Word: forde
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...accomplished ex-athlete, Ford sometimes displayed surprising physical awkwardness. He tripped, in full view of cameras, while descending the stairs from an airplane. During a charity golf event, the President's wildly errant tee shot conked a spectator. Such slips wouldn't have mattered a few years earlier, before the ubiquity of TV. Unfortunately for Ford, NBC had launched an experimental live-action comedy show called Saturday Night Live, designed to attract an audience of irreverent younger viewers. Chevy Chase, one of the original cast members, began playing Ford in skits and taking elaborate, deadpan tumbles, leaving the props...
...Ford took those gibes in good humor, another sign of his essential decency; he was not a collector of grievances like his predecessor. But the public perception of his occasional ineptitudes did not help him govern, nor did the heavy Democratic majorities in Congress after the 1974, post-Watergate elections. Ford remained committed to the broad designs of Nixon's foreign policy; one of his first acts in office was to ask Henry Kissinger to stay on as Secretary of State. Two important U.S.-Soviet agreements occurred during the Ford Administration: the Vladivostok Accords of November 1974, which built...
...Ford's pursuit of the Nixon-Kissinger policy of d?tente drew criticism from the Republican right, particularly from California Governor Ronald Reagan, who argued that that approach to the U.S.S.R. conceded its continued existence. It was another irony of Ford's tenure that his lifelong conservative credentials came to be challenged by his allies...
...Less than a month after taking office, Ford took a step that many believe doomed his presidency. His full pardon of Nixon for any crimes he may have committed while in office provoked a firestorm of criticism and outrage and led to widespread suspicion that Ford had made a secret quid pro quo - Nixon would resign if promised a pardon - with his predecessor. Congressional hearings were called, and Ford willingly appeared in person to answer questions. He denied making any deal with Nixon. The matter has been investigated many times since, and no evidence has ever been found to challenge...
...Ironically, doing what he believed to be the right thing deprived Ford of much of the public trust he had enjoyed on assuming the presidency. His approval rating, according to the Gallup Poll, plummeted from 71% to 49%. And those who did not think of him as untrustworthy began to see him as a bumbler...