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Chevy Chase virtually built a career imitating Ford on Saturday Night Live, and New York magazine once depicted the former president on a cover shot as Bozo the Clown. But the Eastern Europe remarks really followed him around.

“Keep a camera and a mike on anyone and you are guaranteed a blooper, it’s only a question of frequency,” says Bill Crawford, author of Republicans Do the Dumbest Things (Renaissance Books). “But there are some things the public doesn’t laugh off and there are times when a candidate’s silly slip-ups reach a critical mass.”

Years after he lost the 1976 presidential race, Ford considered a teaching post at his old alma mater. He told the press, “I’m not going to teach Eastern European history, however.”

Buck Wolf is a producer at ABCNEWS.com. The Wolf Files is a weekly feature of the U.S. Section. If you want to receive weekly notice when a new column is published, join the e-mail list.