# Why Gerald Ford lost the election **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 13, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460 "2005-12-13T19:38:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/1 "2005-12-13T19:38:14Z")
We knew he was a stumble klutz, but in 1976 perhaps instead of vacationing in Eastern Europe (where there was no Soviet domination at the time) he should have ran for President instead of waiting until [1978!](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4526272.stm) :smack:😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/2 "2005-12-13T19:53:40Z")
Somebody writing that probably didn’t know the year for the election, but remembered Watergate and the four-year span, so … Sloppy writing, that. Well spotted, **pkbites**. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/3 "2005-12-13T20:05:08Z")
> [@Ice Wolf](#): > > Somebody writing that probably didn’t know the year for the election, but remembered Watergate and the four-year span, so … > Sloppy writing, that. Well spotted, **pkbites**. I don’t know why I find it so amusing to make fun of him. He was the President and deserves respect, and he seemed to be a pretty nice guy. If it had been any other Prez it wouldn’t be funny. But he was kind of a stuffle. Do you remember during his debate with Carter when he raised his voice and demanded that there was no Soviet domination in eastern Europe? The debate coordinator tried to give him a chance to correct himself but he just wouldn’t. Then there was the golf ball to the melon. And the several slip and falls. Running for re-election in the wrong year just seems par for the course. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/4 "2005-12-13T20:11:38Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > And the several slip and falls. The funny thing about that is that Ford has athletic credentials. He was a three-year player at center for Michigan, and was voted the most valuable player one year. Yet he’ll go down in history as a klutz. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/5 "2005-12-13T20:12:09Z")
Forgot to click my sig. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/6 "2005-12-13T20:34:25Z")
Shouldn’t you have waited until Dec. 31 to make that name change? Then you could’ve gone on about how you _had_ to change your name, and it was either going to be **Last Year’s Model** or **Frank**. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/7 "2005-12-13T20:38:58Z")
Gerald Ford was doomed before the election campaign. When he pardoned Nixon, folks just assumed there had been a “promise to pardon me, and I’ll make you president” deal. Nixon and Agnew had both resigned in disgrace, and Ford couldn’t escape their stain. It didn’t help when he passed out those stupid **Whip Inflation Now** buttons, as if pep talks could revive the economy. His clumsiness was exaggerated. Ford was a good skier, with many years experience. Like every skier, he fell down sometimes. Most skiers don’t have a troupe of news photographers following them; when he fell, it was news. He was a good enough congressman to have been re-elected a few times. He was respected as an honest, straight-up guy (literally an Eagle Scout.) I respected him, though he wasn’t in my party. In my opinion, he wasn’t cut out to be president. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/8 "2005-12-13T20:52:08Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Forgot to click my sig. Put it in your location for a while, then it is automatic and less work. On the OP: The republicans were still in recovery mode from Nixon/Agnew. Carter was the best thing that could have happen to them. He was an ineffective President and it allowed Reagan to win. Jim ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/9 "2005-12-13T22:30:39Z")
A friend of mine from New York maintains that the famous \*Daily News \* “Ford to City: Drop Dead” headline of Oct. 30, 1975, played an important role in Carter’s victory by moving sentiment against the president in the Empire State. He has said New York is the only state that went for Carter and had enough electoral votes to swing the national result the other way had it gone for Ford instead, which seems to me to be borne out by [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ElectoralCollege1976-Large.png) map of the electoral voting. Anyway, it’s an interesting argument but I’ve never known how seriously to take it. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/10 "2005-12-13T23:31:52Z")
They appear to have fixed it- > [@The BBC](#): > > As Vice-President, Gerald Ford became president in 1974 when Nixon resigned because of the Watergate affair, but failed to win a full term in 1976 ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/11 "2005-12-14T01:35:52Z")
> [@St. Urho](#): > > They appear to have fixed it- ☚ Aw, shucks! I was having too much fun with it I guess. ---
**Author:** ![lonesome\_loser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@lonesome\_loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lonesome_loser)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/12 "2005-12-14T01:38:11Z")
What Ford will go down in history for is that he held both the Vice President and the Presidential offices yet was elected to neither. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/13 "2005-12-14T02:12:28Z")
> [@lonesome loser](#): > > What Ford will go down in history for is that he held both the Vice President and the Presidential offices yet was elected to neither. Also that at a dinner for Anwar Sadat he gave a toast to “the great people of Israel I MEAN EGYPT!!” ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/14 "2005-12-14T02:14:45Z")
\ **Frank** , did you name yourself after the bunny guy in _Donnie Darko_? Inquiring minds (my daughter & I) want to know. \ ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/15 "2005-12-14T02:34:42Z")
> [@ggurl](#): > > \ > **Frank** , > did you name yourself after the bunny guy in _Donnie Darko_? > Inquiring minds (my daughter & I) want to know. > \ Sorry, no, it’s not that interesting. It’s my real name. ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/16 "2005-12-14T02:36:42Z")
lol! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/17 "2005-12-14T03:37:54Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I don’t know why I find it so amusing to make fun of him. He was the President and deserves respect, and he seemed to be a pretty nice guy. > If it had been any other Prez it wouldn’t be funny. The fact that nobody voted for him to be President or VP just makes him into a historical accident. How can anybody take him seriously? ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/18 "2005-12-14T16:24:54Z")
I was a kid during the '76 election, but, odd as it may seem now, Carter was seen as a fresh-faced, intelligent, clean-living, honest guy, sort of like Clinton I w/o Gennifer Flowers, while Ford, whom I don’t recall anybody hating outright, was nevertheless seen as stained by the whole Watergate thing. Nice guy, sure, but he was also the old, tired, discredited party, and the Whip Inflation Now! buttons and Swine flu things didn’t help. SNL and MAD magazine had a field day with him. In 1980, of course, people were “tired of Carter”. The 70s made everybody tired. (BTW, I didn’t get to vote until '84–for Walter Mondale. Ooooh the excitement.) ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/19 "2005-12-14T18:18:57Z")
> [@Mehitabel](#): > > (BTW, I didn’t get to vote until '84–for Walter Mondale. Ooooh the excitement.) **YOU** were one of the 6 people who voted for Fritz? ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-gerald-ford-lost-the-election/335460/20 "2005-12-15T02:06:38Z")
I was in Massachusetts! :o