Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
This file includes comments on Ronald Reagan.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
1511472
label
Crane, Philip - Interview, 1/30/78
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
1511472
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
Crane, Philip - Interview, 1/30/78
description
This file includes comments on Ronald Reagan.
citationUrl
collections
A. James Reichley Interview Transcripts
Congressional Interviews
subjects
Presidential campaign, 1976
thumbnailUrl
largeImageUrl
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
1511472
coverageEndDate
logicalDate
1977-12-31
year
1977
coverageStartDate
logicalDate
1969-01-01
year
1969
levelOfDescription
fileUnit
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
aa08ce061e060f68
ocrText
The original documents are located in Box 2, folder "Crane, Philip - Interview, 1/30/78" of
the A. James Reichley Interview Transcripts at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. A. James Reichley donated to the
United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives
collections. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in
the public domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are
presumed to remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject
to a valid copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Interview with Representative Phillip Crane, Jan. 30, 1978.
&
FORD
GERALD
Crane said that he had not seen much difference between Nixon and Ford
LISKARY
in dealings with Congress although he said that Jerry, (as he called him!
had been more accessible, he said that some of the oldtimers might six say that
however,
about Nixon as well. Crane who supported Ronald Reagon for the Republican
nomination in 1976, said that as a matter of face one of his colleagues
Frd,
almost deserted the Ford cause because he was having great inability Kax reaching
Ford. Crane said parenthetically that he had had the same difficulty X reaching
Reagen. Crane said that he was surprised his colleagues" difficulties with
Ford because he was a powerful political figure in a crucial primary state and
the problem arose just a week or two before the primary. Crane said that he
consv.
did not think ***** either Nixon flor Ford had been philosophic conservatives.
He said their actions had probably followed a course slightly to the right of
center, but they were not grounded in a philosophic set of convictions. Crane
said that he had always felt that Nixon was not a normative many
H
the
did
not
relate argument to principle he said that he had the impression that Nixon
would set down all arguments for or against a given course of action including
on his fllow Tablety
illegal or unethical alternatives, and he would make his decisions on the illegal
X
wr/unethical solely on the basis of the odds of getting caught. He said that he
had not really perceived this in Nixon until around 1964. He said that it always
annoyed him when the media identified Nixon and Ford as conservatives. He said
that Ford's voting record was rather conservative, but it really reflected
constituent and party loyalties rather than philosophic conviction. Crane said
that he was more **** troubled by people of this kind than he was by the actual
liberals because you always knew where the 11 liberals were coming from, but
who
people that/did not have a philosophic background were not grounded in principle,
(encountered)
and therefore when they accounted a crisis you could not tell which way they would
AT tert was said about
go. *s/fee President Eisenhower, Crane said, frequently the person-who persuaded
them is the last person to have their ear.
- 2
Nixon was a man of much greater intellect than Ford in Crane's opinion
FORD & 077870 LIBRARY
Ford was therefore less secure when he assumed his responsibilities as President.
Ford, Crane felt, was in over his head his problems were partly due tothe
people he had around him. In fairness, Crane said, he would have to say that
sighrs on being
Nixon from his earlist time in politics set his sight to be "top banana", but that
Ford have had probably never expected to be President, and therefore
found himself unprepared when the reached the White House. Crane said that he
Fid
felt that Ford's place in history would be brighter if he had announced, when
he became President that he had nyer sought the office and therefore did not intend
to run for election, and would serve merely as a transition president.
Ambition overtook Ford, however, Crane says, which led to much of the meanness and
pettiness which Crane detected in the campaign. Crane said that he was principally
Fran,
concerned about Ford's foreign policy me # felt that Nxx Nidxn had held
pel,
Kissinger in check, but Ford through his lack of experience in foreign policy
was forced to rely almost totally on Kissinger Kissinger was therefore was
operating without check in foreign policy. Domestic issues, Crane said, he detected
dmsk.
no significant change from Nixon to Ford. Crane said that he felt that the
Family Assistance Plan, deficit budgets, wage and price controls were used by Nixon
him
hus
as a means of buying off the liberals to give brown a free hand in foreign policy.
ott
bris,
Crane said **** that he felt that Ford would have been as vunerable to arguments
for wage and price controls as Nixon had been if he had been president in 1971.
The controls were essentially a means of avoiding pain.
I asked Crane if there had ever been a conservative president in his sense%
consy,
and
said, Yes, he thought that Jefferson had been, and George Washington,
and John Adams in fact all of the presidents until Andrew Jackson with whom he
began deveoping reservations. He said, That Abraham Lincoln although a great
hero to Republicans, did not meet all the tests of conservatism. Wa He said
what Lincoln had violated the concept of the founders when he did not let the
erring
sisters go when the South succeededx seceded. Grover Cleveland, on the other
- 3
hand, Crane said, had been a superb conservative. McKinley was less of a conservative
than Cleveland because McKinley was a protectionist. Even Herbert Hoover was not
many
fully a conservative since Crane pointed out that of the new dax leal programs
were begun under Hoover. The 1932 Democratic platform was a fine conservative
platform, one of the finest in the century. But Roosevelt did not live up to it.
Since that time there have been no true conservatives.
QERALD FORD
Crane said that he felt that Ronald Reagen, if he had become president, would
Ran.
have been able to move the country in a more conservative direction though vastly
less so than the more militant conservatives hoped. Crane felt that Reagon had had
in
from
a creditable conservative record in California, particularly XX the standpoint of
initiating welfare reform which was had been taken up by other states including
New York under Nelson Rockefeller. And also in holding down the overall rise in the
cost of government, which has been followed by his successor Jerry Brown. Reagen
would ax have operated a tight-fisted administration, Crane said. Most of all in
foreign policy, Reagon would have followed a more conservative course he would not
have cancelled the B1 B-1 bomber he would have gone about beefing up the Navy, he would
Canal
not have gone throgh with the Panama treaty. Although, Crane says that Reagen is
talking about allmer alternative means OF dealing with the canal problem which that
commission
Crane himself would not feel comfortable with, such as setting an international
for users of the Canal. Crane said that he felt there was no ****** doubt
that the Reagen campaign had pushed Ford to the right He he said that they had made
Ford aware that Henry Kissinger was a liability It made the administration nervous
about AMeN Henry.
Crane said he personally knew some Southerners who had been Reagon supporters who
had ended up voting for N Jimmy Carter because they felt that there was XIX not much
nsvGn philosophic difference between Carter and Ford, so why shouldn't they vote for one of
their own. Crane says that he expects further conservative gains because the
will be a biz factor
conservatives have ** taken up the job issue and he thinks that this is doing a real
arracting
(TO
howling among blue-collar workers for conservatism. He said that conservatives are
opposing unrealistic goals, and arbitrary timetables for environmental plans. Crane
- 4 -
says that conservatives now have a great opportunity for breakthrough
with working people. Crane says that working people have come to realize that
conservatives stand for the American dream, whereas liberals are attempting
to straightjacket the American dream.
89 GURD LIBRARY