I've been listening to and watching the funeral service for Gerald R. Ford this morning and have a few short observations. First, I thought George HW Bush did a great job. No, I don't believe that George HW Bush was a great President, but he wasn't a bad one either, and overall I think he's a decent man. There was a very funny moment when Bush quoted Dana Carvey quoting him ("not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent") - ha!). Henry Kissinger gave an interesting eulogy, focusing on Gerald Ford's foreign policy. Tom Brokaw gave an excellent eulogy, speaking for all the members of the press corps. The current President Bush gave what I thought was a mediocre-at-best eulogy. In fairness, Dubya wasn't Ford's contemporary and didn't really know him. Still, I found it very difficult, knowing Dubya's own life story, to listen to him talk about how Ford volunteered for sea duty during World War II. It was also difficult to listen to this President, who has shown very little honor or integrity as President, talk about a great man like Gerald Ford, who exhibited both those qualities in spades.
Anyway, as Tom Brokaw said, "thank you Citizen Ford." Rest in peace.
The Washington Post described her as looking "frail" this weekend. Hard to believe this strong woman is frail, but of course she is 88 and her husband's death, however expected, must be devastating. She has my prayers that she may find peace and comfort in a very difficult time.
I vehemently disagreed--and disagree--with Ford's decision to pardon Nixon. But I always thought he was a good and decent man, and I had no difficulty respecting him personally even as I often differed with him politically on other, less momentous decisions. (Though his appointment of Stevens to the Supreme Court turns out to have been superb.)
How wonderfully normal that seems now, when we have a president who has perverted our nation and our Constitution and done incalculable damage to the world. How wonderfully normal in these days when political opposition is a matter of nothing less than good and evil.
May the Republican Party--and all our politics--find its way back to leaders like Gerald Ford, for the future of our country and the world depends on it.
First, Ford eloquently used Willis Ward's experience of racism in his op-ed piece in the New York Times in 1999, in which he vigorously defended the affirmative action policies of his alma mater, the University of Michigan -- policies that were being challenged in federal court cases at the time. By the time that the Michigan cases later reached the Supreme Court, Bush's Justice Department filed briefs asking the Court to strike down those policies. How ironic.
[Backstory: Willis Ward was Ford's football teammate who was black. Georgia Tech was scheduled to play Michigan in Ann Arbor, but refused to do so if Ward was allowed to play in the game. Ford was so angry by this racism that he refused to play. (He only played after Ward personally asked him to do so. Ward did not play. Michigan beat Georgia Tech.) Ford used this story in his op-ed piece to show that no one in the generations to follow should ever have to experience such racism and that, instead, diversity should flourish.]
Second, when Papa Bush #41 ran for the U.S. Senate in Texas in 1964 against Dem Ralph Yarborough, he was outspoken in his opposition to the bill that became the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. (Dubya was 18 years old at the time, so (if he was paying attention) he was surely aware of his father's position.) [By the way, I believe Yarborough was the only Southerner to vote for the measure. He also won the election.] Again, how ironic.