The problem is, nobody knows who you are. Jimmy. Jimmy who . My name is jimmy carter and im running for president. You will raise your right hand and repeat after me. I gerald r. Ford do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States. When i saw dad put his hand on the bible, and mom was holding it, there was tremendous pride. It was like his whole career had come together for that moment, unexpectedly. Five men were arrested early saturday while trying to install eavesdropping equipment at the Democratic National committee. Gerald ford has been Vice President for less than a year when he is suddenly thrust into the oval office to lead a nation in crisis. Gerald ford becomes president because Richard Nixon resigns in disgrace during the watergate scandal. Nixon had been guilty of obstruction of justice, abuse of power, causing the American People to have no respect for him or respect for the office of the presidency. It was really important that someone succeed to the presidency. It was seen to be a complete straight arrow. Jerry ford was the perfect person to take Richard Nixons place. He was an eagle scout as a young boy. He was a World War Ii Naval hero. He was an all american Football Player at the university of michigan. He served in congress 24 years. He had been the republican leader in the house. And the character and integrity were important elements of his personality. Please sit down. So here comes gerald ford trying to figure out how do i restore confidence in the presidency . And then what do i do about Richard Nixon . Mr. President , do you agree that former president nixon should have immunity from prosecution . Do i bring the president up on charges . Including criminal charges . Or do i preemptively pardon him and say, you know, lets move on as a nation. In the last ten days or two weeks, ive asked for prayers for guidance on this very important point. Gerald ford is in an almost impossible position. He can either let the country continue to be torn apart or he can try to just stop the bleeding. Ford knows his decision could make or break his chances for reelection in two years time. I gerald r. Ford do grant a full, free and absolute pardon on to Richard Nixon. I thought at the time it was absolutely the right decision to make. Dad felt that america needed recovery, not revenge. The idea was to get nixon out of the way and heal the nation and go forward. The pardon was an unexploded grenell aid. No one knew exactlily how it would play out. When gerald ford pardons Richard Nixon, holy hell breaks out. I think that the American Public wanted some sort of a pound of flesh. And in an instant, in a heartbeat, ford goes from being a regular guy to just being a type of president theyve always had. Ford, who had been around 70 approval, plummeted something, 30, 35 points in the polls almost immediately. It was one of the worst blows to hit any presidency in my lifetime. While ford takes a hit, one democrat believes he can lead america out of the political swamp. There is a problem. Nobody knows who he is. All i can tell you about mr. X is that he provides a service is it a service that has anything to do with the way a woman looks . Not really. Is this anything to do with the world of fashion . No. Are you a state official . Thats correct. Are you a governor . Yes. Thats it. He is governor jimmy carter from the state of georgia. Jimmy carter comes from a tiny town called plains, georgia, where his dad was a peanut farmer. He went off to the naval academy. He became an officer. He is extraordinarily intelligent, high achieving, has a distinguished military career. And then he runs for governor and wins. But carters advisers have a vision for their man that goes beyond the state of georgia. They really see Something Special in him. They see in jimmy carter someone was really outside of the political establishment, and in their mind, that was a good thing. He was the polar opposite of the nixon. And of ford. Not tainted by all the ills of watergate and all that it meant. I called him up and i said, governor, i think you should run for president. Jimmy carter doesnt need much persuading. His faith in himself is unshakeable. His politics are very much informed by his religion. He talked often about how that gave him a calling. If you believe that god has a plan for you, and in his case, he thought it was a pretty big plan, that i think gave him a great deal of inner confidence. And so jimmy carter throws his hat into the ring of the 1976 election two years before election day. There is a time to restore confidence in government. Jimmy carter could say, dont blame me for your dislike of washington, d. C. Ive had no part of it. And he said ill never lie to you. Ill never make a misleading statement. If i do, dont vote for me. The best way i know, or anyone in a position of leadership to earn the trust of our people is very simple. Be trustworthy. He marketed himself as a blue jean pop list who was slightly left central. A moderate democrat from the south. Nobody expected a peanut farming georgia governor to jump in and take on the establishment. Might be to blame. In your e looks like a great day for achy, burning eyes overthecounter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. Ha these drops probably wont touch me. Xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. What is that . Xiidra, noooo it can provide lasting relief. Xiidra is the only fda approved treatment specifically for the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. One drop in each eye, twice a day. Dont use if youre allergic to xiidra. 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At no extra cost. And a promise to be there for you. Whatever your story may be. To learn more, call or go online. Dual complete from unitedhealthcare. A year after taking office, gerald ford is determined to be president. But the odds were stacked against him. He not only inherited water d watergate. He inherited the gold war. Recession. Unemployment was high, the country was being ripped apart. The country was in shambles and many feel he is not up to the job. Theres a growing critique of gerald ford as this accidental president. It wasnt simply that he was unelected. It is that the media constantly was paying attention to accidents that he had as president. It was played over and over and over again. Fords mishaps coincide with the arrival of a brand new comedy show. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States. Gerald ford was the most athletic president of the modern era. And yet chevy chase on saturday night live made many people assume that he was a klutz. I do have it was unfair. I miss a step. You miss a step. Roger federer misses a step occasionally. The president s image is not his only problem. In november 1975, president gerald ford gets a phone call from former california governor Ronald Reagan. Reagan was a very well known b movie actor in hollywood who then made his National Name in politics by supporting barry gold water in 1964. Reagan is now the head of the conservative wing of the Republican Party. Ronald reagan sees gerald ford as a weak leader who cant win the cold war, talking about easing relationships between the United States and the soviet union instead of taking the fight to the soviets. Ronald reagan decides its time to take the nuclear option. Reagan is calling to tell him that he is going to challenge ford for the republican nomination. Its impossible to overestimate how furious ford was. You do not challenge the president of the United States when hes an incumbent. You just dont do this. Reagan says, i hope that this wont be divisive and ford completely blown away by that comment. How can it not be divisive when youre running against the president of the United States . The first major showdown is the New Hampshire primary. You cant be the sitting president of the United States and lose the first primary in New Hampshire or youre dead. Ford knows his fate will be sealed by the outcome. Fords campaign wants to show how president ial gerald ford is. There is no need to change horses mid stream. President ford has trust in america. America has trust in him. Keep him. But the polls show that many republicans dont want to keep him. Ronald reagan has been surging ahead. He represents the hopes of a Republican Party that is starting to turn awkwardly, to the right. Are you going to win in New Hampshire . I dont know. Im going to try. He was charismatic, handsome, and he would come into a room and people would say hes got it. Reagan may have charisma but ford plans to reveal his true colors. He calls for a 90 million reduction and has suggested that states can pick up where the federal government will withdraw. When people start drilling into that, they realize those tax cuts will hurt New Hampshire. A jump in state taxes. Fords team makes sure reagans radical plan is the only thing anyone is talking about. We ambushed him. Saw to it every media person had a copy of our attacks, shall we say. We asked reagan if the ford camp has succeed in the turning the proposal against him. Theyve been making quite an effort. When all the votes are counted, he loses. And reagan suddenly finds himself on the defensive. While gerald ford wins the first battle in the primary race, democrat jimmy carter has not hitting the campaign trail for over a year. Glad to meet you. I love you and i thank you very, very much. How are you doing . The little known governor of georgia is up against the big shots of the Democratic Party. It is a wide open campaign and Many Democrats jump in. Senator henry Scoop Jackson, very well known, senator who looks like hes cast for being president. In the south, george wallace, famous segregationist and he had also run for president several times. But carter is not afraid of a fight. Jimmy carter met all the democratic leaders, and he quite correctly perhaps, but maybe arrogantly thought im smarter than they are. Im smarter than Scoop Jackson and george wallace. Jimmy carter is trying to figure out, how do i make a nail for myself in and he sees that the iowa caucus is going to be the pact for him to become a frontrunner. The idea that you would go mount your own populist insurgency in one of the early primary states to get attention for yourself. No one ever thought of it before. Okay. He campaigned relentlessly seven days a week. Number one, he didnt have an entourage. I was it. If i didnt have a handful of these little green brochures to hand out, i was in big trouble. Lets make it a good one. He stayed in peoples homes because he couldnt even afford a holiday inn. He carried his own bags. And his Campaign Message restoring integrity and honesty to government. That message fit perfectly with democratic voters. After more than a year of gorilla campaigning, jimmy carter races ahead of the pack. Its no longer jimmy who, its jimmy carter and hes the man to beat. Ronald reagan has lost five primaries. It looks like his campaign its had a reached the end of the road. Priceline works with top hotels, to save you up to 60 . These are all great. And when you get a big deal. You feel like a big deal. Priceline. Every trip is a big deal. That cannot be extinguished. It rages on to give us a glimmer of what we can do, and of who we can become. Because hope fuels opportunity. University of phoenix is awarding up to one Million Dollars in new scholarships through this month. Yes, hope is alive and well. See what scholarship you qualify for at phoenix. Edu. Ronald reagan has lost five primaries. It looks like his campaign its had a reached the end of the road. President gerald ford has the momentum in the republican primary race. Hes leaving his opponent in the dust. Serve calling reagan to get out of the race. The more people calling on him to get out, the more pissed off hes getting and the more resolute hes getting. This race is not over. Ronald reagan has found an issue on which gerald ford is vulnerable. The panama canal. The u. S. Had a deal with panama for control of the canal. The Ford Administration wanted to give control of the canal back to panama. This was the quintessential issue of american nationalism. Every kid was built to say we raised the panama canal. We own that canal. It is sovereign United States territory. Reagan works the cameras and reagan pounds the podium and emotors. Thats perfect for him. He . We bought it, we paid for it and were going to keep it. The panama canal issue is political dynamite for Ronald Reagan because it really gives him something to make the case that the Ford Administration cant be trusted on the world stage. Ronald reagan wins in north carolina. So all of a sudden, hes alive and well and youve got a race that will go all the way to the convention. While the president stumbles, democratic frontrunner jimmy carter is on a roll. After making his name in iowa, he secures another crucial win in New Hampshire. This peanut farmer from georgia winning the first two races was a huge story. And i think what weve double here in New Hampshire today will be a very good projection of how the new england people feel about me. If i can just move this to florida as the race heads to the sunshine state, carter must defeat his rival from the south. Alabama governor and segregationist george wallace. Wallace embodies this part of the Democratic Party that had resisted civil rights for decades. And he attracted a pretty big following. Carter had a commitment to civil rights. He said the time for Racial Discrimination is over. He had garnered the support of prominent africanamericans like andrew young who were speaking for him, campaigning for him. Not only does he defeat wallace but he also earns over 70 of the africanamerican vote. Several of the news people have asked me tonight, as if this is a sign of a new south. I replied, this is the sign of a new america. How long can jimmy carter stay on the side of both black and white voters . He is campaigning in indianapolis and hes asked by reporters about a statement that he had made in a recent interview in which he had said, there was nothing wrong with maintaining ethnic purity in neighborhoods. What jimmy carter is trying to signal is that he is not in favor of forcing racial integration in neighborhoods, but the words ethnic purity really evoke ethnic cleansing, fascism and even nazi i. This is a bombshell in the black community. Time to back down, governor. Jimmy carter sticks to his guns. If you have a diverse neighborhood, predominantly of ethnic groups, im not in favor of the government moving another ethnic group into that neighborhood. Even some of carters own people suspect his words are no accident. I think ethnic purity was a poor phrase, but i think it is one that jimmy carter realized he needed to appeal to the working class more conservative white voters in the northeast and midwest. So i think it was a deliberate decision. He was not dog whistling. He was using a mega phone. He knew exactly who he was speaking to when he made those comments. The truth is you cant talk out of both sides of your mouth when it comes to race. The conversation i had with him over ethnic purity was probably the most awkward and uncomfortable one ive ever had with anyone on any sub. Because he was convinced the position he was taking was right. That the language was not fascist or racist. And he just didnt want that. Greg is telling him hell have to apologize. But jimmy didnt step out and say sorry. Civil rights leaders take back their endorsements of carter. The black mayor of atlanta, mayor jackson, said i thought i knew jimmy carter. Maybe hes the same old georgia cracker that we knew. That ethnic purity comment almost destroys his candidacy. Statins may lower some risks, but may not be enough. Thats why science delivered vascepa. For people who have persistent Cardiovascular Risk Factors and take a statin only vascepa is clinically proven to provide 25 lower risk from heart attack and stroke. Dont take vascepa if youre allergic to icosapent ethyl or any inactive ingredient in vascepa. Tell your doctor about any medicines you take, and if you are allergic to fish or shellfish. Stop taking vascepa and seek medical help if you have symptoms of an allergic reaction. 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But one thing we share is wanting to make our lives the best they can be. If you have medicare and medicaid, a dual complete plan from unitedhealthcare can help. Giving you more benefits. At no extra cost. And a promise to be there for you. Whatever your story may be. To learn more, call or go online. Dual complete from unitedhealthcare. Jimmy carter stands accused of racism after saying neighborhoods should be able to maintain their ethnic purity. Carter is persuaded to apologize. But his primary campaign is still hemorrhaging support. This is fatal to carter unless we correct it quickly. So i called congressman andrew young. I said, youve got to help. Andrew young makes a call to a powerful ally. Dr. Martin luther king daddy king is a huge, huge figure in georgia black politics. So what he says has real, real weight. They organized the rally and daddy king got up and said i want to find that man who has lived so perfect that hes never made a mistake. I have a forgiving heart. So governor, im with you all the way. Daddy king said this boy is one of ours. We should make him our president. Martin luther king sr. And some of the black elected officials are more interested in patronage and what they might get out of him, rather than seeing his candidacy disposed of and then having to make new deals with a different democrat. Daddy king absolutely saved jimmy carters candidacy. The penal it farmer from georgia looks unstoppable. But some of the partys elite are determined to prevent this outsider from winning the nomination. They ran the anybody but carter campaign. Abc. You see frank church of idaho trying to stop him. Last minute, jerry brown of california tried to stop carter. And nobody can do it. Jimmy carter wins big. He takes 17 primaries and beats his closest rival jerry brown by nearly 4 million votes. Coming to new york was an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. Here is someone who came from nowhere and here were in Madison Square garden with crowds. Jimmy carter, jimmy carter, peanut man. Ive spent on a lot of times this year about love. But love must be aggressively translated into simple justice. Now ted nomination and he was the establishment. He was the voice of the party. There is no talk of love when gerald ford and Ronald Reagan arrive at the republican convention. You could feel the two different sides. The delegates split. We didnt know who would come out of convention with the nomination. Ford spends the last month before the Kansas City Convention calling on committee delegates, getting them into the white house, back slapping, making deals and being president. Ten votes for governor reagan there are people cursing each other out. People ready to come to physical blows. 20 votes for an outstanding american. Ronald reagan. Who will be the standard bearer of the Republican Party . And 133 votes for the greatest president and the next president of the United States, gerald r. Ford finally, dad came out as the nominee for the Republican Party. I am honored by your nomination and i accept it. I am ready, i am eager to go before the American People and debate the real issues face to face with jimmy carter jerry ford gives what some people think is the greatest speech of his career. Toward the end of the speech, you see gerald ford look up toward Ronald Reagan. After the scrimmages of the past few months, it really feels good to have ron reagan on the same side of the line. His first gesture was to invite reagan down to the convention floor. That was a big deal. And try to unite the party. Reagan was right behind me in the stands. And reagan got up. He was lucas to whether to go down or not. It is a completely unscripted moment. Ford is adamant. You get down here. And the crowd goes wild. But they dont just want to see him. They want to hear from him. Reagan has no prepared speech. Nothing loaded in the teleprompter. And then Ronald Reagan takes the microphone. I believe the Republican Party has a platform that is a banner of bold, unmistakable colors with no pale pastel shades. And its Ronald Reagan again. And all the charisma and persona and history. He captured the convention. We must go forth from here united, determined, at what a great general said a few years ago is true. There is no substitute for victory. The love in the building was for reagan. Ford won the battle but reagan won the war for the Republican Party in 1976. One of the fort supporteders turns and says weve nominated the wrong guy. The election is only six weeks away. You dont trust me here is vegas, do you . Well. I thought we had a breakthrough with the volkswagen. We did. Yes. We broke through. Thats the volkswagen thats the cross sport. Wow. Seatbelts. Please, just tell me where were going. Women with metastatic webreast cancer,. Standing in the struggle. 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To seem like an everyday dude, he decided to give an interview with playboy. Jimmy carter has given an interview to play boy magazine. Who thought that was a good idea . Carter himself agreed to it. He thought this was a way for him to reach a young audience. After the end of the interview, while the tape is still running, he is asked about his marriage and about his religion. And he infamously says, i couldnt if he is to have having had lust in my heart. Carter was just quoting scripture. He didnt think he had a problem. The lust in your heart line became the tag line for the whole playboy interview. Apparently annoyed by the turn of the campaign, carter was elusive, granting the media ran with it. And six weeks before the election, they kept asking him about that quotation. Are you sorry that you granted it . Do you think it has been misunderstood . And the ford people leaped on this to say, thats really odd. This shows this is an odd sort of guy. You really cant trust anything he says. Well, my gosh, this became fodder for every comedian in the book. I want to talk to you about a time with a democratic commission, sexual performance in the white house. It lowered his Approval Ratings in the polls. It made the media sour on him. He didnt seem like the darling anymore. The playboy story couldnt have come at a worse time for jimmy carter. I look forward to deeply satisfying every one of you. Hes about to go head to head with the president in a series of live tv debates. The campaign debates reached enormous audiences. There is nothing more high stakes than a live tv debate. It is you trying to think on your feet in the most stressful environment imaginable. Dad knew if you were going to come out on top, you had to prepare. He was willing to put in the time. So his advisers set up a practice studio outside of the white house. And ford goes through questioning. Mr. President , in recent days mr. Ford mr. President , i note it is called a murder board. He is fired with questions for anything jimmy carter might throw at him. They were getting ready for a showdown. Jimmy carter believes hes more than a max for gerald ford. I begged him to do debate practice. He refused. He thought he was smarter than everybody else and he didnt need to prepare for his debate. I sent him a massive briefing book with hundreds of pages of detail. And hes sending me misspellings and grammatical mistakes. Round one. The economy. Governor, in an interview with the Associated Press last week carter is asked a softball question about what he would do to improve the economy and his advisers are assuming that once the question is asked, he will just hit a home run. To channel money into the, into the he meandered and didnt give the crisp answer. It was a very uncomfortable time. Jimmy carter has made a name for himself being this real president ial contender. And then just completely bombs. After the first debate, jimmy carters lead drops by a full 4 points. Governor carter . He knew that he had blown it. And he said to me later, its the worst 20 minutes of my life. Round two. Foreign policy. Time for the president to hammer home his advantage. Hes been in congress 24 years. Hes been all over the world. Met world leaders. So i think he fell very confident. Max frankel of the New York Times asks about the captive nations. The soviet unions Eastern European empire. President ford had practiced his response for this question in debate prep. And his practiced answer was right on the mark. The policy of this government is to recognize the independence, the sovereignty and the autonomy of all Eastern European countries. But the answer that ford gives on Live Television is a disaster. There is no soviet domination of eastern europe, and there never will be under a foreign administration. The fundamental fact of World Affairs is that the soviet union is dominating eastern europe. Thats literally like the sun comes up. There is gravity. Grass is green. Grass is green. This is true. What president ford was doing was saying we do not acknowledge and accept the domination of the peoples of eastern and Central Europe by the soviet union, but in terms of reality, it was wrong. I can only imagine that when youre there on National Television in the lights, youve got all these things going through your head, that you just slipped. He just flubbed the answers. And it cost him. These are real people, not actors, whove got their eczema under control. With less eczema, you can show more skin. So roll up those sleeves. And help heal your skin from within with dupixent. Dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderatetosevere eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. Dupixent is a biologic, and not a cream or steroid. 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University of phoenix is awarding up to one Million Dollars in new scholarships through this month. Yes, hope is alive and well. See what scholarship you qualify for at phoenix. Edu. Lookentertainmentour experience xfinity x1. Its the easiest way to watch live tv and all your favorite streaming apps. Plus, x1 also includes peacock premium at no extra cost. This baby is the total package. It streams exclusive originals, the full peacock movie library, complete collections of iconic tv shows, and more. Yup, the best really did get better. Magnificent. Xfinity x1 just got even better, with peacock premium included at no additional cost. No strings attached. Okay. This is take one. Five, four, three, two, one. Three weeks until election day. And gerald ford trails jimmy carter by six points in the polls. Carters strategists are convinced their candidate has a comfortable and growing lead. Carter throughout the campaign followed the plan, stuck to the message in a way that was extremely selfdisciplined. Ill never betray the confidence that any of you has in me, and i will never avoid a controversial issue. Theres one controversial issue that ford cant shake off. His decision to pardon Richard Nixon. The country was mad, and rightfully so. But dad felt that the country needed to move on. America has had its faith restored in the white house. My administration has been open, candid, straightforward, and well keep it that way for the next four years. Gerald ford went to town. He travelled across the country and went everywhere trying to stroke up lastminute enthusiasm. It was a heroic end of the campaign. During that period, if dad didnt wake up and smell jet fumes at 6 00 a. M. , he wasnt going to a couple Campaign Stops that day. He didnt think he was working. Gerry forwad had resolve and strength and steel and compassion. On the november 1st, the eve of the election, president ford gets the good news, hes ahead of carter by one point. He suddenly is rejuvenated. Hes suddenly strong again. And ford actually thinks that he is going to win. But now we come to the crucial 24 hours. I wont let you down. Thank you very much. Election night, the whole family and many close aides and friends of mom and dad, we all gathered at the white house watching the election returns come in. It was tense. You didnt know which way it was going to go. Its too close to call. In atlanta, jimmy carter watches the results come in with his wife rosalyn and his campaign team. We all began to really worry that having come this far, we were going to come within an inch of winning and then lose. Having been ahead by 33 points at one time, right after our convention, the race got tighter and tighter and tighter. And it got to be almost 3 00 in the morning when mississippi came in. We now have a projected winner in the president ial election. James earl carter of the state of georgia elected the next president of the United States. We had to pinch ourselves. We had started this improbable race with an unknown underdog, and now jimmy carter is proclaimed president elect of the United States of america. It was an unforgettable moment. And then he flew to plains, where the whole town was waiting up for him. I came all the way through. It took 22 months and i didnt get choked up until i [ applause ] carter was able to win because i think that he willed it. Hes able to market himself as a populist candidate who is not part of the washington mess. Its an astounding victory, but its also one of the closest president ial elections in american history. Jimmy carter wins the popular vote by only 2 . Next morning was tough. Dad took it hard. And mom gave the concession speech because hed lost his voice. The president asked me to tell you that he telephoned president elect carter a short time ago and congratulated him on his victory. Just take a look at the faces behind betty ford. The family is absolutely devastated. By this. Thank you very much. [ applause ] there was this Great Sadness because he firmly felt he had a better plan for the country than jimmy carter. And he wanted to win the presidency. Why did he lose . Had we not had the pardon of Richard Nixon, we would have won that election. President ford thought thats what we ought to do, and i think he was absolutely right, but it did cost us. His idea of being president was looking long term to heal the nation, and i think when you look at the nixon pardon, if dad were here today, he would tell you he would have never changed his mind. Millions of acres burned. Buildings reduced to rubble. And thick clouds of ash choking the air as dozens of major wildfires rage in the western United States. Yet another Tropical Storm is barrelling towards the u. S. Gulf coast and Evacuations Ordered once again in louisiana. And tiktok may have found a u. S. Partner to appease president trump, but its not micros