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http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007101110234
V
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007101110234
V
One of our members "On the Frontline With Ford".
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Copy the article?
Is it possible that you could copy the article....I have this thing about "signing up" on a newspaper's online website. Thanks.
Here is the article, but you miss out on the photos Tom took.
Foster's is a good paper, and they don't bug you.
V
Thursday, January 11, 2007
On the frontline with Ford in '76
By THOMAS R. KRESSLER
Democrat Staff Writer
[email protected]
President Ford at UNH
DOVER — It was Friday, Feb. 20, 1976, four days before New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary. President Gerald Ford, seeking the Republican Party nomination, was in the state going through some typical candidate motions, except he had a better ride — Air Force One, which landed at Pease Air Force Base early that morning.
During a long day on the stump, Ford answered questions and ate ice cream cones. He shook hands and patted children on the head.
Local florist Tom Massingham — a 27-year-old part-time photographer at the time — scored a press pass earlier from Foster's Daily Democrat then-Managing Editor George Geers. With the credentials, Massingham boarded a large bus filled with photographers, video and radio reporters, and others who were whisked to a number of presidential events in the Seacoast area.
It was a one-time experience for Massingham — one that left him with a stack of memorabilia of the 38th president, who died last month at the age of 93.
The photographs he snapped, captured on black and white film, were never published and he never did anything quite like it again. Massingham recently unearthed the developed prints, negatives, transcripts and other memorabilia from that day in the wake of Ford's death and shared them with Foster's.
"It was fun. It was a long day," recalled Massingham, now president of Garrison Hill Florists. "You have no idea until you really do it. And there's a lot of hurry up and wait stuff, because you do everything by their schedule."
The night before, Massingham waited with local, national and international members of the press at the Portsmouth Holiday Inn for presidential staff to release "the bible," a schedule of the following day's events.
After boarding the bus at Pease, Massingham followed Ford to the Chamber of Commerce breakfast held at the newly built Dover Elks Lodge, and afterwards to stops at the former Ramada Inn and then Dover High School, where the president spoke with a large "Green Wave" banner raised behind him. Ford also visited the University of New Hampshire.
The presidential caravan then moved south, stopping at the Newington Mall, where Ford and first lady Betty Ford enjoyed ice cream cones at Baskin Robbins while reporters' microphones and cameras were held almost close enough to get dripped on.
"There was a lot of jostling, but it was all respectful," Massingham said of the media bedlam, where photographers jockeyed for the best shots.
After the cones, Ford visited the former Portsmouth Rehabilitation Center, an Easter Seals center, for a visit with the children there. The building is now home to Atlantic Sports Medicine.
At the Portsmouth Rehabilitation Center, Massingham was fortuitously picked as the pool photographer, the only photographer able to enter one of the building's small rooms with the president. Massingham, uncertain of what being a pool photographer was all about, went in with trepidation.
For the 15 minutes Ford was in the room, Massingham snapped away, getting shots of Ford talking to young children there. One girl, irked the president had not paid enough attention to her, began to cry. Ford stood above her and did not acknowledge her tears. Massingham took a picture of it.
---
Among Massingham's strips of negatives are transcripts of Ford's remarks, typed up following each appearance and dispersed to the media. Some questions would be difficult to distinguish between those likely to be asked of any presidential contender who passes through New Hampshire over the next two years.
An unidentified questioner at the Dover Elks Lodge asks Ford, "Mr. President, I think you know that in New Hampshire energy costs are among the highest in the nation. Do you feel that the federal government is doing enough to develop solar energy and other substitute sources of energy for oil?"
Ford responds partly, "I can tell you that in the budget that I submitted to the Congress for the next fiscal year, I increased the research and development funding for solar energy from roughly $80 million to about $120 million ¿ It is one of our great possibilities."
Ford concludes the answer: "I think I am always an optimist. I think we will get a breakthrough quicker than some of the pessimists feel."
Another unidentified questioner asks Ford, "How can we stop the environmental freaks from halting construction of a nuclear power plant in Seabrook?"
Mike Ross/Chief photographer DURING AN INTERVIEW with Foster's Daily Democrat, Thomas Massingham, president of Garrison Hill Florist, Inc., in Dover, couldn't remember how many rolls of film he shot during President Gerald Ford's Seacoast visit just days before the New Hampshire primary in February 1976, but does remember it being a long day.
Ford, evincing the reasonable demeanor so highly praised following his death, responds, "It is my observation that the pendulum has swung so that we have many responsible environmentalists who are not taking the positions they did three or four years ago."
And, with similarity to present day political-speak, Ford says the environmentalists "also know that we must free this country from being held up by the Arab oil cartel."
Within other transcripts Massingham saved, are glimpses into the personality of Ford, hailed by many eulogizers as an everyman, and a consensus builder who put the nation before himself.
A questioner at Keene High School on Feb. 19, 1976, tells the president, "Mr. President, I want to say two things before I ask a question. Number one, bring your wife with you on all your campaigns. She is a real asset to you."
"I agree," Ford says. "So are my kids, too, and I am proud of them."
Another questioner at Keene High School reminds Ford about a comment made by Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, of Maine, that she was surprised Ford was still in the running as a candidate, and was wondering why he had not quit.
President Ford @ UNH, Feb. 18?, 1976
"I was a little surprised myself," Ford quips, with the transcript indicating audience laughter. "The reason I am running," he goes on, "is because I think I am the only person with a moderate middle-of-the-road political philosophy that can win as a Republican or as a Democrat, and I think it is vitally important for the future of America having somebody who is not on one side or the other. I think it is important for a person who has a middle-of-the-road philosophy to win to give us the kind of strength at home and the kind of strength abroad that is needed, not only for our generation, but for a lot of these kids I see here tonight."
----
Ford, the nation's only unelected president, won the New Hampshire primary, beating out runner-up Ronald Reagan of California. He went on to win the party's nomination, but lost the general election to Democrat Jimmy Carter. He was president of the United States for less than three years.
For Massingham, who said he has no particular affinity for Ford, the opportunity to shoot a historic event was his only motivation.
"I'm not sure I really knew what to expect going into it. It (a presidential campaign) is really well orchestrated, it is probably even more orchestrated now," Massingham said. "But they're real people, too. Maybe more then than now."
Cutline Cutline
Courtesy photo/Thomas Massingham During a visit at the former Portsmouth Rehabilitation Center, President Gerald Ford poses for a photograph as a young girl, upset the president did not pay enough attention to her, begins to cry.
Foster's is a good paper, and they don't bug you.
V
Thursday, January 11, 2007
On the frontline with Ford in '76
By THOMAS R. KRESSLER
Democrat Staff Writer
[email protected]
President Ford at UNH
DOVER — It was Friday, Feb. 20, 1976, four days before New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary. President Gerald Ford, seeking the Republican Party nomination, was in the state going through some typical candidate motions, except he had a better ride — Air Force One, which landed at Pease Air Force Base early that morning.
During a long day on the stump, Ford answered questions and ate ice cream cones. He shook hands and patted children on the head.
Local florist Tom Massingham — a 27-year-old part-time photographer at the time — scored a press pass earlier from Foster's Daily Democrat then-Managing Editor George Geers. With the credentials, Massingham boarded a large bus filled with photographers, video and radio reporters, and others who were whisked to a number of presidential events in the Seacoast area.
It was a one-time experience for Massingham — one that left him with a stack of memorabilia of the 38th president, who died last month at the age of 93.
The photographs he snapped, captured on black and white film, were never published and he never did anything quite like it again. Massingham recently unearthed the developed prints, negatives, transcripts and other memorabilia from that day in the wake of Ford's death and shared them with Foster's.
"It was fun. It was a long day," recalled Massingham, now president of Garrison Hill Florists. "You have no idea until you really do it. And there's a lot of hurry up and wait stuff, because you do everything by their schedule."
The night before, Massingham waited with local, national and international members of the press at the Portsmouth Holiday Inn for presidential staff to release "the bible," a schedule of the following day's events.
After boarding the bus at Pease, Massingham followed Ford to the Chamber of Commerce breakfast held at the newly built Dover Elks Lodge, and afterwards to stops at the former Ramada Inn and then Dover High School, where the president spoke with a large "Green Wave" banner raised behind him. Ford also visited the University of New Hampshire.
The presidential caravan then moved south, stopping at the Newington Mall, where Ford and first lady Betty Ford enjoyed ice cream cones at Baskin Robbins while reporters' microphones and cameras were held almost close enough to get dripped on.
"There was a lot of jostling, but it was all respectful," Massingham said of the media bedlam, where photographers jockeyed for the best shots.
After the cones, Ford visited the former Portsmouth Rehabilitation Center, an Easter Seals center, for a visit with the children there. The building is now home to Atlantic Sports Medicine.
At the Portsmouth Rehabilitation Center, Massingham was fortuitously picked as the pool photographer, the only photographer able to enter one of the building's small rooms with the president. Massingham, uncertain of what being a pool photographer was all about, went in with trepidation.
For the 15 minutes Ford was in the room, Massingham snapped away, getting shots of Ford talking to young children there. One girl, irked the president had not paid enough attention to her, began to cry. Ford stood above her and did not acknowledge her tears. Massingham took a picture of it.
---
Among Massingham's strips of negatives are transcripts of Ford's remarks, typed up following each appearance and dispersed to the media. Some questions would be difficult to distinguish between those likely to be asked of any presidential contender who passes through New Hampshire over the next two years.
An unidentified questioner at the Dover Elks Lodge asks Ford, "Mr. President, I think you know that in New Hampshire energy costs are among the highest in the nation. Do you feel that the federal government is doing enough to develop solar energy and other substitute sources of energy for oil?"
Ford responds partly, "I can tell you that in the budget that I submitted to the Congress for the next fiscal year, I increased the research and development funding for solar energy from roughly $80 million to about $120 million ¿ It is one of our great possibilities."
Ford concludes the answer: "I think I am always an optimist. I think we will get a breakthrough quicker than some of the pessimists feel."
Another unidentified questioner asks Ford, "How can we stop the environmental freaks from halting construction of a nuclear power plant in Seabrook?"
Mike Ross/Chief photographer DURING AN INTERVIEW with Foster's Daily Democrat, Thomas Massingham, president of Garrison Hill Florist, Inc., in Dover, couldn't remember how many rolls of film he shot during President Gerald Ford's Seacoast visit just days before the New Hampshire primary in February 1976, but does remember it being a long day.
Ford, evincing the reasonable demeanor so highly praised following his death, responds, "It is my observation that the pendulum has swung so that we have many responsible environmentalists who are not taking the positions they did three or four years ago."
And, with similarity to present day political-speak, Ford says the environmentalists "also know that we must free this country from being held up by the Arab oil cartel."
Within other transcripts Massingham saved, are glimpses into the personality of Ford, hailed by many eulogizers as an everyman, and a consensus builder who put the nation before himself.
A questioner at Keene High School on Feb. 19, 1976, tells the president, "Mr. President, I want to say two things before I ask a question. Number one, bring your wife with you on all your campaigns. She is a real asset to you."
"I agree," Ford says. "So are my kids, too, and I am proud of them."
Another questioner at Keene High School reminds Ford about a comment made by Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, of Maine, that she was surprised Ford was still in the running as a candidate, and was wondering why he had not quit.
President Ford @ UNH, Feb. 18?, 1976
"I was a little surprised myself," Ford quips, with the transcript indicating audience laughter. "The reason I am running," he goes on, "is because I think I am the only person with a moderate middle-of-the-road political philosophy that can win as a Republican or as a Democrat, and I think it is vitally important for the future of America having somebody who is not on one side or the other. I think it is important for a person who has a middle-of-the-road philosophy to win to give us the kind of strength at home and the kind of strength abroad that is needed, not only for our generation, but for a lot of these kids I see here tonight."
----
Ford, the nation's only unelected president, won the New Hampshire primary, beating out runner-up Ronald Reagan of California. He went on to win the party's nomination, but lost the general election to Democrat Jimmy Carter. He was president of the United States for less than three years.
For Massingham, who said he has no particular affinity for Ford, the opportunity to shoot a historic event was his only motivation.
"I'm not sure I really knew what to expect going into it. It (a presidential campaign) is really well orchestrated, it is probably even more orchestrated now," Massingham said. "But they're real people, too. Maybe more then than now."
Cutline Cutline
Courtesy photo/Thomas Massingham During a visit at the former Portsmouth Rehabilitation Center, President Gerald Ford poses for a photograph as a young girl, upset the president did not pay enough attention to her, begins to cry.
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