Ford was just what the nation needed

Local political leaders remember him as a down-to-earth, nice guy who healed our wounds and bridged divisions by negotiation.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Gerald R. Ford was the ideal person to lead the nation through some of its most challenging times, a former Mahoning Valley congressman said.
"History will judge him as exactly the right man during the most difficult time in our nation's history, politically, to assume the presidency and renew the dignity of the Oval Office," said Lyle Williams, a Republican who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 to 1985, representing Ohio's 17th District.
"He came to the presidency during one of the most tumultuous periods during the 20th century," agreed David W. Johnson of Salem, Columbiana County Republican chairman.
Ford, a Republican who assumed office in 1974 when Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency amid the Watergate scandal, died Tuesday at the age of 93.
Challenges
Besides healing the wounds caused by Watergate, Ford was challenged with leading the nation through the waning days of the Vietnam War, the OPEC oil embargo, double-digit inflation and high interest rates, Johnson said Wednesday.
"The country was in a shambles. So coming into the presidency at that period of time required somebody with a steady hand, unquestioned integrity and high character, and that was really the reputation that Gerald Ford had earned in Congress," Johnson said of the 38th president.
Williams and Atty. Don L. Hanni, former Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman, praised former President Ford for his warmth of personality and said his 25 years as a U.S. representative from Michigan were a valuable asset he brought to the executive branch of government.
"He probably understood the Legislature better than any other president. He was a creature of that environment," Williams observed. "He was very respected in the House," Williams added.
While he was a Trumbull County commissioner, Williams first met Ford during his presidency at a national convention of county commissioners in Atlanta and later met Ford numerous times in Washington.
Area visits
Ford visited Niles in September 1984 as the keynote speaker at a fund-raising dinner at the VIP Entertainment Center for Williams' re-election campaign, in which Williams lost his congressional seat to James A. Traficant Jr. About 1,500 people attended the 125-a-plate affair.
Ford also visited this area when he accepted an honorary degree and served as commencement speaker at Grove City College in 1968, while he was minority leader, and when he gave a lecture at Mount Union College in Alliance in 1988.
"He was probably the most down-to-earth, decent man in politics," Williams said, adding that Ford was not extremely wealthy. "We always related because we just felt that commonality of just being kind of regular guys," said Williams, a former barber.
Williams, who maintains a residence in Lordstown, is executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Sub-Acute and Post-Acute Care -- a nursing home industry trade association.
"He and Jimmy Carter were probably the two nicest guys that were ever president," Hanni said. Referring to Ford's legislative background, Hanni said: "He knew that the only way to success, as far as leading the country was concerned, was through bipartisan negotiations."
Hanni noted that Ford and House Speaker Tip O'Neill were friends and that O'Neill made several positive mentions of Ford in his book, "Man of the House."
Doing his job
"He was a consensus builder, and somebody that was interested in getting the job done, irrespective of what the polls were saying," Johnson observed.
Hanni and Johnson noted that Ford was willing to make the difficult decision to pardon Nixon, even though Ford anticipated it would cost him the 1976 presidential election.
Hanni said Ford and former President Harry S. Truman shared the virtue of loyalty to their friends. "Despite the fact that I'm a Democrat, I hated to see the president of the United States, Richard Nixon, go out the way he did," Hanni said.
"It's rare that you see politicians put the country before themselves, which Gerald Ford did," Johnson said, adding that it's rare to see a political figure earn as much respect from both Republicans and Democrats as Ford did.