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.
“My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age,” Mrs. Ford said in a brief statement issued from her husband’s office in Rancho Mirage. “His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country.”
BBC – Obituary.
Bloomberg – Ford became the 38th president on Aug. 9, 1974, immediately after Nixon’s resignation under threat of impeachment. When Ford took office, he said: “I assume the presidency under extraordinary circumstances. This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts.”
“With his quiet integrity, common sense, and kind instincts, President Ford helped heal our land and restore public confidence in the presidency,” U.S. President George W. Bush said in a statement.
AP – The statement did not say where Ford died or list a cause of death. Ford had battled pneumonia in January 2006 and underwent two heart treatments — including an angioplasty — in August at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
He was the longest living president, followed by Ronald Reagan, who also died at 93. Ford had been living at his desert home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., about 130 miles east of Los Angeles.
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The AP has a list of important dates in the President’s life: Dates in the life of Gerald Ford
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CNN: Unlikeliest of presidents bows out
Gerald Ford was the unlikeliest of presidents, a man brought to power by unprecedented circumstances without seeking the office, at a time when Americans — reeling from the Watergate scandal — were disillusioned and weary.
But in his very first speech as president in August 1974, after taking the oath of office, Ford vowed he would “not shirk” what appeared to be a thankless task. And he tried to set a tone of reconciliation and renewal by telling his countrymen that “our long national nightmare is over.”
“This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts,” Ford said. “I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your president with your prayers.”
Over the next 2½ years, Ford tried to bind up the nation’s wounds in his plain-spoken, Midwestern manner, reminding Americans that “I’m a Ford, not a Lincoln” and providing a steady hand on the wheel during a turbulent time.
Yet, the enormously controversial decision he made in his first month in office to pardon his predecessor, Richard Nixon, is widely blamed for costing him an election in his own right in 1976, in one of the closest presidential elections in U.S. history.
If there is a hell, I hope Gerald Ford is barbecuing like a pig on a spit.
Does that seem cruel of me? Consider what Ford’s pardon of that scumbag Richard Nixon did. It allowed Nixon and fellow travelers a way around the final justice that they deserved. It sent a message to all future scumbags, like Dick Cheney and George Bush (both of them) that no matter what shitty crimes you pull, if you’ve got a friend in the Oval Office, you can be pardoned.
The law means nothing; connections mean everything. With the help of people like Gerald Ford, we’ve now got a government brimming with corrupt scumbags, while the nation falls into decay and looming disasters like global warming are completely neglected. That’s what Gerald Ford did for America. Burn in hell, asshole.
“Death before being dishonored any more.” – Col. Ted Westhusing
I always remember Jimmy Carter: “For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land.”
January 20, 1977. As a 18 year old at the time, I thought it was a gracious comment. I’m sorry you cannot be gracious as well.
< “Are we at the terminus of a civilization, a culture, that staggers on the edge of extinction?” – hattip usda at CE.
I’d like to ask a ‘favour’ if I may
No doubt individuals have many a varied view about the man & his Presidency. Nevertheless he WAS President & has just died. Would it be too much to ask that for 24 hours or so, we declare a moratorium on any critiques, etc?
There will surely be plenty of time for that in the days ahead
It would be nice if such an attitude could also be shown here out of respect. G_7
and how is that working out for them there? LMAO Self control is not a strong point over there.
while in office, but he definitely proved his humanity after he left the Presidency. He picked up hammers and helped people build affordable housing and he has monitored the fairness of elections around the world.
I consider him a ‘Great American.’ History will be kind to Gerald Ford.
any links about the housing?
with Jimmy Carter, but none the less, he did broker peace agreements around the world: “the participation of President Gerald R. Ford in the Helsinki summit and his trips elsewhere; the Group of Seven (G-7, but effectively G-8 since 1991) economic summits held annually since 1975; President James E. Carter’s 1977 visit to London, the Sadat-Carter and Begin-Carter discussions in Washington, the Camp David Summit (1978), Carter’s March 1978 trip to Egypt and Israel, and his Vienna meeting with Leonid Brezhnev to sign the SALT II Agreement;”
He and Jimmy Carter did a lot of work with Habitat for Humanity A proud moment in his life. Perhaps not as great a humanitarian as Jimmy Carter, but for this century, he will rank highly as a humanitarian.
I suppose one the reasons that he pardoned Nixon was the turmoil had gone on for a very long time in American politics and he believed by pardoning him that it would lay the beast to rest. Many were not that forgiving. Nixon was a tragic character.
I prefer to remember Ford as the least shitty Republican president since Eisenhower. I was not impressed by his vendetta (as House Minority Leader) against Justice Douglas. But, I’ll overloo that.
In short, Ford was a tool, albeit a “decent” one. I never wanted to have a beer with him, either.
“If you can’t trust a Methodist with absolute power to arrest people and
not have to say why, then whom can you trust?” – Garrison Keillor
Other than his pardoning of Nixon, which set a terrible precedent (think about the Iran-Contra and the pardoned scumbags we have subsequently gotten stuck with), I tend to group him with Harding, who fared a bit better with his pardons:
why? because Nixon essentially got away with, legally his behavior that harmed all Americans, and to pardon him in the name of all Americans was BS. Let Ford pardon him in his own mind, but not in my name. he paid for his crimes, I would agree, SORT OF, yet he did not get what he deserved, LEGALLY and the rule of law was essentially circumvented….
and that folks, IMHO is how WE HAVE what we have today: a bunch of true, dyed in the wool criminals in the WH.
no redress, acting with impunity, and NO FEAR OF REPRISAL.
SICKENING.
a truly wise and forgiving thing to do, IMHO was Sadat signing the peace with Israel, for which he paid with his life. Mandela calling for a truth and reconciliation commission. these in a very major way are different than that. if some cannot see this, then i can’t help them.
addendum: if Nixon had admitted his crimes in public, had said he was wrong and asked forgiveness, publically of all Americans, then MY VOTE would be to forgive.
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If this were 1700, they’d be saying: “Since civilization began, slavery has existed. It’s human nature.” I would have believed it. If 1800: “Women will never vote. They are not born rational”. I would have believed it.
2006: Make war irrelevant
December 27 | Kingston, NY
POJONEWS – Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-Hurley) today called former U.S. President Gerald R. Ford a dedicated public servant and distinguished American.
“My thoughts and prayers are with Betty Ford, the Ford children, and the entire Ford family over the loss of President Gerald Ford – a distinguished American who served his country with honor,” Hinchey said.
“Gerald Ford devoted his life to his family and his country, serving in the Navy, in Congress, then as Vice President and ultimately as President. He served during some very difficult moments for our country and helped heal a nation that was disillusioned by politics in the post-Watergate era. Throughout his time in public office, Gerald Ford always carried himself with strength, dignity, and grace. He was a true gentleman and with a steady hand he helped restore honor to the office of the presidency,” he said.
“While my view on matters of policy may have differed from President Ford, I respected him for doing what he believed was in the best interests of the United States,” he said. “Leaders like Gerald Ford who have a deep respect for our Constitution and are grounded in principles of honesty and integrity serve our country well.”
Ford Arranged His Funeral to Reflect Himself and Drew in a Former Adversary
NYT, WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 — As he helped in recent years arrange the details of his own funeral, Gerald R. Ford reached out to an old adversary: Jimmy Carter, who defeated him for the presidency in 1976.
Mr. Ford asked whether his successor might consider speaking at his funeral and offered, lightheartedly, to do the same for Mr. Carter, depending on who died first.
The invitation was decades in the making, associates of Mr. Ford’s said. And, they said, it was typical for Mr. Ford, who came to his own funeral-planning sessions adamant that his coffin not be carried to the Capitol in an elaborate horse-drawn caisson but a motorcade instead.
During services for Mr. Ford, the 38th president, over the next few days, the simplicity he sought will be on display in Washington and, later, in Michigan, where he will be interred. His coffin is expected to be carried into the Capitol through the House of Representatives, where he served for 25 years, rather than up the sweeping front staircase. A band will play a somber version of the University of Michigan fight song, a Ford favorite from his undergraduate alma mater, and a song he preferred to “Hail to the Chief†while he was president.
New York Times, By Chevy Chase, Jan 6
In recent days, I’ve been bombarded by requests to comment on my relationship with President Gerald Ford. Until now, I’ve tried to say nothing — any remarks from me during the Ford family’s private time of grief would have been inappropriate.
The requests were understandable, I guess. You see, I made a reputation for myself 30 years ago on “Saturday Night Live†in part because of a number of sketches and “Weekend Updates†that I wrote or appeared in ridiculing Mr. Ford for his apparent “stumble-bumbling†(though he was perhaps the best athlete to have been president) and making fun of his presidency.
Luckily for me, Mr. Ford had a sense of humor.
I’ve often thought how odd it was that we became linked together. It’s not like we had a lot in common. After all, Mr. Ford had never been helped for any problems with “self-medication†in a facility that has helped so many throughout these past decades. And he had never been castigated by the press for such atrocities as “Oh! Heavenly Dog†or “Cops and Robbersons,†among other slightly awful films I had made in Hollywood.