It’s a rare exception when someone who probably never intended to become President actually finds themselves elevated to that office, but that’s exactly what happened to Gerald Ford, who passed away earlier this week at the age of 93 and only a few weeks after having become America’s longest-living former President.
Today, the Washington Post has two pieces about Ford that sum up his legacy quite well.
First, Bob Dole remembers someone who took upon himself the task of trying to heal a nation divided by war and scandal:
Gerald Ford had never sought the presidency and thus was obligated to no group or individual. His legacy will be that he stopped the national hemorrhaging over Watergate. A man of courage and integrity, he made the tough choice of pardoning Richard Nixon, which helped heal the nation but very likely cost him the 1976 election. He showed his willingness to put the country’s interest first.
There are those who will argue that Ford was wrong to pardon Nixon, and they’re entitled to their opinion. Looking back thirty years, though, it seems clear that Ford was right to recognize that the nation had suffered enough.
In addition to Dole, George Will argues that Ford was the right man at the right time:
Those who believe that a kindly Providence keeps a watchful eye on America’s welfare can cite the fact of Gerald Ford. On Aug. 9, 1974, at a moment when the nation was putting aside an unhappy, tormented president, and was aching for serenity in high places, to the center of national life strode an abnormality — a happy, normal man as president.
Watergate and a presidential resignation were only two of the nation’s problems that August. The mid-’70s were years when everyday things could no longer be counted on — inflation was undermining the currency as a store of value, and lines at gasoline pumps testified to the power of foreigners to get between Americans and their best friends, their automobiles. Ford was a political sedative for a nation with jangled nerves.
Like Dole, Will argues that Ford’s decision to pardon Nixon, while a political mistake, was, in the end, the right thing for the country.
I can’t say that I would have voted for Gerald Ford given the chance, but he always struck me as a decent man who did the best he could under incredibly difficult circumstances. For that he deserves thanks.
