President Gerald R. Ford, Jr. (1913-2006), Rest In Peace
And Then There Were Four
By Erick Posted in The White House — Comments (24) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Gerald R. Ford, Jr. was not the President that modern Republicans wanted. That was President Reagan. But in 1974, Gerald Ford was the President we needed. The only man never elected to the position of Vice President or President to actually serve as President of the United States, President Ford was willing to risk his political future by putting the nation on the course toward healing after Watergate.
President Ford was, by birth, a Nebraskan, but he moved to Michigan, became a football star on the University of Michigan football team, then earned a law degree at Yale. He enlisted in the Navy during World War II and returned home convinced that the United States must engage the world in its foreign policy.
Defeating an incumbent Republican in the Michigan primary, President Ford became a Congressman representing Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1948. In 1963, President Ford was elected Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, a position he held until 1973, when President Nixon asked him to fill the position of Vice President upon Spiro Agnew's resignation.
When President Nixon resigned in disgrace, President Ford did not hesitate, despite withering criticism, to pardon him pre-emptively. The nation was thus spared the potential tragedy of placing a President of the United States on criminal trial.
President Ford was never able to pass significant, meaningful legislation. He was, in effect, destined to have a caretaker Presidency. Hindered by an overwhelming Democratic majority in Congress angry with his pardon, President Ford sought to use the powers of the Presidency to affect change via the executive branch of government. He fought inflation, a recession, oversaw the withdrawal of American military force from Vietnam, signed the Helsinki Accords, and worked to thaw relations with China.
President Ford's most noticeable, lasting legacy on the Presidency of the United States and nation was through his power of appointments. He was the first Republican President to appoint a black person to the Presidential Cabinet -- William Coleman, Secretary of Transportation, who was also only the second black person appointed to any Presidential Cabinet. President Ford also appointed George H. W. Bush to be Ambassador to China, then later, CIA Director. Donald Rumsfeld, his Chief of Staff, became Defense Secretary. A young Dick Cheney, then a promising upstart politician from Wyoming, succeeded Secretary Rumsfeld to the position of Chief of Staff. President Ford also appointed Judge John Paul Stevens to the United States Supreme Court to fill Justice Douglas's seat -- perhaps the most disappointing part of President Ford's legacy. While in office, President Ford survived two assassination attempts over a three week period.
In 1976, President Ford was challenged by former California Governor Ronald Reagan, running as a conservative in the Republican primary. While President Ford overcame the primary challenge, he lost the general election to Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia. He retired gracefully to the golf course, unwilling to stand in the shadows of his successors in office. In the process he became good friends with President Carter. Having made too many demands of then Republican nominee Ronald Reagan in 1980, when President Reagan considered President Ford as his running mate, his relationship with the future President remained distant. His heavy handed negotiations, however, led to President Reagan choosing Ambassador George H. W. Bush to be his running mate.
President Ford is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Ann "Betty" Ford, his children and grand children.
Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr., born July 14, 1913, Representative of the 5th District of the State of Michigan, 13th Republican Leader of the United States House of Representatives, 40th Vice President of the United States, and 38th President of the United States of America, returned to his Creator on the 26th day of December, 2006.
Requiescat in pace.
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President Gerald R. Ford, Jr. (1913-2006), Rest In Peace 24 Comments (0 topical, 24 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Sorry to be so nitpicky -- just trying to let you know about this stuff before the general public wakes.
Faced with a Dem controlled congress he used the veto early and often and thus controlled spending. I wish subsequent Presidents had learned from him.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
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"I don't know." -- Helen Thomas, in response to the question, "Are we at war, Helen?" - posed by then-White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
As I wrote here, I will always remember Gerald R. Ford as a man of great dignity & integrity.
Thank You, President Ford.
I was born in 1970 and by the time I was six years old, I was acutely aware of Jimmy Carter and his policies (waiting in a gasoline line on your way to school has a way of awakening your political sensibilities) and in just a few years I became aware-by-osmosis of the Nixon Administration. Those two administrations became the bookends of what I refer to in my political sensibility as "the dead zone" -- the years when I was a toddler and a preschool/kindergartener who was more worried about learning how to tell time, tie his shoes, read books, write in cursive, and ride a bicycle than he was about national politics.
A blissful period, all things considered, and it is only now that I realize that I can largely thank Gerald Ford for that period of relative calm after the turmoil of Watergate and Vietnam. Given the magnitude of the social crisis he faced, Gerald Ford did what few men could do: he held the fort and kept the ship afloat. He kept things running and he did it with understated grace (and a little bumbling.) He survived two assassination attempts with remarkable aplomb. He gave some of the worst wounds from the late '60s and early '70s a chance to begin healing, and because of his light touch, he allowed me to get through my crucial, early, formative years without having to confront a civil war or anarchy here in the United States.
And it's only now, upon his death, that I realize what a wonderful gift that was. Thank you eternally, Mr. President, and rest in peace.
President Ford's decision to pardon President Nixon was wrong. Despite all the alarms and smoke, there is no evidence that President Nixon had committed an impeachable offense or any crime whatsoever. Without the pardon, President Nixon would have faced the legal process in which any charges made would have to be pled and proven. I have read just about everything of substance written about the Nixon administration and Watergate and, as a lawyer, I found a lot of bad decisions but no criminal activity. President Nixon resigned because he had "lied" to the American people but that "lie" was in a speech not under oath. And, at the time he made the statement that he had never considered a cover-up, nobody believed him. After all, he was both a lawyer and a politician. I was looking forward to the embarrassment that his political opponents would have felt when they found that they could not charge him with any "hig crime or misdemeanor."
without regard to your opinion that he had committed no impeachable offense. The Democrats (and many Republicans) in Congress wanted blood and would have gotten it. In case you haven't noticed, the relevant definition of "high crime or misdemeanor" is anything that frustrates the Democrats. Nixon frustrated them more than anyone up to our current President, who they would impeach with joy in their hearts if they thought for one second they could get away with it. That remains to be seen.
An impeachment proceeding would have dragged for months and destroyed President Ford's ability to perform his duties as President.
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If "pro" is the opposite of "con", what is the opposite of "progress"?
from that time. It is perhaps apocryphal, but fitting:
It is said that Nixon complained to Mel Laird, then AG, I think, that "they didn't have any evidence" against him. Laird is said to have replied, "Mr. President, they don't need evidence, they just need votes."
If it isn't true, it should be.
In Vino Veritas
There couldn't be an impeachment proceeding after President Nixon resigned. His opponents would have to bring criminal actions in the Federal court system. No interference with government but with the stricter rules of evidence of the court system. As just about all of Federal criminal law is by statute, the opposition would have to find a particular act or acts by President Nixon that would violate a statute. In all my readings, I never found any violation of an existing Federal statute by President Nixon, although, after his resignation, several Federal statutes were rewritten to make some of his, then legal actions, criminal.
and the D's still would have worked to draw out the process. I still think Ford did the right - and very unpopular - thing.
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If "pro" is the opposite of "con", what is the opposite of "progress"?
John Dean, Chuck Colson, and G. Gordon Liddy were the best known of over 30 Nixon aides to go to prison over Watergate based on laws on the books before the break-in.
To think that Nixon could have avoided a conviction on conspiracy charges, at a minimum, is simply a re-write of history.
Conspiracy charges are, under Federal law, by statute and are difficult to plea and prove. The testimony of all the participants, except for President Nixon, has been a matter of record for years and, I can still state that there is no evidence in any individuals testimony that would support a charge of conspiracy against President Nixon.
conspiracy charges are actually pretty easy to prove, that's why federal prosecutors use them so often. If you think 30+ of your closest associates can go to jail because of their efforts to re-elect you and you can remain free, I'd suggest you think again.
The fact that Nixon was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in one of the many Watergate indictments should demonstrate just how vulnerable he was.
Your take on Watergate is simply anti-historical.
means that the prosecutors do not have enough credible evidence to charge a party. Consider that the prosecutors would have loved to charge President Nixon but could not due to the lack of evidence. They did the next best thing - called him an unindicted co-conspirator. No need to proiduce any evidence or proof of conspiracy and no way for the unindicted co-conspirator to contest the charges. If, I as a prosecutor, charged Winston Churchill as an unindicted co-conspirator with Hitler, Gobbels and Goering, how could Winnie clear his name?
it simply means that the prosecutors have elected not to seek an indictment
The term "unindicted co-conspirator" refers to any person who allegedly "agreed with others to violate the law but who is not being charged with an offense and who, consequently, will not be tried or sentenced for his criminal conduct."(24) The law permits admission of unindicted co-conspirators' statements and acts performed during and in furtherance of the conspiracy as evidence in determining the guilt or innocence of the indicted conspirators.(25) Prosecutors often have enough evidence to indict these individuals, but instead name them as unindicted co-conspirators for a variety of strategic reasons.(26)
Any more law lessons you wish to impart?
nephew is waiting for me to play.
Thanks for the tributes.
Gerald Ford won't go down as the greatest of presidents, but he was a man for such a time.
Much like Esther did for her people, Gerald Ford answered the call when his country needed him.
RIP America's patriot.
Ya'll take care and have a happy new year!
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The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas-a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated.-Reagan
I question your characterization of the pardon as a good thing.
I mean, if Gore had won in 2000 and immediately pardoned Clinton, thus saving him the embarrassment of losing his law license, would you guys consider that a "good thing"?
The President shouldn't be above the law.
Clinton had been unsuccessfully impeached and there was no way he was going to be brought to trial for anything.
And if he was headed for a trial, for anything less than rape or murder, I would have been happy for either W or Gore to pardon him.
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If "pro" is the opposite of "con", what is the opposite of "progress"?
make it clear that the usual unindicted co-conspirator is that member of a conspiracy who won the "race to the courthouse." In other words, the person or persons who turn in their fellow conspirators for some form of clemency. I doubt that President Nixon cut any deals with his prosecutors. That leaves calling him an unindicted co-conspirator a cheap shot by a frustrated prosecutor unable to make a case. I am always willing to be instructed in the law but I find when law and politics meet, my early years of mentorage by some Bronx County machine Democrats is more usefull than my later training in the law.
Ford was a class act, something rare in politics.
He will be missed...
You didn't have to serve this country. But you did. Thank you for for rising to the call.
What are the plans now? Will there be a state funeral in Washington?
In a world full of twists and turns, the ultimate twist...is a straight line.