On this date in 1976, President Gerald R. Ford closed the gap on Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter with a strong performance in their first debate, held in Philadelphia. The focus that night was domestic policy, which was right in Carter's wheelhouse. The weeks later, the two candidates faced off in San Francisco to discuss foreign policy. This was a topic in which the 38th U.S. president held a presumed advantage: Ford had served in Congress since 1949 and as president had negotiated personally with Soviet leaders. Carter was a one-term former governor.
Jerry Ford squandered this advantage -- and compromised his chances of winning the election -- with a verbal miscue. "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe," Ford said at one point, "and there never will be under a Ford administration."
The Cold War was more than a decade from winding down, and the Soviet Union most definitely dominated most of Eastern Europe, as Ford was perfectly aware. So why did he say it -- and why did he stick to his guns even after given a chance to recover?
The exchange began with a question from New York Times correspondent Max Frankel.
"Mr. President, I'd like to explore a little more deeply our relationship with the Russians," Frankel began as he asked whether the U.S. had given away too much in its negotiations with the Soviet Union.
Ford responded with a discursive answer defending what were known as the Helsinki Accords, noting that 35 nations had signed on, including the Vatican. The president ended his answer this way:
"Now, what has been accomplished by the Helsinki agreement? Number one, we have an agreement where they notify us and we notify them of any military maneuvers that are to be undertaken. They have done it. In both cases where they've done so, there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration."
So, yes, there was a context for the "no Soviet domination" locution, but still, Ford had dug himself a hole, and the fair-minded Frankel, realizing that Ford knew better, gave him a chance to clarify his point.
Instead, Ford dug the hole deeper.
"Each of those countries is independent, autonomous: It has its own territorial integrity and the United States does not concede that those countries are under the domination of the Soviet Union," Ford said. "As a matter of fact, I visited Poland, Yugoslavia, and Romania to make certain that the people of those countries understood that the president of the United States and the people of the United States are dedicated to their independence, their autonomy and their freedom."
This answer became the only story out of the debate, and Ford's advisers begged him to issue a clarifying statement. He resisted for two days before glumly doing so. It was an unforced error that may have cost him the election. From far down in the polls in the summer because he'd pardoned Richard Nixon, Ford had been gaining on Carter rapidly that autumn. The second debate slowed his momentum, and he never caught Carter.
Perhaps I don't need to belabor the point that in the not-so-distant past, Americans expected their presidential candidates to know foreign policy -- and to speak honestly and precisely about it.
As for Jerry Ford, he later explained that what he'd meant to convey in the debate was that the Soviets could never conquer the spirit of the Polish people or others in Eastern Europe under the Russian boot. Today, we are reminded, starkly, that this includes the Ukrainian people. But Ford knew that, too, back in 1976, and better than most. In January that year, he had been named "Man of the Year" by a Chicago-based Ukrainian American organization, the largest of its kind in this country.
In accepting the award, Ford praised Ukrainian immigrants for their contributions to America and stressed that nothing in the Helsinki Accords undermined the long-term U.S. commitment to "the aspirations for freedom and national independence of [the] peoples of Eastern Europe." In other words, a free Ukraine.
Ford added by telling the Ukrainians this: "I commend you for your continued contributions to our national legacy, to our durable system of representative government. I salute you for your struggle on behalf of all human freedom."
And that is our quote of the week.
Carl M. Cannon is the Washington bureau chief for RealClearPolitics. Reach him on Twitter @CarlCannon.