i was thinking about gerald ford. in particular, i was thinking about a conversation president ford had in the oval office of the white house in december 1976 with the iranian ambassador to washington. in that conversation president ford explained to the ambassador that he needed the help of the shah of iran to stop opec, the cartel that represented oil producers, from approving another big increase in the price of oil. at that time the shah was this country's most important middle east ally, so much so that the shah was known by, admired by critics alike as america's shah. opec was due to meet in a few days' time to calculate the size of the price increase for the following year. the shah had made it clear to ford that he believed oil was undervalued in price and that western consumers could afford to pay 15% more for the imports of persian gulf crude oil. he had already brushed aside a letter from ford asking him to rethink his position. the president's meeting with the shah's ambassador was his final attempt to make

she also has a very special role as the official sponsor of the uss gerald ford aircraft carrier that is under construction. the new carrier will be christened in 2013, and commissioned in 2015. susan is also a trustee of the ford presidential foundation, and served as co-chair of the foundation committee. she is an avid supporter of all we do, the library and museum, and played a key role in convincing our speaker to fit this into his schedule today. along with her brother steve, she a step forward to represent the ford family and many of guns across the country, giving generously offered -- at the many events across the country, giving generously of her time. please welcome susan ford bales, who will introduce our distinguished speaker. [applause] >> good deafening. thank you -- good afternoon. thank you for coming today. welcome to the trustees, special guests, members of the museum's staff, and volunteers, and congratulations on your 30th museum anniversary. uncle dick, i love seeing you as always ladies and gentlemen, in the twilight of his life, -- as always. ladies and gentleme

baker is gerald ford's daughter susan ford bales. this event is just under one hour. >> good afternoon, and welcome to the ford presidential museum. >> it is a pleasure for us to have susan ford bales. she is a highly articulate spokesperson on issues related to breast cancer. she has been extremely active with the betty ford center and served as chairman of its board for five years. susan has a very special role as the official sponsor of the u.s.s. gerald ford aircraft carrier that is under construction. this new carrier will be christened in 2013 and commissioned in 2015. susan is a trustee of the ford presidential foundation and served as co-chair of the foundation's program committee. she is an avid supporter of all we do at the museum and plays a key role in convincing our speaker to fit this into our schedule today. along with her brother, susan has stepped forward to represent the ford family and many events across the country, giving very generously of her time and talent. we are very honored to have her with us this afterno

and the only reason they started again in 1976 was because gerald ford, who was the incumbent but, he was 20 points behind. and i interviewed him about this. i asked him, why did you do? he said, it was the only chance i had to gain ground on jimmy carter. because otherwise going the regular way wasn't going the work. so he challenged carter to the debate which was unheard of. and carter agreed. and he, they came within three points. i mean, it worked from -- then ford, of course, had a problem in one of the debates where he said the soviet union didn't dominate eastern europe. that hurt him. but, basically, the debates helped him gain ground big time on, on carter. and, but more importantly, it established the fact of presidential debates. there were, you know, and no candidate now could ever, ever say, no, no, no, i'm not, i'm not going to do presidential debates. you've got to run. you've got to participate. >> host: and jim lehrer writes about all of these stories that he's telling us in "tension city." his newest book. how many books have you written? >> guest: 23. >> host: how m

. >> and gerald ford -- other candidate to dodge the question. encouraged the chatter. >> americans are pretty forgiving people. hopes that a little humor out.help rick perry will appear on david letterman. >> thank you, scott. leaving thecused of hise of a crash that killed friend has pleaded guilty. is charged with manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident. he crashed into a tree, then took off. friends were killed. a fourth friend survived. to 40 years in prison. >>> greece has a new prime minister. he is a former banker, charged keeping the country out of bankruptcy. will take over from papandreou, who is stepping down. >> some of the deepest darkest of the richard nixon releasedy have been archivesational unveiled 26 files, including the grand jury testimony in 1975. the topics range from the cease- vietnam to the 18 audio thatmissing in thea major role watergate scandal. the advocacy group waged a legal release of the transcript. >>> another drop in jobless claims. see what it means for the nation's unemployment pictures. to shopou'

do you feel you need another gerald ford intervention? >> somebody will show up. i mean, america has always gone through these periods of difficulty and introspection when our economy is not doing well and we're in a recession and we're a little unsure of who we are and what we are. what i'm absolutely convinced of because of my reading of history and my living through this kind of history is that we will find our way. we've always had problems. most of my time period is spent out in the countryside giving speeches and talking to people. and the kind of sort of black thinking and talking that you see on television or you hear here in washington in our congress, the american people understand we have these challenges. but i see such continuing confidence and optimism out with the public. they just want to see the political system in washington start to reflect their concerns and start to fix itself. and as i say to my audiences, don't wait for superman. if you don't like the way they're doing things here, go and vote them out. >> there's a fascinating charge over t

gerald ford had a misstep about whether poland was under control by the soviet union. dan quayle had a famous misstep with lloyd bentsen, the famous you are no jack kennedy. they were not quite the sharpest people and therefore a momentary stammer that can happen to anyone was really damaging. >> do you think that rick perry can be the candidate? >> anything is possible that this is very unlikely. mitt romney is the only obvious candidate. we have seen the conservative party looking for some way to deny that reality but it becomes more and more likely. >> what does this mean for herman cain, who himself is facing allegations of sexual harassment? >> he is the person who is more conservative than mitt romney and therefore a target for the tea party republicans. first, there was michele bachmann. then, rick perry seemed to be the savior and then he had these debate misadventures. this will be good for herman cain and it will put rick perry even further down. in the meantime, mitt romney has advantages. >> the party does not seem to want to embrace him. >> he is the perso

already granted immunity by his successor gerald ford, nixon told of his reaction when he learned a white tape of a critical watergate meeting had a gap of 18 1/2 minutes. the only sound, a buzz. i practically blew my stack, nixon testified, adding, i don't know how it happened. scholars say the new releases reveal part of nixon that contributed to his downfall. >> this was a man who could be very erratic, terribly emotional, and quite unpredictable. >> again, that was nbc's mike vacara reporting. >>> two deals around the bay area. first, a special screening in the east bay tomorrow of the new movie "immortals" that came out yesterday on 11-11-11. meet the screen writers and that ticket will get you $11 worth of soda and popcorn. the other, imagine paying less than $20 for a high-end hotel room in san francisco at the resqeria park hotel aua psaron n square as part of the 100th anniversary celebration. to find out the info, follow me on twitter @dianedwyernbc. keus from 20 leading brands, including tully's. it's the way to brew everyone's favorite cup in under a minute. way to brew. [ boy

. >> i mean, you know, jimmy carter, gerald ford, you decide w is me likable. at the time jimmy carter was the more likable person. >> rose: but gerald ford-- really. >> i will say. >> i think in the public imagination. >> i think that is right. >> rose: of course you couldn't hardly have known. and going back to why herma cain actually could enup enduring dependingow this plays out he is very likable. >> rose: en amoung the press. >> correct. heis absolutely. >> watch the eye way state texas a & m game with hi, couldn't have been more enjoyable. >> he came in to where we were preparing for the debate that i moderated. and everybody liked him there was a great response to him this is all before all this hes with a guy, he was a guy. >> right. >> rose: that you could t and have a beer with. >> yeah. and-- . >> rose: that is what george bush had too. >> he has shown a certain toughness if dealing with this. he's not cracked, at least not in public. >> that's true. but he has obviously liked some of his likability. and to go back to our first topic, until and unle

do you feel you need another gerald ford intervention? >> somebody will show up. america has always gone through these periods of difficulty of inspection when our economy is not doing well, and we're in a recession and we're a little unsure of who we are and what we are. what i'm absolutely convinced of because of my reading of history and my living through this history is we will find our way. we've always had problems. most of my time period is spent out in the countryside giving speeches and talking to people. the kind of sort of black thinking and talking that you see on television or you hear here in washington or in congress but i see such continuing confidence and opt mitch out with the public. they just want to see the political system in washington start to reflect their concerns and start to fix itself. as i say to my audiences, don't wait for superman if you don't like how they're doing it, vote them out. >> there's a fascinating charge over there, colin powell's rules. which of these -- i read a few earlier to myself. get mad and get over it. remain c

presidential moment back in the sixty's it got eighty one percent of the house to vote for it in gerald ford getting more trouble walker bush and a lot of. republicans voted poured a lot of democrats there to. today the problem with the current system and we're seeing it in each election is getting more and more severe is that with the sort of the partisan breakdown only a few states are seen as competitive where the back to the candidates might change who wins the state so all these other states are safe states firmly red and blue in the because of this winner take all rule there is no need to campaign in basically forty out of fifty states i want to talk about that especially as we are if you can believe it just about one year away from the twenty top presidential election a lot of other elections going on too of course but there is a common perception and that is that many of the early voting states iowa and new hampshire. are every election cycle showered with tons of money because of where they fall in primary voting and like you said so many the majority of other states are in their is

thoughts on that i was publisher of the transit journal and director of the transit research institute gerald fordtoday and while leaders are discussing the fate of the euro zone occupy wall street protesters are worried about the future of the u.s. tensions heated up in oakland last night the demonstrations there turning chaotic during a general strike. police clad in riot gear used tear gas and fire pallets at the crowd that arresting demonstrate demonstrators by the dozens alleys for protesters reportedly injured and hospitalized among those injured a man and woman hit by a murderous a.d.'s take a look at the scene last night angry protesters swarmed the car conflicting accounts as to what exactly happened some say the driver plowed the cards of the protesters others say the driver was provoked by the activists pouncing on the car while i'm at the the strikes. for chaos oakland is shaping up to be a major hub for the occupy wall street movement with outsiders flocking to the california city are to producer lucy calf and i was right there in the middle of the action and she took us through the e

during the gerald ford presidency "saturday night live" often lampooned him and portrayed president fordlaughter ] truth is ford was one of the most athletic presidents in history. what sport did railroad is ford play in college? >> bill: the answer is football. all right. now, what position did he play? >> he was -- >> bill: no. what position did he play? >> center. >> bill: levy, still tied. >> i got to get some kind of extra credit for that. >> only if you need it. you can save it. >> bill: that's a joke. question number 4. >> he was recruited by two pro-teams. >> bill: everyone knows ronald reagan was a movie star before he was elected president. >> sometimes when the team is up against it, breaks are leading the boys, ask them to go in there with all they have got. win just one for the gipper. >> bill: what major league baseball team did ronald reagan call games for on the radio? what team? >> bill: very good. chicago cubs. >> illinois guy. >> >> an illinois guy, that's correct. st. louis is fairly close. >> it is close. >> bill: across the mississippi river. >> he went from illinoi

. >> gerald ford? >> ford, i think, is underrated. i mean, he's often thought of as sort of a caretaker. i think he was, in a lot of ways, impressive. intelligent. he was kind of a mainstream conservative, internationalist. i think he did his best under the circumstances. it was a very difficult time for u.s. foreign policy because the public and congress was completely fed up with the memory of vietnam and with the possibility of anything that might resemble vietnam. we're talking '74, '75, '76. and the receive yet union and -- soviet union and its allies, cuba, for example, were quite assertive in promoting socialist revolutions in parts of africa, other parts of the world. and if you read kissinger's memoirs, you see it was a very difficult time to preside over foreign policy. actually, ford was attacked from both left and right, attacked from the left for supposedly propping up, you know, inhumane dictatorships and attacked from the right for not being tough enough on the soviet union. and that's where reagan came from. reagan act

we covered the resignation of richard nixon, and the apology from gerald ford.hat day i was covering evil to enable -- evil knievel. the woman that i was climbing in norse -- north wales with, she said -- he is ridiculous and you have to ring him up. he said, simon, i thought that you were in washington. where are you mad? i said, i am 3 miles away. he came down from the hills and we went to his house. when he opened the door, he had changed into a woman. a skirt and handkerchief. we have been the best of friends, -- >> the next book -- >> this will be published in 200013. >> and the app will be out for thanksgiving this year. we have the issues related to damien hearst, for the love of god. the most expensive artwork in the world. >> did you learn anything as he traveled the united states? >> this was about 25 days. >> did you learn anything about the political mood, something we have not heard about? >> deliberately on the way back, i came to the state of texas. the distance from washington, the gulf is amazing. not wishing to be part of the united states is s

during the gerald ford presidency "saturday night live" often lampooned him and portrayed president fordth is ford was one of the most athletic presidents in history. what sport did railroad is ford play in college? >> bill: the answer is football. all right. now, what position did he play? >> he was -- >> bill: no. what position did he play? >> center. >> bill: levy, still tied. >> i got to get some kind of extra credit for that. >> only if you need it. you can save it. >> bill: that's a joke. question number 4. >> he was recruited by two pro-teams. >> bill: everyone knows ronald reagan was a movie star before he was elected president. >> sometimes when the team is up against it, breaks are leading the boys, ask them to go in there with all they have got. win just one for the gipper. >> bill: what major league baseball team did ronald reagan call games for on the radio? what team? >> bill: very good. chicago cubs. >> illinois guy. >> >> an illinois guy, that's correct. st. louis is fairly close. >> it is close. >> bill: across the mississippi river. >> he went from illinois to l.a. >> b

because in the line of great people, such as gerald ford who came and received this medal, bob hope,ause we felt he did so much for our country and mary eisenhower was here to receive the award. tonight, ross perot, tonight, it's your turn. and i would like to bring somebody out who has been great to us and is the chairman of -- bob. could you please come out here. mary eisenhower. she is here with you. mary eisenhower, ladies and gentlemen. >> mary, it's a pleasure to see you, mary. >> pleasure to see you, too. >> bob? >> governor. >> mary received this honor for her grandfather president eisenhower. >> that is beautiful. >> show it to the camera. this is the first of its kind minted by franklin mint. bob, there is something you would like to read on that. >> yes. >> i will do my best, tony. tony, orlando, yellow ribbon medal of freedom presented to governor mike huckabee. on this veterans day, november 11th, 2011, in honor of service to your country, supporting our troops and veterans, patriotism and valor and for being a national voice of reason and standing strong for the values

gerald ford replaced nixon after water gate.1976, iowa republicans moved their cus caucus to the se day as democrats to share media attention. that year reconfirmed the importance of iowa. more than a dozen democrats competed to run against the incumbent. one was former georgia governor jimmy carter who announced in december 1974. and was at 1% in the polls in october of 1975. >> gallup left him off in the last poll in december. forgot him. >> pat goodell, advisor for carter in '76 said his candidate had a plan. >> it was simple. iowa is a launching pad to put him on the map. >> the peanut farmer and born again christian worked iowa hard. >> stay in people's homes. make his bed in the morning. one-by-one retail politics. he was a farmer. that was a big deal. he understand rural america. >> cart finished ahead of all other candidates. the rest is history. >> governor carter are you prepared to take the constitutional oath? >> i am. >> what impact did carter have on the caucuses? >> that became the blue prohibit for others to foll

gerald ford replaced nixon after watergate and in 1976 iowa republicans moved their caucus to the sameay as democrats to share the media tanks. that year reconfirmed the importance of iowa. >> more than a dozen democrats were running against the inl come bent. one was jimmy carter who announced and was at 1 percent in the polls in october 1975. >> dallas sloughed him off in the last poll forgot him. >> pat caddell an advisor in 76 says his candidate had a plan. >> iowa was a lunching pad. it would put him on the map. >> the peanut farmer and born again christian worked iowa hard. >> he would go to people's homes make his bed in the morning. he was a farmer that was a big deal. he understood rural america. >> carter finished ahead of all other candidates and the rest is history. >> are you prepared to take the constitutional oath? >> i am. >> what impact the jimmy carter at the caucus? >> that became the blue print for other people to follow. lots of folks since then have said if i could own iowa i could leverage that into being a major player. >> which is why frontrunners ignore the ca

and it's going to be a great honor to give it to you because in the line of great people, such as gerald fordrry eisenhower. and ross perot and tonight it's your turn and i'd like to bring somebody out who has been great to us and would you come out here? please, bob, and mary eisenhower finally got-- she's here with you, mary eisenhower, ladies and gentlemen. [applause] >> mary, it's a pleasure to see you, mary. and bob. >> governor. >> mary received this honor for her grandfather president eisenhower. >> that's beautiful. >> so if you can show it to the camera, this is the first of its kind minted by the franklin mint and bob, something to read on that. >> yes. >> i'll do my best, tony. >> tony orlando, yellow ribbon medal of freedom, presented to governor mike huckabee on this veterans day november 11th, 2011, in honor of service to your country, supporting our troops and veterans and patriotism and valor and for being a national voice of reason and standing strong for the the value you set forth and the constitution of the united states of america. [applaus [applause] >> do you mind? seei