Pres. Gerald R. Ford 1913-2006

[AustinBoston]

He was our longest-lived president, passing Ronald Regan by a matter of a few weeks.  Ronald Reagan was the first president to outlive John Adams.

Ford was the first and so far only President to never be elected to either the office of President or Vice-President.  He was appointed Vice President by Richard Nixon when Vice President Spiro T. Agnew was forced to resign and stand trial for accepting bribes.

He became President when Nixon resigned due to the Watergate scandal.  He ran for President in 1976.  The Republican nomination was hotly contested by Ronald Regan, but Ford prevailed.  He was defeated in the general election by Democrat Jimmy Carter.

Until he actually was President, Ford never sought, nor did he expect to seek, the presidency.  He wrote in his book that until Nixon officially asked him to be Vice President, his goal had always been to be Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.  He was a Representative from 1949 to 1973, when he became Vice President.

His most controvertial act as President, and the one that probably doomed his hopes of ever being elected to that office, was his pardon of President Richard Nixon.  There were many who were convinced that there had been a deal between Ford and Nixon, but only scant evidence has ever surfaced to that effect, and that only involved people other than Ford.  Those who hold that position ignore the fact that until just days before he resigned, Nixon did not believe he could possibly be caught, long after Ford was Vice President.

Regardless of people's reaction to the Nixon pardon, he put the nail in his own political coffin during a televised debate with Jimmy Carter.  The subject of Eastern European Communisim came up, and to everyone's complete amazement, he tried to claim that Poland was not under Soviet domination. Even the reporter who asked the question, who was supposed to remain impartial, was completely surprised by the answer Ford gave, and essentally asked him to repeat himself.  I can recall my father, who was a strong supporter of Ford, saying "What an idiot!  He just lost the election!"

In the 1980 Presidential election, he broke from tradition and took a much more active role in the campaign, working tirelessly to get Ronald Regan elected.

He died Tuesday after a period of illness.

Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.
July 14, 1913

[SkipP]

Interesting AB! I saw the news early this morning (~3am) at work. A sad occasion but he lived a long life!

President Ford is considered the most athletic person to ever hold the office. Ford played football for the U of Michigan...including one year as team captain. He played center on both offense and defense. The NFL was still in it's infancy at the time and Ford had offers to play, from both the Detriot Lions and Green Bay Packers. His salary offer was the huge sum of $200/ game! Instead of accepting, he chose to go to Yale, thinking he could coach there and get a law degree on the side.
 
(Watched ESPN this morning before going to sleep!;) )
 
I always thought the Nixon pardon was "taking one for the team"...he knew there would be political fallout but wanted the country to put that whole mess behind and move forward.

[AustinBoston]

President Ford is considered the most athletic person to ever hold the office. Ford played football for the U of Michigan...including one year as team captain. He played center on both offense and defense. The NFL was still in it's infancy at the time and Ford had offers to play, from both the Detriot Lions and Green Bay Packers. His salary offer was the huge sum of $200/ game! Instead of accepting, he chose to go to Yale, thinking he could coach there and get a law degree on the side.

The Wikipedia article I linked to briefly chronicled his coaching and athletic direction posts for the Navy.

That would help to explain why he lived longer than any other President.
 

I always thought the Nixon pardon was "taking one for the team"...he knew there would be political fallout but wanted the country to put that whole mess behind and move forward.

I did as well.  A Nixon indictment and trial would have gone on for years, and would have been a constant distraction, continuing the nation's spiral into "national emotional depression" for lack of a better term.

I've been of the opinion that the "national emotional depression" started with the assaination of JFK and continued on a downward spiral until Ronald Reagan made it OK to be an American again.  It included things like the assainations in the 1960's, the growing disillusionment associated with the Vietnam War, the whole Watergate business, a long period of stagnant and/or inflationary economy, the Iran Hstage crisis, and a few other similar things.  It would have been made worse by a long Nixon trial.

Austin

[wavery]

I will agree with that too a point. My memory is that the public wanted Nixon's a$$. It was quite an insult to many (myself included) when Ford let that SOB slide. Part of the reason (in my opinion) that American's were disgusted with being Americans was due to the fact that Nixon was SUCH a sleaze. Prosecuting him to the full extent of the law and would have shown the world that the America would not tolerate the type of behavior that Nixon portrayed and would have restored some National Pride.

America desperately needed something to be proud of at that point in our history. Many felt that pardoning Nixon made the US no better than any other 3rd-world-country. We have many "leaders" in office, to this day, that feel they are "Un-touchable" because of what Nixon was allowed to get away with. It made a mockery of our justice system and was a dark day in our history.

[AustinBoston]

My memory is that the public wanted Nixon's a$$.

Actually, the public was sharply divided on it.  It was mainly a group of prosecutors and a few politicians who wanted it, and only in order to make their career.  There were also some journalists who had built their careers on hammering Nixon and they were going to loose that.

The public has let every president since then (except Carter) get away with far worse crimes.

Austin

[wavery]

The public has let every president since then (except Carter) get away with far worse crimes.
Austin

EXACTLY......That's the problem and my point exactly.

[Miller Tyme]

FWIW-I had the chance to see and actually get a high-five from Pres. Ford on his '76 election campaign when it came through Fond du Lac. I was about 15 at the time, and I thought it was awesome that the President would stop in our small town(pop.-38,000) and walk amongest the crowd shaking hands and giving a short speech. Not like Pres. Bush, who stopped here last year, and charged $500 a head to hear a speech of ramblings about the war in Iraq.
 
 No matter his politics, I'll always remember Pres. Ford as a class act.:U
 
 Rest in peace, Mr. President.

[cyclone]

I also had the opportunity to see President Ford on the campaign trail - I was a student at Iowa State and this would be my first time to vote.  It was a Friday and they canceled the morning classes so students were free to attend. Well, the first thing he said was "It's really great to be here at OHIO State."  Oops!  Someone in the crowd yelled "It's Iowa State".  Kinda funny and I always wondered whether that cost him any votes.    I can't remember, but Iowa was a pretty strong Republican state then so I think he carried Iowa, anyway.  

I'm guessing around 12 years ago he was the keynote speaker at a convention at the hotel I work for.  They brought him through the back of the hotel and my office is in that area, complete with lots of windows.  (think fish bowl).  We watched him walk by not 10 feet from us, surrounded by secret service of course.  I wish we had been able to speak with him for a while.  

RIP, Mr. President.

[AustinBoston]

EXACTLY......That's the problem and my point exactly.

Stop and think for a moment...why would the public let it go?  If they'd been "robbed" by a Nixon pardon, I would expect people to want to make an example of the next guy.  Instead, the public learned that it's not worth the grief when public officials screw up.

What you feel/seek is a desire for revenge, or an outlet for hatred.  Both lead to very clouded judgement.

Try this on for size...virtually all historians today consider Nixon one of our best presidents when it came to foreign policy, even more savvy than his primary FP advisor, Henry Kissinger.

Austin

[griffsdad]

GOD BLESS PRESIDENT FORD!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR MANY YEARS OF SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY - IN THE MILITARY, CONGRESS, AND AS OUR LEADER IN A TIME OF CRISIS. MAY YOU REST IN PEACE.

[Azusateach]

Amen.

[wavery]

Stop and think for a moment...why would the public let it go?  If they'd been "robbed" by a Nixon pardon, I would expect people to want to make an example of the next guy.  Instead, the public learned that it's not worth the grief when public officials screw up.

What you feel/seek is a desire for revenge, or an outlet for hatred.  Both lead to very clouded judgement.

Try this on for size...virtually all historians today consider Nixon one of our best presidents when it came to foreign policy, even more savvy than his primary FP advisor, Henry Kissinger.

Austin

AB,

You don't know me from anyone....your statement: "What you feel/seek is a desire for revenge, or an outlet for hatred." is based and stated out of ignorance.

This is "supposedly" a nation that is based on laws and justice. We try to hold ourselves up as an "example to the world". That pardon merely showed the rest of the world that our justice system is designed to protect the rich and powerful and control the masses. Just like most 3rd world countries. This has nothing to do with "hatred and/or revenge". It has everything to do with the desire to have national pride in a country that is suposed to have "Liberty and justice for all".

President Ford was a wonderful person IMHO. He apparently lacked the strength of leadership and conviction. President Nixon was a disgrace to the Office of the President of the United States and the people that he was supposed to serve. I don't think that most thinking people "hated" Nixon. They hated what Nixon did and felt that the world should have seen the US hold him accountable for his actions. The world viewed that pardon as hypocrisy and we (as a nation) have been viewed as hypocrites, by other nations, ever since.

I agree with others when they say "Thank you for your service President Ford, may God bless you and may you rest in peace".

[AustinBoston]

Wavery,

I was afraid with my initial post that this would go in this direction. Politics is OT for this board.  If you want to see a broader view of what you call "justice" please email me at:

t.a.cooper (curliecue thingie) comcast dot net

But in order to keep the moderators from getting involved, I will not discuss this topic any further here.

Austin

[AustinBoston]

Wavery & all,

After thinking more about it, I really owe you all an apology for the revenge/hatred comment.  I was painting with an overly broad brush and I knew better.  Please accept my apologies.

Austin

[wavery]

Wavery & all,

After thinking more about it, I really owe you all an apology for the revenge/hatred comment.  I was painting with an overly broad brush and I knew better.  Please accept my apologies.

Austin

apology accepted.

Sorry that I didn't respond sooner. I missed this post.

We should all pray for Mrs Ford. What a tragedy.......58 years of marriage......May God be with Mrs Ford.