The Reluctant Leader

When someone famous dies it can have a strange effect on you.  You probably didn’t really know them.  In a lot of cases they are often old anyway so it’s hard to exactly say you were surprised to hear that they passed away.  Still, something about that particular person brings back strong memories and it causes you to take a moment to pause and reflect and remember that person.  This was my reaction when I learned of the death of President Gerald Ford. 

Ford was 93.  Even by today’s standards that’s still pretty old.  He had certainly not been in great health for the past couple of years.  When I saw him at Reagan’s funeral I made the comment that we would probably be having another one of these funerals in the near future.  I immediately pointed to Ford.  I didn’t think he looked so good.  I also pointed out that George Bush the First is in his eighties, although he still looks pretty healthy.  I also mentioned that Margaret Thatcher didn’t look very good and had apparently suffered some kind of stroke.  You had better believe Maggie’s funeral is going to be a big deal when her time finally comes. 

So, I have to say I wasn’t exactly shocked when I heard that President Ford had passed away.  Still, I had one of those moments when I realized a part of history was over.  I then had a moment to realize that it was a moment of history that I was actually alive during and had some vague memory of.  I have to say that President Ford was the first president I actually sort of remembered.  I remembered his face on television.  I remembered the men who droned on and on during the news talking about him.  I remember the WIN magnet we had on our refrigerator back then.   

Ford came into the Presidency by accident, as you have probably heard now.  But when you stop and think about it he was just the right guy at just the right time.  Imagine if someone more like the president he was replacing had stepped in.  Nixon was an Imperialist.  He ran a very tight ship and considered himself rightfully in absolute control of everything.  Of course his obsession with power and keeping that power was ultimately his undoing.  Ford, of course, had found himself a heartbeat away from the Presidency almost by accident. 

Ford was a senator.  By all accounts he was a damn good one.  Spiro Agnew was the Vice President under Nixon but was forced to resign due to a scandal.  Seems Nixon just managed to surround himself with scandals and some were of his making and some were not.  Ford had ambitions of making it to Speaker of House, a position of great power as well.  He was picked by Nixon to replace Agnew.  Then, lo and behold, Nixon had to follow Agnew in resignation.  Ford, without ever running for either high office, was now President of the
United States. 

Can you imagine how that must have felt?  When Harry Truman took office after
Roosevelt died he reportedly told Eleanor Roosevelt that he felt like the sky, sun, moon and all of the stars had fallen on his shoulders.  Considering there was an unpopular war still being fought (sound familiar) and the country was reeling from the corruption that had been uncovered in what was the face of the nation to the rest of the world the whole mess must have seemed like something we would never get out of to Gerald Ford.  Had he wanted to, without having been chosen by the public, he could have made himself a kind of Emperor.  He originally said he had no ambitions to run in the next election.  Had he kept that idea he would have had no one to answer to.  He could have at least attempted to do almost anything. 

Instead, as I said, he was the right man at the right time.  He was more accessible to the public and the media that Nixon.  He was more willing to talk to people as regular people.  He was also, without a doubt, a man who loved his country and the ideals set-forth in the Constitution.  In short, he was a good guy and, for a politician, and honest guy.  I haven’t reviewed every moment of the man’s life but he sure seems to have been, on the whole, an honest man.   

Of course we all know the trouble he found himself in when he pardoned Nixon.  At the time the country was still a mass of open wounds.  People were crying for blood. 
Vietnam had just ended.  Thousands of wounded, mentally and physically, soldiers were coming home with haunted eyes and terrible stories.  Watergate had shattered the public’s faith in government.  People wanted to hang Nixon from the highest rafter they could find.  Ford, again, playing the right man a the right time, somehow managed to see past that and do what was, ultimately, right for the country.  He pardoned the man. 

Think about the guts that must have taken.  Everyone in the country wanted Nixon to go on trial, or so it seemed.  They wanted him tarred and feathered.  They wanted him in prison.  What would that have solved?  What good would have come from putting a former president in prison?  It would have done no good to watch a protracted and long trial played out on television.  It would have caused further harm and deeper wounds to see Nixon sitting there answering questions and attempting to defend himself.  Ford was able to see past the bloodlust and see what was good for everyone and make the right decision.  Even those who criticized him severely at the time have since changed their views and admitted it was the right thing to have done.  It takes some kind of mind to see two or three decades into the future and know that eventually the country would come around to your way of thinking. 

Ford did it knowing it would probably cost him.  He must have known that voters would hold it against him if he did decide to run in the next election.  He did it anyway.  It’s hard to imagine any president since then doing something like that knowing it would probably cost them the next election.  These days CYA seems to be the norm in
Washington.  See what I mean, he was a good guy.  It’s too bad there haven’t been more of those in that seat of power since him.   

We all know what happened.  Ford lost to Carter.  It’s hard to imagine that Ford was only president for around two years.  When I think back to my vague childhood memories of him it seems like he was president much longer.  I think that was because he was always on television.  He was always letting us in on what he was doing.  Again, this is something administrations could learn from in the future. 

So, yes, Ford was old and he was sick.  His death was not a shock, at least to me.  Still, I think it’s nice to pause and remember a guy who didn’t want the reigns of power but seemed extraordinarily suited for them once he got them.  He did good for this country and he was a decent guy.  Not a bad record, if you ask me. 

Bryan W. Alaspa’s novel Dust is available in print and eBook format at www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.