USA: "MIDDLE AMERICAN" TOWN IS IDEAL TESTING GROUND FOR AMERICAN SENTIMENT TOWARDS PRESIDENT FORD.

Record ID: 1063796

  • Title: USA: "MIDDLE AMERICAN" TOWN IS IDEAL TESTING GROUND FOR AMERICAN SENTIMENT TOWARDS PRESIDENT FORD.
  • Date: 2nd November 1974
  • Summary: 1. CU Peoria town band. 0.10 2. CU AND SV Children in crowd with banners. 0.17 3. LV AND SV President Ford leaves Government building. (4 shots) 0.32 4. GV ZOOM OUT Peoria. 0.50 5. CU Local newspaper printed. (2 shots) 1.01 6. CU Advertised dog food on shelves. 1.05 7. CU Man interviewed. 1.46 8. GV Street scenes in Peoria. (3 shots) 2.11 "Well, my own judgement, and I can only guess of course, my own feeling is that it is not really very wise and not really very effective. I think we have an image of a President, particularly at a time when he's appealing to us all to sacrifice for the energy crisis and so on, as a leader of all the people. And it's at cross purposes to a degree when he comes before us in the role of a politician for a party." HUMPHRIES: "The crowd consicted almost entirely of school children brought in for the occasion. And the Republican candidate for the Senate earlier publicly disowned a statement by Mr. Ford in which the President warned that a huge Democratic victory would be a threat to world peace. Mr. Ford continues to plug the Republican line, all be it a little more subtly. Peoria is so average it is unique. It represents exactly Middle America in microcosm. It is so typical of what the statistics say of a middle sized town that when the market research people discovered Peoria, they descended like locusts and they've been here ever since. The local newspaper profits hugely from advertisements offering new products at least once a week, that the rest of America will never see. For instance, if Peoria likes this new brand of doggy-dinner. So will America. If not, it will be dropped. Mr. Ford is campaigning very hard to try and save the Republican party. What do people in Peoria think of that?" HUMPHRIES: "But he's not taken too seriously when he warns of the desperate consequences which would flow from a huge Democratic majority in Congress. It's been suggested here that peiople have seen what happens when President is all-powerful -- and don't much care for that. So Mr. ford is not likely to influence the elections too much. In that respect, as typical America. Initials VS 21.31 VS 21.47 This film also includes a commentary by John Humphries. It is transcribed overleaf, with a new introduction. Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 16th November 1974 12:00
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  • Location: PEORIA, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA964NMCALF6GOC6BDNNTFQ3FVC
  • Story Text:
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS - SOURCE TO BE VERIFIED
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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