Gerald R. Ford: An Honorable Life

Chapter 7 - Passage

92 Chapter 7 Passage The Republican National Convention of 1968 opened in Miami on August 5, 1968, to choose the party’s candidate for President. Richard Nixon, who had assiduously collected and banked the most delegates, was back, after eight years, as the near-­ certain nominee. Still competing, but far behind in the delegate count was the ever-­ hopeful Nelson Rockefeller , Governor of New York. Further behind, with only a handful of delegates but making a lasting impression, was a first-­ time candidate, Ronald Reagan, Governor of California. The three personified the evolving Republican Party: Nixon, the heir to the old order of National Committee, state and county chairmen, and party workers; Rockefeller, the symbol of the once dominant, almost extinct East Coast Republican establishment; Reagan, the rising star of the new order, then a small but soon-­ to-­ proliferate cadre of conservative Republicans. By long tradition, the Republican Leader in the House is Convention Chairman, so Jerry Ford stood at the podium to gavel the delegates to order. As Chairman, Ford was officially neutral. In fact he was committed: “I was a Nixon man even before the 1968 campaign began. No equivocation . No question. He knew that, and so did everyone else.” When Nixon was nominated on the first ballot, he invited ten party leaders to a midnight session in his hotel suite at to discuss his choice for Vice President. Opening the discussion, Nixon turned to Ford: “Jerry, I know you’ve thought about being VP in the past. Would you take it now?” Ford, taken aback because he had never wanted to be or even con- Passage 93 templated being Vice President, stated his first and only priority: “Dick, I am totally dedicated to being Speaker of the House. If we do well in this election, and I believe we will, we can get the necessary 218 we need to have a majority.” Ford was complimented by Nixon’s offer, but learned the next day that Nixon was, at best, just being courteous. Nixon had already decided that Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland would be his nominee for Vice President, and made it public only hours later. The Presidential Campaign of 1968 was base, mean, and violent, marked by race riots, bloody street battles between police and youth protesting the Vietnam War, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and the assassination of Robert Kennedy—­ each a tragedy that left a permanent scar on the soul of America. On Election Day the nation repudiated President Johnson, his lost war, and the Democratic nominee, Vice President Hubert Humphrey. The election was not a victory for Nixon; it was instead what Theodore White, the Homer of Presidential campaigns, aptly termed “a negative landslide.” Of the 43 million Americans who had voted for Johnson in 1964, 12 million rejected his party and his successor. To White, it was the most sweeping repudiation of a President since the country rejected Herbert Hoover forty years earlier. So Nixon was elected, but by a wafer-­ thin plurality: 43.4 percent to Humphrey’s 42.7 percent. In that ignoble year, George Wallace, the openly racist candidate, took 13.5 percent and carried five Southern states. Ford, watching the returns in Grand Rapids, was gratified by Nixon ’s election, but disappointed by the House results. So close was the election that Republicans had picked up only five seats, leaving him twenty-­ six short of the number that would make him Speaker. Nevertheless , he looked ahead with optimism. “I had tremendous faith in Dick’s ability,” he said. “He was intelligent, knew the issues, and understood how politics worked. I thought he would be a great President. I was confident that with Nixon in the White House we would build a good Republican record by 1972. I believed we would have a good chance to win the House with his reelection.” With Nixon’s inaugural, Ford expected that the new President would immediately summon him and Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen to the White House to outline his programs and priorities. They 94 gerald r. ford heard nothing. “Incredibly,” Ford said, “Ev and I had trouble finding anyone on the White House staff who was interested in consulting with us on domestic legislative priorities.” To Ford, it quickly became obvious that Nixon had other priorities : the Vietnam War and foreign policy. In his first month as President , Nixon flew to Europe for consultations...