Difference between revisions 42829918 and 43110502 on enwiki

The following is a list of ''[[faux pas]]'' (a violation of accepted, although unwritten, social rules), [[gaffe]]s (unintentional things said or done that proved embarrassing or humiliating, in one case fatal and in another case potentially so) and unfortunate incidents (those things that were not gaffes or ''faux pas'' yet were nonetheless considered to be regrettable or embarrassing to the party or parties involved) involving [[United States president]]s. Some were(contracted; show full)nderstood to be the ''peace sign'' as used by [[Winston Churchill]] during [[World War II]]. Nixon was unaware that Australia, like the rest of the [[Commonwealth]] and [[Ireland]], takes two different meanings from the sign. When the palm of one's hand points out (how Churchill always used it), it means ''peace''. When however shown with the palm facing inwards, it means ''[[fuck|fuck you]]'' or ''fuck off''.<ref>{{
news referencecite news |firstname=Brian  |lastname=Wheeler  |title=From two jags to two fingers |date=[[24 June]] [[2005]] |orgpublisher=BBC News | url=http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4124328.stm }}</ref>  Though he thought he was sending a "peace" message, he had inadvertently sent the message "Fuck you, Australia" to a vast television audience and awaiting Australian politicians. The White House subsequently apologised for the inadvertent offence caused.

[[Image:Frommeassassinationattempt.jpg|thumb|150px|right|The first assassination attempt<br><small>Yet President Ford still kept forgetting to put on his bulletproof vest. A bystander saved his life the second time.</small>]]
==[[Gerald Ford]]==
Gerald Ford, who succeeded Richard Nixon in [[1974]], made numerous gaffes and faux-pas, many of which, while making people see him as human and less [[Imperial presidency|imperial]] than his predecessor, made others vote against him for election in 1976. 

Among his more famous examples are:

On [[October 6]] [[1976]], during a televised presidential debate in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1976|1976 presidential election]] with rival [[Jimmy Carter]], President Ford became confused stated that [[Poland]] and [[Eastern Europe]] were not under the domination of the [[Soviet Union]]. When challenged over his comments, he repeated "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration."<ref>{{news referencecite news |title=Debate One-Liners, Gaffes of Yesteryear  |date=[[30 September]] [[2004]] |orgpublisher=ABC News  |url=http://abcnews.go.com/US/Vote2004/story?id=96665}}</ref>  In the words of Professor [[Alan Schroeder]], author of ''Presidential Debates: Forty Years of High Risk TV'': "That was a gaffe that took him some time to recover from—mostly because he did not back away from the statement".<ref name="Handwerk">{{news referencecite news |firstname=Brian |lastname=Handwerk |title=U.S. Presidential Debate Trivia: Gaffes, Zingers, More |date=[[October 12]], [[2004]] |orgpublisher=National Geographic |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1008_041008_presidential_debate.html}}</ref>

In September 1975 Gerald Ford could have been assassinated when an armed individual in a crowd attempted to shoot him as he walked past. It was then revealed that on that morning, even though someone had attempted to shoot him only seventeen days before, Ford had forgotten to put on his [[bulletproof vest]]. Had it not been for the intervention of [[Oliver Sipple]], a bystander who p(contracted; show full)

During an [[20 April]] [[1979]] fishing trip to Plains Georgia, Carter was attacked by a "killer rabbit" that had managed to penetrate Secret Service security and attempted to board the President's fishing boat.  Carter fought off the attacker with a paddle and later ordered enlargements of a photograph made during the event to be enlarged to prove that it was a rabbit that had attacked him.<ref>{{
news referencecite news |pages=A16 |title=A Tale of Carter and the 'Killer Rabbit'; President Orders Photograph |date=[[30 August]] [[1979]] |orgpublisher=New York Times }}</ref>  

==[[Ronald Reagan]]==

In 1984, before his weekly radio address, President Reagan was asked to say something to do a soundcheck. He remained quiet for a few moments, then not realizing that the microphone was now on and recording he joked: 
{{listen |
  | filename = ReaganBeginsBombingRussia.ogg
(contracted; show full)

On [[20 May]] [[1993]], Clinton received a haircut aboard [[Air Force One]] by Beverly Hills hairstylist Christophe.  During the one-hour haircut the airplane's engines were running and two of the four runways at [[Los Angeles International Airport]] were shutdown, forcing some scheduled air traffic to circle the airport waiting to land.<ref>{{
news referencecite news |firstname=Thomas |lastname=Friedman |pages=A10 |title=Haircut Grounded Clinton While the Price Took Off |date=[[May 21]], [[1993]] |orgpublisher=New York Times  |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00616F93C5F0C728EDDAC0894DB494D81}}</ref>  Clinton's "expensive" haircut being a source of public ridicule and public attack.

Under attack and under oath in a senate committee hearing prior to his impeachment hearing he declared that whether he had told the truth hinged on the definition of the word "is":  "It depends what the definition of 'is' is."<ref>{{cite web | title=21 September | publisher=BBC  | work=On This Day | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/21/newsid_2525000/2525339.stm | accessdate=8 March | accessyear=2006
}}</ref>

Clinton made the statement "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms Lewinsky."  Referring to Lewinsky as "that woman" was widely regarded as crass and a faux-pas.  Tests performed by the [[FBI]] later show Clinton's DNA on a semen-stained navy blue cocktail dress owned by Ms Lewinsky.<ref>{{news referencecite news |title=Sex, lies and impeachment  |date=[[December 22]], [[1998]] |orgpublisher=BBC News  |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/12/98/review_of_98/themes/208715.stm}}</ref>

==[[George W. Bush]]==
{{main|Bushism}}

[[September 4]], [[2000]] — "There's [[Adam Clymer]], major league asshole from the [[New York Times]]" — [[Naperville, IL]], unaware the microphone in front of him was live.{{fact}}<br>

(contracted; show full)==External links==
* http://www.georgewbushsingers.com -  Features presidential linguistic gaffes set to music

==Further reading==
* [http://www.ciaonet.org/book/sca02/ Presidential Debates: Forty Years of High-Risk TV], Alan Schroeder
* Mark Crispin Miller, ''The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder'' (W.W. Norton)

[[Category:Presidency of the United States]]