 General election logo Primary campaign logo | |
| Campaign | 1976 Republican primaries 1976 U.S. presidential election |
|---|---|
| Candidate | Gerald Ford 38thPresident of the United States (1974–1977) Bob Dole U.S. Senator fromKansas (1969–1996) |
| Affiliation | Republican Party |
| Status | Announced: July 8, 1975 Official nominee: August 19, 1976 Lost election: November 2, 1976 Left office: January 20, 1977 |
| Key people |
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| Slogan | He's making us proud again |
| Theme song | "I'm Feeling Good About America" by Robert K. Gardner |
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|---|---|---|
Pre-vice presidency 40th Vice President of the United States 38th President of the United States Tenure Post-presidency   | ||
The1976 presidential campaign of Gerald Ford was an unsuccessful election campaign for the1976 United States presidential election by incumbent presidentGerald Ford, whohad taken office on August 9, 1974, upon theresignation ofRichard Nixon. Ford and his running mate SenatorBob Dole were defeated byDemocratic presidential nomineeJimmy Carter and vice presidential nomineeWalter Mondale. Ford, aRepublican president and former vice president under Nixon, launched his presidential bid on July 8, 1975,[2] and secured nomination for his election to a full term on August 19, 1976. He was challenged in theRepublican primaries by formerCalifornia governorRonald Reagan fromhis campaign which was formally launched on November 20, 1975, received more than forty percent of the delegates in theRepublican National Convention, but Ford got more votes than Reagan. Reagan would later be elected president in1980.[3]
Ford's tenure marked America's fall into a dark period, with astagnant economy and effects after theVietnam War (orVietnam syndrome). Ford pardoned Nixon in theWatergate scandal, which many people believe to be the reason for which Ford lost to his opponent Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election. In the Republican primaries, Ford received 1,121 delegates while needing 1,130 votes to win. Ronald Reagan was one of those who stood in the way of Ford winning thenomination with Reagan receiving 1,078 delegates, this was one of the most controversial primaries ever, as well as the difference in votes of delegates and popular votes.[4]
However, Ford still received the Republican nomination on August 19, 1976, to face Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter on November 2, 1976. Carter defeated Ford, receiving 297 electoral votes and 50.1% of the popular vote. Carter took office on January 20, 1977, and held power for four years before Reagan defeated him in1980 and took office on January 20, 1981.
Ford joined his vice presidential running mateBob Dole on the campaign trail.[5]
Gerald Ford, born July 14, 1913, inOmaha, Nebraska, his maternal grandfather was Illinois politician and businessman Levi Addison Gardner and his paternal grandfather was banker and businessmanCharles Henry King, Ford's parents separated Just sixteen days after his birth and his mother took the infant Ford toOak Park, Illinois, Ford later said his biological father had a history of beating his mother.[6]
Ford attended theUniversity of Michigan. Ford graduated from Michigan in 1935 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He turned down offers from theDetroit Lions andGreen Bay Packers of theNational Football League. Instead, he took a job in September 1935 as a boxing coach and assistant football coach atYale University and applied to its law school.[7]
Ford joined theUnited States Navy after theImperial Japaneseattacked onPearl Harbor, some time later, Ford joined theU.S. House of Representatives, where he met PresidentLyndon Johnson in 1963. After the resignation ofSpiro Agnew, he wasconfirmed to become Nixon's vice president in December 1973[8] until he ascended to the presidency on August 9, 1974, when Nixon resigned, becoming the only president in American history to have never been elected president or vice president.[9][10][11]
Ford launched his campaign on July 8, 1975, after which he entered the Republican primaries, where his rival,Ronald Reagan, openedhis campaign on November 20, 1975. Ford and Reagan faced each other intensely, with Ford ultimately receiving more votes than Reagan, even though the required number of votes was 1,130 votes. This is also one of the few times an incumbent president has lost state primaries, the most recent being when PresidentJoe Biden lost toJason Palmer inAmerican Samoa after 44 years when President Jimmy Carter lost toTed Kennedy inMassachusetts on March 4, 1980, and 11 states withWashington D.C.[12]
In theNew Hampshire primary, Ford attacked Reagan's plan to cut $90 billion from the federal budget, as well as Reagan's plans forSocial Security. Reagan's stump speeches included attacks onwelfare queens, as well as other attacks on government welfare programs, Reagan then lost the primaries with 1,317 delegates remaining.[13][14][15]
After defeating their strongest opponents, Ford and Vice President Bob Dole were nominated at the Republican National Convention inKansas City, Missouri, where Reagan criticized Ford for his signing of theHelsinki Accords and indirectly blamed him for thefall of Saigon in April 1975. The Convention voted, Ford received 1,187 votes and Reagan received 1,070 votes, another candidate,Elliot Richardson, received only 1 vote, this was one of the biggest controversies at the Republican convention about choosing a presidential candidate in a time of crisis.[16] For the vice presidential candidate, Bob Dole received 1,921 votes, with an overwhelming margin of 85.04%. Ronald Reagan was also in this, but he only received 27 votes, the third lowest afterJesse Helms when he received 103 votes, the remaining candidates received less than 25 votes.[17] Reagan then delivered a speech that caused a stir, eclipsing Ford's own acceptance speech, despite being just over five minutes long. Some delegates later said they left the convention wondering if they had voted for the wrong candidate. Reagan's concession speech spoke of the dangers ofnuclear war and the threat from theSoviet Union.[18][19]
Jimmy Carter, a member of theDemocratic Party as well as formerGovernor of Georgia and a peanut farmer, announcedhis 1976 presidential campaign on December 12, 1974, after which he participated in the presidential primaries of the Democratic Party and won 1,130 delegates, he then choseWalter Mondale as vice president at the1976 Democratic National Convention, where he won the nomination to face Ford in the1976 general election and would beinaugurated on January 20, 1977.
Here are the lists of Ford supporters in the presidential primaries:
Federal Officials
Former Federal Officials
Senators
Former Senators
Representatives
Former Representatives
Governors
Former Governors
Lieutenant Governors
Attorney Generals
Mayors
Former Mayor
Individuals
Baseball
Basketball
Football
Actors and Actresses
Musicians
In Republican primaries:
| Poll source | Publication | Spiro Agnew | Howard Baker | John Connally | Gerald Ford | Barry Goldwater | Charles Percy | Ronald Reagan | Nelson Rockefeller | Other | Undecided/None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gallup[92] | March 30 – April 2, 1973 | 700 | 35% | 1% | 15% | – | – | 8% | 20% | 11% | 5%[a] | 6% |
| Gallup[93] | August 30, 1973 | ? | 22% | 11% | 10% | – | – | 7% | 22% | 13% | 6%[b] | 9% |
| – | 12% | 12% | – | – | 8% | 32% | 16% | 9%[c] | 11% | |||
| Gallup[94] | Oct. 6–8, 1973 | 356 | – | 3% | 16% | – | – | 14% | 29% | 19% | 6%[d] | 8% |
| Gallup | January 4–7, 1974 | 377 | – | 5% | 9% | 24% | – | 8% | 20% | 18% | 8%[e] | 8% |
| – | 7% | 11% | – | – | 11% | 26% | 25% | 10%[f] | 10% | |||
| Gallup | July 21, 1974 | ? | – | 5% | 5% | 27% | 16% | 4% | 16% | 12% | 8%[g] | 7% |
| Poll source | Publication | Howard Baker | John Connally | Gerald Ford | Barry Goldwater | Charles Percy | Ronald Reagan | Nelson Rockefeller | Other | Undecided/None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gallup[95] | Feb. 28 – March 3, 1975 | 330 | 4% | – | 34% | 17% | 3% | 22% | 10% | 7%[h] | 3% |
| Gallup[96][97] | June 27–30, 1975 | 375 | 4% | 2% | 41% | 13% | 4% | 20% | 5% | 6%[i] | 5% |
| Gallup[97] | Aug. 15–18, 1975 | 348 | 3% | 3% | 45% | 11% | 4% | 19% | 7% | 5%[j] | 3% |
| Gallup | Oct. 17–20, 1975 | 339 | 2% | 1% | 48% | 7% | 2% | 25% | 5% | 2%[k] | 5% |
| Gallup[98] | Nov. 21–24, 1975 | 352 | 2% | 1% | 32% | 10% | 3% | 40% | 6% | 5%[l] | 1% |
| Poll source | Publication | Gerald Ford | Ronald Reagan | Undecided/None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gallup[99] | June 27–30, 1975 | 375 | 61% | 33% | 6% |
| Gallup[100] | Dec. 12–15, 1975 | ? | 45% | 45% | 10% |
On November 2, 1976, Ford lost the election to Democratic nomineeJimmy Carter. Carter won 297 electoral votes and 50.1% of the popular vote while Ford only received 240 electoral votes and 48.0% of the popular vote. However, Carter carried 23 states withWashington DC while Ford carried 27 states, this is one of the elections wherethe presidential candidate defeated the incumbent president in a narrow margin.[101] Reagan got 1 vote fromWashington byMike Padden.[102]
Before the election, both Ford and Carter alsodebated three times inPhiladelphia,San Francisco andWilliamsburg from September 23 to October 22, 1976. This is the second debate since1960, after 16 years.[103]
The vice presidential debate also began at the Alley Theater inHouston,Texas, whenBob Dole faced off againstWalter Mondale.[104]
| Presidential candidate | Party | Home state | Popular vote | Electoral vote | Running mate | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | Percentage | Vice-presidential candidate | Home state | Electoral vote | ||||
| Jimmy Carter | Democratic | Georgia | 40,831,881 | 50.08% | 297 | Walter Mondale | Minnesota | 297 |
| Gerald Ford (incumbent) | Republican | Michigan | 39,148,634 | 48.02% | 240 | Bob Dole | Kansas | 241 |
| Ronald Reagan | Republican | California | —[m] | —[m] | 1 | |||
| Eugene McCarthy | None | Minnesota | 744,763 | 0.91% | 0 | [n] | [n] | 0 |
| Roger MacBride | Libertarian | Virginia | 172,557 | 0.21% | 0 | David Bergland | California | 0 |
| Lester Maddox | American Independent | Georgia | 170,373 | 0.21% | 0 | William Dyke | Wisconsin | 0 |
| Thomas J. Anderson | American | [o] | 158,724 | 0.19% | 0 | Rufus Shackelford | Florida | 0 |
| Peter Camejo | Socialist Workers | California | 90,986 | 0.11% | 0 | Willie Mae Reid | Illinois | 0 |
| Gus Hall | Communist | New York | 58,709 | 0.07% | 0 | Jarvis Tyner | New York | 0 |
| Margaret Wright | People's | California | 49,016 | 0.06% | 0 | Benjamin Spock | Connecticut | 0 |
| Lyndon LaRouche | U.S. Labor | New York | 40,018 | 0.05% | 0 | R. Wayne Evans | Michigan | 0 |
| Other | 75,119 | 0.09% | — | Other | — | |||
| Total | 81,540,780 | 100% | 538 | 538 | ||||
| Needed to win | 270 | 270 | ||||||
Sources:Leip, David."1976 Presidential Election Results".Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. RetrievedApril 27, 2024. (popular votes)
"Electoral College Box Scores 1789–1996".National Archives and Records Administration. RetrievedApril 27, 2024. (Electoral votes)
Carter became president on January 20, 1977, and served one term in office until January 20, 1981, after Reagan defeated Carter in the1980 U.S. presidential election.[105]
This was the only modern presidential election in which both presidential candidates and both vice presidential candidates were still alive 30 years after the election, until Ford's death in 2006. And three of the four were still alive after 44 years, until Walter Mondale's death in April 2021. After Bob Dole's death in December 2021, Carter was the only candidate still alive untilhis death in December 2024.[106][107][108][109]
Ford and Carter both lived post-presidency for more than 25 years. When Ford died in 2006 due to his worseningarterioscleroticcerebrovascular disease and diffusearteriosclerosis, Carter attendedhis funeral.[110]
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