Ford and Carter as Presidents (1974-1980)

Question 1

When did Gerald Ford become president?

Answer 1

August 9th 1974

Question 2

What were some problems Ford faced in the media?

Answer 2

• The satirical show Saturday Night Live (debuted in 1975) followed comedian Chevy Chase impersonating him every week
• Journalists quoted Johnson’s comment that Ford played too much football without his helmet and that ‘Jerry Ford is so dumb he can’t fart and chew gum at the same time’
• There was a photo of him falling down the stairs of Air Force One

Question 3

When did Ford pardon Nixon and how did this affect his presidency?

Answer 3

• On Sept 8th 1974, Ford pardoned Nixon ‘for all offenses’
• Led to outrage with opinion polls suggesting most Americans wanted Nixon punished

Question 4

What did Ford say about discussing pardoning Nixon with Alexander Haig (Nixon’s chief of staff)?

Answer 4

‘There was no deal, period, under no circumstances’

Question 5

What was strong about Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign?

Answer 5

• He had supporters like Goerge Wallace in the South and established himself in the North East through his campaigning
• He had visited 37 states and delivered over 200 speeches before other candidates had even announced their presidency
• He portrayed himself as a Washington outsider
• He was the only US president ti have been interview by Playboy

Question 6

What were the results of the 1976 election?

Answer 6

• Carter beat Ford with 297 electoral votes (Ford had 240) and 51% of the popular vote (Ford had 49%)
• 53.6% of the country voted in this election

Question 7

What were some of Carter’s policies to heal divides?

Answer 7

• He pardoned Vietnam-era draft resisters
• He ended funding for the B-1 bomber airplane
• He pushed for a comprehensive consumer-protection bill

Question 8

Why was Congress unwilling to cooperate with Carter?

Answer 8

He didn’t want to use his position to win friends in Congress through the usual method of promising federal spending in certain states and districts

Question 9

What two stories damaged Carter’s public image?

Answer 9

• In August 1979, a story about Carter being attacked by a killer rabbit began to do the rounds in Washington
• In October 1976, Carter collapsed from heat exhaustion while jogging in a 6-mile race in front of the nation’s press

Question 10

What was the Three Mile Island Accident and what was its effect on the public?

Answer 10

• Due to different errors at the Three Mile Island nuclear generator in Pennsylvania, there was a partial meltdown of the reactor core and radioactive gases were released into the atmosphere
• It played on public fears of a nuclear catastrophe and led to the shutdown of several plants

Question 11

What minority groups were campaigning for their constitutional rights during Carter’s presidency?

Answer 11

• Mexican Americans
• LGBT people who had successfully campaigned for the removal of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association in 1973

Question 12

What did Ford do for women’s rights?

Answer 12

• He signed the Equal Credit Opportunity Act which outlawed credit discrimination
• In 1975, the Taylor v Louisiana case resulted in the Supreme Court ruling that excluding women from the jury pool was illegal

Question 13

What did Carter do for women’s rights?

Answer 13

• Passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1978 which discrimination based on pregnancy illegal
• Shelters for female victims of domestic violence were created
• In 1976, the five United States Service academies were required to admit women

Question 14

What were some cases of corruption under the Nixon administration?

Answer 14

• The Watergate Scandal
• The resignation of Spiro Agnew
• The prosecution of Teddy Kennedy (JFK’s younger brother) for his role in the death of a young woman in 1969

Question 15

What were some cases of corruption under Ford?

Answer 15

• Pardoning Nixon
• Racist comments by Ford’s Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz
• The imprisonment of Otto Kerner (the main author of the Kerner Report) for bribery

Question 16

What was the Kerner Report?

Answer 16

(1968) concluded that racial inequality and segregation caused the 1967 race riots, warning that America was becoming two separate and unequal societies—one black, one white

Question 17

What were some cases of corruption under Carter?

Answer 17

• Bert Lance (Office of Management and Budget Director) was fired after being connected to some dubious banking practices in Georgia
• Rumours that Hamilton Jordan (chief of staff) was a cocaine user
• Koreagate
• His sister Ruth was seen with Larry Flynt, the owner of the pornographic magazine ‘Hustler’
• Billygate

Question 18

What was Koreagate?

Answer 18

A 1970s political scandal involving South Korean efforts to influence US Congress members through bribery and illegal campaign contributions, aiming to sway American foreign policy in favour of South Korea.

Question 19

What was Billygate?

Answer 19

A scandal in 1980 involving President Jimmy Carter’s brother, Billy Carter, who accepted a loan from the Libyan government and acted as an unofficial lobbyist for Libya, raising concerns about influence and impropriety.

Question 20

What was ‘The Crisis of Democracy’ report?

Answer 20

It was published in 1975 by the Trilateral Commission, which argued that the effectiveness of democratic governments was threatened by an overload of demands from citizens, leading to decreased governability and public trust