Gerald Ford Once Gave a Very Candid Answer About How the U.S. Could Have a Woman as President

On July 21, 2024, Joe Biden shocked the United States of America when he formally stepped out of the 2024 presidential election.

Biden will presumably be replaced on the ticket by his VP, Kamala Harris, who has received waves of support.

Though history won't repeat itself by way of a rematch between Biden and Trump, the 2024 race does echo Trump's previous campaign against Hillary Clinton, another female candidate. Amid the news that Kamala will most likely be on the ballot, some people are looking to history. Specifically, some have recalled former president Gerald R, Ford's comments from a 1989 video.

Gerald R. Ford served as the 38th President of the United States from 1974 to 1977. As vice president to Richard Nixon, he was only made president after Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal. Ford garnered plenty of infamy during his term after granting a presidential pardon to Nixon. Under his leadership, the United States was recovering from another economic depression. However, U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ended during his term.

Though he formally ran for president in 1976, Ford was defeated by Jimmy Carter during election season. After stepping down from the White House, he continued to work as a Republican politician. In the years that followed, he participated in other stints as a former president.

In 1989, Ford visited West Branch, Iowa, and shared his story with several groups of children as part of a conference for former presidents and their continued work.

During his West Branch visit, Ford answered several questions from young learners.

One of them asked, "What advice would you give a young lady wanting to become president of the United States?"

Ford started by expressing his hope that a woman does eventually reside in office as president. However, he was remarkably candid about how he believed it would happen at the time.

"It won't happen in the normal course of events," he theorized. "Either the Republican or Democrat political party will nominate a man for president and a woman for vice president and the woman and man will win."

He continued, "In that term of office of the president, the president will die."

He also posited that "once that barrier is broken," men will have a difficult time even getting nominated for president.

Folks on Reddit found his answer to be incredibly blunt and honest, with many intrigued over how emphatic he was over the idea that a woman would only take the oath of office upon the death of a male president, rather than being elected outright.

Obviously, that notion doesn't directly apply to our current situation. After all, we're already living far outside of the "normal course of events" that Ford once spoke about.