Ford, Gerald R. Quotes

Ford, Gerald R.

· <blockquote><a href="http://quotationsbook.com/author/2558/">Quotes by Ford, Gerald R.</a></blockquote> From <a href="http://quotationsbook.com">Quotations Book</a> ·

When Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office on August 9, 1974, he declared, "I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances.... This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts." It was indeed an unprecedented time. He had been the first Vice President chosen under the terms of the Twenty-fifth Amendment and, in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, was succeeding the first President ever to resign. Ford was confronted with almost insuperable tasks. There were the challenges of mastering inflation, reviving a depressed economy, solving chronic energy shortages, and trying to ensure world peace. The President acted to curb the trend toward Government intervention and spending as a means of solving the problems of American society and the economy. In the end, he believed, this shift would bring a better life for all Americans. Ford's reputation for integrity and openness had made him popular during his 25 years in Congress. From 1965 to 1973, he was House Minority Leader. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1913, he grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He starred on the University of Michigan football team, and then went to Yale, where he served as assistant coach while earning his law degree. During World War II, he attained the rank of lieutenant commander in the Navy. After the war, he returned to Grand Rapids, where he began the practice of law, and entered Republican politics. A few weeks before his election to Congress in 1948, he married Elizabeth Bloomer. They have four children: Michael, John, Steven, and Susan. As President, Ford tried to calm earlier controversies by granting former President Nixon a full pardon. His nominee for Vice President, former Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, was the second person to fill that office by appointment. Gradually, Ford selected a cabinet of his own. Ford established his policies during his first year in office, despite opposition from a heavily Democratic Congress. His first goal was to curb inflation. Then, when recession became the Nation's most serious domestic problem, he shifted to measures aimed at stimulating the economy. Nevertheless, still fearing inflation, Ford vetoed a number of non-military appropriations bills that would have further increased the already heavy budgetary deficit. During his first 14 months as President, he vetoed 39 measures. His vetoes were usually sustained. Ford continued as he had in his Congressional days to view himself as "a moderate in domestic affairs, a conservative in fiscal affairs, and a dyed-in-the-wool internationalist in foreign affairs." A major goal was to help business operate more freely by reducing taxes upon it and easing the controls exercised by regulatory agencies. "We...declared our independence 200 years ago, and we are not about to lose it now to paper shufflers and computers," he said. In foreign affairs, Ford acted vigorously to maintain U. S. power and prestige after the collapse of Cambodia and South Viet Nam. Preventing a new war in the Middle East remained a major objective; by providing aid to both Israel and Egypt, the Ford Administration helped persuade the two countries to accept an interim truce agreement. Detente with the Soviet Union continued. President Ford and Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev set new limitations upon nuclear weapons. President Ford won the Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1976, but lost the election to his Democratic opponent, former Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia. Ford was a 33rd degree Freemason, and active in numerous Masonic charity fund-raising functions. Bio submitted to QB by: Phillip G. Elam · Can we improve this biography? Post your version

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"I have had a lot of adversaries in my political life, but no enemies that I can remember."

Ford, Gerald R. · Enemies · 1 fans >>
<blockquote><a href="http://quotationsbook.com/quote/12368/">I have had a lot of adversaries in my political life, but no enemies that I can remember..</a></blockquote> -- <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/author/2558/">Ford, Gerald R.</a> On <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/tag/enemies/">Enemies</a> from <a href="http://quotationsbook.com">Quotations Book</a> Post to your blog or social network
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"I had a lot of experience with people smarter than I am."

Ford, Gerald R. · Experience · 0 fans >>
<blockquote><a href="http://quotationsbook.com/quote/13358/">I had a lot of experience with people smarter than I am..</a></blockquote> -- <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/author/2558/">Ford, Gerald R.</a> On <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/tag/experience/">Experience</a> from <a href="http://quotationsbook.com">Quotations Book</a> Post to your blog or social network
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"Truth is the glue that holds government together."

Ford, Gerald R. · Government · 0 fans >>
<blockquote><a href="http://quotationsbook.com/quote/17611/">Truth is the glue that holds government together..</a></blockquote> -- <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/author/2558/">Ford, Gerald R.</a> On <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/tag/government/">Government</a> from <a href="http://quotationsbook.com">Quotations Book</a> Post to your blog or social network
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"Even though this is late in an election year, there is no way we can go forward except together and no way anybody can win except by serving the people's urgent needs. We cannot stand still or slip backwards. We must go forward now together."

Ford, Gerald R. · Unity · 0 fans >>
<blockquote><a href="http://quotationsbook.com/quote/40299/">Even though this is late in an election year, there is no way we can go forward except together and no way anybody can win except by serving the people's urgent needs. We cannot stand still or slip backwards. We must go forward now together..</a></blockquote> -- <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/author/2558/">Ford, Gerald R.</a> On <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/tag/unity/">Unity</a> from <a href="http://quotationsbook.com">Quotations Book</a> Post to your blog or social network
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"Our constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws, not of men."

Ford, Gerald R. · Constitutions · 0 fans >>
<blockquote><a href="http://quotationsbook.com/quote/8204/">Our constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws, not of men..</a></blockquote> -- <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/author/2558/">Ford, Gerald R.</a> On <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/tag/constitutions/">Constitutions</a> from <a href="http://quotationsbook.com">Quotations Book</a> Post to your blog or social network
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"The only honest answer is that an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers [it] to be at a given moment in history; conviction results from whatever offense or offenses two-thirds of the other body considers to be sufficiently serious to require removal of the accused from office. "

Ford, Gerald R. · Uncategorised · 0 fans >>
<blockquote><a href="http://quotationsbook.com/quote/45544/">The only honest answer is that an impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers [it] to be at a given moment in history; conviction results from whatever offense or offenses two-thirds of the other body considers to be sufficiently serious to require removal of the accused from office. .</a></blockquote> -- <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/author/2558/">Ford, Gerald R.</a> On <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/tag/uncategorised/">Uncategorised</a> from <a href="http://quotationsbook.com">Quotations Book</a> Post to your blog or social network
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"My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule. But there is a higher Power, by whatever name we honor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice but mercy. "

Ford, Gerald R. · Uncategorised · 1 fans >>
<blockquote><a href="http://quotationsbook.com/quote/45459/">My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule. But there is a higher Power, by whatever name we honor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice but mercy. .</a></blockquote> -- <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/author/2558/">Ford, Gerald R.</a> On <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/tag/uncategorised/">Uncategorised</a> from <a href="http://quotationsbook.com">Quotations Book</a> Post to your blog or social network
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"I do not want a honeymoon with you. I want a good marriage. I want progress, and I want problemsolving which requires my best efforts and also your best efforts. I have no need to learn how Congress speaks for the people. As President, I intend to listen. But I also intend to listen to the people themselvesall the peopleas I promised last Friday. I want to be sure that we are all tuned in to the real voice of America. "

Ford, Gerald R. · Uncategorised · 0 fans >>
<blockquote><a href="http://quotationsbook.com/quote/45446/">I do not want a honeymoon with you. I want a good marriage. I want progress, and I want problemsolving which requires my best efforts and also your best efforts. I have no need to learn how Congress speaks for the people. As President, I intend to listen. But I also intend to listen to the people themselvesall the peopleas I promised last Friday. I want to be sure that we are all tuned in to the real voice of America. .</a></blockquote> -- <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/author/2558/">Ford, Gerald R.</a> On <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/tag/uncategorised/">Uncategorised</a> from <a href="http://quotationsbook.com">Quotations Book</a> Post to your blog or social network
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"In a political sense, there is one problem that currently underlies all of the others. That problem is making Government sufficiently responsive to the people. If we dont make government responsive to the people, we dont make it believable. And we must make government believable if we are to have a functioning democracy. "

Ford, Gerald R. · Uncategorised · 1 fans >>
<blockquote><a href="http://quotationsbook.com/quote/45429/">In a political sense, there is one problem that currently underlies all of the others. That problem is making Government sufficiently responsive to the people. If we dont make government responsive to the people, we dont make it believable. And we must make government believable if we are to have a functioning democracy. .</a></blockquote> -- <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/author/2558/">Ford, Gerald R.</a> On <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/tag/uncategorised/">Uncategorised</a> from <a href="http://quotationsbook.com">Quotations Book</a> Post to your blog or social network
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"The American wage earner and the American housewife are a lot better economists than most economists care to admit. They know that a government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have. "

Ford, Gerald R. · Uncategorised · 0 fans >>
<blockquote><a href="http://quotationsbook.com/quote/45428/">The American wage earner and the American housewife are a lot better economists than most economists care to admit. They know that a government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have. .</a></blockquote> -- <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/author/2558/">Ford, Gerald R.</a> On <a href="http://quotationsbook.com/tag/uncategorised/">Uncategorised</a> from <a href="http://quotationsbook.com">Quotations Book</a> Post to your blog or social network
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