The US headlines have been about Ford's criticism of Carter, which he later softened, but what is much more interesting to me is what he had to say about Reagan. I used to work for a few Texans who thought Reagan was the greatest human ever to walk the earth and who told everyone who would listen (and also those of us who tried to ignore them) that Reagan took down the Evil Empire with one hand tied behind his back, all alone. Uh huh, nothing to do with fifty years of policy whatsoever.
"It makes me very irritated when Reagan's people pound their chests and say that because we had this big military buildup, the Kremlin collapsed," Ford told The Grand Rapids Press.And later...
Ford said Reagan, who challenged him unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination in 1976, was "a great spokesman for attractive political objectives" such as a balanced budget and defeating communism, "but when it came to implementation, his record never matched his words."
Reagan was "probably the least well-informed on the details of running the government of any president I knew," Ford said. In a separate interview, he said Reagan "was just a poor manager, and you can't be president and do a good job unless you manage."
