The statement from his family did not list a cause of death. He was 93.
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Really Nice guy, from what I ever saw.
Ironghost
Dec 27 2006
I have feelings of indifference about him. He made Chevy Chase of Saturday Night Live a much better comedian.
Ray Carter
Dec 27 2006
Ford was the first President I really remember. I probably would remember Nixon, if I had been interested in politics at the time. He did try so hard to reconcile things after the Watergate fiasco. He was an all around, genuine good guy. I hated to see him pass on.
Lady Havoc
Dec 27 2006
In 1980, Ronald Reagan almost chose ex-President Ford to be his running mate; however, it is said that Ford didn't really want it, so he bargained that he would accept if Reagan would cede certain presidential prerogatives to him (foreign policy, for one)--knowing Reagan would probably not do so as it would set a precedent for a so-called 'co-president'. As a result, Reagan chose Bush 41 instead. And that gave us Bush 43 in turn. Had Ford accepted, it is very likely that he would have succeeded Reagan in 88 and the history of this country would not include the two wars in Iraq, the Katrina debacle, corporate greed and malfeasance...or maybe even Bill and Hillary Clinton. I can only wonder what the American political landscape would be like had Ford joined the Republican ticket 26 years ago.
I always thought that Ford was a good and decent man. As a college student, I was outraged when he pardoned Nixon; however, in retrospect, I see the wisdom of his decision. He served as President for only two and a half years; thus, I think he might have been more of an activist president. By today's definition of a conservative Republican, Ford would have been a flaming liberal.
All in all, he was a calm, steady president during some particularly dark and difficult days in America. IMHO, he was a much better president in 2.5 years than the two Bushes have been in 10 years. God bless his soul and his family.
Kacy
Dec 27 2006
I agree Kacy.
Ray Carter
Dec 27 2006
As I thought back to Ford's unsuccessful presidential race in '76, I remembered that his running mate was Senator Bob Dole (R-KS). Thinking a little more about presidential candidates since then, I suddenly realized that, for the last 8 presidential elections spanning 30 years, a BUSH or DOLE has been on the Republican ticket: Ford/Dole, '76; Reagan/Bush41, '80 and '84; Bush41/Quayle, '88 and '92; Dole/Kemp, '96; Bush43/Cheney, '00 and '04. Mind-boggling...
Kacy
Dec 27 2006
Ford was the last Republican president or presidential nominee of the religious right era--Reagan, Bush, Dole, and Bush II are/were all social conservatives. Ford was pro-choice and believed in separation of church and state.
I also like this quote from 1975:
Q. A follow-up question: One of the Presidential candidates who has not yet said he is a Presidential candidate, Mr. Reagan, was asked about Southern strategy, and he said there is no such thing in his view as Southern strategy per se as far as the Presidential election is concerned. Do you agree with that?THE PRESIDENT. I have no Southern strategy as such. I have been to, I think, 20-some, almost 30 States. I have traveled here as well as elsewhere in the South. I think it is important to visit as many of the States of the Union as possible. But as far as having a geographical thrust of my campaign, the answer is no. I want to prevail in all 50 States.
Note that he completely ignored the Reagan comment about there being "no such thing as the Southern strategy." Carter squashed Ford in the South (even carrying Mississippi), and Reagan resurrected the Southern strategy big time at the 1980 Neshoba County Fair, when he essentially attacked the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Ford refused to sink that low and it cost him the South, so in some ways I think Ford's little two-year term was much more worthy of our respect than certain presidents' eight-year terms.
Cheers,
TH
Tom Head
Dec 27 2006
"of the religious right era" --> "of the pre-religious right era"
Tom Head
Dec 27 2006
Agreed, Tom, and that's what I meant up-thread about his being a good and decent man. That he was able to bring closure to Watergate and Vietnam while dealing with many other issues during his short term is truly laudable.
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