Ford & Carter & New Leadership Style

• Ford


  Respected and popular Congressman from 1948-73
• Ford accepted the Vice Presidency after Spiro Agnew's resignation
• When Nixon resigned, Americans wanted a 'regular guy' and they thought this when Ford wore his pyjamas and picked up his own newspaper off his front porch and waved to the press and some Americans related to his family
• Carter

  • Rejected excessive formality- he and his family walked down Pennsylvania Avenue- an unprecedented and highly informal gesture
  • Sold the Presidential Yacht and wore casual clothes for a televised broadcast
• • Decreased formality failed to stop near-constant criticisms of Ford's & then Carter's leadership
  • After a brief honeymoon period with the press & media- Ford's popularity with Congress, the media & American people plummeted- he pardoned Richard Nixon
  • The pardon ensured there was no further proceeding against the disgraced President for his involvement in Watergate- many Americans believed Nixon should be put on trail as other Watergate conspirators were