An editorial “Clerical gaffe isn’t the same” relates:
“Going back in time, President Gerald Ford said during a nationally televised debate with Jimmy carter in 1976 that P(land was not under Soviet domination. (It was.)”
WATCHDOG: President Ford was aware of the tensions building between Poland and the USSR at the time and was a victim of knowing too much.
When criticized for his statement, he could not protect himself because releasing the information would have jeopardized national security and the prospects of Poland freeing itself from domination, as it eventually did a dozen years later.
That was the type of patriot that Gerald Ford was. He kept quiet and it may have cost him the presidency.
