President Ford’s Personal Watergate: The Undermining of the Public Sphere during the Mayaguez Incident

Abstract

In May 1974, Cambodian troops captured the U.S. container ship SS Mayaguez and her crew off the Cambodian coast, igniting a clash between the new Khmer Rouge regime and a U.S. president dealing with aftermath of Watergate. The Mayaguez incident was initially reported as a successful rescue mission, with the administration of President Gerald R. Ford keeping silent about the forty-one U.S. military personnel who died. For five days, the Pentagon insisted that one American had been killed. This incident highlights key communication steps in the life cycle of a politically constructed falsehood meant to mislead and limit information reaching the public sphere.