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11/4

After the Watergate Scandal, President Nixon resigned from the White House. Due to President Nixon resigning, Gerald Ford, his Vice President has now become the president. Ford had a lot of rebuilding and cleaning up to do after Nixon’s actions. What strikes me the most is that Ford is still so caught up in making the United States a superhero and hold dominance over the other countries. Nixon tried to clean up the actions of President Johnson and the involvement in Vietnam. Ford had a lot and I mean a lot of cleaning up to do.

 

Both the Vietnam involvement and the Watergate Scandal had impacts on Ford as President. By the time Ford was president the United States was at a very low point. He tried to recover by sending American troops in as fast as he could. When he sent the troops to Cambodia, the Americans were then released the same day the troops arrived. Because Ford sent the troops, he ended up killing forty-one Americans. This idea that America must be the world giant—“giant America… was still powerful”(Zinn).  This is where I think Ford went wrong, he tried to become the ‘best’ and show Americans that America was still so powerful, but America was suffering and just needed time to rebuild itself.

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5 Comments

  1. Kayla O'Connell Kayla O'Connell

    I really like your analysis of Ford and his acts as president. Although Ford was handed a wounded America, he could have improved the overall health of the country. Instead, he sent troops to Cambodia. I also agree with your comment on where Ford went wrong. Maybe if he actually listened to the American people in their time of healing, he would have done a better job as president.

  2. Zariah Chiverton Zariah Chiverton

    I also think that this is where Ford went wrong. He was working hard to prove the strength of the nation but for what purpose? The United States was already strong and the world knew that. Technically speaking, the United States shouldn’t have lost the war because they were stronger. In the process of trying to be the ‘best,’ they ended up doing the opposite.

  3. Julia Borger Julia Borger

    I think your take on how while trying to be the best, the United States only became worse off, very important. It is another example of how our country has been clouded by this vision of being the strongest, most powerful, and most superior nation that has backfired and has only hurt our country in the end. When will we see that this mentality does not improve our nation, and that we must look at our weaknesses instead and build from there?

  4. Christina Glynn Christina Glynn

    I agree with the point that since America was trying to become the best it actually resulted in more problems. I feel that some of this attitude went on in our country in the past couple of years. Rebuilding is needed in America today.

  5. William Coben William Coben

    I am very interested in your opinion on how Ford’s reactions could have been different. While I understand the stupidity in putting boots on the ground and then dropping bombs, I personally believe that military action is necessary to settle problems between countries, especially when trade tariffs would do nothing. Cambodia isn’t a larger importer or exporter so economic sanctions are useless in responding to actions with them, so I would be curious to know what better response than military action there is.

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