The View From Here . . .
By Bob Morgan, Jr.

The passing of Gerald R. Ford last week at the age of 93 recalls the turbulent political battles of the 1970's and Mr. Ford's profound role as a healer.

Even more than George W. Bush today, Mr. Ford's predecessor, Richard M. Nixon, was a polarizing figure who was the subject of deep enmity in the media, among perceived intellectuals and among the left at large. While Mr. Nixon's actual record on domestic issues was moderate to fairly liberal , he was hated for his continuing prosecution of the Vietnam War and pilloried as "Tricky Dick", the ultimate insincere man.

But Mr. Nixon, despite being overwhelmingly reelected in 1972, had a vengeful, dark side and it led to the Watergate scandal, involving a White House cover-up of a break-in by Republicans at Democratic offices in the Watergate complex in Washington. Incredibly enough, Mr. Nixon had his Presidential conversations taped and this evidence of wrongdoing led to his resignation. Mr. Nixon later blamed his enemies in part for his undoing. "I gave them a sword and they ran it right through me".

It was in this difficult atmosphere that Gerald Ford became our 38th president on August 9, 1974. Mr. Ford had been appointed vice president when Mr. Nixon's first vice president, Spiro Agnew, was forced to resign and thus Mr. Ford was unelected. Nevertheless, from the time he assumed office and announced that "our long national nightmare is over", it was apparent that the healing process was beginning.

A month later, Mr. Ford made his very controversial decision to offer Mr. Nixon a complete pardon. This decision may well have cost Mr. Ford the 1976 election, but it also spared the country the ordeal of reliving the Watergate years. In hindsight, the decision has received considerable praise and Mr. Ford received a Profiles in Courage Award for the pardon in 2001.

Mr. Ford faced overwhelming Democratic majorities in Congress and was forced to issue vetoes numerous bills reaching his desk, not a few of which were overridden. Most notably, Congress was successful in cutting off United States funding for remaining operations in Vietnam, which precipitated the final victory of the Communists in 1975. Even though Mr. Ford was a very accomplished athlete (he had been a star football player at Michigan team), he was frequently pilloried for his lack of physical grace. Similarly, his intellect was often questioned despite an excellent record at Yale Law School.

In 1976, Mr. Ford attempted to win the presidency in his own right. He first held off a strong challenge for the nomination from Ronald Reagan and then was opposed in the general election by Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia. While Mr. Carter started off far ahead in the opinion polls, Mr. Ford was rapidly closing the gap at the end. Nevertheless, Mr. Carter won in a tight finish.

Despite difficult times and a great deal of adversity, President Ford soldiered on during his 895 days in the White House. He was very well respected for his modesty, his candor and his ability to deal with friend and foe. In the words of Vice President Cheney, who worked in the Ford White House: "He answered courtesy with courtesy; he answered discourtesy with courtesy."

President Ford may not be in the first rank of Presidents, but he was definitely the man for the job in his time. Moreover, in the present climate of partisan rancor in Washington, a little more of the decency, modesty and collegiality exemplified by Gerald Ford would go a long way.