October 30, 1975: The New York Daily News, responding to President Gerald Ford's statement that he wouldn't allow the federal government to bail out New York City's desperate finances, prints the most famous newspaper headline ever: "FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD."
Ford didn't actually say that, but that was the message he sent, intentionally or otherwise.
Both sides compromised, as the City did a few more things to try to get its financial house in order, and this satisfied Ford to the point where he changed his mind and signed a bailout bill.
But Ford was damned when he did, and damned when he didn't. The bailout he actually did sign infuriated many conservatives, who already had a few problems with the mildly conservative Ford, and they voted for former Governor Ronald Reagan of California in the Republican primaries, and Reagan very nearly won the GOP nomination, and when Ford won the nomination anyway, many of those conservatives stayed home on Election Day, November 2, 1976.
This may have made the difference in throwing some States, including New York, to the Democratic nominee, former Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia. White conservatives in Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Long Island and Westchester abandoned him. Not that they voted for Carter (Southern or not, conservative by Democratic standards or not, they still viewed all Democrats as "socialists"), but they didn't vote at all.
It also upset undecided voters and disaffected Democrats. A lot of people remembered only the headline, and forgot that Ford changed his mind about the bailout, and held it against him, and a lot of people in the City who might not have been comfortable with Carter either voted for Carter or stayed home, enough to throw the State of New York to Carter. It may have made, literally, all the difference in the world. Had Ford simply won the State, he would have won a full term.
True, the Nixon pardon, lingering feelings over Watergate, the shaky economy, his debate gaffe about Eastern Europe, and conservatives issues with him over things like foreign policy and federal spending also hurt him.
But the day after the '76 election, Mayor Abe Beame posed in front of City Hall with the headline, as if to say, "City to Ford: Don't tell someone to drop dead unless you can make him drop dead. We just made your campaign drop dead."
Ford didn't actually say that, but that was the message he sent, intentionally or otherwise.
Both sides compromised, as the City did a few more things to try to get its financial house in order, and this satisfied Ford to the point where he changed his mind and signed a bailout bill.
But Ford was damned when he did, and damned when he didn't. The bailout he actually did sign infuriated many conservatives, who already had a few problems with the mildly conservative Ford, and they voted for former Governor Ronald Reagan of California in the Republican primaries, and Reagan very nearly won the GOP nomination, and when Ford won the nomination anyway, many of those conservatives stayed home on Election Day, November 2, 1976.
This may have made the difference in throwing some States, including New York, to the Democratic nominee, former Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia. White conservatives in Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Long Island and Westchester abandoned him. Not that they voted for Carter (Southern or not, conservative by Democratic standards or not, they still viewed all Democrats as "socialists"), but they didn't vote at all.
It also upset undecided voters and disaffected Democrats. A lot of people remembered only the headline, and forgot that Ford changed his mind about the bailout, and held it against him, and a lot of people in the City who might not have been comfortable with Carter either voted for Carter or stayed home, enough to throw the State of New York to Carter. It may have made, literally, all the difference in the world. Had Ford simply won the State, he would have won a full term.
True, the Nixon pardon, lingering feelings over Watergate, the shaky economy, his debate gaffe about Eastern Europe, and conservatives issues with him over things like foreign policy and federal spending also hurt him.
But the day after the '76 election, Mayor Abe Beame posed in front of City Hall with the headline, as if to say, "City to Ford: Don't tell someone to drop dead unless you can make him drop dead. We just made your campaign drop dead."
Beame outside Gracie Mansion on November 3,
a year and 4 days after the headline,
and the day after the election.
A year later, with the City's finances still not fully straightened out, and crime seemingly out of control, the City’s voters told Beame to "drop dead," and elected Congressman Ed Koch as its Mayor.
*
October 30, 1975 was a Thursday. Baseball season had just ended with a classic World Series. Football was in midweek. These 2 games were played in the NBA that night:
* The New York Knicks beat the Kansas City Kings, 117-113 at Madison Square Garden. Nate "Tiny" Archibald scored 35 points, but the Knickerbockers got 32 from Walt "Clyde" Frazier and 26 from Spencer Haywood.
* And the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls, 108-91 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
And there was a game in the American Basketball Association, entering its final season: The San Antonio Spurs beat the San Diego Sails, 102-100 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.
There were 5 games played in the NHL:
* The Boston Bruins beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at the Boston Garden.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-2 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Buffalo Sabres and the Vancouver Canucks played to a 4-4 tie at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Kansas City Scouts, 6-2 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City. In 1976, the Scouts would become the Colorado Rockies. In 1982, they would become the New Jersey Devils.
* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-0 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
And there were 4 games played in the World Hockey Association:
* The Calgary Cowboys beat the Indianapolis Racers, 7-5 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Cincinnati Stingers, 4-0 at the Winnipeg Arena.
* The Phoenix Roadrunners beat the Denver Spurs, 3-2 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.
* And the Houston Aeros beat the San Diego Mariners, 4-2 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).
No comments:
Post a Comment