“Jerry Ford is a nice guy, but he played too much football with his helmet off.”
Former President Lyndon Johnson
Leslie Lynch King Jr. was born on July 14th, 1913 in Omaha, Nebraska. Two weeks later his mother would flee to live with family in Michigan to escape an abusive relationship with Leslie Sr. A few years later she would marry a man who would adopt little Leslie and replace the boy’s paternal name with his own, Gerald Ford.
It felt right to go back to The American Presidents Series for the 38th President. The succinct book was reflective of Ford’s short-lived presidency of just two and a half years. Author Douglas Brinkley does a fine job giving the reader the scouting report on the former linebacker turned president and he leans hard into football nomenclature to tell the tale. Really hard. Like, too hard.
That said, the book’s tone kept with the general perceptions of Ford as a man and a politician. He was the folksy All-American; the likeable klutz; the honest, unflashy Midwestern Everyman that the country could turn to in its darkest presidential hour. Through a stranger-than-fiction combination of scandals, politicking and long-time friendships, Gerald Ford became the only person in American history to become Commander-in-Chief after not being elected president or vice-president.
We’ll back up a little bit. After Ford’s well-documented football career at the University of Michigan he turned down multiple offers to play professionally [Ed. note: it’s crucial to note that pro football paychecks in 1935 were nowhere near the stratospheric amounts they reach today]. From here, the playbook follows the American Political Dream. Graduation from Yale Law School. Private practice and an entry into local politics. Patriotic duty via service in the Navy during WWII, seeing action in the Pacific. Marriage. Election to the US House, where he would spend the subsequent two dozen years eventually peaking as the House Minority Leader. Then about ten minutes as VP while the reality of Watergate set in and BOOM: Welcome to the Oval Office Mr. President.
Ford’s transition from the House to the White House is one of the most fascinating chronologies in American politics. Here’s the background: Richard Nixon was elected in the fall of 1972 in a land slide with his running mate, Spiro Agnew. Just over a year later, VP Agnew’s notorious reputation caught up to him and he resigned his high office after being convicted of bribery and tax evasion. Senior Congressional leaders saw a clear choice to replace him: the ever-honest, long-serving, party-loyal Gerald Ford. To boot, Nixon had started his own Washington career in the House just two years before Ford and was one of the first young Representatives to welcome the Michigan man to town. The two had been friends for almost 30 years by this point.
The VP nomination sailed through both houses of Congress. Even liberal former House colleagues supported his ascension, with one saying, “Frankly, I am astonished to hear myself, a life-long Democrat, support a Republican for Vice President…he has come into focus as someone who appears to offer the nation a steadiness and a dependability for which it yearns. I doubt if there has ever before been a time when integrity has so surpassed ideology in the judging of a man for so high an office.” The rumblings of Watergate had started by this time as well, so it’s an easy supposition that many in Congress wanted to tee up a man known for his unwavering principles as a potential replacement for Tricky Dick.
The presidency of Gerald Ford is largely forgotten, with one very glaring exception: he pardoned Richard Nixon. Ford was resolutely crushed for the decision at the time, but hindsight was kinder. Over two decades later he would receive the Profile in Courage Award for his actions. I’ve always been on the side of “What’s the guy supposed to do?” His options were pardon his predecessor and get on with the business of the day or let the specter of unending lawsuits, bad PR and dragging his party through the mud overwhelm anything he would try to get done with the time he had in office. When between a rock and a hard place, why not pardon the rock and let it just roll away?
A short article for a short presidency seems fitting, so I’ll let Jerry take it home. “I assume the presidency under extraordinary circumstances never before experienced by Americans…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 in your prayers…I have not sought this enormous responsibility, but I will not shirk it. I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our government but civilization itself. That bond, though strained, is unbroken at home and abroad. In all my public and private acts as your president, I expect to follow my instincts of openness and candor with full confidence that honesty is the best policy in the end. My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”
Trivia
- Ford lost his bid for election in his own right in 1976 mostly because Ronald Reagan ran against him in a hard fought primary rather than support the party incumbent. The Nixon pardon didn’t really help his cause either.
- After losing the primary, Reagan refused to support Ford in the general election. In Ford’s own words, “I have never publicly criticized Reagan for what he did. I can tell you I was shocked when he called me in November of ’75 and said he was going to run. I thought, What a low-down stunt. Really burned the hell out of me. I thought I had done a good job and I thought a Reagan challenge would make it more difficult if I won, to win the general election. What also irritated me, after I beat him in Kansas City – and I’m the only person who ever beat him in a political race, he never lost another – was that he snubbed me. Put his nose up in the air. After I had defeated him, he only made one appearance on my behalf. And that was at a Republican dinner in Los Angeles, I think. He endorsed me. But in a lukewarm way. There was no question in my mind that if he had campaigned for me in Mississippi, Wisconsin and Missouri, I could have beat Carter. Three or four states were lost by one or two percent. He just wasn’t a party player that year. It was all about himself.”
- Interestingly, Ford still debated joining Reagan’s 1980 ticket as VP, but ultimately ruled it out.
- Very moderate conservative; disagreed with the GOP on affirmative action, gun control, abortion and gay rights.
- Almost assassinated twice in 1975, including by a Charles Manson follower!
- First sitting president to ever visit Japan.
- 1963: elected House Republican Conference Chairman; serves on Warren Commission investigating JFK’s death.
- Unsuccessfully calls for impeachment of SCOTUS Justice William O. Douglas on ethics grounds.
- Picks Nelson Rockefeller as his own VP.
- Reorganizes cabinet including George HW Bush as CIA director, Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense and Dick Cheney as White House Chief of Staff; all these elevations would profoundly influence both future Bush presidencies.
Follow-up Reading
- Gerald R. Ford: An Honorable Life by James Cannon
- Ambition, Pragmatism, and Party: A Political Biography of Gerald R. Ford by Scott Kaufman
- When the Center Held: Gerald Ford and the Rescue of the American Presidency by Donald Rumsfeld