Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter

Ford’s Dilemma with Nixon Ford had to deal with the Nixon problem from the start of his presidency  Nixon had committed crimes  Ford wanted the Nixon problem to go away so the nation could move forward Sept Ford pardons Nixon for all actions taken as president Ford is damaged by this decision  many hate him for the decision

The Economy and WIN Ford had a slumping economy to deal with  Nixon’s attempts to manipulate the economy with price controls did not work  the spending of the Great Society and Vietnam created inflation Ford’s economic team created a plan to fix the economy Whip Inflation Now (WIN)  all should cut back on spending and increase savings (get money out of the system)  Win does not really work (people were not moved to participate)

Ford and Congress Ford had a hostile Democratic Congress to work with The Democrats would not work with Ford  the anti-war anti Watergate sentiment brought a very liberal Congress into power  many were angry with Ford for pardoning Nixon  some do not see him as a legitimate president Without Congress’ cooperation Ford was really stuck

Carter’s Win Carter ran a campaign saying he was not part of the Washington problem  he was a governor  he blamed Washington for the problems of the country Carter squeaks out a win against Ford in the election

Major Problems to Start When Jimmy Carter became president the country faced major problems  the economy was in shambles with high inflation  OPEC was cutting off oil and US was going through an energy shortage  US had just come through Vietnam and Watergate so the people were fed up and skeptical of the govt.  problems in Middle East were heating up

The Oil Crisis OPEC used oil as a political tool against US during the 70s  they were punishing US for US support of Israel With oil shortage fuel prices went up and this hurt the economy To deal with this Carter attempted to reduce regulations on oil companies to get them to produce more oil Carter also created a “windfall profits” tax  this taxed profits for “big oil”  this took incentive away to invest and defeat the oil shortage

Problems at home and with Congress There was a hangover effect in the US from Vietnam and Watergate  People did not trust or like government  People were not willing to sacrifice for the country  There seemed to be more pointing fingers to find those to blame Carter and Congress blamed each other for the problems  Congress was angry for being blamed for the nations problems  Congress stood in Carters way on policies he wanted to pass  with govt at a stand still Carter looked very bad