Gerald Ford

Former President Gerald Ford died yesterday at the age of 93.  He had lived longer than any other U.S. president.  Hand picked to fill the vice presidency after Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace, he rose to assume the presidency when President Richard Nixon was forced to resign over his involvement in the Watergate scandal.  His later pardon of Nixon for any crimes related to Watergate cost him the his own election to the presidency.  He lost narrowly to Jimmy Carter in 1976, and making him the only U.S. President to have served without ever being elected. 

Hollywood and the press were unmerciful.  Every physical stumble was seized upon to portray him as a bumbling fool.  He would trip on the way down the steps from Air Force One, or his golf shot would go astray and hit somebody.  The press and the stand up comics would have a field day, yet he was an extraordinary athlete.

By high school, a tall and muscular Jerry turned into the all-American boy. He was a scholar, a state champion football player, an Eagle Scout. He entered the University of Michigan in 1931, became the Wolverines' center and was voted the team's most valuable player before graduating in 1935. His number "48" has since been retired by the university.

Both the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers quickly offered him a spot. But something had changed in Jerry Ford within the rigors of academia. He pined to become a lawyer, to study justice. About the only way he could afford to continue his education was to go work for a university. Since he was "a good kid who worked hard," he recalled, Yale University hired him as a football coach.

He coached a team that included future senators Robert Taft and William Proxmire. He took law courses along with Cyrus Vance, Potter Stewart and Sargent Shriver, and managed to remain in the top 25 percent of his class and set up a new law practice back in Michigan.

He was the right man at the right time.  The Nixon pardon allowed the country to move on, but unfortunately it forced Gerald Ford to move on as well, stepping aside for a successor who showed us what it was really like to have a bumbling idiot for a president.

Comments

[PJ Smith]

One event stands out above all others whenever I think of Gerald Ford. He cemented a place in my heart with his immediate response to the Mayaguez incident.

America had just disgraced herself in Vietnam with the help of Walter Cronkite and John Kerry. Nixon had been defeated in his power struggle between the Executive and Legislative branches and had resigned in disgrace. The left was in the ascent with the media taking the lead and America-bashing was in vogue.

So when the Cambodians decided to grab a US merchant vessel, the SS Mayaguez, from international waters, anyone might have expected years of negotiations before the captive crew would be returned at some price. It seemed like a replay of the Pueblo incident was in process.

But Gerald Ford had different ideas. Despite a dearth of resources in the area, he reacted immediately and, in a risky and heavily contested operation, seized the ship and recovered it and the crew. Up until this time my pride in America had been under constant assault. I'll be forever grateful for the effect this President had on me by reminding the world who we are.

[Tom Bowler]

Thanks for that reminder, PJ. I'd forgotten about the Mayaguez.

On a side note, I wouldn't want anyone to think I had a lot of sympathy for Nixon. I was not happy that Ford pardoned him. I'm not in favor of special treatment for those in high office, and I thought prosecuting Nixon would have demonstrated that even the president is not above law. But I have to admit the pardon immediately put Watergate into the past, and that may have been for the better.