WI: Ronald Reagan / Gerald Ford 1980?

IOTL, after winning the Republican nomination for president in 1980, Ronald Reagan actually considered having Gerald Ford as his running mate. He even tried negotiating with Ford to get him on the ticket, but the negotiations failed, and Reagan ended up choosing George Bush as his running mate. So, WI negotiations had gone well and Ronald Reagan chose Gerald Ford as his running mate? My guess is that there would have been some controversy over a former president being nominated for vice president, but otherwise, the Reagan/Ford ticket would probably have won, due to Carter's unpopularity. So what would have happened if Gerald Ford was elected vice president in 1980? Would he have been kept in the administration in 1984? Would Ford run for election in his own right to the presidency in 1988?
 
Dude: this scenario is not going to happen. It was more a creation of Ford's aides than Ford himself, and the discussions were terminated when they reached the point of a virtual co-presidency along FDR/Byrnes or JFK/RFK lines. Ford also wanted Kissinger at State and Greenspan at Treasury, which is highly presumptuous to say the least. Ford wouldn't bring much to the ticket, and he was 75 in 1988.
 
When Reagan spoke with Ford about the possibility of his (Ford) being on the ticket w/him, Ford said "Forget it; I don't want to be on the ticket." When asked by Reagan again at the start of the '80 convention to again consider the possibility, Ford did so out of courtesy, but, believing it to be an unworkable partnership, he and his negotiators raised the stakes so high as to kill the deal.

Had it happened . . .
Would they have defeated Carter/Mondale - yes
Would Ford have been on the ticket in '84 - Likely but then may be not
Would Ford have run for President in '88 - Most probably not

I remember being surprised when word spread around the convention hall (I was a youth delegate) and those I was with dismissed it as just an unfounded rumor. We didn't realize at the time that the idea of a Reagan/Ford ticket was being seriously discussed. We thought that Reagan was most likely going to choose either Bush or Kemp.
 
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