NYT: Infamous ‘Drop Dead’ Was Never Said by Ford

[Penndems]

By SAM ROBERTS
Published: December 28, 2006

Gerald R. Ford and Marie Antoinette did not have much in common, but being misquoted cost both of them their jobs.

In Hollywood’s latest biography of the French queen, she denies having callously suggested that breadless peasants eat cake instead. “I never said that,” the actress Kirsten Dunst pouts. “I wonder why people keep saying I did.”

Mr. Ford, on Oct. 29, 1975, gave a speech denying federal assistance to spare New York from bankruptcy. The front page of The Daily News the next day read: “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD.”

Mr. Ford never explicitly said “drop dead.” Yet those two words, arguably the essence of his remarks as encapsulated in the immortal headline, would, as he later acknowledged, cost him the presidency the following year, after Jimmy Carter, nominated by the Democrats in New York, narrowly carried the state.

Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/28/nyregion/28veto.html?ex=1168059600&en=b57389df3074c975&ei=5070&emc=eta1
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The Daily News front page on October 30, 1975, after Mr. Ford said that he would not approve federal help for the city.

[pitohui]

1. yeah he used more words than that

but his actions said it anyway

that is an embarrassingly bad essay, what kirsten dunst said in a movie is not proof of anything marie antoinette thought or did anyway

[Penndems]

3. What a furor this headline caused!

Ford's decision to deny a bailout to New York City was interpreted by the New York Post as telling the city to "drop dead". It really did galvanize the city in its anger towards former President Ford.

It was definitely one of the chief reasons why he lost the New York vote.

[Kagemusha]

2. So the Daily News paraphrased what it thought Ford meant.

They've done it to others once or twice...

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

4. No one ever said it was a quote

Does anyone see any quotation marks?

It was an abstraction of actions taken, or not taken.

[Penndems]

5. Exactly. Ford's inaction to fiscally rescue the City of New York was interpreted by

New Yorkers as his telling them to "drop dead".

In the passage of time, that headline has passed into folklore as Ford having uttered those words. If you're old enough to remember this banner, as you and I are, it was simply the New York Post's summation of the bailout denial.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. Actually it was the Daily News

but, yeah... and being a New Yorker, it felt like it at the time

[Penndems]

7. Thanks . . . my bad

I meant to say The New York Daily News.

Ford's refusal to offer bankruptcy assistance to The Big Apple was definitely construed as a kick in the teeth to everybody. It was as if he wanted New York City to slide into receivership.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

8. Well, Republicans made fortunes on the

bailout which did eventually come.

Never underestimate the greed of the GOP.

[Penndems]

9. Amen to THAT, Scooter!

:thumbsup: :applause:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

10. And then there's this