Ford said Reagan, who challenged him unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination in 1976, was "a great spokesman for attractive political objectives" such as a balanced budget and defeating communism, "but when it came to implementation, his record never matched his words."
Reagan was "probably the least well-informed on the details of running the government of any president I knew," Ford said. In a separate interview, he said Reagan "was just a poor manager, and you can't be president and do a good job unless you manage."
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sour grapes?
Bet it doesn't get as much play as his opposition to the Iraq war.
More proof of how mediocre Ford was. He could get some things right, like seeing how bad Carter was. But many things went completely over his head, like Reagan's genius.
Ford was a middling guy doing a middling job in a middling way.
He flew miles above the Peanut Prez, but miles below Ronald the Great.
Well they sure did a hell of a lot more than Mr. "The Soviet Union doesn't dominate Poland" ever did.
Reason #17829845 to hate the MSM.
Jimmy Carter was the worst Prez of the 20th century without doubt !!!
Unlike Carter, Ford had some class and kept his opinions about a sitting President to himself. Carter and Clinton have shown absolutely no class whatsoever. That seems to be a trait in Southern Democrat Governors.
LOL. Reagan managed to do a job that allies of the previous President (the aforementioned Carter) argued was just too big for one person. He knew how to ACTUALLY manage, not just how to meddle.
Ford couldn't hold Reagans jock strap.
After all is said and done, in the Presidential pantheon, Gerald was indeed a Ford, not a Lincoln.
Sure, he talked them out of the Cold War at Helsinki. ROFL!
Ford really really disliked Carter, he couldn't fathom having lost an election to such an incompetent. Once they both became ex-Presidents, they started to gravitate toward each other.
Their mutual attitude toward Reagan is akin to that of the runners up in the vote for Homecoming Queen.
Ford never understood the power of ideas and didn't understand how Reagan's rhetoric was as important as the defense buildup. He also totally misunderstood symbolism, especially in 1975 when he and Kissinger refused to meet Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn because it might upset the Kremlin. That was a clear signal to Moscow that the U.S. wouldn't stand up for dissidents.
I'm growing a bit tired of hearing about things Ford didn't want reported until 'after his death'.
The list seems to be growing.
A President needs to be a leader first and a manager second. Who cares if the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed if the country is wandering around in a funk. Carter managed the White House tennis courts while respect for the US went into the toilet. Reagan was the first President to try and win the Cold War. The rest assumed we'd spend eternity at each others' throats (detente - is that a Fench word?). That vision saved more lives than the world's greatest manager could even count.
Took one to recognize one I reckon.
Reagan was a great communicator, something badly needed in the Republican party, a skill that Ford seriously lacked himself.