So what if he ran and lost in 1976 - I'll always believes Gerald Ford never really wanted to become president. He said as much in Bob Woodward's tome on recent presidential scandals, Shadow (or as it's known in some circles, "Shallow"). Others say once he settled into the job, he relished it. The Michigan congressman was too honest and not polished enough for the job - he was not the creation of P.R. gurus.
While our presidents tend to die old and peacefully these days, Ford's passing is more than a footnote, though history might relegate him to the Island of Caretaker Presidents.
His pardoning of Richard Nixon probably squelched his chances for a full term. But what our cynical 21st century eyes see as a president letting his fellow Republican off easy undercuts the atmosphere of the day (yeah, I wasn't born yet, but I know this story well). He was lambasted at the time. History has come around since the 1970s, and even those who criticized the pardon now understand its necessity.
America needed to move out of Watergate's umbrage, and a lengthy trial for Nixon would have allowed the issue to continue to drag the nation down. Jimmy Carter dragged it around in brand-new ways, but America needed to heal after its first presidential resignation.
Ford was the only chief executive I ever saw in person, at a 1999 speech at OSU's Mershon Auditorium. He hit on some universal themes of working across the aisle for the betterment of humankind ... and sounded tremendous for a guy in his mid 1980s. He was blunt and straightforward - just by listening to the man, he was open and honest in ways that Nixon never could be.
Our Washington crowd now legislates only with fierce partisanship, but the Gang of 535 and the White House could take a lesson from the former House Republican leader who soothed an injured nation. While that injury healed, there are plenty of bruises and fractures still throbbing.
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