Gerald Ford Dies

[jdobbin]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10949314/

The only unelected President in U.S. history. He probably lost any chance of becoming an elected President when Nixon was pardoned.

[PolyNewbie]

That poor Globalist. I feel bad fdor him

[guyser]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10949314/

The only unelected President in U.S. history. He probably lost any chance of becoming an elected President when Nixon was pardoned.

[edit] Unelected Presidents

Eight Presidents took office without being elected to the presidency, having been elected as Vice Presidents and then promoted from that position:

Four of them did not run to succeed themselves and were never elected President.

John Tyler—assumed the presidency on the death of William Henry Harrison; did not run in the 1844 election

Millard Fillmore—succeeded Zachary Taylor; did not run in the 1852 election

Fillmore did run for President in the 1856 election as a Know Nothing Party candidate and received 873,053 votes (21.6%), finishing third

Andrew Johnson—succeeded Abraham Lincoln; did not run in the 1868 election

Chester A. Arthur—succeeded James Garfield; did not run in the 1884 election

The other four later ran for President and were elected to succeed themselves as President:

Theodore Roosevelt—succeeded William McKinley; elected to succeed himself as President in the 1904 election

Calvin Coolidge—succeeded Warren G. Harding; elected to succeed himself as President in the 1924 election

Harry S. Truman—succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt; elected to succeed himself as president in the 1948 election but did not run again in the 1952 election, despite being eligible for a third term.

Lyndon B. Johnson—succeeded John F. Kennedy; elected to succeed himself as president in the 1964 election but did not run again in the 1968 election

One President, Gerald Ford, was never elected; he was appointed Vice President by Richard Nixon (with approval from Congress) upon the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew. He succeeded to the presidency after Nixon's resignation and was defeated in the 1976 election by Jimmy Carter.

[jdobbin]

One President, Gerald Ford, was never elected; he was appointed Vice President by Richard Nixon (with approval from Congress) upon the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew. He succeeded to the presidency after Nixon's resignation and was defeated in the 1976 election by Jimmy Carter.

Sorry, my reference should have included the vice-presidency for which he not was not elected to either.

[Guest American Woman]

May he RIP. But you know, I honestly can't think of what he accomplished during his presidency. It must have been pretty unremarkable.

[jdobbin]

May he RIP. But you know, I honestly can't think of what he accomplished during his presidency. It must have been pretty unremarkable.

He let Vietnam draft dodgers in Canada go home.

[Ladyjen]

May he RIP. But you know, I honestly can't think of what he accomplished during his presidency. It must have been pretty unremarkable.

He is credited with considerably boosting the economy. That's a biggy!

[jbg]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10949314/

The only unelected President in U.S. history. He probably lost any chance of becoming an elected President when Nixon was pardoned.

I remember well the day that Ford pardoned Nixon. I was, at the time, a senior in Scarsdale High School, fresh from being active on Students for McGovern. My father and I, as one of the last things we did when he was alive, distributed campaign literature for McGovern. I was in mourning when Nixon's throngs were chanting their dirgelike "Four More Years" on November 7, 1972. I was in ecstacy when I heard, on my car radio, Nixon's resignation speech on, I believe, August 7, 1974. Nevertheless, I was virtually the only student in my high school, and certainly the only activist Democrat, to strongly support Ford's pardon of Nixon.

I believed then, and believe more strongly now, that unlike a British or Canadian Prime Minister, a President is both a Head of State (like Elizabeth II) and a prime minister. His role is both ceremonial and active. One of the things that made the US a great and stable democracy, unlike France, was its tradition of allowing the peaceful and civilized succession of power. No French Revolution-style bloodlettings in our country. One of the great gifts John Adams gave his country was sulking away from Washington, DC peacefully when Jefferson beat him. One of the great gifts Jefferson gave was resuming his friendship with Adams, interrupted by their political rivalry. These two acts helped create the central fact of our great nation; that we are one united nation, and that the unity supercedes politics.

Ford's pardon of Richard Milhous Nixon continued that great tradition.

[Guest American Woman]

May he RIP. But you know, I honestly can't think of what he accomplished during his presidency. It must have been pretty unremarkable.

He let Vietnam draft dodgers in Canada go home.

This is a biggie, no doubt. I have to wonder if that was the right thing to do, though. I do believe no one should fight a war if they think it's wrong, and I totally support those who refuse to fight in Iraq. But I still wonder if the draft dodgers should have been allowed back home. Once they made the decision to leave the U.S. rather than serve in the military, perhaps they should have had to live with that decision, with the consequences; just like those who saw it as their duty to serve when called had to live with the consequences of their decision.

Any thoughts on this?

[Rue]

May he RIP. But you know, I honestly can't think of what he accomplished during his presidency. It must have been pretty unremarkable.

1. He provided that loser Chevy Chase with a comedy routine which then went on to make that loser CHevy Chase rich.

2. He was the one who got Canada admitted to the G-8 after Valerie Giscard D'Estang the President of France insulted Canada and called us a bunch of no nothings.

3. He gave birth to a son who starred in a soap opera.

4. He had a wife who made being a celebrity alcoholic and going to rehab. trendy long before Mel Gibson or

Nicole Kidman's husband, etc.

5. He was part of the JFK assassinationc over-up.

6. He created a new style of mundane, boring, studdering, public speaking.

7. He proved you could fall constantly but not break your hip.

8. He proved someone was more of a loser then Jimmy Carter.

[jdobbin]

This is a biggie, no doubt. I have to wonder if that was the right thing to do, though. I do believe no one should fight a war if they think it's wrong, and I totally support those who refuse to fight in Iraq. But I still wonder if the draft dodgers should have been allowed back home. Once they made the decision to leave the U.S. rather than serve in the military, perhaps they should have had to live with that decision, with the consequences; just like those who saw it as their duty to serve when called had to live with the consequences of their decision.

Any thoughts on this?

He was trying to heal the rift of Vietnam.

I think that there was recognition by Ford that it would be a blight on Republicans to come if they didn't let the young people come home.

[jdobbin]

One of the great gifts Jefferson gave was resuming his friendship with Adams, interrupted by their political rivalry. These two acts helped create the central fact of our great nation; that we are one united nation, and that the unity supercedes politics.

Ford's pardon of Richard Milhous Nixon continued that great tradition.

How about Clinton and Bush Sr?

Or is Clinton still in the evil book?

[jbg]

One of the great gifts Jefferson gave was resuming his friendship with Adams, interrupted by their political rivalry. These two acts helped create the central fact of our great nation; that we are one united nation, and that the unity supercedes politics.

Ford's pardon of Richard Milhous Nixon continued that great tradition.

How about Clinton and Bush Sr?

Or is Clinton still in the evil book?

I happen to have thought Clinton was a rather good President with a G-d-awful Cabinet. He should have reshuffled all of them to obscurity, or made them all Ministers of State, Far Northern Alaskan (or Fiji Island) Development) except Robert Rubin.

[jdobbin]

I happen to have thought Clinton was a rather good President with a G-d-awful Cabinet. He should have reshuffled all of them to obscurity, or made them all Ministers of State, Far Northern Alaskan (or Fiji Island) Development) except Robert Rubin.

I liked Rubin.

I liked Bill Richardson too.

I thought Robert Reich was good too.

[jbg]

Below are excerpts of the Wall Street Journal editorial(link), which I thought was quite eloquent, on his life:

The abiding cliché about Gerald Ford -- who died Tuesday at age 93 -- is that he was a decent man who steadied the country but held the White House too briefly to leave a major imprint. We've always thought that view of his Presidency is too diminishing, not least because he led the nation at a dangerous time and resisted political furies that could have done the U.S. far more harm.

"America's Suicide Attempt" is how the historian Paul Johnson describes the 1970s. And it is important to recall the bad temper of the times that Ford inherited in becoming the 38th President.

*snip*

It is true that Ford was something of an accidental President, the only one in U.S. history never elected as either President or Vice President. Before Nixon picked him to replace the disgraced Spiro Agnew as his Vice President, Ford had been contemplating retirement from his Grand Rapids, Michigan, House seat. But like another unlikely President from the Midwest, Harry Truman, he had reserves of honesty and fortitude that served him well.

He made a particular contribution in pardoning Nixon, though he knew Nixon's enemies would accuse him of a quid pro quo. The decision cost him dearly in the polls and may have cost him the election in 1976, but it also spared the country from years of division over a criminal trial that special prosecutor Leon Jaworski seemed determined to pursue.

*snip*

In historical political terms, Ford was something of a transition figure -- from the traditional Republicanism of Eisenhower, with which Ford identified, to the more energetic reform conservatism that would triumph with Reagan. Arguably Ford's biggest political mistake was choosing Nelson Rockefeller as his vice president over Reagan. The New York Governor was deeply unpopular with the GOP base, and the selection left Ford vulnerable to Reagan's primary challenge in 1976.

The Gipper came within a handful of delegates of taking the nomination, a challenge that weakened Ford for the autumn race against Democrat Jimmy Carter. In the event, Ford ran one of the better Presidential campaigns of the modern era and came close to beating the former Georgia governor who had run as a conservative himself.

Perhaps President Ford's greatest achievement was in demonstrating to a nation angry and dispirited over Watergate and Vietnam that its political system was resilient and the Office of the Presidency still worthy of respect. In that sense his Presidency was a triumph of Ford's personal character -- not the first, or last, time America has been fortunate in the leaders our democracy has produced.

[Guest American Woman]

This is a biggie, no doubt. I have to wonder if that was the right thing to do, though. I do believe no one should fight a war if they think it's wrong, and I totally support those who refuse to fight in Iraq. But I still wonder if the draft dodgers should have been allowed back home. Once they made the decision to leave the U.S. rather than serve in the military, perhaps they should have had to live with that decision, with the consequences; just like those who saw it as their duty to serve when called had to live with the consequences of their decision.

Any thoughts on this?

He was trying to heal the rift of Vietnam.

I think that there was recognition by Ford that it would be a blight on Republicans to come if they didn't let the young people come home.

Perhaps Ford was more concerned about the Republican party than he was the young men, and they did deserve to be able to come home, but I can't help but wonder how those who saw it as their duty to fulfill their military obligation must have felt when those who chose to leave no longer had to live with the consequences of their decision. Someone wounded for life must feel a little bitter about that, no?

[jdobbin]

Perhaps Ford was more concerned about the Republican party than he was the young men, and they did deserve to be able to come home, but I can't help but wonder how those who saw it as their duty to fulfill their military obligation must have felt when those who chose to leave no longer had to live with the consequences of their decision. Someone wounded for life must feel a little bitter about that, no?

They might have been no less angry than the sons of rich men who got into the National Guard to avoid overseas duty.

I think Ford did the best he could but in the end people wanted a change from the Vietnam War which had stymied a number of U.S. presidents and had scarred so many lives.

[guyser]

ITS GUD HE DIED HE WAS BAD PREZ AND SUCKS YOUR DICK!

Well he could at least type in coherent sentences. Four years in grade six I take it?

It is 8:40 , your moms calling as it is bathtime.

Buh bye !

[Guest American Woman]

Perhaps Ford was more concerned about the Republican party than he was the young men, and they did deserve to be able to come home, but I can't help but wonder how those who saw it as their duty to fulfill their military obligation must have felt when those who chose to leave no longer had to live with the consequences of their decision. Someone wounded for life must feel a little bitter about that, no?

They might have been no less angry than the sons of rich men who got into the National Guard to avoid overseas duty.

I think Ford did the best he could but in the end people wanted a change from the Vietnam War which had stymied a number of U.S. presidents and had scarred so many lives.

You make very good points. I agree with you.

I find it interesting that Ford "spoke from the grave" to criticize Bush and the Iraq war. It reallly says something that he evidently felt he couldn't speak out while he was still alive.

[sharkman]

I must have missed the speaking from the grave part, did someone put words in his mouth?

[Black Dog]

I believed then, and believe more strongly now, that unlike a British or Canadian Prime Minister, a President is both a Head of State (like Elizabeth II) and a prime minister. His role is both ceremonial and active. One of the things that made the US a great and stable democracy, unlike France, was its tradition of allowing the peaceful and civilized succession of power. No French Revolution-style bloodlettings in our country. One of the great gifts John Adams gave his country was sulking away from Washington, DC peacefully when Jefferson beat him. One of the great gifts Jefferson gave was resuming his friendship with Adams, interrupted by their political rivalry. These two acts helped create the central fact of our great nation; that we are one united nation, and that the unity supercedes politics.

Ford's pardon of Richard Milhous Nixon continued that great tradition.

Wow. So, is there any crook or felon that you wouldn't let walk for the sake of some incoherent bable about "unity"?

[Guest American Woman]

I must have missed the speaking from the grave part, did someone put words in his mouth?

Ford had given an interview before his death criticizing Bush and the war, but he did it under the condition that it woudln't be published until after he died. So it's like "speaking from the grave," don't you think?

[jbg]

Ford's pardon of Richard Milhous Nixon continued that great tradition.

Wow. So, is there any crook or felon that you wouldn't let walk for the sake of some incoherent bable about "unity"?

Babble about unity? How about the fact that the US is probably the most successful nation in history?