Presidency

Gerald Ford 34th President 1974-1977

​ Biography Since Gerald Ford became vice president, and eventually president through others resignations, he did not campaign for his position, because he was appointed to it. Ford became vice president under terms of the twenty fifth amendment, because Spiro Agnew resigned as vice president. After Ford became vice president, news of the Watergate Scandal came out, and President Nixon was forced to resign causing Ford to become president in 1974.During Ford’s short presidency, he got many things accomplished. When he took office, there were many problems that he had to deal with. Ford was able to bring the economy up from its economic downfall, curb inflation, and reduce spending. Ford also had to deal with the energy crisis the country was facing. He had to do all of this without help from Congress, because it was a Democratic majority and most ideas that Ford put up were shot down. Also, the country did not trust the government, and the President because of what Nixon had done. It took Ford along time to regain the trust of the country. Gerald Ford ran for reelection, hoping to continue his plans on how to regain the trust of Americans and fix the economy, but was not reelected because of the full pardon that he gave to Nixon.

Executive Orders · *11833 - Withholding of city income or employment taxes by federal agencies- this was to help raise money to help the economy · 11839 - Amending the civil service rules to except certain positions in regional offices from the career service- made it easier for anyone to get a job for the government, step towards equality. · 12148 Creation of FEMA - federal emergency management agency- this helped to send need and help on crisis situations and set up rules to manage crisis situations · 11950 - Conforming the Central Intelligence Agency and Civil Service Retirement and Disability Systems with respect to cost of living adjustments- provided more money so that people could survive with rising costs · Designation of certain officers of the Department of Agriculture to act as Secretary of Agriculture- created this seat in the Cabinet · *11941 - Adjustment of pay rates effective Oct. 1, 1976 – lowered them to help save money to help the economy · 11931 - Extension of diplomatic privileges and immunities to permanent observers to organization of American States – gave Diplomats immunity to people who are not from the USA · Delegation of certain reporting functions to director of office of management and budget- redistributed the duties of the budget office to make it more effective · *11855 - Membership of the Energy Resources Council- added members to deal with the energy crisis · 11860 - Establishing the President's Advisory Committee on Refugees- designated a committee to work with refugees that come to America · 11875 - Delegating certain functions to the Secretary of Transportation- added duties to the Secretary of Transportation to make the job more effective. · *11886 - Abolishing the Culebra Island naval defensive sea area established by Executive Order No. 8684- removed all US military involvement in the Culebra Islands. · *11910 - Delegating legal services functions pursuant to the Disaster Relief Act of 1974- provided funding and means to set up a disaster relief program. · *11894 - Adding to the membership of the East-West Foreign Trade Board- made this more important by adding members so that the US could trade more efficiently with other countries to help the economy.

Vetos To provide for more effective congressional review of administrative actions which exempt petroleum products from the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of **1973,** or which result in a major increase in the price of domestic crude oil; and to provide for an interim extension of certain expiring energy authorities. // Vetoed //// July //**// 21, 1975. //** The veto message was laid before the House, referred to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, and printed ** as ** H. This Veto was important because it shows Gerald Fords belief in keeping oil prices low and trying to work towards less dependency of oil and more dependency on alternate energy sources.
 * Vetoed over 50 bills that increased spending on unnecessary things that would raise the budget.
 * Regular Vetos: 48
 * Pocket Vetos: 18
 * Vetos overridden: 12
 * ** 2328 **** H.R. **** 4035. **
 * Doc. **** 94-218. (121 ** Cong. Rec. **23959).**
 * // Veto unchallenged //**

To amend section **883(a)** of the Internal Revenue Code to provide for exclusion of income from the temporary rental of railroad rolling stock by foreign corporations. before the House, referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and printed as H. Doc. ** 94-325. (121 ** Cong. Rec. ** 41438). ** by a vote of ** 265 ** yeas to ** 157 ** nays. ** (121 ** Cong Rec. This veto was important because Ford wanted to keep money in the United States, and not give any to foreign nations
 * ** 2334 **** H.R. **** 5559. **
 * // Vetoed December //****// 17, 1975. //** The veto message was laid
 * // The //****// House sustained //** the veto on December ** 18. 1975 **
 * 41705). **
 * // Veto Sustained //**

S. ** 2350. ** To amend the National Security Act of ** 1947, ** as amended, to include the Secretary of the Treasury ** as ** a member of the National Security Council. before the Senate and printed ** as ** S. Doc. ** 94-145. (122 ** Cong. ** Rec. 2). ** a vote of ** 72 ** yeas and ** 16 ** nays. ** (122 ** CoGg. ** h. **** 67 9j. ** on Armed Services. ** (122 ** Cong. Rec. ** 874). ** This veto was important because Ford felt that the National Security Council was functioning properly and did not need any other members.
 * // Vetoed December 31, 1975. //** The veto message was laid
 * // The //**// Senate **overrode** // the veto on January ** 22. 1976 ** by
 * // The veto message //**** was ****// referred //** to the House Commit tee
 * // Veto sustained //**

To amend the Public Works and Economic Development Act of ** 1965, ** to increase the anti-recessionary effectiveness of the program. the Senate and printed ** as ** S. Doc. ** 94-230. (122 ** Cong. Rec. ** 22557). ** vote of ** 73 ** yeas to ** 24 ** nays. ** (122 ** Cong. Rec. ** 23096). ** vote of ** 310 ** yeas to ** 96 ** nays. ** (122 ** Cong. Rec. ** 23420). **
 * 2342 S. 3201 **
 * // Vetoed //** July **//6,//** **// 1976. //** The veto message was laid before
 * // The Senate ouerrode //** the veto on July ** 21, 1976 ** by a
 * // The House ouerrode //** the veto on July ** 22, 1976 ** by a
 * // Veto ouerridden. //**** (90 ** Stat. ** 999; ** Public Law ** 94-369). **

This veto was important because it shows the checks and balances system because althought the president did not approve of this amendment to the Act, the Congress was able to override the veto and were able to amend this act.

Legislation Supported
 * Supported all legislation that helped lower the debt and bring up the economy
 * Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975- this act provided all handicapped children with a proper education.
 * Tax Reduction Act of 1975- gave rebates to people who paid their income taxes
 * Supported the equal rights amendment, which was never passed
 * Privacy Act of 1974- gave people basic rights to privacy

Legislation Opposed · Opposed the outcome of Roe vs. Wade that legalized abortion · Opposed all legislation that would increase the national debt · Did not support legislation that took money away from programs designed to boost the economy

Supreme Court Appointment: John Paul Stevens of Illinois Judicial Oath Taken: December 19, 1975  Highlights


 * Curbed inflation to help the economy by reducing spending
 * Brought the country up for the worst economic downfall it had seen in over 40 years
 * Create alternative sources of energy
 * Improved relationship between the government, the people, and the press
 * Reduced unemployment rates
 * Created a select intelligence committee that was in charge of the FBI and CIA

Criticisms


 * The full pardon that he gave to Nixon made many people unhappy, and he received heavy criticisms for it
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Opposition for involvement in Vietnam

Pitfalls · Economic recovery Act took a long time to help the economy · Many of the Bills that Ford supported were not passes due to tension between Congress and Ford · Legislation directed to help the economy was rejected by Ford and Congress because they could not agree on the best way to help the economy.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Foreign Relations When Ford took office, he had many foreign relations to deal with. The war in Vietnam had just ended, and Ford removed the troops. He was also dealing with relieving the tension between the United States, the Soviet Union, and the People’s Republic of China during the Cold War. He also maintained the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty with the Soviet Union to control the amount of weapons each nation had. Ford also had to evacuate all Americans that were in Cambodia after the country fell, and Ford sent it troops to retrieve the ship that the Cambodians had captured. Everyone was happy with this decision, even Congress. There were many wars happening in the Middle East. These posed a constant threat to the United States, but there was not much that Ford could do. When Ford wanted to help to Anti Soviets, Congress refused, and ordered that the United States would not help them. Congress funded the military very well, and added a lot of money to their budget.

Characteristics of the Presidency During his time as president, Gerald Ford faced many hardships not only from the country, but also from Congress. Since the Democrats had a majority in both the House and the Senate, Ford had a difficult time in office. Many of his ideas could not become a reality because of the disadvantage he was at. He often times argued with congress and vetoed many of their bills. The same applied to him, because many of the bills he proposed were not approved by Congress. Since Congress had such an extreme opposition to Ford, it was very difficult to fix the country’s economy, and regain trust from the people because there was so much tension between the president, the Supreme Court, and Congress. The Supreme Court generally sided with the president, because the majority of the justices were Republicans. Despite this, there was a lot of tension, but things were still able to get accomplished.



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