The Cursed American Presidency

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COMING UP NEXT WEEK IN CHAPTER III OF THE CURSED AMERICAN PRESIDENCY
June 1st-3rd, 1975: US President Gerald Ford meets with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Salzburg, Austria.

 

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Chapter III: BIENVENIDOS A ESPANA PRESIDENTE FORD!
Saturday, May 31st, 1975
Madrid, Spain

US President Gerald Ford & Spanish Dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco during motorcade in downtown Madrid.
​

Following the NATO Summit Meeting in Brussels, President Ford & his entourage boarded Air Force One to head to the next destination of his trip: Spain. Upon arriving at the Abarjas Airport. Accompanying the President was his wife, US First Lady Betty Ford, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger including US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as well as several others.

President Ford called this visit as "one of the most important recognition of Spain's significance as a friend and partner", highlighting this as one of the major high marks of his administration on the foreign policy front. Following Arrival Honors, where the respective national anthems of the United States & Spain were performed including an Honor Guard inspection of the troops as well as arrival remarks, the motorcade left the Abarjas Airport & on their way to the Moncloa Palace, which was located in the outskirts of Madrid; during the sun-splashed & flagbedecked route, President Ford was warmly cheered by tens of thousands of Spanairds who lined the motorcade route. It was a heartwarming moment....

Both Ford & Kissinger realized that when it came to negotiations on maintaining the Visiting Forces Agreement of US military bases in Spain, that Franco was unwilling to consider other alternative options & was determined to not renew the agreement altogether. US military bases had been in existence in Spain since 1953 during the Eisenhower administration, where the agreement had been signed back in 1970. However, the difficulty that Ford & Kissinger faced was that with Franco's stubborn refusal to negotiate a new agreement or extend the accord, the agreement was due to expire in September.

Spanish Prime Minister Carlos Arias Navarro told President Ford during a luncheon that Spain's cooperation was fundamental & critical in terms of existence in the Western world. Ford also had the opportunity to meet with Franco's handpicked successor, Juan Carlos de Borbon, before attending a state dinner with General Franco & his wife, Spanish First Lady Carmen Polo.

The military bases at the heart of the discussion between the United States & Spain included the following, three of which was being leased by the United States: Torrejon outside of Madrid; Zaragoza, which was used for training & another in Moron near Seville, which was currently inactive. The most key significant installation was the naval base located in Rota on the Atlantic coast south of Seville.

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Next Stop: Austria
June 1st-3rd, 1975
Salzburg, Austria

The Ford's stepping off of Air Force One before "the slipping off the ramp incident" occurs...​

Sunday, June 1st, 1975: Air Force One arrived at the Salzburg Airport in Salzburg, Austria, where President Ford was going to hold talks with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat later in the day. However, just as the Ford's were getting off the ramp, the President embarrassingly took a tumble down the stairs with the news cameras FILMING. While Mrs. Ford was holding her umbrella, a military aide had to rush over to helping the President off the ground.

Following this embarrassing incident, President Ford popped right up & shook hands with Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, who was there to shake hands with Ford like nothing had happened.

​

Despite the embarrassing fall at the airport earlier in the day, President Ford continued his busy schedule & met with Sadat during a meeting, where they privately discussed the Middle East Peace Process negotiations. While that was going on, there was tension inside the Ford administration as Kissinger & Rumsfeld were openly hostile toward each other including jockeying to outdo each other (more on that later)....

 

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Outdoing the other....
11:27 PM, Sunday, June 1st, 1975
Salzburg, Austria.

US President Gerald Ford, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger & Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.​

President & First Lady Ford had retired to their private quarters for the night; there was tension between US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger & US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as well as White House Chief of Staff Dick Cheney (who was accompanying the President). It was quite obvious that Kissinger was annoyed of being largely left out of the private meetings of the foreign policy team.... only to be informed afterwards. He was also annoyed that as White House of Chief of Staff, Cheney typically traveled with the President.

The resentment had born its fruit during the Fall of 1974 when Rumsfeld ruthlessly orchestrated the removal of James Schlesigner as US Secretary of Defense, a position that Rumsfeld had aggressively lobbied for almost immediately the second Ford was inaugurated as the 38th President of the United States on August 9th, 1974. Since becoming US Secretary of Defense (Rumsfeld was confirmed by a vote of 97-2 of the United States Senate & sworn into office on September 3rd, 1974), Rumsfeld had become more increasingly powerful & influential outside the White House since going to the Pentagon, some foreign policy & national security analysts considered Rumsfeld as one of the most influential & powerful US Secretaries of Defense in the history of the Pentagon.

Kissinger obviously resented this, because deep down, he knew Rumsfeld & Cheney were both working aggressively to isolate him even further. He strongly believed that Cheney & Rumsfeld were likely responsible for removing him as National Security Adviser, the position now currently held by US Air Force Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft.

"Tomorrow's the big day" Rumsfeld confidently boasted aloud as he sat in the President's chair across from Secretary Kissinger. This was the typical breach of protocol which Secretary Rumsfeld, further expanding his already growing ego & sense of importance. With a look of annoyance, Kissinger replied "so I've heard". Knowing there was obvious tension, Rumsfeld gleefully took it as another victory.

Knowing that Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was going to demand concessions, Rumsfeld asked of Kissinger "What do you think Sadat's going to demand ?". Kissinger was not only disgusted & annoyed with his rival's naivety on being prepared for the summit, but was so eagerly tempted to feed bad false information as to making him look stupid; realizing that such a move would be considered provocative & knowing that the tension would escalate in creating deepening rifts between the State & Defense Departments, decided against it for the moment....

"President Sadat will almost certainly want the Sinai back" responded Kissinger, "but he knows that any kind of deal will have to include Israel's right to exist as well as recognition. This will likely inflame the Muslim Brotherhood in his own country, which will also likely embolden Isalmists in Saudi Arabia, and it will draw Lybia, Syria and Iraq even further into Moscow's orbit."

"Sadat and Nasser expelled the Soviets years ago", Kissinger continued; Rumsfeld obviously remembered, as he was the US Ambassador to NATO at the time & also served four terms in Congress. Obviously underestimated by Rumsfeld's accounts of the situation. Rumsfeld also knew about the basic geopolitical realities surrounding the summit; but that didn't stop Kissinger from giving the Secretary of Defense the lecture. Basically, it was Kissinger putting Rumsfeld in his place: Rumsfeld's job was defense at the Pentagon------Kissinger would be the one setting the foreign policy in the Ford administration & Rumsfeld's job was to reacting whatever decision would be passed down from the State Department.

The lecture continued even further late into the night. Regretting having asked & being nagged at, Rumsfeld then snarked "Next time. I will go straight to the President myself!"

 

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National & International highlights of the Ford Presidency (Summer 1975: Part I)
June 3rd-7th, 1975

June 3rd, 1975: US President Gerald Ford, US First Lady Betty Ford, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger & Pope Paul VI at the Pontifical Residence in Vatican City.​

*Tuesday, June 3rd, 1975: Next destination of President Ford's European Tour included trips to Rome & Vatican City, where he had a personal audience with Pope Paul VI at the Pontifical Residence. He also meets with Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro & Italian President Giovanni Leone; the President also undertook a tour of several ancient historical landmarks in Rome & afterwards, traveled to an American Air Force military base in Aviano to greet US military personnel & troops stationed there.

*Uganda's bloodthirsty, authoritarian, crazy, whacky & erractic President Idi Amin declares the naturalization of all privately-owned land in Uganda; just years earlier, Amin expelled the East Asian minority & expropriated their property & businesses, which result in the decimation of the country's economy devastating the middle class.

*Wednesday, June 4th, 1975: Israel completes their obligations & follows through on their pledge by withdrawing half of its occupying troops from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

*Thursday, June 5th, 1975: The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War of 1967. Because there were still mines left in the waters from the 1967 conflict, the American guided missile cruiser USS Little Rock made the first transit, sailing from Port Said, where Egyptian President Anwar Sadat oversaw the celebration to Ismailia.
*Voters in the United Kingdom voted by a margin of 17,378,581 to 8,470,073 to stay in the European Community.

*Friday, June 6th, 1975: Helicopter lands inside the grounds of the Southern Michigan Prison in Jackson at 11:05 AM; longtime inmate Dale Remling escapes. However, two days later, Remling is recaptured by law enforcement authorities in Leslie, MI.

*Saturday, June 7th, 1975: Former French Air Force Chief of Staff General Paul Strehlin is run over by a bus in Paris, just HRS after being exposed of being secretly on the payroll of the Northrup aircraft manufacturing company. Less than 17 days later, Strehlin would succumb of his injuries.

 

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Due to the technical difficulties with the internet crashing, I will have to resort to extreme measures for the second half of Chapter 3 sometime over the weekend.

Don't worry, I'll get to the meat of the chapter.

 

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National & International highlights of the Ford Presidency (Summer 1975: Part II)
June 15th-21st, 1975
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*Sunday, June 15th, 1975: Retired Brazilian soccer football star Pele makes his American debut, appearing in a game in NY St that was televised in the United States & in ten other countries. Pele scored a goal for the New York Cosmos in a 2-2 tie against the visiting Dallas Tornado.

*Monday, June 16th, 1975: Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Miki gets punched in the face by an angry uppity opposition politician while attending the funeral service of former Japanese Prime Minister Elsaku Suto.

*Tuesday, June 17th, 1975: Voters in the Northern Mariana Islands approved an agreement to become a commonwealth within the United States. Congress would approve the new status on July 21st & the Commonwealth would come into existence on January 9th, 1978, with the Northern Marianans becoming American citizens.

*Wednesday, June 18th, 1975: The United States Air Force launched a new generation of spy satellite that would be in a stretchnomy orbit over the Soviet Union & PRC.

*Thursday, June 19th, 1975: Constatine Tsatos was approved by the Parliament of the new Republic of Greece to becoming the nation's first elected President.

*Friday, June 20th, 1975: Former CA Governor Ronald Reagan (R) files papers with the Federal Election Commission, declaring his intention to run for President of the United States in 1976.

*Saturday, June 21st, 1975: The first drive-thru resteraunt service was inaugurated as the McDonald's in Sierra Vista, AZ.

 

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The Senior Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
10:26 PM EST, Monday, June 23rd, 1975
Kennedy Residence, Washington, DC.

December 31st, 1973: United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) celebrating the New Years Eve festivities
with Christopher J. Dunphy at the Kennedy Family Residence in Palm Beach, FL.
​

Behind the facade of typical family values, things weren't so all bright behind closed doors at the Georgetown residence of United States Senator Edward Moore Kennedy (D-MA) as he & his estranged wife, Joan of 17 years began arguing, which led to physical fights: "YOU GOD DAMN STUPID DRUKEN PIECE OF SHIT!" as he violently slapped Joan across the face multiple times with vicious rage, even punching her in the stomach. He then went super vicious by punching her in the face repeatedly, knocking out one of her top teeth.

Apparently, Joan had had enough of Ted's womanizing behavior. Unlike Jackie & Ethel, both of whom looked the other way when Jack & Bobby were penetrating multiple women non-stop, Joan wasn't going to put up with the bullshit. "You're a fucking killer Ted. You killed Mary Jo six years ago, which means your so-called dreams of being President are NEVER going to happen you murdering piece of shit" she screamed as Ted kept beating her non-stop.

It's well-known or common knowledge that the marriage between Ted & Joan had been imploding fast since Jack was shot to death in Dallas. It escalated even further after Bobby was slain in Los Angeles on national television. Ted's ambitions grew much higher, he was obsessed in getting the Presidency & no matter who stood in his way, he would steamroll or in some cases.... murder to keep his ambitions & thirst for power going..... Joan was a liability to Ted's political plans on a potential White House campaign in 1976. Less than 18 HRS later, Ted flew down to West Palm Beach, FL, where he hunkered down with longtime associates, friends, allies & staff members including campaign donors on a possible campaign for the White House next year. The ambitious & reckless younger son of a family dynasty, Ted was eager willing to throw his wife including her personal alcohol problems under the bus for reporters to see while hiding his own alcohol issues.

"Joan's been a pain in the ass with that damn drinking. She's becoming a liability to my political career and she's a threat to me and a threat to the family" he nagged to close confidant Paul Kirk, who was sympathetic to the Senator's lashing out, but was quietly concerned of what Ted meant by "she's a threat to the family" & was privately bothered to the point of being nervous at the thought of Ted arranging some deadly accident for Joan.....

 

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National & International highlights of the Ford Presidency (Summer 1975: Part III)
June 24th-July 14th, 1975
​

*Tuesday, July 24th, 1975: Joan Kennedy, the wife of United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) was forcibly taken to a mental institution in suburban Alexandria, VA: where she's aggressively forced to take medications so hard to the point of not remembering her own name or where she's at.

*Wednesday, July 25th, 1975: Indian President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signs the proclamation in decreeing the State of Emergency, giving Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi the greenlight to up the ante against political opponents & cracking down on dissent.

​

*Thursday, June 26th, 1975: In response to calls for the resignation of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the national government retaliates by arresting 676 of her political opponents such as Jayaprakash Narayan, who had called for civil disobedience protests. The day before, President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, on the advice of Gandhi, had signed a proclamation for state of emergency, which suspended civil liberties & elections.

*Friday, June 27th, 1975: Professional golfers Lee Trevino & Jerry Heard, were both struck by lightning when a thunderstorm interrupted the Western Open PGA Tournament. Trevino, who was hospitalized for burns on his left shoulder, remained in pain for two years before winning the 1977 Canadian Open.

*Saturday, June 28th, 1975: The Anglo-Australian, at 153 inches the 3rd largest optical telescope in the world (following the Mount Palomar & Kitt Peak telescopes in the United States) & the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, goes into operation.

Siding Springs Observatory.​

*Sunday, June 29th, 1975: WA St Governor Daniel J. Evans (R) announced he wouldn't be seeking reelection to an unprecedented fourth term in 1976 after 12 years in the WA St Governor's Mansion. Evans confirmed he wouldn't be running against longtime United States Senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson (D-WA St) or even the Presidency or any other political office.

​

*Monday, June 30th, 1975: By the orders of US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, women could no longer be involuntarily discharged from the United States Armed Forces as a result of pregnancy.
*6.4 magnitude earthquake strikes the Yellowstone National Park in WY.
*TV2 (later TVNZ 2) begins broadcasting in New Zealand.

*Saturday, July 5th, 1975: Arthur Ashe becomes the first African American to win the Wimbledon singles title, defeating #1-ranked Jimmy Connors, 6-1, 6-1, 5-7 & 6-4.
*Mauna Loa erupts in the Hawaiian Islands after 25 years of inactivity, toward the City of Hilo.

*Monday, July 7th, 1975: The US State of AK had its highest record temperatures ever, with the capital city of Juneau registering at 90 oF (32 oC) for the first time.

*Tuesday, July 8th, 1975: US President Gerald Ford, having already anticipated the likely primary challenge from former CA Governor Ronald Reagan (R), announces he will be running for President of the United States in 1976, in his first try for national office. Described as "the first unelected President" because he was not elected to either the Presidency or Vice Presidency.

President Ford announcing his reelection campaign in Grand Rapids, MI.​

*Thursday, July 10th, 1975: British Foreign Minister (future British Prime Minister) James Callaghan of the United Kingdom flies to Uganda, to personally request Ugandan dictator Idi Amin release Briton Denis Hills, who had been threatened with execution for his criticism of Amin's dictatorship. Hills & Callaghan would leave Uganda the next day.

*Friday, July 11th, 1975: The Los Angeles City Council voted 10-1 approving $750 million for the biggest downtown redevelopment plan any American city had ever taken on, with 255 city blocks being affected.

*Saturday, July 12th, 1975: Four jets of the Spanish Air Force's acrobatic team, rehearsing for an airshow, collided during formation after taking off from the Murica-San Javier Airport. All five people on board were killed.
*US National Research Act is signed into law by President Ford, creating a commission to protect the rights of human subjects of medical research studies & experiments.

*Monday, July 14th, 1975: South Africa begins aiding the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) & the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), pro-Western Angolan independence fighters, against the Marxist People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), which had taken control of the capital of Angola earlier in the month. US President Gerald Ford, on the recommendation of US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, signed an executive order four days later to begin Operation IA Feature, providing American financial aid to FNLA & UNITA as well.

 

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National & International highlights of the Ford Presidency (Summer 1975: Part IV)
July 15th-31st, 1975​

Soviet & American crew-members of the ASTP
​

*Tuesday, July 15th, 1975: The first Apollo rocket mission since Apollo 17's 1972 trip to the Moon lifts off from Cape Canaveral at 3:50 PM EST.

*Wednesday, July 16th, 1975: Thousands of Portuguese nationals are evacuated, who were preparing to move away from Angola in advance of its scheduled independence from Portugal in November, began their evacuation as the airline Swissair began sending jets to Luanda during a temporary lull in the Angolan civil war conflict.

*Thursday, July 17th, 1975: Japanese Crown Prince (later Emperor) Akihito & his wife, Crown Princess Michiko, narrowly missed from being hit by a Molotov cocktail thrown at them by protesters during their visit to the city of Naha on Okinawa.
*Elena Anaya, future Spanish actress, is born in Palencia, Spain.

*Friday, July 18th, 1975: US President Gerald Ford secretly communicated to the US Congress about his decision to authorizing $6,000,000 for a CIA operation in combating Marxist soldiers. The plans for Operation IA Feature didn't specify the nature of the operation, nor even where it was taking place, but that it was an intervention in the Angolan Civil War to supporting the pro-Western National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) & National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) against the ruling Marxist regime, the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).

*Saturday, July 19th, 1975: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band completed their recording of the classic rock album Burn to Run.

*Sunday, July 20th, 1975: During a speech to the National Press Club in Washington, DC., CA Governor Jerry Brown (D) declined to say whether he would jump into the 1976 Presidential election as a candidate saying "Having just become Governor of California six months ago, I can say that my current focus is on Sacramento and making California one of the best managed states to live, work and raise families."

*Monday, July 21st, 1975: The Parliament of India votes in approving Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's declaration of a State of Emergency, with a vote of 301-76 in the lower house. The upper house voted 147-32.

*Tuesday, July 22nd, 1975: German commuter train, en route to Hamburg to Cuxhaven, crashes into a freight train coming the other way, which resulted in the deaths of 8 people with 24 others injured.

*Wednesday, July 23rd, 1975: In retaliation of the Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives failing to lift a ban on American weapon sales to Turkey (the bill failed 206-233), the Turkish government declared they would be closing American military bases in the country.

*Thursday, July 24th, 1975: The Philippines & Thailand announced they would gradually withdraw & dismantle SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) altogether, just 21 years after the alliance had been formed in 1954 to halting the spread of communism in Southeast Asia.

*Friday, July 25th, 1975: The Turkish government upped the ante by declaring "The joint defense agreement of July 3, 1969....and other related agreements, have lost their legal validity. Within the context of this situation, the operation of all joint defense installations.... will cease to exist as of tomorrow." However, one NATO military base in Incriklik was exempted from the order & spared.

*Saturday, July 26th, 1975: "The Hussle" sung by Van McCoy & celebrating the most popular new dance in the United States, becomes the #1 song in the United States.

*Sunday, July 27th, 1975: Still furious & angered by the US government's handling of the SS Mayaguez Incident, Thai Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj announced that all military agreements between the United States & the Kingdom of Thailand were at an official end altogether, & ordered all American troops to leave Thailand by March 20th, 1976.

*Monday, July 28th, 1975: Turkish military commanders entered five US military bases & immediately took full control, with pledges of taking control of 20 additional military bases the next day.

*Tuesday, July 29th, 1975: The Organization of American States voted 16-3 to discontinue 15 years of sanctions against Cuban President Fidel Castro by all member nations, the move allowed each OAS member nation to determine their own diplomatic relations with Cuba. Chile, Paraguay & Uruguay strongly opposed the move; Brazil & Nicaragua abstained from the resolution.
*Turkish military officers took full control of all 24 American military bases in Turkey.

*Wednesday, July 30th, 1975: FL Governor Reubin Askew (D) in a campaign rally on the grounds of the FL State Capitol in Tallahassee, announces his candidacy for the 1976 Democratic Party Presidential nomination: joining former GA Governor Jimmy Carter (D), United States Senator Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) & many others in the contest with the likelihood of AL Governor George Wallace (D) & CA Governor Jerry Brown (D) jumping in as well in the later months.

*Thursday, July 31st, 1975: Three members of the Irish pop group, The Miami Showband, were killed by terrorists near the Northern Ireland town of Newry, while they were returning from a performance at Banbridge.

 

[49ersfootball]

The Helsinki Accords of 1975
Friday, August 1st, 1975
Finlandia Hall
Helsinki, Finland

​

In the months leading up to the Conference on Security & Cooperation in Europe Summit as well as the conclusion of negotiations & signing of the Helsinki Final Act, the American people including American of Eastern European descent, voiced serious concerns with good reason, that the agreement would result in accepting Soviet domination of Eastern Europe including the incorporation of the Baltic States into the USSR.

Among those expressing concerns were the United States Senate, where several United States Senators wrote to President Ford, requesting that the final summit stage be delayed or pushed back until all matters were addressed, in a way more favorable to the West. Conservatives put President Ford on full-blast when he refused to meet with Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, because Ford wanted to avoid damaging US-Soviet Union diplomatic relations before the conference.

Despite his assurances to a group of Americans of Eastern European background, that the policy of the United States on the Baltic States would be strengthened since the agreement denies the Soviet annexation of territory in violation of international law; allowing of peaceful change of borders. Despite criticism & protests against the Helsinki Final Act, President Ford doubled-down by going ahead & signing the agreement, which resulted in more domestic criticism where the American public wasn't impressed or convinced of the Helsinki Accords making a huge impact going forward.

Ford's foreign policy stature was severely damaged as a result of the strong backlash. Critics such as former CA Governor Ronald Reagan (R) would aggressively exploit the Helsinki Accords as one of the centerpieces of his 1976 Presidential campaign; Democrats blasted the Accords as nothing more than "acceptance of Soviet-style domination of Eastern Europe", which drove Ford's approval ratings even downward further to the mid-20s.

 

[49ersfootball]

Nancy
4:00 PM PST, Thursday, August 16th, 1975
Bel Air, CA

Nancy Reagan during her time as CA First Lady (somewhere around 1967)
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Critics called her "Buji", "Stuck-up", "Snobbish Lady", "The washed-up actress who couldn't handle living in Sacramento". That's what people thought of Nancy Reagan, whose tenure as the Golden State's First Lady attracted either strong praise or harsh criticism from all corners.

It goes back to the Spring of 1967 when during her husband's governorship, Nancy & the family abruptly moved out of the Historic CA Governor's Mansion in Sacramento in May of 1967 after living in the mansion for just four months....choosing to live in a modest residence in the suburbs of Sacramento. Almost immediately, critics pounced on Nancy's decision to snub the Governor's Mansion & among other actions, which escalated even further.

Meanwhile fast forward to eight years later, Nancy was lighting a match to her cigarette & smoked in the smoking section of a local elite restaraunt in Bel Air. She had been pushing Ronnie to run for the Presidency, which she happily backed all the way & spoke with close friends, who asked her "How do you rate the Governor's chances against President Ford in the Republican primaries next year?" Smirking, Nancy replied "If Ford wants to get his ass handed to him, he'll be one of the worst Presidents in America. Remember, we need to help Ronnie become President no matter the cost."

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[49ersfootball]

Jerry
4:44 PM EST, Saturday, August 31st, 1975
White House, Washington, DC.

President Ford & the Cabinet during Cabinet Meeting .​

In July of 1975, CA Governor Jerry Brown (D) refused to speak at the 49th annual Sacramento Host Breakfast, an annual gathering of wealthy Californian business leaders being held in Sacramento at the Sacramento Convention Center on the morning of September 5th, 1975. Furious that their governor snubbed them, it was known that some of these business leaders would retaliate on Brown, for what he described some 30 years later as a "dilatory response" to the invitation, the powerful politically-connected group invited US President Gerald Ford, a Republican, to making the September 5th morning breakfast instead which he quickly accepted.

The President also viewed this as an opportunity considering CA's 45 Electoral Votes were critical to his success in the upcoming 1976 Presidential election.

In early August of 1975, the New York Times reported that the United States Environmental Protection Agency had released a study entitled "A Spectroscopic Study of California Smog", showing the smog was widespread in rural areas. The NYT article also noted how President Ford had just asked the US Congress to relax provisions of the 1963 Clean Air Act beyond the 1970 Clean Air Act amendments & also provided details for Ford's upcoming trip to the Golden State. After learning of Ford's visit, ex-convict Thomas Elbert was arrested on August 18th in response for phoning the United States Secret Service & threatening to kill President Ford when he planned on visiting Sacramento.

Little did President Ford realize that danger was awaiting him in CA's Capitol City.....

 

[49ersfootball]

National & International Highlights of the Ford Presidency (Fall 1975: Part V)
August 20th-31st, 1975
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*Wednesday, August 20th, 1975: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars. Liftoff took place from Cape Canaveral at 5:22 PM EST. Following a journey of 10 months & 505 million miles, Viking would enter orbit around Mars by June 19th, 1976 & the lander would reach the surface of Mars on July 20th, sending back photographs & data until November 13th, 1982.

*Thursday, August 21st, 1975: The United States partially lifts their trade embargo against Cuba, allowing the foreign subsidiaries of American companies to trading directly with the Castro dictatorship.
*Venezuela nationalizes the oil & gas industry in the South American oil-rich country (if only they knew their inevitable decline would come 24 years later), with the production facilities being taken over by the state-owned company, Petroleos de Venezuela.

*Friday, August 22nd, 1975: The destroyer ARA Santisima Trinidad, being outfitted as one of the most advanced ships of the Argentine Navy, was sunk in La Plata Harbor by bombs placed by the Montoneros terrorist group, which caused $70,000,000 worth of damage. The ship would later be restored & put back into service in 1981.

*Saturday, August 23rd, 1975: Calls for CA Governor Jerry Brown (D) to run for President continue to increase even further as hundreds of Americans mailed letters of encouragement to the CA State Capitol in Sacramento, which were placed next to the podium in the conference room as Governor Brown was addressing the current state of the country due to the fallout of Watergate, Nixon's downfall, Vietnam War ending horribly, etc.,

*Sunday, August 24th, 1975: Former Greek President George Papadopoulos, Nikolas Makarezos & Stylianos Pattakos, the three Greek Army colonels who led the 1967 coup d'etat in Greece, were sentenced to death after being convicted of treason & insurrection, while eight other defendants (including former President Demetrios Ioaannidis) received life sentences & seven others got prison terms ranging from 4 to 20 years. The next day, the Greek Cabinet voted to commuting the sentences to life imprisonment.

*Monday, August 25th, 1975: Bruce Springsteen's album Born to Run, was released in the United States, becoming a hit & making Springsteen a rock superstar in the process which kicked off his musical career.

*Tuesday, August 26th, 1975: Bundelkhand University is established in Jhaansi in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

*Wednesday, August 27th, 1975: Deposed Emperor of Ethopia, Haile Selassie I, is mysteriously murdered in his palace, being smothered by a pillow by one of his captors while sleeping. The last Emperor's death was announced by the African Republic's radio station & was buried in an undisclosed location. Rumors swirled that the Emperor was murdered by Ethopian Army General Mengistu Haile Mariam & members of the Derg.

*Thursday, August 28th, 1975: The US Food & Drug Administration announces ban on the usage of polyvinyl chloride plastic for packaging of certain foods, because of its potential for causing cancer.

*Friday, August 29th, 1975: Peruvian President Juan Velasco Alvarado is overthrown in a military coup d'etat after seven years of dictatorial rule. Prime Minister Francisco Morales Bermudez is installed as Velasco's successor to the Presidency.

*Saturday, August 30th, 1975: United States Senator Birch Bayh (D-IN) in a press conference with the National Press Club in Washington, DC., confirmed he was NOT running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976, choosing to focus his efforts on the United States Senate. He did say "I'll do whatever it takes to make sure the Democrats win back the White House and put America on better footing next year. This country needs change in a big way."

*Sunday, August 31st, 1975: Two armed bandits were among the 38 passengers on a Greyhound bus, which was en-route from Chicago, IL to Toronto, Canada when the robbery occurred near Detroit, MI, taking an estimated $20,000 in cash & $15,000 in other valuables from people, who chose not to fly on airplanes.

 

[49ersfootball]

National & International Highlights of the Ford Presidency (Fall 1975: Part VI)
September 1st-4th, 1975

*Monday, September 1st, 1975: US Air Force Lieutenant General Daniel "Chappie" James, Jr., was promoted, making him the first African American four-star General. He was also assigned as Commander of NORAD/ADCOM at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, CO. In these dual duties, he had operational command of all United States & Canadian strategic aerospace defense forces. Sadly, James would pass away from a heart attack just 24 days after retiring from the United States Air Force after 35 years on February 25th, 1978.

*The Concorde becomes the first airplane to crossing the Atlantic Ocean four times in a single day. The supersonic aircraft flew the 2,375 miles from London to Gander, Newfoundland in 2 HRS, 19 minutes, refueled & receiving maintenance & flying back.

*The Sinai II Agreement is initiated by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, the day after it was initiated by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

*Tuesday, September 2nd, 1975: Aircraft units of the Canadian Armed Forces (Air Defense Command, Air Transport Command, Mobile Command & Training Command) were merged into one national air force, referred to as the Canadian Air Forces Command & more commonly known as AIRCOM.

*Wednesday, September 3rd, 1975: MLB baseball player Steve Garvey begins a streak of appearing in 1,207 consecutive MLB games, which is still a National League record (while three others: Cal Ripken, Jr., Lou Gehrig & Everett Scott: all had longer streaks in the American League respectively). Garvey would continue this streak until a thumb injury took him out of the lineup on July 28th, 1983.

*Thursday, September 4th, 1975: The Sinai Interim Agreement is signed in Geneva by Major General Taha Magdoub for Egypt & Major General Herzl Shafir for Israel, along with the ambassadors to Switzerland from the two nations, after having been initiated earlier in the week. Under the agreement, 25 kilometer wide buffer zone was created in the Sinai Peninsula, to be patrolled by United Nations Emergency Force troops & separating the armies of the two nations.

 

[49ersfootball]

Gallup Polling Survey (August 16th-September 4th, 1975)

Do you approve or disapprove the job President Gerald Ford is doing ?
Approve: 30%
Disapprove: 57%
Don't Know: 12%

Do you approve or disapprove the job Vice President Nelson Rockefeller is doing ?
Approve: 49%
Disapprove: 23%
Don't Know: 16%
Undecided: 12%

Do you approve or disapprove the job US First Lady Betty Ford is doing ?
Approve: 56%
Disapprove: 29%
Undecided: 15%

Do you approve or disapprove the job US Second Lady Happy Rockefeller is doing ?
Approve: 60%
Disapprove: 16%
Undecided: 20%

Do you approve or disapprove the job Congress is doing ?
Approve: 41%
Disapprove: 55%
Undecided: 3%

Do you approve or disapprove the job US Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-MT) is doing ?
Approve: 59%
Disapprove: 21%
Undecided: 14%

Do you approve or disapprove the job US Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott (R-PA) is doing ?
Approve: 50%
Disapprove: 36%
Undecided: 13%

Do you approve or disapprove the job US House Speaker Carl Albert (D-OK) is doing ?
Approve: 57%
Disapprove: 25%
Undecided: 10%

Do you approve or disapprove the job US House Minority Leader John Rhodes (R-AZ) is doing ?
Approve: 39%
Disapprove: 27%
Undecided: 20%

 

[49ersfootball]

President Ford goes to the West Coast
Thursday, September 4th, 1975
Portland, OR

On Thursday morning at the White House in Washington, DC., President Ford held a closed-door meeting with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on national security issues & foreign policy areas, which the meeting was under national security restrictions. Afterwards, Ford boarded Marine One which flew him to Andrews AFB in Prince Georges County, MD: where the President flew aboard the "Spirit of '76" from Andrews AFB to Boeing Field in Seattle, WA St to attend GOP fundraising events for his 1976 reelection campaign; touring the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center & attended a conference on domestic & economic affairs.

At 5:00 PM PST, Ford then flew to Portland, OR where he attended another GOP fundraising event; attended the Portland Youth Bicentennial Celebration Rally with about 13,000 children & received an OR state bkanket. Later in the day at 9:30 PM PST, Ford flew to McClellan AFB in Sacramento, CA & at 11:30 PM PST, the President spent the night in his suite at the Senator Hotel.

 

[49ersfootball]

California Field Poll (August 20th-September 4th, 1975)
Do you approve or disapprove the job US President Gerald Ford is doing?
Approve: 40%
Disapprove: 56%
Undecided: 1%

Do you approve or disapprove the job US Vice President Nelson Rockefeller is doing?
Approve: 55%
Disapprove: 27%
Undecided: 16%


Do you approve or disapprove the job CA Governor Jerry Brown (D) is doing?
Approve: 70%
Disapprove: 16%
Undecided: 13%

Do you approve or disapprove the job United States Senator Alan Cranston (D-CA) is doing?
Approve: 59%
Disapprove: 29%
Undecided: 11%

Do you approve or disapprove the job United States Senator John V. Tunney (D-CA)
Approve: 38%
Disapprove: 57%
Undecided: 3%

 

[49ersfootball]

Squeaky
4:00 AM PST, Friday, September 5th, 1975
Sacramento, CA.

Squeaky Fromme from earlier years
​

It was a dark & early Friday morning, Squeaky woke up from bed saying to herself "Today is the day because Charlie wants me to do this mission of importance, which means I cannot fail him or the organization. I will succeed at any costs and the President is a liability, who must die!" Following a shower & eating some breakfast, she put on another pair of ugly clothing & watched the early morning TV news reports from NBC 3 KCRA-TV Sacramento, which highlighted the upcoming visit of President Ford to the CA State Capitol, where he was supposed to meet with CA Governor Jerry Brown (D) at the Governor's office inside on the 1st floor. "Perfect! That's where I am going to be at, right where these idiots will be screaming like teenage girls asking for the President's autograph," right as she placed her gun into her purse before heading out.

Upon leaving, Squeaky was dressed completely in red "for the animals and earth colors", placing the Colt .45 pistol in a leg holster strapped to her left leg, & made her way from her apartment all the way toward the CA State Capitol Grounds. The sky was clear; the weather prediction for Sacramento called for winds & a temperature around 84 degrees (29 oC).

 

[49ersfootball]

The Final Meal of the 38th President
7:23 AM PST, Friday, September 5th, 1975
The Senator Hotel, Sacramento, CA

President Ford getting inside the Presidential limousine outside The Senator Hotel in Sacramento.​

On Friday morning, President Ford left The Senator Hotel to attend the 49th Annual Sacramento Host Breakfast at the Sacramento Community Convention Center, which was sponsored by the Host Committee in conjunction with the California Chamber of Commerce leaders in CA state government, business, finance, education, agriculture & labor. The President was greeted by Carlyle Reed, chairman of the Sacramento Host Breakfast & John Diepenbrock, vice chairman of the Sacramento Host Breakfast.

At 7:30 AM PST: the Presidential Anthem "Hail to the Chief" was played as the Presidential party arrived on the platform before a crowd of 1,2500 guests who applauded cheerfully. It was a spectacular moment to hear from the President of the United States addressing the Sacramento Breakfast & also in an obvious subtle way of jabbing the first-term Democratic Governor of California, who snubbed them with his blatant arrogance. The President & everyone else in attendance had breakfast.

By 8:25 AM PST: President Ford addressed the 1,2500 guests attending the breakfast, the speech lasted until 9:18 AM PST when he was presented a pair of Camellia flower cuff links by Mr. Reed. Two minutes later, the President was accompanied by Mr. Reed to the Presidential limousine, where he thanked Mr. Reed for a gracious welcome & Reed thanked the President for a wonderful, inspiring speech; President Ford bid goodbye to the other members of the welcoming committee before getting back into the Presidential limousine, which left the Sacramento Community Convention Center at 9:21 AM PST, arriving back at his suite at The Senator Hotel at 9:26 AM PST.

It was getting close to 10:00 AM PST & President Ford was prepared to walk from the Senator Hotel all the way towards the CA State Capitol Grounds, where he was scheduled to meet with Governor Brown face-to-face inside the Governor's office on the 1st floor of the State Capitol building. Little did the 38th President realize that he only had a few HRS left to live.....