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      Ford and Reagan          
         
         
         
         
        convention hat

A Gerald R. Ford campaign bowler hat from the 1976 Republican National Convention.

       
photo: A1881-25A
After both had attended a Republican fund-raising dinner, President Ford meets with California governor Ronald Reagan at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.October 31, 1974


       


Truthfully, I had not developed a longstanding personal relationship with Governor Reagan.  We were political friends, but we had not become personal friends.  So I was upset when he challenged me.  I thought it was unwise for a Republican to challenge a sitting Republican president. We had a pretty bitter contest.  It was a head-to-head, knock-down, drag-out affair.  So at that time I was not anxious to have him on the ticket (as vice president).  Maybe his being a part of the ticket might have made a difference, I don’t know.  I do know he could have helped more during the campaign in three or four pivotal states that we lost by a narrow margin.
                                                --Gerald R. Ford