[Vision2020] What If Ford Had Not Made Rumsfeld His Chief of Staff?

[nickgier at adelphia.net]

Greetings:

While I believe that some of the kudos for Gerald Ford are in order, very little has been said about the negatives.  With the recent death of Pinochet, no one has mentioned that Ford continued Nixon's unconditional support for Latin American dictators. Henry Kissinger was instructed to tell General Pinochet that he should ignore international criticisms of his torture and that the Pinochet could count on the U.S. for support.

Nick Gier

How Gerald Ford shaped the Bush administration.
by Michael Currie Schaffer
Only at TNR Online, The New Republic
Post date: 01.04.07

There is a passage, toward the end of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's "The Final Days, "where a group of aides to Gerald Ford present the vice president with a set of suggestions for his transition. As Richard Nixon floundered, the group had conducted its business in secret, lest Ford appear to be campaigning for the president's ouster. But now, with a resignation all but certain, they offer their plans to the man who is about to become the leader of the free world. On a limousine ride from his Virginia home to the White House, Ford considers their list of candidates to lead the transition. The aides suggest Frank Carlucci, then undersecretary of health, education, and welfare. Their alternates include Deputy Defense Secretary William Clements and NATO Ambassador Donald Rumsfeld. In the blank space on the page, Ford writes in Rumsfeld's name.

. . . What if Ford's pen had scrawled out a different name as the car crossed the Potomac? No transition-chief Rumsfeld means no Chief of Staff Rumsfeld. Which means no chance to tap an unknown Dick Cheney as his deputy, no chance for the men to form their lasting bond, no chance for Cheney to take over upon Rumsfeld's departure. And on and on down the road to Baghdad: No Chief of Staff Cheney means no Representative Cheney, which means no Defense Secretary Cheney, no vice-presidential selection team leader Cheney, and no Vice President Cheney to bring his old mentor back to Washington a couple of decades later.