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Jan. 4, 2007 I wanted to express my feelings after having watched the entire funeral process for President Gerald R. Ford. I had a need to do this because when he was our President I placed no credence or value in his Presidency. At the time when President Ford was sworn into office I had been very vocal and outspoken regarding the crimes of his predecessor, Richard Nixon. I was furious with the entire Watergate fiasco and had lost faith in the political system of my country. I wrote letters, sent telegrams and marched against Nixon and was relieved when he finally resigned from office. I never missed a Watergate hearing on television and knew about all of the players in the drama. John Dean became a hero and the President and his men were the enemies of all that I had believed in. Rather than feel relief that Ford was our new President I was confused. I didn't really know who he was except for the fact that he had also replaced Spiro Agnew as Vice President. Prior to that I had not heard or read about his many years serving in Congress. He was just some interim guy as far as I was concerned. I remember being very angry when he pardoned Nixon and laughed along with the many others when Chevy Chase made fun of his clumsiness on SNL. He became a joke and an object of ridicule as far as I was concerned. To put it simply, I was wrong about the man and what he did during his short presidency. Gerald R. Ford was right about granting Nixon's pardon. The country had been through a horrible period and prolonging that misery for many months or years to come with trials and the eventual imprisonment of an American President would have served no purpose. Nixon received the ultimate punishment when he lost what was most dear to him...the presidency. In hindsight, that was punishment enough. Putting him in jail and making the country go through more grief, anger and bitterness would have been far more harmful than pardoning Nixon and allowing us all to move forward and try to heal. Also, the idea that President Ford was a bumbling oaf as portrayed by various comedians was not who the man really was. He was a superb athlete and even though he was the first to laugh at himself and the jabs taken at him, I imagine that it must have hurt him to be portrayed as a klutzy, stumbling idiot. It was only during this last week of tributes and stories told by individuals from different political perspectives that I learned that they all respected and loved Gerald R. Ford and that he was a wonderful, decent man who was loyal and true to his friends no matter how different their political leanings were. His relationship with Jimmy Carter is a perfect example of how he was able to overlook a very close defeat in his one and only campaign to run for the presidency and become a very close friend to the man who defeated him. In his eulogy today, Carter was truly touched and emotional when he spoke of his friend Gerald Ford and it was obvious that they had become great friends despite their political differences. I learned this week of a wonderful human being who made our country better and helped to heal it after a long trying time in our history. I learned that he was respected and loved by not only his family but by his constituents and his opponents and I learned that when Gerald R. Ford quoted his motto, "Tell the truth, work hard and don't be late for dinner", he practiced what he preached and that his values and morals were not something that he acted out for public consumption, He truly believed in what he said and lived that motto throughout his entire life. His love for his family and his loyalty and pride in them couldn't have been more clear as I watched all of them this week. There was no doubt in my mind that he was a man who not only gave love but received it. I cried when the end came today and I heard the roar of the jets doing their ceremonial fly-by and when I heard the sad sound of TAPS. I cried when I watched Betty Ford receive the flag that had been draped over his coffin and when she gently kissed it knowing that her husband of fifty-eight years would be laid to rest far from their home in Rancho Mirage, California. I had the feeling that she might be joining him soon because she looked so frail and lonely, even surrounded by those she loved. I truly believe that the heart and soul of her being had been taken away. I heard many people say goodbye to President Ford and wish him God's speed and I wanted to add my farewell to the other voices who spoke. I wanted him to know that I learned in a short week to appreciate who he was and what he represented and that knowing that he was a man who never really wanted to be President and perhaps lacked the necessary ego to run successfully for that office, I believe that he served it well and that I will always remember him fondly and with the respect that he deserves. Goodbye, Mr. President....job well done. ------------ About the author: Meri has a Medical/Legal background and is a former forensic researcher specializing in psychological profiling. https://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=27335 Email: writers2@cox.net Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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