Former President Gerald Ford has Passed no comments
There was just a scroll on the Letterman Show from CBS News stating that former President Gerald Ford has passed away.
I’ve been running through my usual news source links and so far the only thing I have seen is on CNN.com , which just has a banner at the top stating that Betty Ford notified the AP that her husband died on Tuesday.
I’m going to see if I can find any more information to add to this and when I get home on Wednesday afternoon (we’re still visiting my wife’s folks) I’ll post some more thoughts on President Ford, as his presidency is one of the first that I actively followed and reacted to during my teen years.
Update: Just found this on a CBS station’s web site:
(AP) LOS ANGELES Gerald R. Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon’s scandal-shattered White House as the 38th and only unelected president in America’s history, has died, his wife, Betty, said Tuesday. He was 93.
President Ford is the first President that I fully remember his whole term of office.
Every once in a while I can get a vague memory of Kennedy’s funeral (I was only 3 when he was shot, but from talking with my Mom, I know that I was in a playpen, with the TV on - my Mom was watching As The World Turns, when JFK was shot. She also tells me that I was fascinated with his funeral procession, with the horse-drawn hearse and flag covered coffin. [I must have been a morbid little bugger])
I remember parts of Johnson’s presidency; I clearly remember the night he announced he was not seeking re-election.
I recall most of Nixon’s presidency, but more remember some of the events that happened during it - lots of riots, Kent State, Viet Nam, and of course Watergate and then his historic resignation.
Enter Gerald Ford. I remember him being so mild-mannered.
And of course that one stumble that made Chevy Chase and SNL famous.
He’d been a football player, so I remember thinking that was pretty cool.
He pardoned Nixon soon after taking office, and while I wasn’t much into ‘political thinking’ at the time, I do remember thinking, “Good, now we can get on with being the USA. And they’ll quit interrupting my afternoon TV shows with dumb boring political hearings and stuff” I had my 14-year-old priorities in line…
By the time Ford ran for President in 1976, I was starting to actually care about our government, and even though I was still 2 years away from being able to vote, I decided to get involved in the presidential election. A couple of friends and I decided to volunteer to work for the Jimmy Carter campaign. I think I actually might have liked Ford better, but Jimmy was a good ol’ boy from Georgia, he taught Sunday School, and his wife wasn’t too shabby. Again, the thoughts of a 16-year-old keeping things in balance!
Of course, looking back now, with the advantage of hind-sight, I believe Ford would have made a much better President, and his Christian faith cetainly stood the test of time far better than did the Sunday School teacher’s.
I know these rememberances aren’t as poignant or as elegantly worded as many that are posted elsewhere online, but they are a collection of thoughts and memories I have.
I know I consider President Ford a great man, and our country is richer for having had him as our President during a very rough point in our national history.