Gerald R. Ford Museum-A Heartbeat Away

Gerald R. Ford Museum-A Heartbeat Away

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Talk of the Town onnews radio with thirteen hundred and one oh
six nine FM. Steve Kelly fromWest Michigan's Morning News. Brett Pikita here
as well and joining us on theliveline. One of the panel members of
an event going on Friday and Saturdayat the Ford Presidential Museum. It's called
a Heartbeat Away the American Vice Presidency. Chris Whipple is an author, political

(00:22):
analyst, Emmy Award winning documentary filmmakeras well. Chris, thank you for
taking the time today. Thy greatto do. Chris will be on the
third panel. It's two days thiscoming week of some pretty high powered people.
Talk to us a little bit aboutyour knowledge of the vice presidency.

(00:43):
I think all too often we spenda little time early in campaigns to see
what a vice president will bring tothe ticket, and then we focus on
everything else during a presidency. Isthat fair? Yeah? And first of
all, I'm really looking forward tothis, Evana. I think it's going
to be fascinating and I'm sure I'mgoing to learn a lot. My particular
expertise is the White House chiefs ofstaff. I wrote a book called The

(01:07):
Gatekeepers back in twenty seventeen, andthen my most recent book is on the
Biden presidency called The Fight of HisLife Inside Joe Biden's White House. So
in the process of doing those books, I learned a lot about the relationship,
sometimes front relationship between presidents and theirvps, and sometimes the chief of

(01:30):
staff gets right in the middle ofthat. So it's it's a fascinating relationship.
Man. Of course, Jerry Fordhad a very interesting dynamic with his
vice president Nelson Rockefeller, who waslarger than life and who was a real

(01:53):
irritant at times to the Chief ofStaff Don Rumsfeld, and vice versa.
They hated each other. Ford's chiefDon Rumsfeld and Nelson Rockefeller because you know,
Rockefeller basically thought understandably that he wouldbe in charge of domestic policy.

(02:14):
Jerry Ford had told him that,you know, you can do that.
Nelson, Well, Rummy had otherideas, and it went south pretty quickly.
Chris, what's interesting too, mymom's a history teacher. Is just
a little nuances or dynamics. Imean, when you hear that title a
heartbeat away, obviously people think,okay, next in line, But there
are so many different little things.I'm sure you can share along with the

(02:36):
other panelist of you know, whatis the true role the vice president and
how the dynamics are set up whereif the president's doing something here, the
vice president's usually out, you know, taking care of other business. Right.
Well, yeah, and of courseit depends so much on the relationship
that every and everything really depends onthat relationship between the president and his VP.
And through history, famously, vicepresidents have come plane that the job

(03:00):
wasn't worth a warm bucket, ifyou know what. And that really began
to change with Walter Mondale and JimmyCarter I think. I mean Mondale was
the first VP who was given anoffice in the West Wing and given real
responsibilities. Prior to that, LBJand Hubert Humphrey and Spiro Agnew, you

(03:28):
know, they had terrible They weretreated terribly by their presidents. So you
know, there there are various models, of course, and it ranges from
the powerless VP to the to DickCheney. Dick Cheney once told me that
the White House Chief of Staff hasmore power than the vice president. That

(03:50):
was true except when Cheney was vicepresident. The two day event is called
Heartbeat Away the American Vice Presidency.Ford Presidential Museum again Friday and Saturday.
Find out more about the event atFord Library Museum dot gov. Though it
is free to the public. You'llfind the conference schedule to find out more

(04:13):
information. Chris Whipple is our gueston Talk of the Town. I see
that in one of the panels they'refocusing on photographers of the Vice President,
and I'm interested to know because they'llbe there the perspective and how much personal
information a photographer can share about theperson that they're taking pictures of. That's

(04:34):
going to be a great panel,and one of my best friends is on
it, David Hume Kennerley, whowas Jerry Ford's White House photographer and an
incredible, fascinating character who was soclose to Jerry Ford. He was practically
a son, and he's full ofmarvelous stories about the Ford White House.

(05:00):
So I urge everybody to come andlisten to that panel. Kennerly at one
point he has he has a greatyear reverend sense of humor. And when
when Jerry Ford went to San Franciscoand was almost assassinated by I think I
guess it was squeaky from he asyou know, he survived two assassination's attempts.

(05:24):
Anyway, he came back to AirForce one and Kennerly said to him,
well, other than that, howdid you like San Francisco, mister
president? And Ford just loved himfor that. He was constantly cracking people
up and he had total access tothe Oval office. Squeaky From's gun is
actually on display at the Ford PresidentialMuseum if you go find it, especially

(05:46):
given these comments and Chris on thatnote. And I don't know if you've
been here before or this is yourfirst time, but is this half I've
been I have been there. Yeah. Is this kind of unique though?
As you travel the country, youknow, because we're talking about the vice
presidency and just like you said,until more recent times, it was just
kind of that empty office that GeraldR. Ford and what he meant to

(06:09):
this city played at the University ofMichigan for football, so dynamic. To
have an entire museums as a guywho was a vice president is pretty special,
and we forget that, I thinksometimes right here as Grand repinions.
Yeah, I think it's unique.And I've been there twice now, I've
spoken uh to pretty enthusiastic crewds andit's it's just a delight to h to

(06:32):
be there, so I would urgeeverybody to come and do it. And
Jerry Ford is of course unique becauseagain he was famously the accidental president who
had to step into those shoes veryquickly and and and boy, you know,

(06:55):
Don Remsfeldt described it to me asas being stepping on into an airplane
that was going five hundred miles anhour straight toward the ground and he had
to somehow pull it out of anose side. So his story of his
presidency, I think, is itperrific. One Friday and Saturday at the
geraldar Ford Museum. The event isput on by the geraldar Ford Foundation and

(07:19):
on one of the panels Chris Whipplewill be there. Find out more about
the event at Ford Library Museum dotcom. We're out of time, but
you have peaked our interest. Wewill be there Friday and Saturday. Chris
Whipple, thank you for your timetoday, Thanks for having me. This
is Talk of the Town, anews radio with thirteen hundred and one oh
six nine FM.