Main Event in New Hampshire

While in Dallas, city of the resonant name, Gerald Ford, wrapped in a steel bulletproof vest, lashed out at “people who say everything is falling apart, how the quality of life is sliding down hill. . . .” His message was well received by his audience—Republican activists who evidently don’t know or don’t care that Mr. Ford’s Administration keeps churning out statistical evidence that the average American’s standard of living is declining. Then Mr. Ford dashed off to California, a state that evidently exerts a strong pull on him, and where a second assassination attempt in little more than a fortnight failed. But between Dallas and California he visited New Hampshire, a state that will have a profound impact on his career, one way or another, in five months.

In New Hampshire he motored across the state, giving the same speech 21 times—or was it 22?—on behalf of the Republican candidate for the Senate, Louis Wyman, who was soundly thrashed a few days later. Even more than is usual when Americans are offered a choice at the polls, the American people were the sure losers as the sun rose on election day in New Hampshire. The hope that, somehow, both candidates would lose was widespread in New Hampshire, a feeling expressed by one voter to a reporter: “Well, I guess we have to send someone to Washington.”

About the Author

George F. Will

George F. Will has been a columnist, beginning with National Review, since 1973.

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Presidential Election

Republican Party

Richard Nixon

Watergate

While in Dallas, city of the resonant name, Gerald Ford, wrapped in a steel bulletproof vest, lashed out at “people who say everything is falling apart, how the quality of life is sliding down hill. . . .” His message was well received by his audience—Republican activists who evidently don’t know or don’t care that Mr. Ford’s Administration keeps churning out statistical evidence that the average American’s standard of living is declining. Then Mr. Ford dashed off to California, a state that evidently exerts a strong pull on him, and where a second assassination attempt in little more than a fortnight failed. But between Dallas and California he visited New Hampshire, a state that will have a profound impact on his career, one way or another, in five months.

In New Hampshire he motored across the state, giving the same speech 21 times—or was it 22?—on behalf of the Republican candidate for the Senate, Louis Wyman, who was soundly thrashed a few days later. Even more than is usual when Americans are offered a choice at the polls, the American people were the sure losers as the sun rose on election day in New Hampshire. The hope that, somehow, both candidates would lose was widespread in New Hampshire, a feeling expressed by one voter to a reporter: “Well, I guess we have to send someone to Washington.”