This illustration was originally done for American History Magazine in 2007 for a series on noteworthy presidential campaigns.

The idea behind the image of the 1976 race between Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter was pretty simple even as we are displaying a complicated mash-up of bodies. The race was tight for much of the campaign. Ultimately it was Gerald Ford, a college football player himself, who, more than anyone else prevented his crossing the goal line with his jaw-dropping comment regarding Eastern Europe and Soviet domination. I quote from an article in the Atlantic, August 2, 2016, by David A. Graham: “During a debate against Jimmy Carter in October 1976, President Gerald Ford said, “There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration.” Ford meant to say that the spirit of the people of Eastern European nations had not been crushed, despite Soviet occupation. But it seemed silly; journalist Max Frankel cut in after Ford’s remark, to ask incredulously what he had meant.” I chose to focus on that gaffe as being the moment where Ford blocked Ford from crossing the goal line. There were other dramas behind this election. Nixon’s pardon still loomed darkly over Ford. Ronald Reagan sought the nomination for president as well and the idea of a shared presidency between the two was floated, if but briefly. Bob Dole, the picture on the far left hoisting Ford with a football, was the candidate for Vice President. It seems the Soviet dominance gaffe in retrospect was not the deal breaker for voters. To quote from the same Atlantic article: “Obviously it is true that the gaffe has endured as a symbol of Ford, a president whom history has recalled as well-meaning but clumsy both physically and verbally. But the idea that the remark was badly damaging to Ford is a pernicious misremembering, and the fact that careful outlets and writers are repeating it shows how deeply embedded the myth is. The myth’s endurance, despite little evidence that the moment hurt Ford’s campaign, exemplifies the reality that even the most famous gaffes usually have little effect on elections.

Ford battled a deep disadvantage in the 1976 election. He was an unelected president, having come to power when President Richard Nixon was forced to resign. Ford not only hadn’t won the job; he represented a party deeply stained by Watergate. In July of 1976, Ford trailed Democrat Carter by an astonishing 33 points in Gallup’s poll. But the president gradually chipped away at that lead, and in the last poll taken before the purportedly fateful October 6 debate, Ford reached 45 percent, nearly matching his high of 46 percent and trailing Carter by only two points.”