My prayers and condolences go out to the Ford family tonight for the loss of a great man. He was kind, gentle, and steady when this country needed it most. He was a humble and likable man, picked by the fickle hand of political fate for the highest office in the land, unelected to both the Vice-Presidency and the Presidency.
When I heard the news this morning that President Gerald R. Ford had passed away in the wee hours of this morning at age 93, it immediately crossed my mind that he had been one of the most respectable ex-presidents in modern American history. Yes, he was an adequate and calm presence in the White House, but the remarkable thing about President Ford was that he went quietly on with his life after office, never publicly offering unsolicited advice or "assistance" afterward. I only wish Jimmy Carter could have learned something from Gerald Ford in this respect. *sigh*
You can read all about President Ford's legacy and his time in office on websites all over the internet. I ran across this particular write-up by someone named "Noung" and found it to be quite thoughtful and accurate with regard to Ford's presidency. It certainly reflects what I recall of his contribution to American history.
For anyone like me, in their early 40s, I'll bet the recall of information on President Ford is a bit of a struggle. Most of us were barely in grade school when Spiro Agnew resigned as Vice-President and later when the Watergate scandal broke. I don't recall much about Agnew at all. What I recall of President Nixon were a few speeches, the Watergate hearings, and his resignation all broadcast on TV. Oddly enough though, my memories of Nixon had little to do with the man himself and everything to do with the skits and jokes they used to do on Laugh-In using a Nixon impersonator who would thrust both hands in a "peace sign" up high and say, "I am not a crook."
By the time Nixon resigned and Ford was sworn into office, I was reading a lot. Curiously, I was running across a lot of Hunter S. Thompson's stuff. Thompson hated Nixon and simply loved hating him in print; however, Thompson did occasionally write a bit about Ford too. Since Thompson had been a sports writer first and foremost, a good part of his pieces about Ford centered on football -- Ford had played football for the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. I ran across most of this later in life. I wish I still had a copy of "The Great Shark Hunt" which contains a bit of that football banter between Thompson and Ford. Thompson wrote more about Ford in "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72." Both books are required reading for literature/political junkies who enjoy reading the ramblings of Leftwing loose cannons.
Ford took a beating over his pardon of President Nixon. With hindsight being 20/20, it seems all too clear to me that what he did was political hari-kari for all the right reasons. He relieved this nation of years of litigation and mud-slinging so that we could simply begin the healing process. It was time to move on after a long string of government misdeeds and lossses; President Ford took the fall for it in the long run. I truly believe he put his political ambitions aside in favor of what was good and right for this country at the time.
I suppose the majority of my memories of President Ford are made up of pop culture references: the portrait Thompson painted of him in print, the televised skits on Saturday Night Live when Chevy Chase impersonated him as an accident-prone President (far from the truth for an athlete, I'm sure), and the incessant Betty Ford Center jokes. However, my memories of him will also include a man who quietly went back to a respectable and humble personal life. The one modern ex-president who understood that his time in the limelight was over and left leadership to a new generation.
I hope that, more than anything else, every American will remember President Ford best for his spirit, his quiet character, his belief in the good of every human being... most of the time:
When I heard the news this morning that President Gerald R. Ford had passed away in the wee hours of this morning at age 93, it immediately crossed my mind that he had been one of the most respectable ex-presidents in modern American history. Yes, he was an adequate and calm presence in the White House, but the remarkable thing about President Ford was that he went quietly on with his life after office, never publicly offering unsolicited advice or "assistance" afterward. I only wish Jimmy Carter could have learned something from Gerald Ford in this respect. *sigh*
You can read all about President Ford's legacy and his time in office on websites all over the internet. I ran across this particular write-up by someone named "Noung" and found it to be quite thoughtful and accurate with regard to Ford's presidency. It certainly reflects what I recall of his contribution to American history.
For anyone like me, in their early 40s, I'll bet the recall of information on President Ford is a bit of a struggle. Most of us were barely in grade school when Spiro Agnew resigned as Vice-President and later when the Watergate scandal broke. I don't recall much about Agnew at all. What I recall of President Nixon were a few speeches, the Watergate hearings, and his resignation all broadcast on TV. Oddly enough though, my memories of Nixon had little to do with the man himself and everything to do with the skits and jokes they used to do on Laugh-In using a Nixon impersonator who would thrust both hands in a "peace sign" up high and say, "I am not a crook."
By the time Nixon resigned and Ford was sworn into office, I was reading a lot. Curiously, I was running across a lot of Hunter S. Thompson's stuff. Thompson hated Nixon and simply loved hating him in print; however, Thompson did occasionally write a bit about Ford too. Since Thompson had been a sports writer first and foremost, a good part of his pieces about Ford centered on football -- Ford had played football for the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. I ran across most of this later in life. I wish I still had a copy of "The Great Shark Hunt" which contains a bit of that football banter between Thompson and Ford. Thompson wrote more about Ford in "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72." Both books are required reading for literature/political junkies who enjoy reading the ramblings of Leftwing loose cannons.
Ford took a beating over his pardon of President Nixon. With hindsight being 20/20, it seems all too clear to me that what he did was political hari-kari for all the right reasons. He relieved this nation of years of litigation and mud-slinging so that we could simply begin the healing process. It was time to move on after a long string of government misdeeds and lossses; President Ford took the fall for it in the long run. I truly believe he put his political ambitions aside in favor of what was good and right for this country at the time.
I suppose the majority of my memories of President Ford are made up of pop culture references: the portrait Thompson painted of him in print, the televised skits on Saturday Night Live when Chevy Chase impersonated him as an accident-prone President (far from the truth for an athlete, I'm sure), and the incessant Betty Ford Center jokes. However, my memories of him will also include a man who quietly went back to a respectable and humble personal life. The one modern ex-president who understood that his time in the limelight was over and left leadership to a new generation.
I hope that, more than anything else, every American will remember President Ford best for his spirit, his quiet character, his belief in the good of every human being... most of the time:
May you rest in peace, President Ford. Thank you for your service to our country when we badly needed a gentle hand at the stern to find the goodness in ourselves as a nation again.“I have always believed that most people are mostly good, most of the time. I have never mistaken moderation for weakness, nor civility for surrender. As far as I'm concerned, there are no enemies in politics--just temporary opponents who might vote with you on the next Roll Call.” -- Remarks by Gerald R. Ford upon receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, May 21, 2001 [Source]
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