Corrupt rhetoric: President ford and the Mayaguez affair

Examining President Ford's public announcements concerning the capture and recapture of the Mayaguez in May of 1975, as compared to international law, American constitutional law, and the unstated communication rule that each should use words as commonly defined, the author concludes that President Ford lied about the Mayaguez. This misleading of the public was expanded by the administration's refusal to allow “solution by discourse” (diplomacy) a chance to work, yet talking as though they had, then making false claims of authority for taking the subsequent military action. The author concludes that all of these deceptions corrupted the discourse surrounding the Mayaguez affair, leading the public to applaud a policy it might otherwise have deplored.