Had I been a voter at the time, I would easily have voted for Jimmy Carter since he would have seemed to me a modern Southern Democrat without Dixiecrat baggage who would have implemented liberal reforms based on Christian humanitarian principles and help rebuild the New Deal coalition after Nixon’s Southern Strategy. However considering Carter ended up becoming the first of the long run of conservative/moderate Democrats nominated by the party who implemented several proto-neoliberal policies as President and his defeat in 1980 resulted in the rise of Reagan conservatism, with hindsight I’d have voted for Ford. Since most of the crisis faced by Carter that resulted in his defeat was caused by factors beyond his control, Ford remaining President would have meant that a Democrat would have been elected in 1980 due to the resulting unpopularity of the GOP brand. This in turn would have prevented the takeover of the Republican Party by the New Right with its attendant evil consequences.
No Republican was going to win in 1976, because Watergate. Whoever got the Dem nomination was the guy. Same as 2008, where no Republican could win because W.
Carter was a good and decent man who had no business in national politics.
Carter’s credentials were not completely abysmal. He had been a governor and a successful businessman.
But the problem was that the voters in 1976 weren’t just looking to reject the Republicans. They wanted to reject everyone in Washington. Carter was able to get the nomination by claiming that he was the outsider - the candidate with the least experience in national politics. It got him elected but it turned out a lack of experience in national politics is a negative qualification for being President.
If I recall correctly (I was only a few months old during the election, so I am going by what I have read), Ford really closed the gap toward the end of the campaign, and came very close to winning. The election was fairly close. Ford’s most serious gaffe was his “no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe” comment during the debate. Ford also had to recover from a tough primary campaign against Ronald Reagan, and switched vice presidential candidates (from Nelson Rockefeller to Bob Dole) to attract the more conservative Republicans. This alienated liberal Republicans without exactly winning over conservatives: a Ford-Dole ticket was still not a Reagan ticket.
Carter had very impressive credentials, and still stands as - possibly - the most intellectually accomplished candidate for the presidency since Woodrow Wilson. (Then again, consider some of the competitors!). I think his primary flaw was his inability to practice effective politics - which is often decidedly anti-intellectual - and really work the congress and public opinion.
I don’t recall Watergate being brought up much by Carter. Remember, a lot of Republicans turned on Nixon.
Look at the results for 1976. especially check out how close key states like Wisconsin, Ohio, and New York were.
Ford made key errors in debates with Carter. They made him look not in command, even a bit dementia. On top of that he ran a lack luster campaign and had to endure a tough, serious challenge from Reagan in the primary. And yes, Americans were hungry for an outsider.
But overall, had Ford not made those gaffs and ran a better campaign theres a good likely hood he’d have been elected. This idea that no Republican was going to get elected because of Watergate has been debated in the past and mostly debunked.
Jimmy Carter all the way. Not that religious faith should be a factor, but he was by far the most Christian man ever to occupy the office. A good and decent man who should have been re-elected and would have but for a desert sandstorm and Reagan’s treasonous undermining of his talks to release the hostages.
Ford was also a good and decent man. By far the best Republican president of the 20th century.
Ford, better than T.R.? Or Eisenhower, or even Reagan? Please.
I agree with those arguing that Carter didn’t have it in the bag. Had a few thousand votes shifted in a handful of states, Ford would’ve been elected in his own right (remember, he’d been appointed VP by Nixon under the 25th Amendment, and then became President when Nixon resigned).
This is a tough call for me. Both candidates were personally honest and genuinely committed to public service. Ford was a centrist Republican; Carter was a centrist Democrat. Both struggled with Congress; Ford seemed a bit more capable as an adminstrator, while Carter was a bit more reform-minded. At the time, I liked Ford because (a) I knew little of politics, and (b) Ford was an Eagle Scout, as I hoped to be. Ford’s pardon of Nixon was, I still believe, a mistake - why should Nixon not be prosecuted when his subordinates were going to prison? The country was ready for a change in 1976, and Carter, for all his flaws, was the man of the hour, the alternative to the long shadow of Nixon.
So Carter for me, even knowing the problems he was going to have.