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Picture of the day -
January 4, 2006
President Gerald R. Ford
Photo courtesy of
NASA.
On August 9, 1974, Richard M. Nixon became the only President of
the United States to resign from the office in American history. It
had become increasingly clear that he would soon be impeached for
his role in the Watergate scandal which had caused the morale of the
American people to plummet to an all-time low. At noon on that same
day, Vice-President Gerald Ford took the oath of office and stated
"Our long national nightmare is over." - one of the most memorable
quotes of his entire Presidency.
Gerald Rudolph Ford wasn't the type of politician we usually see
running for President. In fact, he never had any real desire to run
for that office - it was more-or-less thrust upon him. After
representing the people of Michigan in congress for 25 years (8 of
them as House Minority Leader), he was selected by Nixon to replace
Vice-President Spiro Agnew who had become the first
Vice-President to resign under a cloud of scandal. This put him
in the position of being first in line to replace Nixon.
During his inaugural speech, Ford said "I am acutely aware that
you have not elected me as your President by your ballots, and so I
ask you to confirm me as your President with your prayers. And I
hope that such prayers will also be the first of many." He was
clearly concerned that many Americans would never accept him as
their President, and many didn't. But he ended up doing perhaps the
best job that anyone could have done in rebuilding the nation's
confidence in the Presidency and our form of Government.
Ford will never be remembered as a great President in terms of
handling the nation's problems such as rampant inflation and high
unemployment, but he excelled at what turned out to be the most
important task of his Presidency (indeed, any Presidency) - bringing
honor and dignity back to the White House. Gerald Ford was a rarity
in politics: a good man with honorable intentions whose primary
interest lay in serving his constituents and the nation rather than
himself.
This ordinary and unassuming man who ascended to the most powerful
office on the planet due to a series of sad and unusual
circumstances turned out to be the best man for the job, hands down.
And although he was ousted at the next election, he will forever be
recognized by many as one of our greatest leaders. Trying times give
birth to heroes, and President Ford was a true hero - not because of
the way he managed our nation, but rather for the way he nurtured it
and healed it.
In memory of President Gerald Rudolph Ford
1913 - 2006
About the photo: Today's picture features President Ford
- a huge supporter of space exploration - attending the opening ceremony for the National Air and Space Museum
on July 1, 1976.
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