The Ford Legacy: The Passing Of Gerald R. Ford
The passing of Gerald Ford, our 38th President, is, as are all deaths, a sad event. Ford will be remembered for many things. He will be remembered for being the only US president in history to achieve the two highest political offices in the land by not being elected, but by being the beneficiary of scandalous behaviors of his predecessors. Ford came to the office of Vice President after the scandalous behaviors of Spiro Agnew became public and the news that Agnew was a ripoff artist in politician's garb became general knowledge rather than a "dirty little secret" among the "good old boys" accustomed to making "back room deals" at cigar smoke-filled poker games.
Even though I was a kid at the time, I wondered how anyone could vote for a Nixon/Agnew ticket in any event. Nixon had a "checkered" past of accepting "incentives" and questionable contributons, was a major figure in the McCarthy Era and discriminatory efforts of tat era, and really did not live up to any of the standard that went along with being a Quaker. Agnew was a wannabe business tycoon that had a reputation of feathering his own nest before considering how any event, policy or transaction would affect anyone else (true ethical egoism), which included considering his own political party. Quite frankly, anyone that really bothered to investigate either Nixon or Agnew would have found enough evidence of ethical shortcomings that voting for either would have been immoral in and of itself.
But hey, don't blame me... I am from Massachusetts, the only state that voted overwhelmingly against Nixon in his run for a second term as president, even after hge chucked off Agnew.
Ford came in to replace Agnew. Ford was a decent man with a decent record of representing his constitutent. Although a conservative, his conservativism was not ruled by allegiances to the party without reason, or to a religious-political ideology that has dominated the GOP since the late 1970s. He was a reknowned athlete in his days at college, but couldn't seem to keep an upright posture while deplaning Air Force One, walking up or down a ramp, or traversing a set of stairs. His inability to stand up and walk in an ordinary fashion led to the launch of Chevy Chase's career as a legend of Saturday Night Live and the Not Ready For Prime Time Players.
Ford inherited several legacy issues after Nixon resigned in shame and disgrace in the wake of the Watergate scandal. He tried to deal with the disunity of the nation caused by Watergate through a mosguided pre-emptive pardon of Nixon for any and all criminal acts that may have been committed while Nixon held office. This was an error not only for his political career and effort to get elected for a second term, it undermined the systemic provisions of the Constituion to hold those who serve in high office accountable. Ford's motivation is similar to that currently offered by Nancy Pelosi, an effort to bring immediate closure to an uncomfortable issue and effect some political healing across the nation. The damage to Ford's run for election in the next term was obvious, as it will be for the Democrats that follow Pelosi in the current effort to avoid impeachment of Bush and Cheney.
Then Ford tried to deal with runaway inflation and recession by using useless motivational buttons in the now infamous "Whip Inflation Now" (WIN) campaign. Somehow the idea that inflation and recession could be beat by making people feel good about getting fleeced and screwed ovder by employers, government and merchants didn't seem to take in the "real world." Those of us that had to work to pay our bills, provide food for our families and put a roof over our heads (and I was one of them because I worked for my family's construction company for no pay at the time) knew that a WIN button--and the inflation/recession policies implemented under the WIN campaign--was less useful than already used toilet tissue.
But Ford drew a lot of other types of attention as well. Ford was the only president that was targeted by two would-be crazed female assassins seeking to shoot him with a hand gun. Of course we all remember the tragedies of JFK, RFK and MLK at the hands of assassins. LBJ was the target of several attempts to assasinate his political standing because he was an overbearing son-of-a-bitch and played pulled no-holds-barred politics on the Hill, but was never the subject of a direct assasination attempt. Although Nixon had his share of detractors and critics, he was not directly targeted by assasins on the ground. Jimmy Carter had his political career assasinated by Reagan and ultraconservative zealots that were already pulling backdoor deals with our Iranian enemies that eventually led to the Iran-Contra Affair, but Carter was not directly in the sights of an assasin in any locality. We all remember that Reagan was shot and that Jim Brady suffered severe head trauma in that incident. But Ford had TWO wild lunatics actively seek him out and placed him in their sights for a bullet from handguns. Fortunatley, the actions of a Marine bystander and a very effective member of the Secret Service prevented "Squeaky" Fromm and the other lunatic from being effective.
As a result of these two attempts on Ford's life, the Secret Service became very aggressive in preventing folks from getting close to the then president. This aggressiveness resulted in several parade spectators at the bicentennial events held at Lexington-Concord (Massachusetts in 1976) being knocked to the ground merely for stepping out onto the street to snap a picture of the president in passing.
While "Jerry" Ford will be remembered as a decent human being, he will not be remembered for much positive, pro-active or effective in his role as president. His service as a member of congress will be remembered in a more memorable fashion than his term as president. He will be remembered for his success as an athlete in his younger years, as well as his service as an officer in the Navy during WWII, more than he will be remembered for his role as president.
But as president, he will be remembered as a decent human being trying to do a difficult job with good intentions and some sense of ethics, morality and service... which is in stark opposition and contrast to how George W. Bush will be remembered.
Even though I was a kid at the time, I wondered how anyone could vote for a Nixon/Agnew ticket in any event. Nixon had a "checkered" past of accepting "incentives" and questionable contributons, was a major figure in the McCarthy Era and discriminatory efforts of tat era, and really did not live up to any of the standard that went along with being a Quaker. Agnew was a wannabe business tycoon that had a reputation of feathering his own nest before considering how any event, policy or transaction would affect anyone else (true ethical egoism), which included considering his own political party. Quite frankly, anyone that really bothered to investigate either Nixon or Agnew would have found enough evidence of ethical shortcomings that voting for either would have been immoral in and of itself.
But hey, don't blame me... I am from Massachusetts, the only state that voted overwhelmingly against Nixon in his run for a second term as president, even after hge chucked off Agnew.
Ford came in to replace Agnew. Ford was a decent man with a decent record of representing his constitutent. Although a conservative, his conservativism was not ruled by allegiances to the party without reason, or to a religious-political ideology that has dominated the GOP since the late 1970s. He was a reknowned athlete in his days at college, but couldn't seem to keep an upright posture while deplaning Air Force One, walking up or down a ramp, or traversing a set of stairs. His inability to stand up and walk in an ordinary fashion led to the launch of Chevy Chase's career as a legend of Saturday Night Live and the Not Ready For Prime Time Players.
Ford inherited several legacy issues after Nixon resigned in shame and disgrace in the wake of the Watergate scandal. He tried to deal with the disunity of the nation caused by Watergate through a mosguided pre-emptive pardon of Nixon for any and all criminal acts that may have been committed while Nixon held office. This was an error not only for his political career and effort to get elected for a second term, it undermined the systemic provisions of the Constituion to hold those who serve in high office accountable. Ford's motivation is similar to that currently offered by Nancy Pelosi, an effort to bring immediate closure to an uncomfortable issue and effect some political healing across the nation. The damage to Ford's run for election in the next term was obvious, as it will be for the Democrats that follow Pelosi in the current effort to avoid impeachment of Bush and Cheney.
Then Ford tried to deal with runaway inflation and recession by using useless motivational buttons in the now infamous "Whip Inflation Now" (WIN) campaign. Somehow the idea that inflation and recession could be beat by making people feel good about getting fleeced and screwed ovder by employers, government and merchants didn't seem to take in the "real world." Those of us that had to work to pay our bills, provide food for our families and put a roof over our heads (and I was one of them because I worked for my family's construction company for no pay at the time) knew that a WIN button--and the inflation/recession policies implemented under the WIN campaign--was less useful than already used toilet tissue.
But Ford drew a lot of other types of attention as well. Ford was the only president that was targeted by two would-be crazed female assassins seeking to shoot him with a hand gun. Of course we all remember the tragedies of JFK, RFK and MLK at the hands of assassins. LBJ was the target of several attempts to assasinate his political standing because he was an overbearing son-of-a-bitch and played pulled no-holds-barred politics on the Hill, but was never the subject of a direct assasination attempt. Although Nixon had his share of detractors and critics, he was not directly targeted by assasins on the ground. Jimmy Carter had his political career assasinated by Reagan and ultraconservative zealots that were already pulling backdoor deals with our Iranian enemies that eventually led to the Iran-Contra Affair, but Carter was not directly in the sights of an assasin in any locality. We all remember that Reagan was shot and that Jim Brady suffered severe head trauma in that incident. But Ford had TWO wild lunatics actively seek him out and placed him in their sights for a bullet from handguns. Fortunatley, the actions of a Marine bystander and a very effective member of the Secret Service prevented "Squeaky" Fromm and the other lunatic from being effective.
As a result of these two attempts on Ford's life, the Secret Service became very aggressive in preventing folks from getting close to the then president. This aggressiveness resulted in several parade spectators at the bicentennial events held at Lexington-Concord (Massachusetts in 1976) being knocked to the ground merely for stepping out onto the street to snap a picture of the president in passing.
While "Jerry" Ford will be remembered as a decent human being, he will not be remembered for much positive, pro-active or effective in his role as president. His service as a member of congress will be remembered in a more memorable fashion than his term as president. He will be remembered for his success as an athlete in his younger years, as well as his service as an officer in the Navy during WWII, more than he will be remembered for his role as president.
But as president, he will be remembered as a decent human being trying to do a difficult job with good intentions and some sense of ethics, morality and service... which is in stark opposition and contrast to how George W. Bush will be remembered.
posted by Jim Downey at 12:05 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home