Gerald R. Ford, R.I.P.
It has been a tough year for the University of Michigan and the figures of my childhood. First Bo, and now Gerald R. Ford has passed away. You may think of President Ford only in terms of politics, but he was a great athlete as well:
Ford was an All-American center for the Wolverines, playing on the undefeated 1932 and '33 national championship teams. The team selected him as its most valuable player in his senior year, and he played in the College All Star and East-West Shrine games after his senior season.
(For more on Ford's reputation as a klutz despite his athletic prowess see here and here.)
Having been born and raised in Grand Rapids, President Ford's loss to Jimmy Carter was one of my earliest political memories. I didn't know much about politics yet, but I knew that Ford was on my team; was one of us. That instinctual sense, and the loyalty it represented, was tragically accurate. Jimmy Carter went on to be a miserable President and, despite some initial promise, a horrible ex-President as well. Ford was the opposite: a kind, graceful gentleman who chose to play golf rather than undermine the policies of his successors. He was a loyal Republican, and campaigned for Reagan, but did so with tact rather than the bitterness and bile of Carter.
Ford's role in allowing the nation to get past Watergate was critical despite the adverse effect it had on his re-election chances. He served his country with class and distinction from his time in the Navy, in the House of Representatives, to his time in the White House and beyond. Ford might not have been the conservative hero, Reagan would claim that mantle, but he was a man of principle and integrity. The words of his inaugural speech are worth thinking about today:
Our Constitution works; our great republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule. But there is a higher power, by whatever name we honor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice but mercy.As we bind up the internal wounds of Watergate, more painful and more poisonous than those of foreign wars, let us restore the golden rule to our political process and let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and hate.
May he rest in peace.
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Thank you for emphasizing the grace of this President. How often is that term used for America's highest office? How often that office is encircled by the demons of Watergate unleashed b by the media without thought. As if THEY must guard US from our President!!
We as a people have been served well during our history by several of those VP's who assumed the Presidency. I am thinking of Harry Truman and Andrew Johnson (I'm an AJ fan). In contrast one can certainly shudder at the thought of other VP's such as Al Gore or Spiro Agnew assuming the office.
The sulking, abject figure of Carl Levin now represents the state of Michigan to the world. Servitor to tyrants, weak and effeminate in almost senile statements, Levin in no way is representive of the strength that Gerald Ford offered us in another time of national crisis.
I suspect Mr. Ford was a good man. That's not relevant to the PResidency today. Bill Clinton severed the association.
But moral goodness does count. George Washington established moral excellence as a benchmark for his office. It remains an indelible part of our heritage.
Historians will have the last word on the works of a President. What will matter according to my reading is the final question:
did a figure during his Presidency serve the ultimate good of the people of the United States?
I think historians will say that Gerald Ford did. And that will be the only accolade needed.