Gerald Ford: He Pardoned Nixon
That’s what I remember about him - the pardon. Well, that and Chevy Chase’s impersonation of him. So, I don’t dislike him; I just didn’t really like him. Ford, that is, not Chevy Chase.
I had a history teacher who once said, “Nixon didn’t do anything any other President didn’t do, he just got caught doing it.” That was Mrs. Wicker. She was one of two teachers in high school who I think of fondly, if only because what she taught was interesting to me.
I don’t know if she said what she did about Nixon as a way to absolve him of his crimes by pointing out that all Presidents are guilty of something, or simply pointing out that all Presidents are guilty of something. I do know that her comments have stuck with me and, at that time of my life, provided the catalyst for my thinking of Nixon as a crook, above and beyond the crooked deeds of other Presidents, real or imagined.
To me, Ford pardoned a criminal, and that just seemed unconscionable.
So, I never really thought much of him beyond his Nixon connection.
I did think more about Chevy Chase, even if I didn’t think he was always funny. And while I’m a fan of slapstick, I never found Chase’s impersonation of Ford as all that funny.
Although, “Vacation” is a seriously funny movie.
- Greg.
December 27th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
A lot of people at the time, myself included, thought that Nixon picked Ford to replace Agnew bewcause he thought it would inoculate him against impeachment, and that if that failed, Ford would pardon him as part of a secret deal between them. And all that pardon did was set the precedent for the pardons following the Iran-Contra convictions. And if he gets convicted, Scopoter Libby will get one, too. Hel, I’s surprised Shrub hasn’t already done it.
December 27th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Why do all the news outlets say “…the only un-elected president.”? There have been a bunch of them. He may have been the only one that was not subsequently elected to succeed himself, but that ain’t the same thing.
December 28th, 2006 at 10:49 am
Chuck the media refers to the fact that he was not elected to the vice presidency but rather appointed. The media’s point is that Ford is the only Presdient not elected nor elected to the position that resulted in his presidency.
When Ford Pardoned Nixon he a) deprived us of our right to know the truth about Nixon, Watergate, etc. and (as larry the red pointed out) b) made it acceptable to be a dishonest politician. Ford did a great disservice to the country on both counts and they are just the most obvious examples of his ineptitude, the MSM will glorify him as they did RR at the time of his death and the corporate profiteer will have enshrined one more myth about the good done by evil persons.