What Gerald Ford and Vietnam may reveal about Biden and Afghanistan

The striking images of the United States' exit from Afghanistan amid the Taliban's takeover of Kabul has a lot of people looking back on similar footage from Saigon in 1975, when the South Vietnamese capital fell to North Vietnamese forces, and U.S. personnel exited Vietnam.
It's a comparison the Biden administration had hoped to avoid, and over the last few days the White House has been trying to put a dent in it. But The New York Times' Nate Cohn pointed out that former President Gerald Ford — who was in the White House at the time of the evacuation and, like President Biden, overseeing the end to a decades-long war in the early stages of his presidency — didn't experience all that much heat for the operation in the long run. In fact, his approval rating actually ticked up a bit in the following months, and a Gallup poll from August 1975 suggested Americans considered getting U.S. troops out of Vietnam was his biggest accomplishment. G. Elliot Morris also noted that polling at the time indicated that Americans didn't blame Ford much, if at all, for the what unfolded in Vietnam, especially compared to his predecessors, former Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon.
Afghanistan in 2021 and South Vietnam in 1975 are far from one-for-one comparisons, and Cohn clarified that he has no idea how whether what's happening in Kabul will affect Biden's approval rating or his re-election chances. Rather, he's raising the notion that the fall of Saigon is not "necessarily a devastating political precedent for Biden," as the discourse surrounding it suggests.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
Tuberculosis is seeing a resurgence, and it's only going to get worse
Under the radar The spread of the deadly infection is buoyed by global unrest
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Sudoku hard: April 03, 2025
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Crossword: April 3, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sen. Booker's 25-hour speech beats Thurmond
Speed Read He spoke for the longest time in recorded Senate history, protesting the Trump administration's policies
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Bondi seeks death penalty for Luigi Mangione
Speed Read Mangione was charged with fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Democrats win costly Wisconsin court seat
Speed Read Democrats prevailed in an election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court despite Elon Musk's robust financial support of the Republican candidate
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
WHCA rejects White House press seating grab
Speed Read The White House Correspondents' Association objected to the Trump administration's bid to control where journalists sit during press briefings
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump sends more migrants to El Salvador jail
Speed Read Another 17 Venezuelan alleged gang members have been deported to a notorious prison
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump 'not joking' about unconstitutional 3rd term
Speed Read The president seems to be serious about seeking a third term in 2028
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The JFK files: the truth at last?
In The Spotlight More than 64,000 previously classified documents relating the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy have been released by the Trump administration
By The Week Staff Published
-
Supreme Court upholds 'ghost gun' restrictions
Speed Read Ghost guns can be regulated like other firearms
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published