Did President Gerald Ford predict a Kamala Harris win back in 1989?
(NEXSTAR) — It might sound like something out of "Unsolved Mysteries" but is it possible that Pres. Gerald Ford predicted a Kamala Harris win back in the 1980s? It's an interesting moment previously lost to history that resurfaced back in August when Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee.
The event — which was captured on video — happened back in 1989, when the former president visited an elementary school in West Branch, Iowa, and was posed the question by a female student: "What advice would you give a young lady wanting to become president of the United States of America?”
Ford responded with a prediction that very well could come true soon.
“I can tell you how I think it will happen — because it won’t happen in the normal course of events,” said Ford. “Either the Republican or Democrat political party will nominate a man for president and a woman for vice president, and the woman and man will win. So we’ll end up with a president, a male, and a vice president, a female. And in that term of office of the president, the president will die, and the woman will become president under the law, our Constitution."
Ford's prediction doesn't account for a female having already gotten the presidential nomination (and winning the popular vote), as Hillary Clinton did in 2016. Additionally, Pres. Joe Biden is still alive.
Biden dropped out of the 2024 race on July 21, saying that while he'd intended to seek re-election, he believed it was "in the best interest of my party and the country" that he step aside. Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee for about a month before earning enough delegate support and becoming the official nominee on August 22.
In Harris' acceptance speech, the VP discussed her American experience as a Black and South Asian-American daughter of immigrants. Harris said, in part: "The path that led me here was no doubt unexpected. But I'm no stranger to unlikely journeys... On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination for president of the United States of America."
Coincidentally, Ford's daughter, Susan Ford Bales, endorsed Harris just two weeks ago. Bales, a Republican, said while she doesn't agree with Harris on everything, she believes she's the right candidate for this moment. She likened the current turmoil in the U.S. to the time period when her father took the oath of office.
Bales said: “Vice President Harris and I likely disagree on some policy matters, but her integrity and commitment to those same principles that guided Dad have led me to conclude that Kamala Harris should be elected 47th President of the United States."
If elected, Harris will be the second Black president, the first South Asian-American president and, obviously, the first female president.