gerald ford's press secretary.ision to appear on night live and bill decision to appear on mtp. in 1992. and i certainly the argument in the conclusion of my first book that involve a strategy of using to bypass the press and speak directly to voters to sell their personalities on the campaign trail. but my new book shows that there's actually more to the story. well, and unpacking the shifting media landscape from nixon to ford to clinton illuminates changes in how popular culture is used as a political and as a consequence, how embracing such political entertainment has changed, how the public interacts with president and how the public consume arm's political information information. my first book show this politics, examines how new technologies, notably get motion pictures and. then television brought alternative for presidents to win elections and to govern. it opened up opportunities for political to rethink communication strategies and party building strategies. i define show biz politics as the reliance on

you know, we find a gerald ford and we grab on to gerald and are excited that gerald, you know, our efforts work out, but gerald doesn't validate an approach. gerald is an anecdote and how many sylvia's and tom's and ed's and manuel's and leon's are out there. who are who are being offered sandwiches frequently and having a lot of conversations with outreach and have had conversations with outreach for the last 20 years and have gone through jail however many times. and we've never like gotten them off the so those are my global kind of thoughts, which you don't have to respond to unless you have a particular one. i of course, i'm going to talk about beds. we're going to have a whole hearing on beds. but it comes up on on a couple of the slides. it comes up on, i guess i think it's slide five of and i think it comes up on slide nine on there. there is a mushiness or a fuzziness in how we continue to talk about beds as which is like multifold. but one aspect of it that kind of drives me nuts is that we're lumping together beds for people with the most severe mental illness, with the beds, fo

on gerald ford. going to explain why if somebody were to write a book on american politics and foreign policy, it might be a smart idea to center it on gerald ford because he is right in the middle of some really momentous stuff. maybe if i do decide to write this book, maybe will play a central role. at the moment, here's what i'm thinking. the title i have in mind the great unraveling. i can tell you that a little bit at the time but certainly as a historian looking back words, in the 1970s and i don't want to get too specific within the 1970s. the title for the talk tonight was watergate. when the 70s really began. the 70s, in some ways, historians sometimes argue about was the 1970s more important. events don't pay any attention of the calendar. they just happen. and attitude towards politics and government unraveling. i put it this way. in 1970, if you had come of political age in 1970. when i was 17 years old, i knew enough about the history of american politics during the previous two realize

and so gerald ford took the job. it's it's an honor. but he certainly didn't expect it to lead anything. lead to anything he thought that this would be a nice sort send off. i'll do this and then retire. in 1976, when this term is up and, that would be that. and and ford knew no more about watergate. everybody else did. so he didn't know where this story was going. but when the story went the way it did, when nixon as became apparent in the coverup of this and and it was at this time that the adage emerged that it's not crime, it's the cover up that's going to get you. and that's indeed the case. if had if he had better public relations people, he had professional pr assistance, then the first rule appears, get it all out there, throw everything you, have out there, because otherwise it's going to dribble out. and every day you're going to be in the papers that if he had done that, it would have been there wouldn't have been any. it will last it. oh, but there's one other thing. there's one other thing and this gets back to the biograph

gerald ford took office august ninth, 1974, after president nixon resigned. for declared in his remarks upon taking the oath of office. i am acutely aware that you have not me as your president by your ballots. so i ask you to confirm me as your president with your prayers. god helping me. i will not let you down. thank you. during their time the white house, the fords made an celebrar dated history such as their participation in the bicentennial, including hosting a state dinner for queen elizabeth. the second. although one of the most famous families in the country, the fords enjoyed ordinary moments, the president was often with the family's golden retriever liberty. liberty. and my dad had just a really unique relationship her dad taking her to the office, and she would just got right underneath his desk and made herself right at home. and like many american families was also a special time. the fords. the white house. so exceptionally beautiful during christmas and coming up with the themes you know the year of the bicentennial we did bicentennial orname

i represent the gerald r. ford presidential campaigns in but it is represented by brooklyn joe, for example. we want to thank our partners for making tonight possible. it o have john and i back the carter

also, trustees of the gerald r. ford presidential foundation, who in addition to susan are here and include david hocker and fred luger. brooke clements is with us, also. and west michigan's veteran political reporter rick alvin is with us. let's give all of these distinguished guests a hand. i also want to think the many, many generous donors and sponsors who made this luncheon possible. again, please hold your applause. fifth third bank. that joan secchia, the wife of the late ambassador peter secchia, is us. thank you so much for being here here. there are many additional sponsors who are listed on the back of your program. and we appreciate and thank you. well, i'd now like to reverend lynette sparks, senior pastor at westminster presbyterian church, to come forward and offer a benediction, an invocation. thank appreciate and thank you all. i would now like to invite reverend lynette sparks, senior pastor of the presbyterian church to come forward and offer a benediction and indication. thank you. participate to

i'm the executive director of the gerald r ford presidential foundation. my this evening is jon lauck, who's a writer and researcher he's written many books. i've got several of them here that he and i have worked on together on, the midwest. and we're going to explore that. so i'm welcoming you, our live audience and our c-span viewers everywhere. so, john, i think we ought get right into it. please tell us about your background and you have real midwestern roots. i mean, you come by all of this honestly raised on a midwestern you know, you went to big colleges, you know, both your ph.d. in history and your law degree, and you've had quite a career in the midwest. so tell us yourself. well, thank you. and thanks to everyone here in grand rapids for coming out tonight. it's a great pleasure to be here i i should say that i kind of live in a colony, grand rapids, in this sense. of course, the dutch are very important to western michigan, grand rapids. but they later chain migrated to pella and then to northwest iowa. we go of course, my home or the place li

i'm the executive director of the gerald r ford presidential foundation. my this evening is jon lauck, who's a writer and researcher he's written many books. i've got several of them here that he and i have worked on together on, the midwest. and we're going to explore that. so i'm welcoming you, our live audience and our c-span viewers everywhere. so, john, i think we ought get right into it. please tell us about your background and you have real midwestern roots. i mean, you come by all of this honestly raised on a midwestern you know, you went to big colleges, you know, both your ph.d. in history and your law degree, and you've had quite a career in the midwest. so tell us yourself. well, thank you. and thanks to everyone here in grand rapids for coming out tonight. it's a great pleasure to be here i i should say that i kind of live in a colony, grand rapids, in this sense. of course, the dutch are very important to western michigan, grand rapids. but they later chain migrated to pella and then to northwest iowa. we go of course, my home or the place li

well, as the gerald r ford presidential library, a couple of nice things in here, including the new gerald r ford christmas. oh, so excellent. enjoy that. great. thank you and thank you so much. what you do as archivist and a museum to encourage these conversations and to encourage the study of history. it's incredible. thank you so we have your.here s ago the first pioneers crossed the oceans to a new world. a promise called the promise of a land where a man could build. his own raise his children in freedom. they call from the wilderness and empire of agriculture and industry. themselves new and higher standards of living and yet in one of the great river valleys of america something went wrong. here in the tennessee valley three centuries later the descendants of the pioneers were a neglected people. living in a ruined land for these children the hope and the thomas were dead for them. the only future was poverty ignorance drudgery. the struggle to scratch a bare living from the reluctant soil even the older man had forgotten that the valley had once been bright with promise and with ho

gerald r. ford presidential foundation, and it is my honor to be your host, along with a lot of other good people today and to welcome you to our 2023 edition of america's first ladies luncheon. this year's event is centered around a theme. it's first ladies pat nixon and betty ford, lives of leadership, courage and grace, three great words to describe these remarkable women. our foundation's long-running first lady series is the brainchild of the first daughter, susan ford bales who's here with us from texas. susan, thank you so much for your dedication all these years. [ applause ] and joining susan are a number of special guests. so i'd like you to hold your applause until the end, please. president mrs. nixon's son-in- law, ed cox, is with us. he joins us in lieu of his son, christopher, who was originally on the program but could not make it today. and we have ms. nixon's and mrs. ford's chief communication strategist, patty matson, thank you so much for being here. leaders and board membe

to gerald ford's strike _ with more to come. to gerald ford's strike group _ with more to come.erald ford's strike group to the - ford's strike group to the eastern mediterranean and apart from posturing and sending a message, what can this provide for israel given the circumstances? it for israel given the circumstances? , ., ., circumstances? it is a show of olitical circumstances? it is a show of political support _ circumstances? it is a show of political support and - circumstances? it is a show of political support and a - political support and a demonstration and suggestions that america is the muscle to back it up in it brings incredible strike capabilities and intelligence collection capabilities, logistics capabilities, logistics capabilities in the real intended audience here is tehran and hezbolla, warning them not to open a northern front in israel. the goal is to provide the time in the space and the means to respond to the most significant attack on jewish people since the holocaust.— jewish people since the holocaust. ., ., , . , holocaust. how realistic is the p

gerald ford white house. of course, there's a new book out about gerald ford from richard norton smith to a lot of people thinking about ford this year. i went to the ford library last week. is lucky enough to be able to go there and see the exhibits and and hear a very excellent presentation. but when i read your book, i mean really. ford it's political culture is not kind to gerald ford. talk to us a little bit about that. well, there's two things going on with gerry ford. number one is that he has a couple of well-publicized stumbles where he falls and one of them was they weren't really his fault. one of them, he was trying to help betty. and a slippery floor. but regardless, these stumbles led to this impress of him as a klutz. now, mind you, gerald ford was probably the best athlete ever to become president. he was expert skier. he was a good tennis player. he was a football player in college and was drafted into the nfl. he didn't play, but he was drafted and so ford was a tremendous athlete. but there

that's how you knew he was gerald ford. but this was a big, big deal that the president was made fun of on tv, and that perception of ford, the great athlete, as a stumbled bum, something that really stuck with him. i think that was an unfortunate tagging, but that's how it worked out. >> talk to us about technology. of course, there's the advent of radio, then the advent of television. how does this change the relationship between popular culture and our presidency? >> these technologies allow presidents to go over the heads of whatever gatekeepers there are through mainstream media, and go directly to people. franklin roosevelt, when he was governor of new york, he regularly used radio because he feared that the editors of the major newspapers in new york were all republicans against him . different how we view mainstream newspapers today. then, famously, he used the fighter site jets when he was in the white house to give over moments of importance to the nation. didn't actually overuse them. he used to notably infrequen

new carrier gerald ford showed little to biden.raft carrier esenhower came to the rescue; this is also a whole aircraft carrier group with all the bells and whistles. in fact, the mission of two entire aircraft carrier groups to the shores of israel is a mystery. even the coordinator of strategic communications at the us national security council , john kirby, speaks quite confusingly on the topic. i saw a report in the press that we made the final decision to deploy a second aircraft carrier in the eastern mediterranean. no operational decisions of this kind have been made, but it is moving in that direction. however, let's return to moscow. at the plenary session of the russian energy forum, vladimir putin made a number of important statements. read more from our political observer, alexander khristenko. cars of high-ranking delegations are at the doors of the forum in manege. this is from venezuela, and this is prince abdulaziz bin salman, the minister of energy of saudi arabia. more than a third of the world's oil and gas reser

it's not mister gerald and you describe them as ignorant of a truly ignorance or arrogant. because i mean, with all due respect, our countries have a history of rivalry at any most a t n. do we actually know each other as un, no adver service. so we are both new, clear to our countries and, you know, those are serious things, but i think one difference is that during the cold war there was some parity, the sort of treatment of each other as equals. do you think the united states, the trees roster, china, or any other country as a, as a legitimate thread of this point of time? well i think they, they would probably understand it if it goes too far and we have a nuclear war, you know, they could get hurt. but i think up to that point they are arian in the they're thinking that they what would happen because they are carefully managing the situation and they have a great deal of power that they have at their fingers. and so i think it's a, it's a, it's a difficult question, but i think there are, during the cold war there were, there were a lot of sensible people who actually

i think mr. gerald did. there is also a huge difference between competition and confrontation because competition, you know, it encourages development and innovation, but confrontation costs a lot of money. when you say that the united states is after wicking russia, do you think these people have actually calculated in like the material terms? what is going to take and wasn't going to cause the american text there? because russia, after all, is the largest country in geographic terms. and again, as we mentioned, it has a pretty strong military. it has the for middle nuclear weapons and you know, its population is also not about to yield to, you know, decision makers in washington. oh, i agree, i don't think why should yield to as a, i would add to your list of, of, actually due to rush as a tremendous natural resources. it's a, it's definitely a, whatever the united states would want to do to diminish it or confront it. it's going to be a major power, whether you like it or not. and the same goes for china.

the reason is, because "gerald ford" is parked right there.bollah is well aware of the fire power and capability of that carrier. if they had any doubt, there's a second one on the way, "uss eisenhower." i think president ford and president eisenhower would feel good to see their namesake carriers in position off the coast and ready to help defend a u.s. ally. i want to conclude by saying something in disagreement with the president of turkey, erdogan, who recently said that that carrier was there to massacre in gaza. that's absolutely not correct. the carrier is there specifically to show our solidarity with israel, to deter hezbollah. the target set, if there is one, will be hezbollah to the north. >> that is alarming, because, of course, erdogan, as the president of turkey, is one of the countries we were hoping that we would hope could be willing to pressure hamas to release our hostages, to stand down. as secretary blinken is about to depart on a trip to israel. >> indeed. frankly, at this moment, i think unfortunately, the chances of any

when i read your book, political culture is not kind to gerald ford. tell us about that. >> number one is he has well- publicized stumbles where he falls and they were not really his fault but he was trying to help but regardless, these stumbles led to an impression as a class. remind you ford was probably the best athlete to become president. he was a football player in college and was drafted into the nfl. ford was a tremendous athlete but there was a perception of him as a klutz. that is one aspect. the second thing is the culture was changing. what's happening to the president is there and the culture is there and they're both important factors so the culture is changing 10 or 15 years before. you cannot make fun of the president on tv. there is a sketch show in the 1960s and it was kebab by the sensors. in kennedy's era they never made fun of the president although there was a guy who did a record about the kennedys and he basically just did different accents for the different kennedy brothers and really wasn't funny but it was seen as very transg

the reaction of the resistance to the dispatch of the aircraft carrier gerald. accepting the consequences of this action, the villages were buried and more than 1,300 houses were destroyed due to the earthquake in northwest afghanistan, the number of earthquake victims increased to 2,053 people, and the treatment of children under 7 years old is freed. 100% increase to 4 thousand the bed has arrived. in the name of god. o allah , peace be upon muhammad and the family of muhammad, and speedy their fate. good morning and have a good day, dear compatriots . welcome to the detailed news of this hour. the number of martyrs of the zionist regime's airstrikes on gaza. in the last two days, the death toll reached 465, of which 78 are children and 46 are women. 19 palestinians were martyred in an air attack by the zionist regime on residential areas in beit hanonun in the north of the gaza strip. the number of martyrs of the attack by airstrikes on rafah in the south of the gaza strip increased to 18 people and to five people in the east of khanyounos . with the martyrdo

all right, that was gerald time's time from the middle east institute in washington. thank you very much for your analysis. thank you. the mazda attacks have reverberated around the world. many words leaders have denounced them while expressing solidarity with israel. you and secretary general antonio gutierrez, has to be literally condemned the same day, or was no justification for acts of terror. even chief, also raise concerns about the death toll and garza from israel's retaliatory strikes. i recognize the legitimate grievances of the palestinian people, but nothing can justify these acts of terror and the killing may mean the doctrine lipsy vivian's. i write to raise my call to immediately seize these effects and release. all last touches in the face of these unprecedented effects is rarely have strikes if bound to go so deeply alarmed by the parts of over $500.00 policy unions, including women and children, killed in gaza and over city 1000 injured. unfortunately, these numbers are rising by the minutes as use at alley operations continue. while i recognize you

. >> gerald mckeegan gerald, 70% isn't what you're trying close or to 77% actually. so, cooking by taking out >> 77%. that is specific and i will defer to you what all of this. so what's your advice to folks who live in the bay area who might want to try to check it out? where can they do that? best? >> well, we're going to keep our fingers crossed that the weather is going to cooperate with this. we're expecting some cloudiness tomorrow morning, although it may be intermittent cloudiness. so you might get a few breaks to see the sun. if so, you want to make sure you do it safely. do not look at the sun directly your naked eye. there you run the risk of burning your retina and sunglasses are not good enough. so there are a couple of things you can try if you can get your hands on a pair of eclipse glasses like these. that's the ideal way all way to look at this if you think you can do is get piece of aluminum take a pen and poke a hole in that. >> and then hold oil up over a piece white paper the sun shines through that pin hole produces an image of the on the white