Former President Gerald Ford dies

Former President Gerald Ford, who became president in 1974 after the resignation of Richard Nixon, died Tuesday at age 93. Story: Former President Ford Dies at 93. Ford was America's longest living president, followed by Ronald Reagen who also died at age 93. Ford made history as the first unelected vice president, chosen by Nixon to replace Spiro Agnew, who also was forced from office by scandal. During Ford's time in office he was the target of two separate assassination attempts by two women. He had been suffering from pneumonia earlier this year, as well as having heart treatment.

Wow, he was the first president I remember coming into office. Wait, I think he was the first president I remember not being reelected. Something like that.

Quite a football player.

A harmless man, a good transition figure between Nixon the Crook and Carter the Peacemaker.


(SF Chronicle)
Mind, he did pardon the crook ...

Ford made for some great SNL fodder and many will surely remember him for that. He was a genuinely nice guy. Glad he was there post Nixon and sad he is gone now.

He sure had a hell of time with airport stairs...

Wasn't Ford the one that they said he couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time ?

Anyway 93 is a bloody good batting average, good on him.

That is a hell of a lot more than Bush can manage.

Fuck him. Good riddance. The man was never elected and as soon as he got into office he pardoned Nixon and the rest of the fucking scumbags whose involvement with Watergate all led him to become president. Worse, he wrote all-inclusive pardons which excused people from EVERY crime they'd committed up to that point, not just those for which they'd already been convicted or even under investigation. And the fucking Supreme Court upheld the legitimacy of that, so you know what Bush'll be doing his last two weeks in office.

Luckily he can't pardon himself.

woof.

Pardoning the NeoCons who are now in power was a good thing then, what the NeoCons became is a bad thing today. If the Ford experience teaches us anything, it is to weed out every last bad apple in today's administration, bar them from ever engaging in politics again and send their asses to jail.

I don't think that's entirely true. Did he not just pardon Nixon? Several co-conspirators went to jail...

Yeah, in the dark recesses of my memory i seem to recall that Ehrlichman ( that name always made me smile ) and Haldeman ( sp ? ) went to jail. ?

CBS Evening News 4 October 1977

His pardon of Nixon affectively shut the case. The rest of the stuff was done behind the scenes and it allowed quite a few to avoid any repercussions for their roles in the whole affair.

Well, it will be interesting to see if there's a big slobbering circus over Ford's funeral, as there was over Reagan's.

Somehow I think it might be a bit more subdued, both because Ford is a little more controversial and because his party no longer has absolute dominance over the government, as they did for Reagan's funeral.

He was never elected, didn't do much of note, and really pissed people off when he refused to help bail out a near-bankrupt New York City, stating that he'd veto any bill that came across his desk which included provisions for helping the Big Apple. New Yorkers are probably cheering today.

woof.

@ Cinzia: Like him or not (and I generally don't) Reagan was a far more influential and significant President than Ford. Even many of Reagan's enemies respected the man and even mourned him when he died. I don't think Ford generated the same sentiment, or even close really, so I truly doubt his funeral will be nearly as big a deal.

Nancy was behind Reagan's Big Bang. Betty may be a re-habbed druggie and former alky but at least she's real and would never, ever insist on pagentry, pomp and circumstances. Trailer trash is as trailer trash does.

I remember Gerald Rudoph Ford's presidency quite well. And I remember some of the events during his time. Including when Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a member of a cult Charles Manson once led, shot Ford in 1975. That was big news (as all attempted and successful assassinations are). And then Sara Jane Moore tried to shoot him a few weeks later. It was the weirdest time. The Accidental President he was called. Assassins accidentally missed. Then there was the presendital elections he lost in. Does anyone old enough remember his line "I don't think the Poles feel dominated by the Soviet Union"? After he said that it was goodbye Ford, hello Carter.
One thing I didn't know about Ford until yesterday was that he was born Leslie Lynch King junior, but adopted his stepfather's name when he was a boy.

Here is something nice:
Reuters
30 years later, Chevy Chase calls Ford "terrific guy"

Agreed, bern.

Oooh, sarabyrd, Nancy Reagan is trailer trash!?! Guess I never delved into her past. The only gossip I know about her is the scandal over the borrowed and not returned designer dresses.

Looks like Ford is getting the formal lying in state after all.
Anyway, Nancy is from NY, her actor parents broke up and got divorced (in the 1920's!), she spent her early childhood with an aunt and uncle in the country then moved to Chicago when her mother married a neurosurgeon. Said neurosurgeon refused to diagnose middle and upper class white women with syphilis although all the symptoms were there because only blacks got syphilis. You don't have to live in a trailer to be trashy.