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

well, as the gerald r ford presidential library, a couple of nice things in here, including the new geraldh, 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.

so we have a little gift from both the gerald r ford foundation as. gerald r ford presidential library, a couple of nice things in here, including

i think we have some trustees from the gerald ford presidential foundation to recognize. i think i see bob hooker and i think j.c. rising is here. we have one of the ford president ford's family members, greg ford, a nephew of president. mrs. ford, welcome. glad you're always glad you're here. so, yeah, go ahead and applaud. absolutely absolutely. now, those of you who have been to this gig before know that i have tried every which way possible humanly possible to introduce bill in a new way. so one year, in fact, we used his haiku poetry. remember that year? haiku poetry to. introduce him because he's the author of a lot of haiku poetry that ended up in a book. another year we looked at, oh, this was this was rich. we looked at his student evaluate options. and i had never managed the two decades i've known bill to embarrass him in a good natured way until i read the last student evaluation from a young woman who said, and you know, the best thing besides the great storytelling. he's hot. right? so i've run out of ideas for introducing him. so here's what i'd like to do.

but then -- but then -- a month after nixon resigns gerald ford pardons him. and all of a sudden, these questions are raised. wait, was there a deal here? did nixon and ford get together or maybe was there a intermediary? and did ford say, dick, if you resign, then as president i will pardon you and you do not have to go to jail. now, there is no evidence that anything like a deal occurred. in fact, it strains the imagination to think there would be anything explicit. however, it is entirely possible that nixon reasoned that the way ford reasoned from a constitutional standpoint, the big deal is that this president is no longer president. now, let us move on. and that is precisely the argument that ford made in justifying the pardon. now, the short-term consequence of this is, a sense that okay, we can move past watergate. and so in the short term, jerry ford's decision was good for the country. in the slightly longer term, it was bad for jerry ford because it meant that there was no way he was going to win in 1976. and, in fact, even with the bad news about ri

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

the official 2023 white house christmas ornament features president gerald ford on the front of the wreath. the ford's white house christmas decorations themes, which focused on american handcraft efforts. turn the ornament around. see emblems representing president ford's legacy of service from his in boy scout troop 15, where he earned the rank of eagle scout to his college years playing football for the university of michigan. after graduating from yale law school, ford served in the united navy during world war two, achieving the rank lieutenant commander. one of the last honors that my received six weeks before he passed was naming of cvn 78. that was probably one of the highest honors he received following his military service, ford, elizabeth, betty bloomer, warren. they married in 1948 and had four children. michael, john stephen and susan. 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

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

but when i read your book, really, ford, the political culture is not kind to gerald ford. talk to us a little bit about that. >> there's two things going on with ford. number one is that he has a couple of well-publicized doubles when he falls. one of them -- they weren't really his fault. one of them, he is trying to help betty, but regardless, he stumbled, led to this impression of him as a klutz. now, mind you, joe ford was probably the best athlete ever to become president. expert skier, tennis player, a football player in college, was drafted into the nfl. didn't play but was drafted and so, ford was a tremendous athlete, but there's this perception of him as a klutz. people know the history. so, that's one aspect. the second thing is the culture was changing at the time. that's what i'm tried to get out of the book, what's happening to the president and the evolution of culture are both important factors in what's going on. and so, the culture is changing in that 10 or 15 years before, you couldn't make fun of the president on tv. there was an attempt to do a sketch s

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

ford, susan is the sponsor of the aircraft carrier uss gerald r. ford, in recognition of her extraordinary service as the ship's sponsor, susan was named an honorary naval aviator by the united states navy, becoming only the 31st american ever to receive this distinction. and, the first woman ever to be so honored. she is the recipient of three honorary doctorates and is the author of two novels set in the white house. i am waiting for those novels to get on tv. netflix, we need to clean up a little bit. ed cox next to susan, the son- in-law of president and mrs. nixon, many of you may recall that the on stein center and the ford held a joint program, i figured it out, 12 years ago, you ask, when was it? 2011 where we were at the ford museum and featured ed cox talking about what is like to work with presidents. he has worked with four of them, he is a corporate lawyer, finance lawyer, and he and tricia nixon met, i found out the story last night, they met in new york at a class dance in 1963 when they were seniors in high school. they married eight

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

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

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

also trustees of the gerald r. ford presidential foundation who, in addition to susan who are here, include tina freeze decker, david hooker and fred keller. the director of the ford presidential library and museum, brooke, brook clement, is with us also. and west michigan's veteran political reporter rick alban is with us. let's give all these distinguished guests a hand. [ applause ] >> i also want to thank the many, many generous donors, the sponsors who made this luncheon possible. again, please hold your applause, our premier sponsor, once again, fifth third bank, our table sponsors, steve and amy van andle foundation, blue cross, blue shield, blue care network of michigan and the seco family foundation are the principal table sponsors. and i want to point out that joan secia, the wife of the late ambassador, peter, is here with us. thank you so much for being here. [ applause ] >> there are many additional sponsors who are listed on the back of your program, and we appreciate and thank you all. well, i'd now like

for the audience, i say, this is what they see, this is exactly what gerald ford is, this is the same 2000 tons of diplomacy, which the americans often talk about, then the entire us fleet covers all the troops of conventional enemies like bykavts, and in fact in a non-nuclear conflict they will definitely lose, and that is why they are betting on nuclear weapons, they are betting on terrorism, they are betting on the work of the special services of using chemical weapons in such work. as we saw it in the russians, that is, they they try to play dirty, because in a normal, full-fledged military match , they will definitely lose. this is a speculative question for you, mr. oleksandr, but i am convinced that the americans and in general the intelligence services, the western ones for sure, set themselves the task of finding out the real nuclear potential of the russian federation. obviously, china is not so interesting, because in... china has about 15 times less nuclear weapons than in the united states and in russia, there are about 5,000, china has about 300-400, but when we see

, at headed by gerald ford , which is close to the shores of israel, is washington's voice soundingough now in the war on the stairs, well, you know, it seems to me that this is blinken's public message, it was not a public message, because if we are talking about the return of the united states to the middle east, since the countries of the region understand that without the united states, it is impossible to solve the problems, no one returns either to china or to the russian federation. we see a crisis that could turn into a regional conflict with far-reaching consequences, but no neither beijing nor moscow are involved here, they, if beijing is sitting on the fence, then moscow is trying to justify terrorism and is trying to play some kind of pseudo-diplomacy, and the propaganda channels were aimed at discrediting, first of all, israel, but also ukraine with these trophy weapons that were transferred, means terrorists and most likely, this is one of the main factors that we can use to say that the russian federation is involved, if not in the planning of this large-scale attack,

gerald ford, the largest aircraft carrier in the world.ircraft, including a nuclear reactor, which can operate without a gun, missile, bomb or torpedo, its own air defense system, the movement of this colossus is ensured by a new replacement of fuel rods for as many as 50 years, that is, without refueling 50 years. gerald ford is always accompanied by at least one cruiser, two destroyers or frigates and supply ships. sometimes to an aircraft carrier strike. include submarines, the personnel of the entire carrier group can number up to 7,500 people, but the aircraft carrier gerald ford was not enough for biden. the second aircraft carrier, dwight 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 israel. a mystery, even the coordinator of strategic communications at the us national security council, john kirby, speaks quite confusingly on the topic. i saw reports in the press. that we have made the final decision

the us would do that through his aircraft carrier, the gerald ford along with the uk sent surveillance aircraft, but not so fast. hamas itself has plenty of firepower left in his arsenal from drones to missiles and his fighters. and there are other players in this battle as well, سنقوم به عن بعد من خلال الطائرات والقذائف واحتل الصهاينه الارض بالقتل والمججازر باشراف ورعايه دوليهه اقصى ليقول لا ويتصرفون بانسانيه israel's ultimate goal is a greater israel palestinian resistance groups have launched more attacks against israel in retaliation for the regime's bombardment of the gaza strip, the military wing of hamas resistance movement is theen al-qassam brigades launch mis. at the city of tel aviv, the cities of sterot and shalomi were targeted as well. the rasanburgades also hit a gathering of israeli soldiers in raim region with. hamas had previously stated that i can target anywhere in the israeli territories. palestinian resistance fighters entered the gaza envelope area on october 7th following missile strikes on israeli targets under the operation alexa flood. over 1400 israels have

israel to carry out this bombing campaign, there's a possibility that the usss gerald ford will assist israel in raising gaza to the ground. what israel has in mind is to prepare for a block by block warfare in gaza. israel has already stated that the goal is to destroy hamas, regarding the human cost, which may includes the ones in captivity, and that includes israeli soldiers alives as well. the resistance fighters can use their tunnel network to get in behind the attack or to attack in all directions, to make it very difficult for israel to effectively have an advantage. at the end, the us and a us supported coalition. would do that through his aircraft carrier the gerald ford along with the uk sent surveillance aircraft, but not so fast, hamas itself has plenty of firepower left in his arsenal from drones to missiles and his fighters, and there are other players in this battle as well, are willing and نقوم به عن بعد من خلال الطائرات والقذائف واحتل الصهاينه الارض بالقتل والمججازر باشراف ورعايه دوليها اقصى ليقول لا ويتصرفون بانسانيه israel's ultimate goal is a greater israel needs to

there's a possibility that the usa gerald ford will assist israel in raising gaza to the ground.udes israely soldiers alives as well, the resistance fighters can use their tunnel network to get in behind the attack or to attack in all directions, to make it very difficult for israel to effectively have an advantage. that the... and the us and a us supported coalition will help israel demolish the gaza strip, which the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has stated, the us would do that through his aircraft carrier, the gerald ford along with the uk sent surveillance aircraft, but not so fast. hamas itself has plenty of firepower left in his arsenal from drones to missiles and his fighters, and there are other players in اي عمل سنقوم به عن بعد من خلال الطائرات والقذائف واحتل الصهاينه الارض بالقتل والمججازر باشراف ورعايه دوليهه اقصى ليقول لا ويتصرفونه. one needs to look at where the american forces are located from the west of iraq on the euphrates border and east of the euphrates of syria, but if it comes down to that, there is one formidable force standing in their way, the

there's a possibility that usa gerald ford would assist israel in raising gaza to the ground. what israel has in mind is to prepare for a block by block warfare in gaza. israel has already stated that the goal is to destroy hamas, disregarding the human cost, which may includes the ones in captivity, and that includes israeli soldiers alives as well, the resistance fighters can use their tunnel network to get in behind the attack or to attack in all directions, to make it very difficult for israel to effectively have an advantage. at the end, the us and a us supported coalition will help israel demolish the gaza strip, which the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has stated. the us would do that through his aircraft carrier, the gerald ford along with the uk, who has sent surveillance aircraft, but not so fast. hamas itself has plenty of firepower left in his arsenal from drones to missiles and his fighters. and there are other players in this battle as well who are winning and even more able to defeat the enemy forces, and the squadron of fighters for one was said that

president biden pledging support as gerald ford heads to the eastern mediterranean sea with a deck full of war planes of alexandria hoff joins us with the latest. >> jeff: they have taken control of several border areas of the gaza strip, that is new this morning. as far as the four more thanes killed, congress was advised the number could rise. increasing assistance to the area. lloyd austin directed a group to the eastern mediterranean. senator chuck schumer said i asked defense department if they are giving israel everything they need and i was heartened to receive a yes. chuck schumer is in china. israel formerly declared war yesterday embarking on action and strikes against hamas for the saturday attack that left 700 dead, including 260 people caught off guard and murdered at a music festival. >> it is by far the worst day in israeli history, never before have so many israelis been killed by one single thing, let alone enemies. if you are americans and compare to american history, this could be 9/11 and pearl harbor wrapped into one. >> alexandria: jewish city is battling. israeli