immediate reaction to the pardon was brutal. The democrats and the media wanted Nixon drawn and quartered and his head stuck on Traitor's Gate. Ford took that dream away from them, and they never forgave him for it. They simply expanded their hatred of Nixon to include Ford. Reading the comments here about what a great man Ford was, it's almost comical to recall his press coverage between the pardon and the election. He was loudly booed at several public appearances, and even had to leave one or two early by the back door because of unceasing chants and catcalls of "No Pardon!" and "Eat [---]." Every time he wiped out on his skis, or someone died after getting the Swine Flu vaccine, or some kid was killed or injured waiting for a school bus in the dark because of "energy-crisis" blackouts and year-round-daylight-saving time, it was automatically Ford's fault and became the lead story on the news that evening. Running for president in 1976, he offered to come help campaign for several down-ballot republican candidates; and many of them privately begged him not to. Imagine declining an endorsement from the president of the United States--of your own party.... Even Chevy Chase suffered permanent injuries doing "falling-down-klutz" Ford parodies on "Saturday Night Live." Gerald Ford was the weakest and least-qualified presidential candidate of the twentieth century--and I'm tempted to add the twenty-first, even though the competition in that period is stronger. Nobody on either side would have considered him presidential material before greatness was thrust upon him. Even Nixon saw the irony of the situation: he was supposed to have said to Melvin Laird: "Can you imagine that [derogatory epithet deleted] sitting in this chair?" But he (Ford) was the "incumbent" and the nominal head of the party, and by tradition he could have the nomination if he wanted it; so he went for it. Personally, I believe he was manipulated into running by the Nixon holdovers in his cabinet: the same ones who had manipulated him into the pardon, especially Haig and Laird. Ford had few original ideas of his own, except maybe the "WIN" buttons; and he was nothing if not manipulatable. They figured the pardon would be old news by 1976; that he would probably keep most of them on in the new term; and that they could continue to manipulate him. But fortunately or unfortunately, the pardon was to Gerald Ford what Chappaquiddick was to Edward Kennedy: a millstone hung around his political neck for the rest of his life. If he had realized that the pardon had made him unelectable, he could have declined to run and endorsed the nominee of an open republican convention. I still would not have agreed with the pardon; but I could have accepted that. He would have been remembered as a healing and unifying force, sacrificing his own chance at the presidency for the good of the country. Instead he ran for president demonstrating that he didn't have a clue; lost; and saddled the country with Jimmy Carter. It's now almost fifty years later, and my blood pressure probably just went up a couple of points from thinking about it. 🤠

[@jaysshittyvideos3039]

It's nice to see a perspective from someone who lived in Ford's day. Thank you.

[@williamanthony9090]

@@jaysshittyvideos3039 I lived in Ford's day. He was the first president I actually voted for. And everything this guy said about Ford, in his long winded comment, is opinionated buffoonery!

[@r.c.1881]

Would you say, retrospectively, whithout regard as to how it impacted his election campaign, that his pardon was the best thing to do for the greater good of the nation, or that he should have allowed prosecution instead?

[@jimmycricket5366]

​@@jaysshittyvideos3039I agree. Also, Ford is always very defensive about the Warren commission and Oswald. Well, history has essentially vindicated Oswald. A big thank-you to all those, including many professionals in the applicable fields, who have devoted much of their lives to finding the truth about that event and Oswald.

[@olgopine950]

One of the best guys to be President. Bravo Jerry Ford

[@zarifbajrami454]

PERSHENDETJE INDERUAR Intervista e Gerald Ford RESPEKT

[@casonkaulana142]

Great man!

[@LoydKline-uw4no]

My hero got the same birthday

[@lindafrench7574]

Yes to protect

[@connieverbeck1110]

Thank you for this valuable insight into this wonderful President.

[@robertleitch7528]

President Ford sent a birthday card to my grandmother in the nursing home, wishing her a happy 91st birthday. That really made her feel good and proud that the potus sent her a birthday card.

[@linz8291]

such a heartwarming birthday card🎂🥂

[@matthewrider5906]

He... If it wasn't for his pardoning of former President Nixon, if he'd have just waited til AFTER the election of 1976, and to a lesser degree, Betty Ford's being so forthright abt abortion rights & her alcoholism... He would've almost certainly have won a term in his right. I nearly know he would've.

[@Tafticle]

He mentions in his memoirs that Nixon, not long after his resignation, was in the hospital, unkempt, depressed, and broke from the legal actions he was dealing with. Ford felt that he couldn’t stall the actions for political purposes.

[@BishopWalters12]

Presidents don't get reelected if a recession is going on, yes, I know Ford wasn't elected but he was the President for over 2 years and Presidents get too much credit or blame for the economy. Carter, Daddy Bush and Trump were only one term for that same reason. Biden will also lose if inflation doesn't go down or the economy isn't better by the 2024 election.

[@tylerkochman1007]

Betty likely helped him with a lot of voters. Polls showed people actually approved of many of her “controversial” comments. His big mistake was pissing off NYC. He only lost New York State by a few points, likely attributable to the “Ford to City: Drop Dead” headline

[@russford3988]

Lt Commander USN⚓️1942-1946

[@ronaldzent6321]

He forgot to mention Civil and Voting Rights legislation passed, Ford was also wrong on the mentioning of two historical events , he mentioned 1943 as the year of the Paris peace accords, it was 1973 not '43. And that the Pueblo incident happened a "couple of years prior" to the Mayaguez incident, it was actually 7 years (1968). Before the Mayaguez (1975) happened. Ford was often rather mocked for his being seemingly short in the intellect department. Still, a pretty decent man overall, sure could use him in this terribly divided political climate we are in

[@NealW.-re7jm]

The world would be better off with more people like him these days...

[@User-ge7ni]

not holding presidents accountable?

[@bradyfry8031]

When did this interview take place? Post 1997?

[@lifestoriesinterviews]

Hi Brady - this interview was conducted on October 22, 1996. Thanks!

[@robz7789]

Gerald Ford was a good guy! Just a good guy!

[@ronaldzent6321]

Ford was also upset with George W Bush's policy on Domestic spying( around 2003). Ford passed in late 2006

[@joaquinpraveenvishnu8509]

What a wonderful man!

[@davidniggemeyer1692]

Lyndon Johnson started the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon ended it by winning it and brokering a negotiated peace. Unfortunately, the Vietcong saw Nixon's resignation as a time to resume it.

[@L_back]

I don’t know if LBJ or his administration should be directly blamed for the Vietnam war. Anti-communist fear back then was massive and partly justified, especially considering Stalin and Khrushchev weren’t the brightest bulbs. JFK and LBJ had almost no choice but to help South Vietnam, but they could not fathom how massive that would become, neither could Nixon. Did Nixon’s cabinet do the right thing when pulling out the troops? I’d kinda agree

[@MikeJones-yd9kf]

“Healing the nation” more like protecting a criminal that should’ve gone to prison for breaking the law.

[@jimmycricket5366]

Yes, Cornpop should've done a better job.

[@min_g2608]

43:47

[@karendarnall1243]

I have been enjoying the presidential interviews. With the DJT era as it is, how wonderful for these sensible, intelligent visits.

[@jimmycricket5366]

Oh Karen, try to look a little deeper than skin deep!

[@2H2521]

@karendarnall1243 Always gotta find some kind of way to bash Trump. 🙄

[@karendarnall1243]

@@jimmycricket5366 Truth hurts doesn’t it!

[@karendarnall1243]

@@2H2521 As I said to another, truth hurts

[@shadyhamzawy8358]

رجاله والله انضف من النصابينوبتوع الشقى وهم عايشينوفى قصور وياكلون اكل محدش بيغرفةيشتريى

[@briangrigsby1842]

forgiving Nixon was unforgiveable. Otherwise he was not the worst. We have Bush Family and Biden for those places.

[@crimony3054]

His Pardon of Nixon was controversial, but it was not ultimately defeating. More important was Ford's lack of experience anywhere but in the Congress and his complete absence of experience in national politics and national campaigns. Ford is the last of "establishment" GOP presidents who shunned the right wing of the party. Even Bush 41 pandered to them with Willie Horton, flag burning, and the pledge.

[@Albert-Arthur-Wison225]

“ The eggheads are all for Stevenson. “ “ Yes. But, how many eggheads are there ? “. Did the eggheads grow in such exponential numbers & influence by 1975-76 to get rid of President Ford ?…

[@vincentjacobsson3981]

I think it should be investigated if the American states now and then are legislated with the Bible written as a story. The word immunity (Latin immunitas, freedom from obligations to the state) comes from a religious revelation from the middle ages, most likely from a pope to become lawless, and which has since been rewritten into sovereign, absolute, and qualified immunity (legally, cannot be prosecuted for criminal act) to the president, senate (origin, the Roman Empire), congress, cabinet, and Supreme Court for law decisions and actions. It should also be investigated if fallen soldiers were elected by the people or not. The political exploitation of the vital ecosystem has now led to forest death (force majeure) how will it affect people's economy, etc. I also think The Democratic party can be a consciously misleading party name with all parties belonging to The Republican party, as current political democracy and socialism can only be about going more toward the middle, e.g. The Democrats for law decisions and actions, even with the misleading word professional politician. Furthermore, I think the people should consider voting for a real democratic party with an independent state formation to investigate if the president, parties, senate (origin, the Roman Empire), congress, cabinet, and Supreme Court overall may be guilty of a violation of democratic rights with misleading elections, serious economic crimes, violation of human rights with class society for adults and children, and serious environmental crime (force majeure).

[@jake8855]

WTF?

[@batladder1]

After Ford's explanation of the Warren Comission's findings I realised you can't trust anything that comes out of his mouth

[@GDuncan8002]

He was there and you weren't.

[@batladder1]

@@GDuncan8002 He wasn't at the assassination. He looked at the evidence, like I did. Including the Zupruder film, which the Warren Commission had access too

[@GDuncan8002]

@@batladder1 It's funny that you think those things are the same. He had access to primary sources, concurrent eyewitnesses in 1963, not people whose memories have faded after sixty years, and classified info you've certainly never seen. He's imminently more qualified to speak on it than any of us.

[@batladder1]

@@GDuncan8002 And yet he got it wrong. Hence, he's a liar

[@GDuncan8002]

@@batladder1 How wonderfully vague and unspecific.

[@shadyhamzawy8358]

احسن ناس تعيش وسطهم بياخدوا حقوقهم بدماغهم نعمل سلاح زى ما احنا عايزين من هنا لتخر الدنيا و بيدوا الناس رفاهية بدماغهم واديهم مش نرضى باى قرف ونقول ربنا جايبها باللقمة

[@lindafrench7574]

I confuse her😊

[@lindafrench7574]

I have already sent you instructions she will come to us soon very soon she knows you no.inAted me to west point you were disappointed when i left but now you know why this is all i will say end

[@User-ge7ni]

who u talking to

[@matthewrider5906]

Even as a registered (leftist; social democrat🌹) Independent who is a Moderate-to-quasi-Liberal, socially speaking....

[@user-en6vf2oy7v]

우리동네전국사람,이세들다모여살고있음,외국인도많아요,대문도못열어요,세계소문내주세요

[@Albert-Arthur-Wison225]

Begging your pardon ( ! ), but,..what on earth does ranting about foreigners ( presumably much worse people than your angelic self ) swamping your pristine, homogenous neighbourhood, have to do with President Ford !?! 😮😮😮