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Another reason for the extended coverage was that Ford--unlike Reagan, who left office already Alzheimer's impaired--offered plenty of network interviews in the 30 years between his defeat by Jimmy Carter and his death. All the networks played soundbites. "My total political ambition was to be Speaker of the House of Representatives. I was about to quit the Congress," he told ABC about his mood just before his appointment as Nixon's Vice President. "The Nixons were close personal friends," he told NBC.
CBS aired Ford's explanation for that famous choice of words--"our long national nightmare is over"--in his first speech from the Oval Office. He was "jarred" by speechwriter Robert Hartman's draft as being "too harsh" against Nixon. "Bob really put his foot down…we decided to keep it in. In retrospect I am awfully glad we did."
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