A Decent Fellow

But not a very good President

I remember being somewhat taken aback by the media’s response to the earthly passing of Ronald Wilson Reagan. The very same outlets who had been such relentless and implacable foes suddenly turned into gushing admirers. I found it refreshing, perhaps a reflection of the difference time makes. In retrospect it is very difficult to not understand how impactful the Reagan presidency was. And even his erstwhile foes had to admit to a grudging respect.

Gerald Ford has now joined President Reagan in the great Oval Office in the sky, and once again the media is awash with praise. This is not nearly as surprising. To hear the story told, President Ford saved the Republic. Let me get this out of the way up front: I agree that Gerald Ford was a very decent and trustworthy fellow. Those qualities were palpable. He had a lovely and talented wife and a rather wholesome family. His simplicity and – yes – awkwardness were a refreshing change of pace from the clever but shifty Nixon.

But he was also a rather mediocre politician, and a highly ineffective President.

Let’s start with the notion that he “brought the country back together” in the wake of “our long national nightmare” (i.e. the Watergate scandal). I was there. I remember this. He did no such thing. In fact, his initial action of pardoning former President Nixon was incredibly divisive. The left was out to string up Nixon and – by proxy – the entire right-of-center political establishment, and they were simply furious at the pardon. There can be no doubt that by pardoning Nixon President Ford avoided a political circus that would have dragged on for years. He served the American people well. But let’s not pretend that either his motivation or the national response was one of “coming together” or “healing.”

Another accomplishment that made President Ford great in the misty-eyed hindsight of the establishment was his presiding over the end of the Vietnam War. How anybody can look at the miserable and dishonorable way we allowed this war to end as anything other than a shame and a scandal is beyond me. But to the media Vietnam was “the worst thing ever.” And whatever and whomever was involved in ending it is therefore “good.” Admittedly, President Ford was saddled with a left-wing Congress that more or less actively sought a decisive victory for the North Vietnamese, cutting off all funds and refusing to help the South Vietnamese defend the terms of the cease-fire agreement. But the fact that he did nothing but sit there and watch it all unfold is execrable. An honorable President would have stood up in front of Congress and told them that this is not what great and honorable nations do to their friends. He would have shamed them into action, and resigned in protest if they refused to listen. This isn’t hindsight, this is precisely what I remember thinking as it all unfolded. But although President Ford was a decent man, he was not a strong politician. You can call it “healing” if you wish. I call it inaction.

On the domestic front President Ford was more or less helpless. He was a standard issue liberal Republican, meaning he had no ideological compass to aid him in sifting the wheat from the chaff. The greatest domestic economic issue of the day was inflation, which was ramping up and heading toward the “stagflation” of the Carter years. Unlike his successor, President Ford did not blame the American people for their own economic woes. No, he just whipped up a strategy and a marketing campaign to “Whip Inflation Now,” and WIN buttons were worn by all the best and brightest Administration staff. Boy, that sure cured that problem!

It was not a long term of office, but with few exceptions there was little good, praiseworthy or accomplished about it. He was a rather dull and drab go-along-to-get-along kind of fellow. I suppose that fit the bill at that point in our history. But that just gets us back to the starting point. Why the media adulation? Surely there must be more at play than just being a bridge between Nixon and Carter?

I think that in many respects President Ford fits the 21 Century media’s template of the perfect Republican. He was both the Un-Nixon and the Pre-Reagan. He had many liberal views (he favored legal abortion, for example) and rolled over pretty easily. He didn’t have Nixon’s ability to run rings around liberal critics, or Reagan’s ideological drive. He didn’t want to change anything. He just wanted to hold on and not cause too much trouble.

He even had the good sense to lose the 1976 election to a nonentity from Georgia. If you ever doubt whether President Ford was a great public figure, just consider that his last public act was to lose to Jimmy Carter.

I will be happy if my time comes and there is universal acclaim that I was a good man, a decent man, and honest man, a family man. I honor President Ford for those qualities. But at some level we must be honest with history. He wasn’t a very good President.

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