As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
In the saga of Nancy Reagan, her ordeals with other First Lady's was one of exposing what the public already knew. In the case of Betty Ford, she always came across as a piece of jagged glass and the woman was just that.
In 1976 Ronald Reagan challenged President Jerry Ford for the nomination, and Ford pulled some of the most illegal electioneering up to that name to win the nomination. Betty was joined at the hip in this, and her antics at the convention in Kansas City were typical Ford crass.
Both the Reagan's and the Ford's had skyboxes at the convention, but that was not enough for Betty Ford as she had her own personal box on the convention floor.
The President's Daughter, Maureen spotting a fix, asked some of the Reagan Colorado delegates to switch out, so they could be on the convention floor. The delegates were enthused in the trade and Nancy Reagan was closer to the convention.
One evening the band played "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" for Mrs. Reagan, and up popped Betty Ford to dance with Tony Orlando.
Every instance the wives appeared the delegates went wild and demonstrated for their candidate.
Another event, had Mrs. Reagan already undressed and ready for bed, as it was late, but who should appear but Betty Ford moving through the convention again. It was so bad that Ron jr. phoned up his mother and pleaded for her to come over as it was that bad in what the Ford's were up to.
Betty Ford was not below being catty either, in the worst way. She told Time magazine the CIA rag, "When Nancy met Ronnie, that was it as far as her own life was concerned. She just fell apart at the seams".
Nothing of the sort was true in that smear, but when one considers the non accomplishments of Mrs. Jerry Ford, except being an embarrassing drunk who had to go to detox as First Lady, there was the falling apart seam calling the cloth frayed.
The Ford's even unleashed Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller who prowled the convention floor intimidating delegates. Nancy Reagan had a first hand view of Rockefeller accosting a Utah delegate for Reagan in grabbing his placard and breaking it.
It all came down to the nomination in which Ford leveraged a win at 12:30 AM in the morning. It was not without problems though as Lyn Nofziger was watching the returns with the Reagans and Bob Nieson of the California delegation refused to have California vote for Jerry Ford.
Nofziger ran to the floor to intercede by Bob Nieson was adamant in stating he came to the convention to vote for Ronald Reagan and he was going to vote for Ronald Reagan.
John Rhodes the chairman of the convention realized what was taking place and immediately banged the gavel down and announced it was unanimous for Jerry Ford in California voted for Ford too. That did not sit well with the Californians or Reagan supporters, but it was the poison of the Fords, as their campaign ran a dirty operation of graft for delegates and Betty Ford was the ringleader on the convention floor.
None of this helped the not so lustrous Ford as the party had no enthusiasm for him, the country was still smarting from Watergate and Jimmy Carter wanted to take America back to the stone ages for punishment, and that is what took place in 1976 AD in the year of our Lord.
If one observes Nancy Reagan in all she dealt with from former First Ladies, she handled herself extremely well, while the other ladies were not so ladylike at all.
agtG
