THE ADMINISTRATION: Ford: Plain Words Before an Open Door

Reporter Godfrey Sperling: "Do you plan to have a code of ethics for the Executive Branch?"

President Gerald Ford: "The code of ethics that will be followed will be the example that I set."

In that extraordinary exchange—unthinkable at a presidential press conference in preWatergate days—Gerald Ford last week effectively summed up the homespun precepts that will guide his Administration. "I will be as candid and as forthright as I possibly can," he promised. "I will expect any individuals in my Administration to be exactly the same. There will be no tightly controlled...

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