Having been born in 1975 I am too young to remember the Watergate mess. Consequentally I am really too young to remember Gerald Ford’s presidency. The first president I really remember is Ronald Reagan.
A friend and I were remarking how Jimmy Carter is more popular post presidency than as president. And Gerald Ford might be more popular dead than he ever was alive.
They say that Gerald Ford’s pardon of Nixon cost him the presidency. I would tend to agree. America wanted some type of closure to Watergate. Ford’s pardon was his form of closure, but it just didn’t play well with the American public at the time.
But can anyone remember anything that Ford did as a president? The phrase that come to mind is “Ford pardoned Nixon,” and not much else. Perhaps Ford’s role as presidency was to hold the nation together during crisis until the election of 1976. Consequently it is not surprising that an outsider to Washington won the election.
But can anyone remember what Ford did post presidency? Sure he had some golf tournaments and showed up for presidential photo ops. He wasn’t building houses, brokering peace or anything else. It is Betty Ford we remember, post presidency, for establishing the Betty Ford Center for substance abuse.
Still we honor Ford’s death. Watching the Funeral last night gave me a sense of how we honor ALL presidents. The funeral brought back memories of the not-too-distant Reagan funeral. Both seemed to have the same military honor, reminding us that all presidents are honored, no matter what they accomplished in their lives.