Statecraft Informer

Jerald terHorst, the newspaperman who became his first presidential press secretary, has written that if Ford “saw a school kid in front of the White House who needed clothing, he’d give him the shirt off of his back, literally. Then he’d go right in the White House and veto a school-lunch bill.”

• His given name was Leslie Lynch King, Jr.

• He proposed to his wife while wearing one brown and one black shoe.

• He is the only Eagle Scout to become president.

• He could have been a Green Bay Packer or Detroit Lion.

• He, a girlfriend, and his wife, all worked as models.

• He was the first president to visit Japan.

• He “left home” when he was two weeks old.

• He was an active “American Firster” prior to WWII.

• He was a high school and college “football hero.”

• He interned as a Forest Ranger in Yellowstone Park.

• He received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan.

• He was an assistant football and boxing coach at Yale University.

• He bears the name of his adoptive stepfather, Gerald R. Ford, Sr.

• He was an active political reformer in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

• He graduated in the top third of his law school class at Yale.

• He campaigned for Wendell Willkie in 1940.

• He volunteered for the U.S. Navy following Pearl Harbor.

• He is the only president never elected president or vice-president.

• While running for congress (successfully) in 1948, he campaigned on his wedding day.

• He was awarded numerous medals for his WWII service, and was honorably discharged as a Lieutenant Commander.

• He served as a Republican Congressman from 1949-1974.

• He was the only president whose two assassinations attempts against him were made by women.

• As president, the Secret Service once had to let him back into the White House after he had been locked out while walking his dog.

• He was one of seven appointed to the Warren Commission by President Johnson, which investigated the assassination of JFK and found no evidence of conspiracy.

• He and his wife, Betty, had three sons and a daughter.

• His daughter, Susan, held her senior prom at the White House.

• He repeatedly declined to run for the senate or state governor, hoping instead to be Speaker of the House one day.

• He became early and fast friends with Richard Nixon after entering congress.

• He served as house minority leader for eight years.

• During his congressional career, he held leadership roles in many powerful committees.

• He was the first president to release a full report of his medical condition to the public.

• Don Rumsfeld served as his Chief of Staff, only to be replaced by Dick Cheney, so that Rumsfeld could become the youngest Secretary of Defense in U.S. history.

• He urged Americans to “Whip Inflation Now,” and wear “WIN” buttons to show their support.

• He is the only president whose library and museum are in two different cities.

• He was the oldest-living former president in U.S. history.

• During his abbreviated term as president, he used his veto pen 64 times.

• He oversaw the U.S. withdrawal from, and abandonment of South Vietnam.

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• He was the only president ever to have pardoned a former president.

That last fact is most likely the only reason Gerald R. Ford did not win a full, elected term as President of the United States.

Even so, he barely lost to Democratic dark horse, Jimmy Carter, in 1976.

Well-liked by many of varying political persuasions during his career, it was with the help of his old friend, Richard Nixon, that Gerry Ford rose up through the Republican ranks, eventually becoming his appointed Vice-President.

It can be argued Mr. Nixon was also instrumental in his retirement from politics, as well.

Following Nixon’s resignation, and his swearing in as president, Gerald Ford announced that “Our long national nightmare is over.”

In some respects, it seems to me the nightmare was really just beginning back on that August day in 1974, and although we have awakened briefly once or twice since then, we continue to be haunted by political malfeasance, social discord and hidden agendas.

Gerald Ford was a great athlete. He was a dedicated naval officer. He was a successful congressman and party leader. He was a calming, “normal,” influence as America’s 38th President. He was a solid, midwestern, family man.

He was never particularly humorous, and certainly no Chevy Chase, but Gerald Ford did help launch the then-unknown’s career, back when Saturday Night Live actually had something funny to say.

Gerald R. Ford joined the Eternal All-Star Collegiate Football Team yesterday evening. He was 93 years old.