Of all the stuff that was on tv yesterday, I found myself watching the State Funeral for President Ford for awhile. I remember a couple years ago, during President Reagan's funeral, that I found myself almost feeling sorry for the next former President to die, thinking that there just wouldn't be the same outpouring of admiration from so many people. And it's true, President Ford's passing doesn't seem like that big of a deal, nationally speaking. But while President Reagan holds a special place in the American psyche, President Ford was probably the President that most Americans knew the least about.
Honestly, before all of the coverage of the past few days, the only things most people knew about Gerald Ford was 1) He pardoned President Nixon 2) He fell down the stairs while exiting Air Force One, and 3) He had two failed assassination attempts on him within a very short period of time.
American history is a subject that always interests me, but as far as President Ford goes, I really knew nothing about him. I remember my grandmother, years ago, telling us that she didn't vote for him in 1976 because he wouldn't smile during one of his debates with Jimmy Carter. I'm afraid that if she were still alive today, she'd be one of those women who votes for John Edwards because "he has nice hair". Anyways... Did anyone know (before this week) that he was adopted? Also, I had no idea that he was such a good athlete in his younger years--winning two national championships as part of the University of Michigan football team (I bet they could beat Ohio State back then!). And everyone knows his love for golf--I heard that whenever he traveled to speaking engagements once he left office, he'd always bring his golf clubs with him and play at the local course, no matter how small or out-of-the-way it was.
As far as his Presidency is concerned, it seems to me that he was a very decent man that the country needed at the time, reeling from the events of the Watergate scandal and the end of several years of executive mis-management of the Vietnam War. Fate played a cruel trick on him--circumstances well beyond his control elevated him to national office, and then a short time later, those same circumstances cast him from the stage forever.
I never actually 'met' President Ford, but I had one encounter with the man. Back in the summer of 1990, I was a river rafting guide up in Alaska. One day the boss told us that President Ford was in town to give a speech and to play a round of golf at the local tidal flats, and might go out and about seeing the sites, so if he came down to meet with any of us we should be on our best behavior. Of course, there wasn't much to do out there in the middle of nowhere, but I truly doubted that a former President of the United States would want to come down and meet a bunch of ill-groomed river guides who'd been away from proper civilization for just a few months too long.
Anyhow, later that day, I was rowing a boatload of tourists, ten of them, down the river. Just above the first bit of rapids, there was a bridge that crossed the river that we had to pass under. Standing on the bridge was President Ford.
None of the tourists had any idea that he was in town at the time, so at first glance they paid no attention to the old man in a suit waving down at them. So I was nonchalantly doing my tour-guide thing Ok, over there, if you look in the top of that tree you'll see a mature couple of bald eagles and their nest, notice how they built it next to the stream that feeds into the river--plenty of fish right there. If you look closely in the woods over on the left, you'll see a moose standing there...
A pause, and then
By the way, if you look up on the bridge you'll see President Ford waving to you...
That got a pretty good chuckle from the crowd as we got closer and everyone realized I wasn't bullshitting them and wondered aloud Wtf is he doing out here?
That's what was cool about riding in my boat... Not only did you see lots of wildlife and hear some good jokes, but even out there in the middle of nowhere, random Presidential sightings.
Just another one of the services I provided.
Mikey
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