Former President Ford Reflects on His Legacy
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=1520
General Information
Source:
Creator:
CNBC
Brian Williams
Resource Type:
Copyright:
Event Date:
Air/Publish Date:
09/08/1974
07/16/2003
Copyright Date:
Clip Length
Video News Report
NBCUniversal Media,
LLC.
2003
00:03:16
Description
Former President Gerald Ford speaks with NBC's Brian Williams about his legacy decades after the
Vietnam war, Watergate and his pardon of Richard Nixon.
Keywords
President, Gerald Ford, Legacy, Richard Nixon, Watergate, Pardon, Vietnam, War, Foreign Policy,
Leadership, Courage, Presidency, White House, Administration, Public, Opinion, Confidence, Executive
Branch
Citation
MLA
"Former President Ford Reflects on His Legacy." Brian Williams, correspondent. CNBC. NBCUniversal
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Page 1 of 3
Media. 16 July 2003. NBC Learn. Web. 2 April 2016
APA
Williams, B. (Reporter). 2003, July 16. Former President Ford Reflects on His Legacy. [Television series
episode]. CNBC. Retrieved from
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=1520
CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
"Former President Ford Reflects on His Legacy" CNBC, New York, NY: NBC Universal, 07/16/2003.
Accessed Sat Apr 2 2016 from NBC Learn:
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=1520
Transcript
Former President Ford Reflects on His Legacy
President GERALD FORD: My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor:
His presidency began with a national sigh of relief at the end of Watergate. It ended just two years later,
with a painful loss to Jimmy Carter. Gerald R. Ford, whose top ambition in politics was to someday be
speaker of the house, ended up seeing more than his share of presidential history.
President RICHARD NIXON: Congressman Gerald Ford of Michigan.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: One president above all, plays a central role in the Gerald Ford story. Let’s talk
about Richard Nixon, it’s a complicated subject for you, I know.
GERALD FORD: Richard Nixon was probably one of my best friends when I was in the Congress. I got
to know Dick Nixon very well, and it was tragic for me to see him being misled by some of his own staff,
but on foreign policy, Dick Nixon was one of the best presidents, I think, in the last century. He made
some mistakes, Watergate being one, but on foreign policy, he was first class.
President GERALD FORD: A full, free and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: That moment, the pardon, remains the single most controversial act of Gerald
Ford’s presidency. You live long enough to get the Profile in Courage Award for your pardon of Richard
Nixon. To all those people in whose homes they still can’t speak your name because they’re still angry
about that, what do you want them to know about your decision back then?
GERALD FORD: I can only say this. I knew in September of 1974, that I made the right decision in
pardoning Richard Nixon. I was spending, in that first month, about 25 percent of my time on Mr. Nixon’s
tapes, Mr. Nixon’s papers, Brian, I finally came to the conclusion that I had an obligation as president to
spend 100 percent of my time on the problems of 180-90 million Americans. So, when, if you put it in
that context, it’s pretty easy. I made the right decision.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: And what, at age 90, is Gerald Ford’s assessment of his own brief presidency. Sum
it up for me. How has it been, when you look back on your place in American history?
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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GERALD FORD: When historians, 50 years from now, objectively write about the Ford administration,
I’d hope they will say that President Ford healed the wounds of Watergate, ended the tragedy of the war in
Vietnam, solved our economic problems that were serious, and restored public confidence in the White
House itself.
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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