Friday, August 17, 2012

Flint Photos: President Gerald Ford

Gerald and Betty Ford campaigning in Flint on May 13, 1976.


5 comments:

  1. That was a fun week. I worked with the White House advance team and was fortunate enough to ride the Presidential Express from Flint to Durand. I sat by Bo Schembechler and Jonnie Orr. That same week Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were in town for campaign stops. Soon to be President Carter made a stop downtown and I accompanied Mrs. Carter to the Whiting Auditorium for an event. It was a fun week.

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  2. The stagflation era...not an easy situation for Ford to overcome.

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  3. A well-known photo exists of Carter speaking at the IMA, backed by Mondale, Dale Kildee and Don Riegle. I think it might be here in another thread, but I didn't find it under the IMA Auditorium tag. Anyway, it's at http://www.flickr.com/photos/92726077@N00/338224012/.

    Can anyone verify that the blonde woman adjacent to Don is Dee Ann Riegle-Torres, Don's younger sister...?

    How many people associated with Metro Flint also have been involved with White House advance activities? I know one name. It can't be a big number.

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  4. That's my wife's birthdate!!! :)

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  5. I was a "Ford Girl". As was standard at the time, I wore a navy blue skirt, white blouse, a Ford banner across my chest, and a styrofoam campaign hat. Ford shook my hand as he passed by. All I knew of politics at the time was fun, fun, fun! Pizza, envelope stuffing parties, election night celebrations, etc.

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Thanks for commenting. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.