What the Gaffe Said

For five days public opinion (i.e., the media) in the United States revolved around what was referred to as the “gaffe” made by President Ford in Debate Number Two. The gaffe was then dropped from history (i.e., the media) and forgotten. I would like to disinter it for a brief autopsy.

In midcourse of Debate Number Two, the President, in a firm, clear voice, made a simple, unambiguous statement: “There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford Administration.” Interlocutor Max Frankel of the New York Times, in undisguised astonishment, intervened with a complicated pseudo-question phrased as if to warn Ford that he could not have meant what he had just said, and had better correct himself while he still had a chance to do so unscathed. Far from taking advantage of Frankel’s assist, Ford reaffirmed and amplified his statement, and concluded: “Each of these [East European] countries is independent and autonomous.”

JB

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James Burnham

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Poland

For five days public opinion (i.e., the media) in the United States revolved around what was referred to as the “gaffe” made by President Ford in Debate Number Two. The gaffe was then dropped from history (i.e., the media) and forgotten. I would like to disinter it for a brief autopsy.

In midcourse of Debate Number Two, the President, in a firm, clear voice, made a simple, unambiguous statement: “There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford Administration.” Interlocutor Max Frankel of the New York Times, in undisguised astonishment, intervened with a complicated pseudo-question phrased as if to warn Ford that he could not have meant what he had just said, and had better correct himself while he still had a chance to do so unscathed. Far from taking advantage of Frankel’s assist, Ford reaffirmed and amplified his statement, and concluded: “Each of these [East European] countries is independent and autonomous.”