Gerald Ford And The News Media: Then And Now

It's been interesting to read MSM stories about Gerald Ford, most of which seem, rightly, to emphasize his decency and openness, as well as his great contribution to the country's healing after Richard Nixon and Watergate. It hasn't always been that way, however.

As a young college student I was very politically involved in the 1976 election, and I remember the news media's treatment of President Ford then being simply awful. Then, of course, all we had was CBS, ABC, and NBC, along with the major print outlets. No blogosphere, no talk radio, no Fox News. What they told the public was all the public got.

So how did the MSM really feel about Gerry Ford? Jules Witcover, a veteran political reporter, devoted a number of pages to that subject in Marathon: The Pursuit of The Presidency 1976. I'll share just one telling excerpt, from page 45:

Soon the reporters addressed themselves to the time-honored after-hours relaxation of their trade, the writing of a parody [about Ford]. To the tune of the song sung by Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow in [The Wizard of Oz], it went:

I could while away the hours
Reflecting on my powers,
As we go down the drain.
I could spend like Rockefeller,
I could talk like Walter Heller,
If I only had a brain.

I could overcome inflation,
Put gas in every station
And we would feel no pain.
I could make the Arabs cower,
I could be an Eisenhower
If I only had a brain.

Oh, gee, if I could be
Like Truman in his prime;
Salty speeches whipping Congress into line,
Say "geothermal" -- the first time.

I could hold down grocery prices,
Wipe out the oil crisis,
Solve problems with no strain.
I could do a lot of thinkin',
I could be another Lincoln,
If I only had a brain.

It was in such a public climate -- of disillusionment deteriorating into ridicule -- that Jerry Ford in the spring of 1975 prepared for the campaign of 1976 that would determine whether the people wanted him to be their President.

It's hard to know where to begin (or end) in reflecting, in 2007, on that bit of 1976 campaign trivia. The elitism, the condescension, and the clubbiness of the news media covering the campaign are all fascinating. Today, those lyrics would be all over the blogosphere and the writers would be identified and embarrassed. Then, the song's existence was unknown to anyone but "the boys on the bus" until after the campaign, when Witcover told the story.

Now we're hearing about Gerald Ford the Eagle Scout, the fine athlete, the Yale Law graduate, and most prominently, the former president who disagrees with President Bush on the Iraq war. Back in 1976 the MSM made fun of him. Witcover's recent column eulogizing Gerald Ford was much kinder, but his book published 30 years ago is a telling account of how the MSM covered Republican campaigns in those days.

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