The passing of President Ford

I remember the summer of '74. I spent it in Portland with Grandma & Grandpa Wittren. My family was living in California at the time.

I was very close to them. Grandma called me "Senator". She and I talked politics. At the age of 10, I understood it probably just a little less than I do now.

I remember the Watergate hearings, President Nixon leaving office, and Gerald Ford assuming office.

Forrest Gump taught me further about the bumbling break-in at the Watergate Hotel, and the movie All the President's Men taught me about Deep Throat.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/27/AR2006122701558_pf.html

I saw Bob Woodward on Meet the Press the other day, and I found the artical by him in the Post. He definitely was not for the pardon of President Nixon at the time, but he now sees it was a good decision that Ford made for the county. Ford's primary reason for the pardon was to get the issue that was consuming more than half his time off his desk, but it also had the effect of pushing the nation past it.

The article tells how Henry Kissinger regularly offered to resign, but how President Ford would take him by the hand and tell him the future of the country was in his hands.

In an interview 2 years ago, President Ford criticized President Bush's decision to go into Iraq. While freeing people is a noble notion, he said, it should not be done when it's not directly tied to our country's self-interest.

I kind of feel bad that Ford was not given a full term to prove himself, but what he did in such a short span of time probably would not be remembered with such fondness.