"The Vietnam War ended in defeat for the U.S. during his presidency with the fall of Saigon in April 1975. In a speech as the end neared, Ford said: "Today, America can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by refighting a war that is finished as far as America is concerned." Evoking Abraham Lincoln, he said it was time to "look forward to an agenda for the future, to unify, to bind up the nation's wounds.""

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061227/ap_on_re_us/obit_ford_14

The only unelected president in the country's history did a good job considering the mess the administration of Nixon left behind for him to deal with. Pardoning Nixon probably cost him any chance of re-election. May he rest in peace.

God Bless Gerald Ford.

Herb

Agreed. Ford was a plain man who due to circumstance was placed in this position, not due to any overwhelming desire for the title. Perhaps this is what we need in President's today. He did the job the best he could, and succeeded, albeit without re-election, somthing he probably didn't really want anyway. He was effective, diligent, and even though his term was short, was the right man for the time.

He KNEW pardoning Mr. Nixon would probably cost him the presidency. Yet Gerald Ford did it for the good of the country.

Mr. Ford was a tad liberal for my tastes, but there is no denying that he was a good president. I believe that if Vic Atiyeh had been president, he would have been a very good one, and somewhat in the style of Mr. Ford.

At the time I was a flaming young liberal and didn't really understand what a good guy Ford was.

No one was ready to emotionally pardon Nixon for what he had done, but Ford had figured out that we needed to set that aside for our own darn good. Thanks, Mr. President, and God bless your soul and your family.

Andy Brown: "The only unelected president in the country's history"

Some might think that but others know better.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. George W. Bush, twice. Sheesh.

Well.....If they are going to say Bush wasn't elected twice, I can think of one other person who wasn't elected either and is still in office.

Our bimbo "let's count dead people too" governor Christine Gregoire.

I try to stay out of the political discussions because I lean pretty much to the right and can see that I (we) are a minority on this board.

I do get tired of all the Bush bashing though.

This is a great reason to support strong paper ballot voting reform.

People on all sides have valid complaints about who ended up in office.

Add JFK to the list.

Missing_kskd, I agree. Paper ballots are the way to go.

Also here in Clark County (not sure where you live) they have gone to mail in ballots, but then again so did Oregon. I can see lots of options for fraud there.

I think they need to go back to polling places and have positive proof of who you are before you can vote.

That being said, mail in absentee ballots are still a necessity but should also have some kind of positive proof associated with them too.

Maybe a fingerprint reader on the polling machine or something similar, I don't know.

I do know that a lot of people would pitch a fit over using finger prints so maybe that's not the best solution. I don't really care. They have mine from when I got my concealed carry permit.

I don't know what the exact solution would be; I do know something has to be done to eliminate fraud.

I can't resist coming back for this one.

Jerry Ford was GREAT! He and Jimmy Carter saved the presidency by being decent men.

I agree Radioblogman. Neither Ford or Carter accomplished much in their Presidencies, but you can definitely say that both were good, honest men in a time where honesty was most definitely needed in the Oval Office.

It can be said that Ford basically committed political suicide by granting Nixon a full pardon, but his reasoning and logic makes a lot of sense - it was time to move on and move forward as a nation.

Jimmy Carter is a nice man.

Jimmy Carter was a horrendous and dangerous president. He makes Mr. Clinton look like Einstein.

I'm glad he's swinging a hammer for Habitat for Humanity.

Mr. Carter is a nice man. He simply is not presidential timber.

Herb

Hmm. Starting the covert war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, starting the defense build-up of the 1980s, and appointing Paul Volker chairman of the Federal Reserve Board were dumb things, eh Herb? Do you think the covert war in Afghanistan was a good idea? Could it possibly have helped lead the way toward the collapse of the Soviet Union?

What about peace between Israel and Egypt, which Carter himself made happen? Bad thing? Has any other president since been able to get an Arab country to make peace with Israel?

Jimmy Carter is a brilliant man; even at age 82 he can expound intelligently about pretty much any foreign policy or domestic issue you can think of. That doesn't mean he was a great president by any means - he certainly wasn't a great leader. But he's sure not in the Bush league when it comes to brains!

Andrew

YOU HAVE TO BE JOKING.

Paul Volcker was horrendous for our economy.

Remember the 'misery index?'

Remember unemployment?

Remember stagflation?

Remember gas lines?

Remember giving away the Panama Canal?

Remember the 444 days our nation was held hostage?

Remember..remember...remember.

Of course not.

Spin on.

Herb

Herb, many economists credit Paul Volker's policy of limiting the money supply for bringing inflation in the American economy under control for good. Presumably that's why Reagan re-appointed Volker to the Fed in 1983; Reagan saw how wise Jimmy Carter's choice of Volker was and kept him on.

Which gas lines do you mean - the ones during the Nixon administration or the ones during the Carter administration? Oh, wait, those lines during Nixon were just fine - but those Jimmy Carter gas lines - oh, the horror, the horror!!! Nixon's gas lines were probably a patriotic fight against communism in your mind...

How many days were the American hostages held in Lebanon during Reagan's term? How many were killed? Compare that to how long they were held in Iran in 1979-81 and how many were killed under Carter and get back to me.

Andrew

skybill sez: "I do get tired of all the Bush bashing though."

Oh, now what was it again that Bush did that was universally praised by ALL Americans? (I know it wasn't catching bin Laden.)

"Herb, many economists credit Paul Volker's policy of limiting the money supply for bringing inflation in the American economy under control for good."

Compare Mr. Volcker to Mr. Greenspan and get back to me.

Herb

Ah, but Volker smoked a great cigar!

Greenspan didn't make the decisions that brought an end to Stagflation - Volker did. Many of your Republican buddies worship Volker - again, that's why he was re-appointed by Reagan. And Volker was originally appointed by Jimmy Carter. Deal with it, Herb!

Andrew

Mr. Greenspan has overseen a tremendous growth in our economy, without inflation, without a recession and with both Republican and democrat administrations.

Deal with your own stagflation and misery index. You want 21% interest rates again? Then Mr. Volcker's your man.

No thanks.

Herbert Milhous

Ford was elected, not by the General population, but by the House and Senate, which is comparable with being elected by the electoral college.

No, actually, being voted in by the House and Senate per the 25th amendment isn't really comparable to being elected by the electoral college. When you vote in a general election, you vote for an Elector who has pledged to vote for a certain candidate. When you vote for a Congressperson or Senator, you have no idea who they might vote for in some future vote on a Vice President.

Andrew

Ford was the last really decent Republican president. History will treat him well.

Was Ford REALLY that great of a president?? The biased media sure likes to think so.

Herb said>>>Yet Gerald Ford did it for the good of the country.

He did it for POLITICAL reasons and NOTHING else.

"He did it for POLITICAL reasons and NOTHING else."

What does that mean? You say that as if he personally had something to gain by doing it vs. not doing it. And if he did it for his own benefit, did he, in fact, benefit?

That statement also reads as if he would not have done it if he had nothing to gain politically. With which I disagre. I believed his tone, style and content when he said ( paraphrasing ) that there was never any question about whether or not he would pardon Nixon. I don't think he made any sort of personal compromise. And, looking back ( because I have to - I was 7 years old - I don't have any actual memory of an opinion from the time it took place ) it seemed like a good thing to do. On ALL level - yes - including political ones. But I don't think it was a stretch for him to act on this that way.

"He did it for POLITICAL reasons and NOTHING else."

No, probably not. If he did it solely for political reasons, he probably would have put the hammer down on Nixon and gained substantially politically because of it. It amounted to political suicide for Ford, he caught a ton of heat from the Democrats and because he was so moderate, he was largely abandoned by the far right, who threw their hat into the Ronald Reagan ring.

Ford wasn't exemplary in foreign affairs to say the least, both his predecessor and successor had much more success there history will show. Domestically, America was a mess at the time; he inherited that mess and passed it on to Carter. What he WAS exemplary at was bringing respect back to the office of President of the United States of America. He was brutally honest and lacked pretension, and he showed that ... and THAT is what this country needed I think more than a lot of other things at the time. Pardoning Nixon cost him in 1976, but hindsight shows that it was indeed the right thing to do at the time, to get the country moving forward and away from that whole mess.

Ford Was an AWFUL president, and I think its pathetic how the media is praising him like he was a god!

"Ford Was an AWFUL president, and I think its pathetic how the media is praising him like he was a god!"

?? Are you drunk?

Bush is an AWFUL president.

Ford, as I said in the first post of this thread, did a good job considering the pile of crap Nixon handed him.

The media is pathetic, but we all know that. What's pathetic is the way they cover Bush doing nothing in Iraq, making it sound like he's doing something.

And we hear next to nothing on Affi...

"The media is pathetic, but we all know that. What's pathetic is the way they cover Bush doing nothing in Iraq, making it sound like he's doing something."

He IS!

He is creating chaos and civil war!

He has the deaths, Iraqi and American, piling up on his doorstep!

He is "Staying the course"!

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread. Couldn't resist.

He did it for the good of the Republican party and NOTHING else!

"HEAVEN -- Gerald Ford has defeated Young Tom Morris and Old Tom Morris in a three-way playoff at the Savior Classic, held this last weekend at Our Lady of Perpetual Sandtraps in South Paradise. Weather delayed the tournament, so the legendary Savior did not have a winner until yesterday.

After bogeying the 18th hole and forcing a playoff, the former former President birdied three straight, to win by a stroke at a total of five under par. Darkness was falling during regulation, the weather was blustery, as God intended, and rain put off the play-off until yesterday afternoon.

Other notables on the leaderboard included another relative newcomer, Payne Stewart, who showed he was one of the best, in time or out of time, with a strong three under par finish. Ben Hogan and Walter Hagen both finished at even par.

"I have truly been blessed with a sweet stroke," Ford said in an interview with Ring Lardner. "When I got here, Pete the Angel, that rascal, asked me if I wanted hair or a better handicap. So, here I am, redeemed, bald and loving it. Lord knows I couldn't play this well before!"