After Watergate and President Nixon's downfall, President Ford promised to listen and cooperate with Congress. At the time Congress was predominantly Democrat and Ford was a Republican, so the relationship was particularly challenging. During Nixon's presidency the limits of executive power verses the power of Congress had been a huge issue.

Jamie Gavin, age 3, of Dublin, Ireland, became the world's youngest heart and lung transplant patient in a four-hour operation at Harefield Hospital, Middlesex, England. He suffered from a congenital heart disease which had also progressively damaged his lungs. The surgeon, Britain's leading transplant specialist, was Egyptian-born Magdi Yacoub, who had previously performed 19 similar procedures. When Jamie died in Jul 1992, he was believed to be the world's longest-surviving heart and lung transplant recipient. In 1986, a 30-month-old boy became the youngest to have a heart-lung transplant.