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December 28, 2006
Gerald Ford - An Appreciation
My earliest political memories are of watching the 1976 Republican National Convention. My parents were supporters of President Ford, and therefore so was I. I was not the rebellious type, then or now. Besides, what Ford said and stood for seemed to make sense.
There was an interloper at the convention, who my parents felt threatened to split the party and thus lessen our chances of victory. All I remember was watching the TV cameras turn to someone called Ronald Reagan, who was sitting in the audience, and who waved to his fans who in turn cheered him. My parents didn't like this, for reasons not entirely clear to me at the time. In later years they became huge Reagan supporters, and it became evident that theirs was simply a call for party unity.
Ford of course lost the election, and so the first presidency I followed with any detail was that of Jimmy Carter. In the next four years the country seemed to careen from crisis to crisis, with the president having no clear idea of what to do about any of them.
The only thing I recall with any specificity about Ford's term was the Mayagüez incident, and it seemd to me that he did the right thing, given what he knew at the time he made the crucial decision to send in the Marines and Navy to rescue the captured crewmembers.
During one of their debates, Carter criticized Ford over his handling of the incident, which I thought terribly unfair.
In later years I, like most people, I suppose, remember Ford mainly for what he didn't do after leaving the presidency; criticize his successors. He went away to do...well I wasn't sure quite what he did all those years, but had the vague feeling it was sitting in some distinguished post somewhere offering sage advice in his usual steady manner.
Surely his brief term in office offers plenty for a conservative like me to criticize. "Whip Inflation Now" was just about the most silly economic plan of modern times. That he continued the Nixon/Kissinger policy of detente will also never endear us to him. But for all his policy errors, he proved a far better president than his successor. And when the 1980 election rolled around, he quickly agreed to campaign for the man who almost took the nomination from him in 1976.
The most important thing he did was pardon Richard Nixon. It was also the correct decision. That he did so knowing full well that it would cost him dearly polically is a tribute to his character and leadership.
Ford's legacy will be that of a steady hand on the helm in a time of national distress. He was refreshingly "boring", at a time when we needed someone with a steady temperament, someone who "looked" like a president and acted as such. He served our nation well when it was needed.
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Pope John Paul II - An Appreciation
Memories of Reagan
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Posted by Tom at December 28, 2006 4:50 PM
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Comments
Jerry Ford was a fine, down to earth man,and I agree that his decision to issue a pardon to Tricky Dick was correct. If Mister Ford had not pardoned Nixon, the entire issue might have dragged on indefinitely. Yes the pardon hurt Ford politically, but he still would have been hurt politically if he had refrained from pardoning his predecessor. So, Jerry Ford was between a rock and a hard place. Frankly, I believe that Mister Ford's foolish remark about no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe (during one of his debates with Carter) did him more damage at the polls. Nevertheless, despite losing the Popular vote by 1.7 million votes, Ford actually lost the Presidency by a mere 30 Electoral votes. A little more support in Ohio and Mississippi would have won him a term in his own right. And to think I voted for Carter! I regret it as Ford was a better President. And you just heard that from an Independent (I am fed up with both political parties. No offense to the Red Hunter).
Posted by: Rich at January 8, 2007 6:43 PM
