GERALD
R.
FORD






Only unelected VP & P
First appointed VP under 25th
Amend.
Longest living P – 93 / died 2006
Republican; Michigan
Wife Betty – supporter of equal
rights for women & abortion
“Whip Inflation Now”
– Inflation, unemployment, oil crisis

Salt I Treaty, 1974
– froze the number of strategic ballistic missile
launchers of U.S. & Soviets at existing levels
Political Suicide: pardons Nixon
 Fall of South Vietnam & evacuation
of Saigon, April 1975; fall of Laos &
Cambodia
 Bicentennial Celebration July ‘76

Leslie Lynch King, Jr.
Assassination Attempts
•Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme – Sacramento, CA, Sept. 5, 1975
•Follower of incarcerated cult leader Charles Manson
•Pointing gun at his stomach, but stopped by Secret Service
•Sarah Jane Moore – 17 days later in San Francisco
•Former Marine deflected her shot
•Both sentenced to life imprisonment – both now out on parole
Physical clumsiness ….
• Issues of the Day: Watergate (Impeachment,
pardon of Nixon), US confidence in Southeast
Asia






Peanut farmer; GA
Democrat with a “downhome, plain folks” style
Running mate is Walter
Mondale
Capitalizes on being a
Washington “outsider”
Focus on moral issues &
human rights; promises
“never to lie to the
American people”
Panama Canal Treaty
returns control back to
Panama by 2000
JIMMY
CARTER
A micro-manager
Full Amnesty to all Vietnam draft dodgers –
very controversial
 Advocates nuclear power to solve energy
problems

– But, THREE MILE ISLAND, PA meltdown
– Most significant accident in the history of the
American commercial nuclear power generating
industry
– “Hell no, we won’t glow!”
FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

SALT II – never ratified by

Camp David Accords:
Senate but honored ‘til ’86
when Reagan withdrew
based on Soviet violations
– “ended” 30 yrs. of conflict
– Begin & Sadat brought to
Camp David
– Israel returned land in
Sinai peninsula in
exchange for recognition
by Egypt
– Carter’s greatest success
– But, Sadat assassinated
back home in Egypt

AFGHANISTAN:
– Soviet invasion in Dec. ’79
– To insure a pro-Soviet regime
– Carter stops sale of grain; boycotts 1980
Moscow Olympics
THE IRANIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS

Carter’s Greatest Failure:

IRANIAN HOSTAGE CRISIS:
– Religious leader, Ayatollah
Khomeini overthrows Shah & takes
control of Iran
- Iran a “religious state” - theocracy
- Shah fled to U.S.; Iranian rebels
then seized American Embassy in
11/79 & held 60 embassy workers
hostage – held for 444 days
– Demands return of Shah (& his
wealth) in exchange for the
hostages
Blacks & women freed but 52 others kept and
held for 444 days in captivity (tied to chairs
24 hours/day)
 Carter halts Iranian oil imports & freezes all
Iranian assets in U.S.; didn’t work
 Failed rescue attempt – killed 8; Carter
widely criticized; his greatest failure
 Hostages released on Reagan’s inauguration
