Good Night, Jerry
Gerald R. Ford, former President of the United States and the only person to have served in that post never elected to either that office or that of Vice President, has passed away. He was 93.
He had a long and distinguished record of service in the Congress and was hand-picked by Nixon to fill the Vice Presidential role in the White House after Richard Nixon's VP, Spiro T. Agnew, resigned in disgrace over financial scandals.
Ford, who was often the butt of humourists from Chevy Chase to the British Monty Python troupe for his bumbling physicality and unruffled demeanor, pardoned the man who appointed him and declared "Our long national nightmare is over" when Nixon stepped down over the Watergate investigations. It is considered, now, one of the truly great acts of courage performed by a President in office and many believe that this act cost him his own term in the office at the hands of a public hungry for blood who felt that Nixon had somehow escaped justice (for a supposedly Christian nation, we are a hypocritically bloodthirsty lot).
He was also perhaps overshadowed by the public persona of his wife, Betty, who was an outspoken and high-energy woman given to commenting on public policy matters and family values within her own brood. The Betty Ford clinic, which she established later in life, became synonymous with addiction treatment for high-profile individuals.
Long before he entered politics, this unusual man had worked as a male catalog model and had been a highly recruited college football center for the University of Michigan, declining offers from the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers to instead go to law school. He was charming and earnest, gentle and dignified, and perhaps the last major candidate to run for the office of the Presidency, during his failed re-election bid in 1976, to stay to the positive throughout his campaign.
Jerry, you will be missed.
1 comments:
I'm a little surprised that there are 6 comments related to the whole Jaz/podcast drama and no response to the passing of a President of the United States.
I'll go.
Even though I was fairly uninterested in politics when President Ford was in office, because of my age, and living overseas, I remember him as being a straight-forward, honest man. I also remember it being the first time I was conscious of the public openly and irreverently treating a President with disrespect. It always bothered me that he was painted as a sort of bumbling buffoon.
He had a very difficult job, and he stepped up to the plate when many men would not have done so. I respected him for that. Since his term in office, the entertainment world as well as the media has seemed bent on swarming all over insignificant human imperfections in regard to the Chief Executive Officers of our nation.
Disagreeing with the actions of our government is our right as citizens, but it can be done respectfully. Why we sometimes feel the need to air our dirty laundry for all the world to see is a mistake in my opinion. I don't care what our personal politics are, when in comes to the Oval Office, exercising basic courtesy and respect ought to be a given. If we disagree with policies, and decisions, volunteer to campaign and most importantly, vote. Or run for office. I am not a staunch Republican, nor am I a liberal Democrat, I am an American, and I thank Gerald Ford for his service to this country, and am sorry for his passing. He was a hardworking, decent man.
~A fAn of Apple pie and the United States of America
I do have a sense of humor, I just believe it has a place and time.
Bye. Bye. Miss American Pie. In my top ten song list.
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