Okay, this is dangerously close to my being an old codger, ranting “When I was your age”, but after a conversation at a dinner party last night, I’ve got to say this. The people we had dinner with last night only knew of Gerald Ford from the history books. And, as our oldest surviving President, he had become a distant memory and, for more than a few of you, consigned to the dusty book shelves of our history. Let me take you back to those days.

It was August, 1974. The American culture was definitely on edge. Viet Nam had been a debacle, according to the press. Paul Ehrlich wrote The Population Bomb in 1968, famously saying "India couldn't possibly feed two hundred million more people by 1980". Vice-President Spiro Agnew had resigned in disgrace after being caught taking bribes. Prior to that, Agnew had taunted the “opposition” (“nattering nabobs of negativism”), who were numerous. A relatively unknown Congressman named Gerald Ford had replaced Agnew as Vice-President. The Nixon White House was maintaining an enemies list, a practice which periodically repeats itself, regardless of party affiliation. Doom, gloom and pessimism were the watchwords of the day; not that this wasn’t a realistic position, mind you. One of the appeals of the television series “Star Trek” was that it proved that our society had made it to the future without blowing itself to smithereens.

In that era, I was making the transition from being a long-haired subversive to being a short-haired subversive. The long rumbling slide of the Nixon administration continued during the summer of 1974. Things came to a head in August, and I took a week off and holed up in my apartment, glued to the televised impeachment hearings. The names of the lead characters are only memories, but what memories they were. Sam Ervin, this drawling North Carolina legislator led the hearings. Barbara Jordan, a black lesbian from Texas, was there, as was Peter Rodino and a lot of others who continued in government service long afterward. A young Hilary Rodham was on the team of counsel.  Fred Thompson would later be a Senator and then an actor. And the American system of jurisprudence worked its way slowly to its logical conclusion.

It could have gone the other way. The military could have intervened and taken over the government. Tanks could have been rolling in our streets. And, in that time, this was not an unreasonable thought. Just four years earlier, National Guardsmen, your neighbors in uniform, had shot and killed demonstrating students at Kent State University. Everybody was on edge. And then, Nixon was on the helicopter, leaving the White House for good and we were standing around wondering what happens next?

Into this environment came Jerry Ford. football player, a Navy veteran who had almost been swept overboard during a typhoon, moderate Republican from Michigan and that was about it. But in that uncertain time, Jerry Ford gave the country what it needed, a steady calm voice of reason at a time when things looked like they might fly apart. The country was generally elated. One of his earliest statements as President was: “I’m a Ford, not a Lincoln”. In those days after the Nixon resignation, the Ford family was the focus of a lot of press scrutiny. For a while, the Fords continued to live in northern Virginia, and there were photographs of the President making his own English muffins. Before there was a Betty Ford Clinic, there was Betty Ford, First Lady, and she too brought a sense of calm to troubled waters.

Of course, it would not be possible talk about the Ford presidency without discussing….. golf. Anyone who has played the game knows that it is a head-trip; left to your own devices and without discipline, you find yourself addressing the ball and wondering “What am I doing wrong?” Or, “What am I doing right?” In any case, with extensive post-Watergate attention from the press, every slice or hook on the golf course became part of the evening news. It was best not to stand in any possible trajectory when Gerald Ford was teeing up. Comedian Chevy Chase built a career on Ford’s golf game. And, every stumble or misstep was covered by the press.  Ford later commented to another U. S. President: “My golf game is better, I’m not hitting as many spectators.”

In the 1976 election, I spotted a campaign button: “Elect Betty’s husband President”. Of course, in the fullness of time, we have come to realize that Ford’s pardoning Nixon of his crimes would lead to Ford’s defeat in the election. But I remain convinced that pardoning Nixon was the very best path for the country, since it allowed us to get back on track. It was just another example of Ford doing the right thing rather than the politically expedient thing.

And, one other statement rings true: “Any country strong enough to give you everything you want is also a country strong enough to take away everything that you have.”

So, I hope that you remember Gerald Ford as I remember him, a guy who was thrust into the political spotlight and tried to do the right thing.

Written 12/31/2006