WI: Carl Albert prevents Gerald Ford from becoming VP

Sabot Cat · Jul 25, 2013

In 1973, Speaker of the House Carl Albert (D-OK) could have prevented Gerald Ford from filling the office of Vice President after Spiro Agnew was forced to resign. Would Nixon have resigned anyway in the event of a Democratic successor for President? Would these political machinations contribute further to public disillusionment with the government following Watergate? It certainly would have been fertile ground for conspiracy theories.

Nofix · Jul 25, 2013

The issue was he didn't want to be President, he felt that as a Democrat he shouldn't take the office of the Republican elected President, regardless of Watergate. Hell he said (IIRC) he'd appoint a Republican and resign if he did become President, dude was cool that way.

Sabot Cat · Jul 25, 2013

Nofix said:
The issue was he didn't want to be President, he felt that as a Democrat he shouldn't take the office of the Republican elected President, regardless of Watergate. Hell he said (IIRC) he'd appoint a Republican and resign if he did become President, dude was cool that way.

It would certainly be out of character, I agree.

I wonder if the former Speaker of the House John William McCormack (D-MA) would do the same thing if he didn't resign in 1971 due to advanced age.

Dayton Kitchens · Jul 25, 2013

Ford was almost universally liked by the Democrats as well as the Republicans.

Some say that Nixon signed the death warrant of his presidency when he appointed Ford rather than find someone "Agnew like" to nominate as his VP.

ColeMercury · Jul 25, 2013

I don't think Albert would want to block Ford. Wasn't Ford the only choice for VP because he was the only Republican who the Democratic Congress would vote for at all? I think that if Nixon had absolute free rein to pick his own new Vice-President he would've chosen John Connally.

Paul V McNutt · Jul 25, 2013

In addition the fact that Albert did not want to be President, It would have been seen a blatant power grab.

tiggerfan · Jul 25, 2013

Some Democrats in the House (see Bella Abzug) came to Albert with that proposal and they were told in no uncertain terms that he would never agree to such a plan.

Sanderford · Jul 25, 2013

Paul V McNutt said:
In addition the fact that Albert did not want to be President, It would have been seen a blatant power grab.

Both excellent reasons. Carl Albert did not personally desire to be President, and he felt it would be wrong that a Democrat should take office when the American people had elected a Republican.

Further, had he done so, he most likely would have ruined his party's national image for a while to come. The public outrage it would have generated would have made the White House a "safe seat" for the Republicans in the next election. They could have run a shoe, and the shoe would have trounced the Democratic candidate.

Nofix · Jul 25, 2013

Sanderford said:
Both excellent reasons. Carl Albert did not personally desire to be President, and he felt it would be wrong that a Democrat should take office when the American people had elected a Republican.

Further, had he done so, he most likely would have ruined his party's national image for a while to come. The public outrage it would have generated would have made the White House a "safe seat" for the Republicans in the next election. They could have run a shoe, and the shoe would have trounced the Democratic candidate.

Or a vaguely talented dog catcher. After the abuses of the Nixon Administration, people's faith in the Government, and the President especially, were shaken to their cores. Having another man, of the opposite party no less, make a power grab like that, would have made things all the more worse. I could expect the 1976 election to feature one really good 3rd party candidate, or a whole bunch of smaller one doing well (like 1-5% each).

Sanderford · Jul 25, 2013

Nofix said:
Or a vaguely talented dog catcher. After the abuses of the Nixon Administration, people's faith in the Government, and the President especially, were shaken to their cores. Having another man, of the opposite party no less, make a power grab like that, would have made things all the more worse. I could expect the 1976 election to feature one really good 3rd party candidate, or a whole bunch of smaller one doing well (like 1-5% each).

Quite possibly, but in the end in that situation, I would look to see the Republican come out in front. The whole thing might cause a core shift in both major parties, too.