Gerald R. Ford

Gerald R. Ford will certainly not go down in history as either one of our stronger or more popular presidents. But compared to Jimmy Carter, the incompetent who succeeded him, Ford can be described as a Hercules. Certainly, his decision to pardon Nixon was a factor in his losing to Carter, but in retrospect, that decision spared the U.S.A. considerable trauma.

President Ford signed Public Law 93-568, authorizing the White House Conference on Library and Information Services. Here are his comments of July 19, 1976:

Statement Announcing Intention To Convene the White House Conference on Library and Information Services

"I am today announcing my intention to convene the White House Conference on Library and Information Services, provided for in Public Law 93-568. Realization of the full potential of this conference lies in the hands of dedicated professionals working day-to-day in this area. These individuals will make the White House Conference on Library and Information Services a successful and productive event.

The challenge confronting those who provide information services to the public is one of harnessing modern technology. Telecommunications, computers, and micrographics must be further employed to reduce the costs of making information more widely accessible and improving the speed and accuracy with which source materials can be supplied. The librarian of today's space age serves a profession and a public more demanding and exacting than ever before.

Within the next few months, I will request from the Congress the appropriations necessary to fund the conference and announce my appointments for the Advisory Committee to the White House Conference on Library and Information Services. It is my hope that the White House Conference on Library and Information Services will, through its State, territorial, and national assemblies, provide the impetus for advancing the quality of America's informational services."

Citation: John Woolley and Gerhard Peters,The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database). Available from World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=6219.