Gerald Ford did not replace Henry Kissinger as his Secretary of State. There are allegations that Kissinger and Ford were complicit in the slaughter of tens of thousands of Timorese at the hands of General Suharto. And it was Gerald Ford who appointed George H.W. Bush to be Director of the FBI CIA, Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, and Dick Cheney as his Chief of Staff. I expect there will be some discussion of these acts in the next few days.
This might be a good time to re-evaluate the pardon of Nixon, because pardons of another former president and vice president may become a big issue in the next administration. In my life I've gone from being furious to thinking it was best for the nation and then changing my mind again. We need to look carefully at the long-term results of the pardon. How much of that terrible era went unexamined because of Nixon's pardon? And did it matter?
But Gerald Ford was not, I think, a man who put schemes and party politics ahead of his country. He and his family were were a soothing balm of honesty and wholesomeness at a time the nation desperately needed honesty and wholesomeness. On Inauguration Day 1977, President Carter began his speech: "For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land."
And that's what I choose to remember now.
Bookmarks