Don Gagne

You had these countervailing things, right? All the positive nature of the Bicentennial, but the Vietnam War had just wound down literally in the previous year. On top of all of that, the country was in the midst of an energy crisis. There was lots of cynicism among the American people. To take you back to those days, President Gerald Ford was an incumbent president

running for a full term in office. Recall that he'd inherited the presidency two years earlier in 1974 when a disgraced Richard Nixon resigned from office as the Watergate scandal just closed in around him.

running for a full term in office. Recall that he'd inherited the presidency two years earlier in 1974 when a disgraced Richard Nixon resigned from office as the Watergate scandal just closed in around him.

running for a full term in office. Recall that he'd inherited the presidency two years earlier in 1974 when a disgraced Richard Nixon resigned from office as the Watergate scandal just closed in around him.

Boy, it's an understatement to say he was a relative unknown, right? He was from Plains, Georgia, population 236 back in the 1970s. He had been a state senator. He had been recently governor of Georgia. He was a former peanut farmer. So I found this great tape from December of 1973 when I was working on an obit about Carter and And the tape kind of highlights how unknown he really was.

Boy, it's an understatement to say he was a relative unknown, right? He was from Plains, Georgia, population 236 back in the 1970s. He had been a state senator. He had been recently governor of Georgia. He was a former peanut farmer. So I found this great tape from December of 1973 when I was working on an obit about Carter and And the tape kind of highlights how unknown he really was.

Boy, it's an understatement to say he was a relative unknown, right? He was from Plains, Georgia, population 236 back in the 1970s. He had been a state senator. He had been recently governor of Georgia. He was a former peanut farmer. So I found this great tape from December of 1973 when I was working on an obit about Carter and And the tape kind of highlights how unknown he really was.

Here I am introducing that tape in that obit. He was hardly a household name. In fact, as his time in the statehouse wound down, he popped up on the TV game show, What's My Line?

Here I am introducing that tape in that obit. He was hardly a household name. In fact, as his time in the statehouse wound down, he popped up on the TV game show, What's My Line?

Here I am introducing that tape in that obit. He was hardly a household name. In fact, as his time in the statehouse wound down, he popped up on the TV game show, What's My Line?

On the show, a panel of celebrities tries to guess the profession of the mystery person sitting right in front of them. So there's Governor Carter on the set, smiling that famous Jimmy Carter smile, and the panelists have no idea who he is.

On the show, a panel of celebrities tries to guess the profession of the mystery person sitting right in front of them. So there's Governor Carter on the set, smiling that famous Jimmy Carter smile, and the panelists have no idea who he is.

On the show, a panel of celebrities tries to guess the profession of the mystery person sitting right in front of them. So there's Governor Carter on the set, smiling that famous Jimmy Carter smile, and the panelists have no idea who he is.

So what you hear, Rachel, are these celebrity panelists asking Jimmy Carter what he does for a living and trying to figure out. And they go on and on with different questions to him, trying to figure out what his profession is. Again, they had no clue who this guy was.

So what you hear, Rachel, are these celebrity panelists asking Jimmy Carter what he does for a living and trying to figure out. And they go on and on with different questions to him, trying to figure out what his profession is. Again, they had no clue who this guy was.

So what you hear, Rachel, are these celebrity panelists asking Jimmy Carter what he does for a living and trying to figure out. And they go on and on with different questions to him, trying to figure out what his profession is. Again, they had no clue who this guy was.

Right. And he did kind of use that humility. He directly confronted the cynicism that a lot of Americans were feeling at the time. He was modest, and that sounds like a strange thing to say. This is a modest person seeking the White House. But he did portray a certain modesty as a candidate.

Right. And he did kind of use that humility. He directly confronted the cynicism that a lot of Americans were feeling at the time. He was modest, and that sounds like a strange thing to say. This is a modest person seeking the White House. But he did portray a certain modesty as a candidate.

Right. And he did kind of use that humility. He directly confronted the cynicism that a lot of Americans were feeling at the time. He was modest, and that sounds like a strange thing to say. This is a modest person seeking the White House. But he did portray a certain modesty as a candidate.

He promised the people—again, this is in the wake of Watergate—he promised the people he would never lie to them. He promised to restore basic trust in the nation's institutions. It all sounds so old-fashioned, right? Right, right. It's also important to note that he ran a real grassroots campaign. He kind of embraced the fact that nobody knew him. Listen to this quote. It's from Steve Hockman.