G. Ford, Navigation, USS Monterey, 1944

http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/gf38.html

I've nothing but fond memories of this man, who acted with wit, intelligence and patriotism when thrust into the difficult position of pulling the country out of the Watergate tailspin.

One of the last of the bipartisans, a look at his tenure in the House of Representatives and in the White House could be very instructive to both parties in the aftermath of the 2006 midterms. He knew how to build consensus, while maintaining his executive authority.

He was the butt of many jokes regarding his propensity for pratfalls and malaprops, but, as a long-suffering inarticulate southpaw myself, I could always relate to him. I think I was one of the few who actually knew what he meant when he famously stated in the second Presidential debate with Jimmy Carter in 1976 that Eastern Europeans did not consider themselves under Soviet rule. I considered the tremendous fallout from this unfortunately-worded statement unfair and opportunistic.

The Wry Mouth/Cogit family had various contacts with the Fords during their residence in the Coachella Valley, so this loss has a more personal touch than others.

We and your country will miss you, Mr. Ford. Godspeed.


G. Ford, Gridiron Warrior, U. Michigan, 1933
Center, MVP 1934

Wrymouth adds:

Mrs. Betty Ford issued the following statement from her home in Rancho Mirage, California:

"My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald R. Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather, has passed away at 93 years of age. His was a life filled with love of God, his family, and his country."

President and Mrs. Ford were nothing but good to the Coachella Valley community; this where the (in)famous Betty Ford Clinic is situated. Though Cogit and I would probably come down on the clinic as being a Good Thing, overall.

Would he have made it in politcs as Leslie King, Jr.? Could he have ridden on the coat-tails of Martin Luther King, Jr.? Sadly, we'll never know, as young Leslie was renamed after his new step-father, Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.

Mr. Ford was part of the famed Warren Commission, which concluded that President Kennedy was killed by a lone, magic gunman. They also formed the boundaries of the famous Area 51, peopled it with aliens in a sly salute to the reservation systems used in the 1800's to control the Indians, and — using napkin sketches at lunch — showed how it would be possible to convince otherwise rational people that the moon landings were a hoax.

Ford served undefeated through 13 elections to the House of Representatives and rose to become its Republican leader, yet in 25 years in Congress he did not write a major piece of legislation, the New York Times reported.

I'm guessing the NYT wants that to be thought of as a Bad Thing, but that makes him a personal hero to me — my vision of the Federal Government in inaction! Maybe he thought we had enough federal laws already. Hurrah!

Mr. Ford was the only president I can think of that wasn't ever elected President or Vice President.

There was, of course, the Presidential Pardon of Nixon. A callow youth, I agreed with almost everybody else (in the press) at the time, thinking it a horrific blunder of justice. In retrospect, I wonder how I would have felt if someone had stepped up to the plate during the Clinton Pants Crisis and told the Congress to take a step back and a deep breath, and ask themselves if it was really worth it. In the mid-seventies, the parties, I think, were more in bed with each other and more willing to compromise "for the good of the country." I and Cogit are no longer so sure that such compromise is as possible, these days. Here's hoping we get some of that civility back, and soon. The more you know of Ford, the person, I think the more understandable the pardon is.

In September, 1975, Ford made it through not one but two assassination attempts. Those nutty Manson freaks! The sixties were sooo wild!

We read this nightmarish comment in the "infoplease" entry on Ford:

Ford was regarded as a caretaker president lacking in strength and vision. He was defeated in November by Jimmy Carter.

That's called "irony," I think.

November 4, 1975                

In what the press dubs the “Halloween Massacre,” President Ford orders a reorganization of his cabinet. He names Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary, Elliot Richardson as Commerce Secretary, George Bush as CIA Director, and Richard Cheney as White House Chief of Staff. Henry Kissinger remains Secretary of State; however, he turns over his duties as National Security Advisor to Brent Scowcroft.

Heady times, indeed! I wonder whatever happened to those guys?

Remember Whip Inflation Now (Alan Greenspan was in on that one)?

"When I took office, the Consumer Price Index was rising at 12.2 percent a year. During 1976 the rate of inflation was 5 percent."

Those were good times for a kid with his first very own savings account, but not for very many others. And this doesn't even cover the really, really good interest rates one could get under Carter! What's inflation been like, these days? I forget. Probably some horrendous figure, like... 0.2 percent?

Remember New York CITY going BANKRUPT? Remember THAT, NYT? Ford had to preside over that stink-up.


New York Daily News Headline, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Daily_News

In short, for those who have non-existent memories of the Ford Administration, or know only about Ford from what they see from old kinoscope recordings of Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live when it was (a) funny and (b) a take-off on Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell, those of use who Were There can remember, if we try hard enough, that the USA was a dynamic place to be in those days, and Ford was at the helm, trying to get everyone to pull together.

I still don't get the Nelson Rockefeller pick for VP, though. That's been keeping Art Bell fans awake ever since.

Much more here. Take a look, especially if You Were There!

Here, from his final State of the Union Address, is the opening paragraph, funny and profound, all in two sentences:

January 12, 1977

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of the 95th Congress, and distinguished guests:

In accordance with the Constitution, I come before you once again to report on the state of the Union.

This report will be my last—maybe—[laughter]—but for the Union it is only the first of such reports in our third century of independence, the close of which none of us will ever see. We can be confident, however, that 100 years from now a freely elected President will come before a freely elected Congress chosen to renew our great Republic's pledge to the Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

  The aptly named Right Wing Nuthouse has another anecdote illustrating Ford and, generally, life as a public speaker.