Nation: Inside the Jerry Ford Drama

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Reagan was polite, but blunt. Said he: "Jerry, I know all of Kissinger's strong points, and there's no question that he should play a role. I would use him a lot, but not as Secretary of State. I've been all over this country the last several years, and Kissinger carries a lot of baggage. I couldn't accept that. My own people, in fact, wouldn't accept it."

Wednesday Night: TV Intrudes

Now television stepped in. Its reporters were catching up to the breaking story. At the same time, Ford amiably kept a previously planned date to be interviewed by Walter Cronkite in the CBS booth high above the convention floor. Kissinger and Greenspan both advised against it, but Ford had been interviewed previously by both NBC and ABC, and he felt he owed it to "old Walter," as he called him, to appear.

Awaiting his 7 p.m. appointment with Cronkite, Ford was "dumbfounded," as he later described it, when he heard CBS's Dan Rather detail some of the meetings that had taken place that day in the drive to get Ford to run. Startled that the story was public, Ford recalled: "I didn't know what to do. I couldn't leave. So I tried to be as open as I could." While insisting that he had not yet dropped his opposition to a second-spot candidacy, Ford left the strong possibility that he could yet do so. He said he would not "be a figurehead Vice President," but he might respond to "responsible assurances" that he would "play a meaningful role across the board in the basic and crucial decisions that have to be made."

Ford stepped out of the CBS cage and went over to ABC to tell Barbara Walters that while he was still against the whole idea of running, "the details" of any vice-presidential role for him "can and must be worked out." Said Ford: "I want to participate in a constructive, effective, successful Republican Administration."

As those comments were relayed to party leaders and delegates on the floor, the euphoria of the Reagan-Ford dream proved contagious. Although it was wholly untrue, some Ford associates believed, and promptly told the roving TV reporters, that the ticket was certain and the pair would appear dramatically in the hall that very night to announce their alliance.

One viewer who was not impressed was Ronald Reagan. Furious at what he considered a breach of confidentiality, he fumed to aides: "Can you believe it? Did you hear that?" Then, as time passed, he said, "I sure wish the phone would ring."

The forgotten man, too, was unhappy. Watching with his wife Barbara in their suite in the Pontchartrain, Bush said sadly: "He's going to take it. That's it." One of Bush's sons cursed. Later, waiting offstage to deliver his brief but rousing convention speech, Bush absorbed another blow. A man he did not know came up to him and asked: "Did you know that you are off the list?" Replied Bush with sarcasm: "No, but thanks for the information." Shaken, Bush let the demonstration that greeted his appearance run on longer than planned so he could regain his composure.